Pak: Awami National Party calls for giving rights to Pashtuns, says exploitation must end
Oct 23, 2022
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], October 23 : Atrocities against Pashtun ethnic minorities should be stopped and they must be given the right to use their resources, the central secretary of culture of Pakistan's Awami National Party (ANP) Dr Khadim Hussain said in a statement, local media reported.
He made the remarks on Saturday in the Atokhel area of Halimzai tehsil of Pakistan as he called out for the rights of one of the largest ethnic minorities, Pashtuns in the South Asian country.
The event was attended by several political activists, teachers and writers, along with ANP district president Saifullah Khan and general secretary Hazrat Khan Momand, according to Dawn.
"ANP was the only political party wanting the province's right to use its resources," Dr Hussain claimed during the event, adding that trade passages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been closed with Afghanistan, however, they have been left open for smugglers.
Despite being the second-largest ethnicity in Pakistan, Pashtuns are under-represented in the higher echelons of the Pakistan Army, Civil Service and positions of corporate power, Dawn reported.
Earlier on Friday, the Pakistan Army banned Pashto in its Army Public Schools, according to local media. As it has been banned now in many schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, students have been warned they would be fined if caught speaking in the language.
Several Pakistani journalists and political activists on social media condemned the move and said that the ban must be highlighted and stopped.
Notably, these atrocities against Pashtuns are not incidental.
The Pakistan State has always treated its remote areas, FATA, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, very differently than the heartlands of Punjab and Sindh.
In 2014, Pakistan conducted Operation Zarb-E-Azb, a joint military offensive targeted against various Pashtun groups. This enormous operation was targeted at curbing terrorism and was superficially successful. The cost of this success was enormous and many of its drawbacks were long-lasting, reported JustEarth News.
Almost a million people in North Waziristan along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were displaced, countless lives were lost and livelihoods destroyed.
