“Systematic Persecution of Pashtuns in Pakistan and the Nonviolent Resistance of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM)”

#Partner event

The Geneva press club is pleased to welcome the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) on the occasion of the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, for a side event with :

• Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen, PTM Leader
• Maiwand Yousofi, coordinator PTM Germany
• Abdulqahar Hemat, PTM Germany Deputy Coordinator
• Gharsanai Watanyar, PTM Member
• Rangeza Noor, Civil Society Activist
• Malaiz Daud, PTM Germany Member

To participate, please register using the links below :

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Read the report – Pashtun Missing Persons: A Grave Human Rights Crisis in Pakistan
By PTM Germany – Malaiz Daud

We call on all UN bodies, international NGOs, state representatives, and the global human rights community to urgently address the grave and escalating violations against the ethnic Pashtun population in Pakistan.

For decades, Pashtuns have endured widespread atrocities committed by the Pakistani military, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, collective punishment, demolition of property, and indiscriminate violence during security operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former tribal areas and Balochistan. Tens of thousands are reported missing, and entire families have been displaced by relentless military campaigns, often justified on the grounds of counterterrorism but resulting in gross harm to innocent civilians.

Amid these ongoing abuses, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) emerged as a beacon of peaceful resistance and constitutional advocacy for Pashtun rights. PTM calls for justice for victims of enforced disappearances, protection from abuse at checkpoints, accountability for unlawful killings, and an end to ethnically motivated humiliation. The movement has remained steadfastly nonviolent, organizing peaceful assemblies and legal campaigns despite facing severe repression.

In October 2024, the Pakistani government imposed a sweeping ban on PTM under anti terrorism laws, branding it a “proscribed organization,” and unleashing a wave of arbitrary detentions, torture, police violence, and censorship. Journalists, lawyers, and activists supporting PTM have been threatened and criminalized, silencing those who dare to demand justice. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have condemned these actions, noting the peaceful character of PTM and the disproportionate, illegal use of force against its members.

We urge the international community to:

• Demand an immediate repeal of the ban on PTM and a halt to the persecution of its
  members;
• Press for accountability and impartial investigations into extrajudicial killings, enforced
  disappearances, and military abuses in Pashtun regions;
• Call for restoration of civic freedoms, protection of journalists and lawyers, and
  adherence to international human rights standards.

To further highlight the dire human rights situation in Pakistan and the ongoing persecution of Pashtuns there, PTM is organizing a press conference at the Geneva Press Club on the September 18, 2025 at 4:00 pm. The conference will be addressed by the leader of PTM, Mr. Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen, whose speech will be followed up by short inputs by members of PTM in Europe providing details about the ban on PTM and persecution of its leaders, the situation of the missing persons, lack of justice for those killed in staged operations by the Pakistani forces, the victims the of Pakistan army’s landmines in the erstwhile tribal areas and severe restrictions on movement across the Durand Line

There will be a Q&A session after the speeches.