Pakistani security forces martyred Arman Luni, a senior member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), on Saturday in a raid on a sit-in held in the Loralai district of Junubi (Southern) Pakhtunkhwa or Baluchistan. Luni was a leading figure and a member of the Central Committee of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement or the Pashtun Protection Movement, a social movement fighting for human rights in Pakistan. After killing Luni, Pakistani forces prevented other PTM leaders and members from attending his funeral ceremony. Luni’s killing has infuriated Pashtuns on both sides of Durand Line.
The behavior of Pakistani government, especially the security apparatus, towards almost all minorities, including Pashtuns is totally barbaric and inhuman. The Pakistani establishment not only has looted the natural resources of Pashtun regions, but also deprived ethnic Pashtuns of their basic human rights. By promoting religious extremism in Pashtuns, Pakistan wants to preoccupy and set them against each other so that they are not able to fight for their rights and have their own rule. Although Pakistan was largely successful in implementing the policy, the emergence of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement has haunted Panjabi policy makers. They know that the Pashtun awakening is the beginning of an end of the callous Panjabi establishment, and therefore they are trying their best to make them resort to violence by harassing, persecuting and killing PMT members. If PTM members resort to violence, the Pakistani establishment will find the pretext to suppress the movement and at the same time absolve itself of the subsequent blame. The PTM leadership is aware of the conspiracy, and has therefore not only remained peaceful, but is also fighting for rights of and justice and equality for Pashtuns in the light of Pakistan’s laws in spite of many of its members harassed, arrested and killed.
Since the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement is entirely peaceful with demands consistent with international laws for equal rights and protection for Pashtuns from the state agencies’ systematic discrimination, disappearances, mass illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings, it is the shared responsibility of all nations that believe in justice to support the movement’s peaceful struggle for justice. The international community, especially human rights organizations, should not remain silent on the brutal treatment of PTM members by the Pakistani establishment. The United Nations should voice its support for the peaceful struggle of the movement more than anyone else. The UN with the core responsibility of maintaining peace and security in the world must not allow Pakistani agencies to deprive millions of Pashtuns and other minorities of their human rights at will.
