Pakistan: Pro-govt militants attacks Pashtun meet, 3 dead

MULTIPLE PROTESTS WERE REPORTED FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO CONDEMN THE ATTACK BUT MAINSTREAM MEDIA DID NOT REPORT ON THEM.

At least three supporters of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a body spearheading a movement to protect the rights of Pashtuns, were killed and 20 others injured when armed members of a pro-government militant faction targeted a gathering in the South Waziristan tribal region of northwest Pakistan.

The attackers belonging to a so-called “Aman (peace) committee” mounted the attack at Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, on Sunday. PTM supporters accused the Pakistani military of orchestrating the attack with the help of "good" Taliban whom they accuse the army of harbouring.

Leading human rights activist and Awami National Party leader Afrasiab Khattak commented: “The plausible deniability over official patronage to the Taliban is blown away by the bloodshed in Wana. The proxy is used on both sides of the Durand Line against Pushtuns and Afghans."

Another political analyst, Imran Khan, tweeted how the "good Taliban" were being harboured inside cantonment areas.

A senior journalist from North Waziristan told the Daily Times his sources had confirmed the attack was orchestrated by the Mullah Nazir militant faction.

On Saturday, “Aman committee” members had threatened PTM leader Ali Wazir that his house in the area would be torched if he did not disassociate himself from the PTM.

The armed assailants arrived in pick-up trucks at the main bazaar of Wana, where the gathering was being held.

Soon after the clash, security forces arrived to quell the situation, and latest reports suggested that a curfew was enforced in Wana. Later, PTM leader Pashteen addressed his supporters on social media and claimed that 10 workers of the movement had died in the clash.