A large number of PTM workers and the public were present outside the private mortuary on March 14th in Karachi, and Pashtun youths were also demanding the handover of the bodies of the two Pashtun youths present in the mortuary. The police refused to hand over the dead bodies to the family members. Karachi is the capital of Sindh province of Pakistan. The population of Karachi is more than 12 million. Karachi has a large population of Pashtun people, along with various ethnic groups. In the 1990s, Karachi was notoriously known for extrajudicial killings. Karachi is remembered for Naqeeb Mehsud, whose tragic killing in a staged encounter brought the PTM into existence. Karachi Police calls the Pashtuns by the moniker “Net Cash Check”. Whenever an innocent Pashtun is abducted, it is easy to extort money from the family of that person. The former Senior Superintendent of Police from Karachi’s Malir District Rao Anwar is accused of killing over 400 people including Naqeebullah Mehsud.
On the 14th of March, a sit-in was held with the dead bodies of two Pashtun youth under the leadership of PTM Provincial Co-ordinator Noorullah Tareen and Central Committee member Hidayatullah in Sohrab Goth area of Karachi. Hundreds of people participated in this sit-in. PTM is a major human rights movement which is struggling for the basic human rights of Pashtuns in particular and all the oppressed in general and against the anti-human policies of the state. On March 12, 2023, the security agency (Counter Terror Department) announced that two terrorists were killed in an encounter with security agencies in the area of Mangopir Northern Bypass during the night time. The killed persons were identified as Abdul Waheed, son of Mali Khan and Iriadullah son of Abdul Qadir. Sindh Provincial Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon held a press conference on March 13 and declared the CTD competition a success for the security agencies. When the families of the victims came to know about this, they contacted PTM Sindh and presented all the evidence. The truth is that Abdul Waheed was abducted from Sohrab Goth, Machar Colony, and Iriadullah from Sohrab Goth Jamali Goth on March 7 from their homes. On March 9, Ariadullah’s cousin Hassan, son of Ajab Noor, was also abducted. The names of the arrested persons who were exposed in the fake CTD contest are Mehran and Abdul Aziz. On March 7, at 7:30 a.m., Mehran and his two brothers Muhammad Rehman, Aftab, a nephew of Abrar, were abducted in a police vehicle from the police car at Mehran’s house in Shah Latif Town. 60 thousand rupees were also taken away. On March 9, Mehran’s family submitted a preliminary report to Shah Latif police station that four people were abducted by people in plainclothes. Three days later Mehran’s two brothers Mohammad Rehman, Aftab and his nephew Abrar were released from Shahra Faisal and the officials of the same institution told Mohammad Rahman that his brother Mehran would be released. In Karachi, cases of forced disappearances have been on the rise for some time now. Many Pashtun and Baloch youths are being forcibly disappearing in Karachi. Two demands were raised by PTM in the sit-in. The PTM demanded a “Judicial Commission” consisting of judges of the Court should be formed and five Pashtun youths who had been disappeared in Karachi in the last few days should be recovered immediately. PTM’s negotiating committee was led by Noorullah Tareen, central committee member Hidayatullah Pashteen, Haqyar Mehsud, Aurangzeb and the family members of the martyr, while DC Tabriz Murri, SP Zubair Nazar Sheikh negotiated on behalf of the Sindh government and administration. DSP Sahl Faiz and two persons in plain clothes (whose identity was not disclosed) were involved. The administration had accepted the demands for days. PTM had handed over the list of five missing persons to the administration in the last few days, out of which Zir Ali, son of Taj Ali, was picked up from Shah Latif on February 19 and was recovered at night. Hassan’s son Ajab Noor was picked up on March 9 and recovered at night. Faridullah son of Sare Khan was picked up on 13 January 2023 from Lyari Sector 36 and is still missing. Atwar Khan was picked up from Janjhal Goth ground on March 9, and is still missing. The PTM demands that such incidents should be halted with pressure from the federal government and the judiciary. The Rao Anwar case has already caused much anguish to the Pashtun community and such an environment of impunity affects the morale of the community as a whole.