They were callously made to sit on the floor of the police station’s courtyard all night, despite the city’s cold weather. The arrests were initially undisclosed, but the police later referenced an old FIR from last year related to the May 9 riots and included the vendors’ names in it.

At the anti-terrorism court, where they were later presented with their faces covered, police officers were seen aggressively encircling Pashtun vendors and separating them from their families after checking their ID cards. When Mazari tried to intervene and stop this racial profiling, an officer shoved her as well.

More than 2,000 Pashtun students, laborers, and street vendors—including legal Afghan refugees—have been arrested and are being held in various police stations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, according to a list compiled by human rights lawyers, a copy of which is available with Dissent Today. The arrests were made in the wake of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s long march to the capital last month, seeking the release of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, which ended following the use of force by law enforcement agencies.

Among the arrested street vendors is a 14-year-old boy who sold clothes to support his family.

Mazari told Dissent Today that police officials have been racially profiling and detaining Pashtun journalists as well, after checking their ID cards. “Several journalists and others have told me they were stopped at check posts, and their phones and ID cards were checked,” she said, adding that those whose permanent addresses were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were arbitrarily arrested.

Following the racial profiling that Mazari and her fellow lawyers witnessed at the anti-terrorism court, they sat in protest with the Pashtun vendors outside the court. “We could see van after van filled with people arrested from different parts of the city arriving at the anti-terrorism court,” she said.

Two of the street vendors whom Mazari is representing were discharged in the May 9 case, but others are still facing charges. Mazari and some other lawyers were initially unable to reach most of the arrested individuals, which means they remained in custody for days without access to defense counsel.

Mazari says this racial profiling is still ongoing and lawyers are receiving reports of similar arrests almost daily.

For former senator and National Democratic Movement leader Afrasiab Khattak, this racial profiling of Pashtuns is reminiscent of the time when they were displaced from tribal areas during the military action against the Taliban in 2009-2010. “At that time, too, the displaced Pashtuns were labeled as troublemakers who would bring terrorism to Punjab and Sindh,” he told Dissent Today.

The ill-treatment of Pashtun residents in Islamabad comes against the backdrop of widespread anti-Pashtun racist sentiments expressed on mainstream and social media during the PTI protest.

A large number of long march participants marched to the capital from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alongside the province’s Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur. The PTI’s use of the provincial government’s resources to facilitate its long march has been criticized, but some federal ministers went too far in their criticism by blaming the Pashtun community for the party’s actions. Federal ministers Ata Tarrar and Mohsin Naqvi implied that most participants in the protest were Afghan and, by extension, terrorists.

Khattak says the government has been violently rounding up Afghan refugees and falsely accusing them of participating in the PTI protest. “I know a dozen Afghan refugees who were detained and tortured at the Counter Terrorism Department and forced to confess that they were part of the long march,” he said, adding that federal ministers demonized Afghans as if they were coming from Afghanistan to wage a war on Islamabad.

Meanwhile, PTI leaders had been invoking Pashtun “ghairat” (honor) in the lead-up to the march to urge the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to support the party’s call for protest and march to Islamabad.

Khattak says that the act of invoking Pashtun “honor” for political objectives is a colonial concept introduced by the British. “This stereotyping of Pashtuns as having a keen sense of honor and valor was part of the colonial-era Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which aimed to confine Pashtuns to outdated tribal values,” he said. “The Pakistani ruling elite adopted this stereotype to continue using Pashtuns as cannon fodder.”

In response to a question, Khattak stated that the PTI is not doing enough to assist those who were arbitrarily arrested following the party’s protest in Islamabad. “The PTI claims that more than 200 people are missing, and it has been weeks since this crackdown. What is stopping them from going to the prisons and ascertaining the identities of the arrestees,” he asked.

Mazari agrees that the PTI leadership did not take an effective position on the racial profiling of Pashtuns. “They represent the Pashtun people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and they have a greater responsibility to speak out against the mistreatment of Pashtuns,” she said.

As ministers in the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including its chief minister, geared up for their long march to Islamabad in late November, the restive district of Kurram saw hundreds killed in sectarian clashes. The death toll from the violence in the district, which continued for weeks, rose to 130 before a ceasefire was recently achieved. The provincial government has been accused of ignoring the crisis and directing its resources toward the PTI march.

“The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has done nothing but squander resources of Pashtuns and their manpower for his party’s battle for the throne of Islamabad,” Khattak says. 

But despite this bleak situation, the former lawmaker sees a ray of hope in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Referring to the anti-Taliban protests being staged in the province, Khattak said Pashtun citizens have become politically conscious in recent years and are now refusing to be exploited by the Pakistani state and political elites.

“The Pashtun masses have understood that terrorism was brought to their land by the Pakistani state,” he added.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Faisal Karim Kundi hosted an All Parties Conference (APC) last week to discuss the deteriorating security situation in the province, attended by every political party except the PTI, which boycotted the event. Khattak, who attended the conference, says everyone present condemned the racial profiling of Pashtuns and the demonization of Afghan refugees.

“Pashtun politicians had to take a clear stance [against terrorism in the province] at the APC because they were feeling the public’s pressure to do so,” he said. “The Pashtun masses have decided they would no longer be used as cannon fodder. It is time for politicians and the state to catch up with this public sentiment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”

Ailia Zehra

The writer is a journalist and the Founding Editor of Dissent Today. She covers politics, human rights, and religious extremism. She tweets at @AiliaZehra.

The post Inside the Ongoing Racial Profiling in Islamabad appeared first on Dissent Today.

PTM sources further said that two activists of the group were injured, but Pashteen remained unhurt.

In a statement issued four hours after the arrest, Chaman Deputy Commissioner Raja Athar Abbas claimed that the arrest was made after PTM workers fired at the police from Pashteen’s vehicle.

Before his arrest on Monday, Pashteen had addressed a sit-in in Chaman against the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. During his speech at the Chaman protest, he had announced that the PTM would stand in solidarity with the Baloch activists who have staged a sit-in in Turbat.

Last month, National Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman and former lawmaker Mohsin Dawar was briefly detained in Quetta and forced to go back to Islamabad while he was on his way to Chaman to attend this protest against Pakistan government’s new border crossing laws.

A day later, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch, the leader of Gwadar’s rights movement Haq Do Tehreek (HDT), was also arrested by local authorities ahead of his visit to Chaman for participation in the same protest. The sit-in in Chaman has been going on for over 40 days now.

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The Peshawar High Court granted bail to leader Ali Wazir in a sedition case and also stopped the provincial police from arresting the lawmaker in other cases.

Journalist Mubashir Zaidi said that “Sindh Police have detained Ali Wazir illegally since his written release orders were issued on February 9th”.

سندھ پولیس نے نو فروری کو علی وزیر کی رہائی کے تحریری احکامات جاری ہونے کے باوجود اس کو غیر قانونی قید میں رکھا ہوا ہے اور اسے رہا نہیں کر رہے. بلاول بھٹو کی حکومت خود انسانی حقوق کی پامالی میں ملوث ہے #ReleaseAliWazir @Aliwazirna50 pic.twitter.com/Rdn5c91CEz

— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) February 13, 2023

A social media user said: “Ali Wazir’s bail order has been received by the Sindh Home Department on February 9, due to which they cannot keep Ali Wazir for a minute in Karachi. Seems that they are waiting for #HajiSaab, if PM, Speaker of NA are so helpless then don’t make joker of civilian govt.”

Ali Wazir’s bail order has been received by the Sindh Home Department on February 9, due to which they cannot keep Ali Wazir for a minute in Karachi. Seems that they are waiting for #HajiSaab, if PM, Speaker of NA are so helpless then don’t make joker of civilian govt.

— Adv Mansoor Salam (@mansoorsalam31) February 13, 2023

Khyber Pukhtonkhwa sent write up to Sindh government on 8 Feb to release Ali Wazir but Ali Wazir still in jail in Sindh.#AliWazir pic.twitter.com/VhncN0qCHP

— Hamza Latif Khan (@Hamzalatifsays) February 13, 2023

Former senator Afrasiab Khattak said the “Court order of Ali’s release after his bail went from DIK, KP. His lawyers have been visiting the Sindh home dep on daily basis where they face excuses such as “only the home secretary can open the letter and he is busy”. Yes going yet again to the court is the final option.”

Court order of Ali’s release after his bail went from DIK, KP. His lawyers have been visiting the Sindh home dep on daily basis where they face excuses such as “only the home secretary can open the letter and he is busy”. Yes going yet again to the court is the final option. https://t.co/GfRSGFDenY

— Afrasiab Khattak (@a_siab) February 13, 2023

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MNA Mohsin Dawar, the founder of NDM, has been raising voice against resurgence of Taliban in KP for the past several months on the floor of the Parliament. But the concerns expressed by Pashtun representatives about Taliban’s return appeared to have fallen on deaf ears. The NDM leadership’s visit to Waziristan comes at a time when the region faces uncertainty about its security.

Former MNA Bushra Gohar’s involvement with NDM and her recent interactions with local representatives in the province mark her return to mainstream politics. In 2018, she along with former Senator Afrasiab Khattak was expelled from Awami National Party (ANP), supposedly because their anti-establishment views were too ‘strong’ even for the secular ANP. But with the formation of NDM, these former lawmakers have made a comeback in politics.

Welcoming Bushra Gohar to North Waziristan, Mohsin Dawar tweeted, “Her visit marks the beginning of an important chapter of NDM’s politics of empowerment in Waziristan.”

Welcomed @BushraGohar Chairperson @NDM_Official Pakhtunkhwa in North Waziristan earlier today. Her visit marks the beginning of an important chapter of NDM’s politics of empowerment in Waziristan. pic.twitter.com/EPCfdp9r6x

— Mohsin Dawar (@mjdawar) December 4, 2022

Dissent Today spoke to Bushra Gohar about her visit and the impact NDM has been able to create so far.

‘Suicidal policies of the state’

While commenting on the North Waziristan visit, she said KP has been the hardest hit by the ‘insecure security state’s suicidal policies’. “The people have suffered decades of death, destruction and displacements. The re-emergence of Taliban terrorists in Pakhtunkhwa as a result of the security forces’ secret talks has further exacerbated their trauma. The pain and loss of the people is unimaginable for mainstream Pakistan,” she said, adding that the district is heavily militarised and the civil administration’s role remains curtailed.

She says the mainstream media has been ignoring the uprising against Taliban in the province. “Provincial and federal governments have ignored the pleas of the people for peace, right to life and constitutional rights. Pakistan’s mainstream’s prioritise can be gauged from the total blackout of Pashtuns uprising against the resurgence of Taliban terrorists,” she told Dissent Today.

“There are daily targeted terrorists attacks but the Parliament, PM and CM are silent spectators. Nothing will change unless Pakhtunkhwa is demilitarised, Taliban Project is closed down and a truth commission formed for the decades of war and numerous military operations,” Gohar added.

In response to a question about what NDM stands for, she said the party was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last year after two years of deliberations with “like-minded ideological political activists throughout the country”. “It is a political resistance movement for peace, democracy and constitutional rights and against all forms of violence, inequalities and state terrorism. It is a platform for the oppressed and marginalised,” she added.

Political future of women of the peripheries

When asked if her involvement will improve the state of Pashtun women and their inclusion in politics in these areas, said, “The security state’s Taliban Project is anti-Pashtun and anti-women. “Patriarchy, tribalism and state imposed mullahism and talibanisation have kept Pashtun women back and in darkness. It is an uphill struggle to free women from the multilayered shackles,” she said, lamenting that the state has remained callously insensitive to the plight of women and girls in the merged districts of Pakhtunkhwa. “Pashtun nationalist political leaders have also followed the policy of appeasement of the extremists when it comes to women rights. Women rights isn’t a priority for Political parties,” she says, hoping that NDM will work towards ending this gender imbalance.

Asked if NDM’s message resonates with the people she met during her visit to Waziristan, Bushra Gohar says the party’s core leadership is from North Waziristan, and it has a strong support in the district.

About the future of the merged districts amid Taliban’s return, Bushra Gohar says until there is a change in security policies and an end to the ‘Taliban Project,’ security situation will continue to worsen in the province.
The fresh wave of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakhtunkhwa is connected with the new cycle of proxy war in the region. The US & allies Doha deal with the Taliban terrorists resulted in the occupation of Afghanistan,” she said.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

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