Pakistan: Pashtun leaders holds ‘Islamabad Jalsa’ towards atrocities on ethnic teams

On Friday (18 August), leaders and customary populace belonging to the Pashtun, Baloch, Sindhi, and different oppressed ethnic communities in Pakistan held a big Jalsa in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. The massive anti-Military protest rally in Islamabad was spearheaded by Pashtun civil rights outfit specifically Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). 

In a video posted by PTM on X, its chief Manzoor Pashteen had mentioned, “Target killings, false cases, forced acquisition of lands, mass killings, trying of people in military courts…against all there will be a PTM rally outside the Islamabad Supreme Court. We invite people from Baloch, Sindhi, Gilgit-Baltistan, and the subjugated classes of Punjab to participate in the rally.”

To cease the indigenous folks rights motion – “Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), gathering in Islamabad the authorities not solely imposed ban on gatherings but additionally arrested lots of of its activists in country-wide crackdown.
# PTMIslamabadJalsa@UNHumanRights @IS_HumanRights… https://t.co/TsssKK7UGF

— Aimal Khattak (@KhattakAimal) August 18, 2023

However, the announcement of the protest rally by all main ethnic communities, besides elite Punjabis, had rattled the Pakistani military and its deep state aka institution. In a bid to crush the rally, they made arrests by lots of and blocked all main roads resulting in the protest web site. Initially, the Pashtun leaders had introduced to carry their rally in entrance of the Pakistan Supreme Court, nonetheless, it was later shifted to the capital’s outskirt, Tarnol.

TKD MONITORING:
The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) led a protest march in Islamabad for restoration of peace, launch of the detained PTM activists, and finish of goal killings throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The protest, which was deliberate outdoors of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, was… pic.twitter.com/UNEc4k7tnD

— The Khorasan Diary (@khorasandiary) August 18, 2023

The protestors dared the Pakistani military over the continued terrorist actions in these deliberately-kept underdeveloped areas. They requested the military to launch their detained activists and finish focused killings throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During the rally, they raised an anti-military slogan, ‘Ye jo deshsatgardi hai iske piche wardi (military) hai.’ (Translation – Pakistani Military is chargeable for the vitiated environment of terror within the nation.) 

The protestors raised Pashtun, Afghan, and different ethnic flags, nonetheless, the putting half was that there have been no takers for the Pakistani nationwide flag and reportedly it was fully lacking from the protest rally. 

Addressing the gathering, PTM Chief Manzoor Pashteen reminded the Pakistani military of the humiliating 1971 drubbing on the hand of the Indian military and Bangladeshis in search of freedom. In a direct menace to the military, he mentioned, “The Bangalis only took off your pants, we will peel off Army’s skin.”

#BreakingNews | PTM employees arrested after conflict with Police in the course of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement march in Pakistan’s Islamabad

CNN-News18 #Exclusive Input by @manojkumargupta | @abhishekjha157 with extra particulars #Pakistan #Islamabad #PTM #Pashtun #Afghan | @akankshaswarups pic.twitter.com/F344FWp7rN

— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 19, 2023

In the rally, Pashteen categorically said that DGISPR, Pakistani Army Chief, and those that are attempting to regulate Balochistan, FATA, or different areas by means of Military boot, ought to fastidiously hear that in the event that they proceed to take action, they won’t proceed to stay beneath their oppressive regime or part of Pakistan. He reminded the Pakistani military that a number of main powers attempt to use drive to slave these areas, however all of them meet their destiny and the Pakistani military wouldn’t be any completely different.

pic.twitter.com/YeNYIyoMqv

— M Tariq Bilal (@MTariqBilal_) August 18, 2023

He added that if the time involves seize Pakistani Army officers by their collar, the Pashtun and different oppressed communities will accomplish that and every part else to finish the shackles of slavery.  

PTM social media handles issued categorical warnings to the Pakistani military and introduced that if the military continued to trample on the rights of the ethnic communities in Pakistan, then they are going to ask for “freedom”. 

اس ریاست پاکستان میں ہمیں اپنے حقوق نہیں ملیں
تو پھر ہماری طرف سے واضح پیغام سن لو کہ پھر ہم ازادی مانگ لیں گے

مشر منظور احمد پشتین کا اج اسلام اباد جلسے میں ریاست پاکستان کو واضح پیغام.#PashtunLongMarch2Islamabad #PashtunJalsalslamabad pic.twitter.com/HBUNpyQQL1

— Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) پښتون ژغورني غورځنګ (@PashtunTM_Offic) August 18, 2023

The ethnic communities in Pakistan have repeatedly accused the Pakistan Military and its institution of systematic and constitutional discrimination towards Pashtuns, Sindhis, Baloch, and different ethnic teams all through the nation. They are dealing with genocide by the hands of the Pakistan military as a lot of civilians are killed and lots of are victims of enforced disappearances.

It is value noting that Pashtuns are the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan, first is Punjabi. They account for 15% of the inhabitants and are thought-about one of many 5 main ethnolinguistic teams of the nation. 

Formed as a civil rights motion, PTM got here into being as a response to State-enforced terrorism and human rights abuses of Pakistan’s military and intelligence companies within the Pashtun Belt of Pakistan together with enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killing. 

The Pashtun neighborhood lives within the Pashtunistan area which partly falls in Pakistan and partly in Afghanistan. Both Pakistan and Afghan Pashtuns have opposed and rejected the 1893 demarcation often known as the Durand line. For this area, they’ve taken up arms towards Pakistan and practically 90% of the terrorists within the Tehreek-e-Taliban terror outfit belong to the Pashtun tribe.  

Facing the actual menace of extinction by the hands of the Punjabi-biased Pakistan Military, a sizeable chunk of all these ethnic communities be it Sindhi, Baloch, Pashtun, or these within the FATA area or in Gilgit Baltistan, have taken up arms towards the Pakistani military to struggle for his or her rights and search freedom for these areas.