PTM meeting in Bara slams atrocities against Pakhtuns

BARA: At a public meeting organized here Sunday by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), the speakers criticized what they called atrocities committed against the Pakhtuns in the country.

The meeting in Bara in Khyber Agency was attended by tribesmen and political activists belonging to different parties.

Ali Wazir, one of the PTM leaders, announced that a historic gathering would be held in Peshawar soon. He alleged that the government and intelligence agencies had pressured the PTM for raising the main issues confronting the Pakhtuns in Pakistan. "A large number of people, especially tribal people, have been participating in our movement after the successful public meeting held recently in Quetta," Ali Wazir said. He said the movement would continue till acceptance of PTM demands.

The speakers said that the Pakhtun tribes belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Fata had been treated badly for the last several years. They demanded an end to racial profiling of the Pakhtuns and providing justice and compensation to those who were extra-judicially killed. The speakers sought justice for late Naqeebullah Mehsud and arrest of fugitive Rao Anwar Ahmad.