Swat Valley is a scenic tourist destination and attracted tourists from all over the world in the pre-9/11 times. When the US and NATO invaded Afghanistan, the reactionaries in Waziristan as well as Swat, Malakand, Chitral and other areas were given the responsibility of misleading the youth in the name of religion. Maulvi Sufi Muhammad of Swat sent a large number of youths from Swat and other areas to fight in Afghanistan. Swat was pushed into crisis by organized planning and attacks from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan under Maulvi Fazlullah, who had been preaching openly through FM radio. After 2008, when the military operation commenced in Swat and other areas, the terrorists had already escaped. The Pashtuns in Swat became the primary victims of these operations, and a pattern of extrajudicial killings, and forced disappearances was established.
A 70-year-old resident Naseer Ahmed Khan said in the presence of PTM chief Manzoor Pashtan in a function of PTM Swat that his five sons Shah Zain, Hazrat, Iqbal, Jahanzeb, Iqbal and Sarad went missing. Naseer Ahmed Khan said that he went to all government offices, courts, DC office, and till now he had not been heard. “What is our fault? My sons have not committed any sin that they have been missing for so long”, he lamemted.
There is a house in Dele Bara Bandi area of Swat where youth and elders were forcibly disappeared. Some of the names dcumented by the PTM include Mahmood – son of Abdul Rasheed, Idris – son of Mahmood, Younis – son of Mahmood, Fazl Wadud – son of Abdul Shaheed, Uzir Rahman – son of Abdul Shaheed, Nisar – son of Abdul Sattar, Sultan Mahmood – son of Abdul Rasheed, Habib Rahman – son of Sultan Mahmood, are a handful of names in the long list of missing persons.
On July 7, 2009, senior officers and personnel of the armed forces picked up these persons from their homes, but today, it is almost fourteen years and no one has been held accountable as of now.
In the presence of PTM Chief Manzoor Pashteen during his rally in Swat, a tailor named Bilal shared that his young son Hazratullah, was forcibly disappeared on March 21, 2011 from the limits of Sohrab Goth Sachal Police Station, Karachi, the capital city of Sindh province. Bilal said that for the last 12 years, he had been constantly visiting various government departments, courts and the Missing Persons Commission of the State of Pakistan. His wife lost her mental balance as she could not withstand the shock.
Thousands of youths were forcibly disappeared in Swat district, and the sad fact is that the provincial government and the federal government appear helpless. According to PTM Central Committee for Human Rights Truth Commission, families of these thousands of missing persons have appeared in every constitutional and legal institution of this country, but every government is silent on the issue of missing persons. In the previous government, a bill was presented in the National Assembly on the issue of missing persons. According to former federal human rights minister Shireen Mazari, even the missing persons bill mysteriously went missing, which is another way of saying that the military establishment prevented the government from legislating on the issue. The issue of missing persons is a serious matter in Pakistan and the PTM has long demanded that legislation be enacted to punish the elements involved in it, but with pressure from the establishment and political expediency, the legislation is not being enacted.