{"id":2272,"date":"2018-02-22T15:46:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T15:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taand.com\/en\/?p=2272"},"modified":"2018-02-22T15:49:04","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T15:49:04","slug":"pashtun-spring-pits-human-rights-demands-against-war-on-terror-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taand.net\/en\/?p=2272","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pashtun Spring\u2019 pits human rights demands against War on Terror politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy:\u00a0\"The<\/p>\n

After years of tension and exclusion, it seems Pakistan\u2019s Pashtuns \u2013 the country\u2019s second-largest ethnic group \u2013 have had enough. In January, a large crowd began\u00a0protesting<\/a>\u00a0after 27-year-old shopkeeper\u00a0Naqibullah Mehsud<\/a>\u00a0was shot dead by a police officer in Karachi.<\/p>\n

The protesters marched from Khyber Patunkhwa province to Islamabad, where they staged a sit-in protest in front of the National Press Club. Although the sit-in has ended, protests have erupted elsewhere in Pakistan, and the movement has variously become known as the\u00a0Pashtun Long March<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Pashtun Spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The protesters are\u00a0demanding<\/a>\u00a0the arrest and punishment of Rao Anwar, the police officer who killed Naqibullah. They are further demanding an end to what they call state-imposed terrorism and militarism justified by War on Terror rhetoric. Other demands include the clearing of landmines in the tribal areas, and the return of missing people who have been taken into custody by Pakistani security forces.<\/p>\n