Thousands rally against anti-Pashtun violence in Karachi

• The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) has emerged as a nonviolent ethnic rights group confronting abuse and neglect by Pakistan’s security apparatus, recently invigorated by the killing of Pashtun youth Naqibullah Mehsud in January.
• Despite a government ban and media censorship, PTM recently staged rallies across the country in cities including Lahore and Karachi, the latter of which is home to Pakistan’s largest Pashtun community and the location of Mehsud’s killing.
• Demonstrators rallied against enforced disappearances (numbering in the thousands, according to some claims), extrajudicial killings, and other human rights abuses against the Pashtun community, who make up 15% of the Pakistani population.

Read

“Thousands rally in Pakistan’s Lahore for Pashtun rights” (Al Jazeera | May 2018)

“Pakistani ethnic rights group stages first rally in Karachi” (Reuters | May 2018)

“On ‘Pashtun Tahafuz Movement’” (The Nation, commentary | May 2018)