Pashtun Council Canada protests outside Pakistan Consulate
Toronto [Canada], May 13 (ANI): The Pashtun Council of Canada staged a protest outside the Consulate General of Pakistan in Toronto to show their solidarity with the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and urged the Government of Pakistan to release PTM workers.
ANI
May 13, 2018 17:23 IST
Toronto [Canada], May 13 (ANI): The Pashtun Council of Canada staged a protest outside the Consulate General of Pakistan in Toronto to show their solidarity with the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and urged the Government of Pakistan to release PTM workers.
They chanted anti-Pakistan slogans such as - "Yeh Jo Dehsht Gardi Hey, is ke piechey verdi hey."
A protester said, "We strongly condemn those who don't let do us do peaceful protests in Karachi. We going to pass this message to everyone that we will be with you, we will all be with you and all will stand shoulder to shoulder for conducting a peaceful protest and demand the release of missing persons of PTM."
The second protester asserted that Islamabad is harassing all PTM leaders and preventing them from undertaking peaceful protests.
"This peaceful protest is against the operation and harassment by the security agencies in Pakistan. The protest is against those tactics of the security agencies of Pakistan who are harassing the PTM leadership and activists," the second protester said.
He claimed that around 150 PTM activists were arrested before this protest.
"150 PTM activists were arrested yesterday. The leader of PTM Manzoor Pashteen was offloaded from the Islamabad airport. He was stopped from boarding the plane to Karachi, where he wanted to address a rally. After the airplane took off, he was later allowed to go. Currently, he is going to Karachi by road. We strongely condemn those policies of state to curtail the movement of PTM activists and leadership. This gathering here was on a short notice. We will organise larger protests throughout Europe and North America. We are in touch with pashtun organisations and peace-loving communities," he explained.
A third protester launched a blistering attack on the Pakistani security agencies, claiming that they wanted to destroy and create instability in Pakistan. He called for a truth and reconciliation commission to be formed to investigate the abuses of the Pashtun community, adding that the PTM was there to save the country.
The PTM was started by young Pashtun activists in 2014, who are demanding an end to what they say are human rights violations by authorities in the Pakistan's tribal regions.
The leaders have been calling for the removal of military checkpoints in tribal areas and an end to "enforced disappearances" in which suspects are detained by security forces without due process. (ANI)
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