Justice for Pashtuns: Exposing State-Led Human Rights Abuses

This initiative is an advocacy campaign rooted in data shared by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) at its National Jirgah held from October 11–13, 2024, in Jamrud, Khyber. It aims to document, expose, and challenge systematic human rights violations committed against Pashtuns by the Pakistani state under the guise of counter-terrorism.

For over two decades, the Pashtun belt has been treated as a militarized zone, where fundamental rights are suspended, and entire communities have been devastated. PTM’s White Paper and National Jirgah presented shocking evidence:

• 5.7 million Pashtuns have been displaced in military operations since 2001.
• 2.3 million remain unable to return to their homes.
• 76,584 people have been killed in violence linked to state actions and conflict.
• Among the dead: 1,375 tribal elders, 3,000 religious leaders, and hundreds of children.
• 6,700 enforced disappearances remain unresolved.
• Over 370,000 homes, mosques, and civilian properties have been destroyed by aerial bombings and ground operations.
• 2,700 widows—women whose husbands were killed in the decades-long violence in Pashtun regions
• Landmines and unexploded ordnance still plague regions like South Waziristan, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and amputations.

These facts point to a systematic policy of repression, displacement, and violence. Entire villages have been erased, civil society dismantled, and survivors silenced.

This initiative not only seeks to amplify these truths but also supports PTM’s constitutional and non-violent demands, including:

• A Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate abuses
• Compensation and resettlement for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
• Accountability for military excesses, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings
• Removal of landmines and militarized checkpoints from civilian areas
• Protection of the cultural and linguistic identity of Pashtuns

Through this campaign, we aim to center justice, dignity, and the right to live freely for Pashtuns—one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in modern Pakistan.

We will engage journalists, policymakers, international human rights bodies, and youth to ensure that these numbers are not forgotten statistics but a call to global conscience.