A member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), also called Pashtun Protection Movement, a social movement for Pashtun human rights, based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, claims that Pakistani police are responsible for the death of Arman Loni, a senior member and leader of the movement.
Arman Loni was one of the leaders of the PTM who was killed after returning from a sit-in protest outside Loralai Press Club in Baluchistan on Saturday, reports suggest.
The sit-in protest had been staged in protest against a recent terror attack. Pakistan media reports stated Loni had been sitting in a park after the protest when police arrested him.
Loni had attended the sit-in protest along with his sister, Wranga Loni.
“He (Arman Loni) was killed by police… This is not the first incident which has happened. Many youths like Arman have been killed and have gone missing like Arman over the past 70 years,” Wranga said in a recorded video obtained by TOLOnews.
One of the demands of the PTM is finding the individuals who have gone missing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan over the past several years.
Meanwhile, addressing a gathering in Karachi, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, announced his support of the demands – by PTM members.
He said the missing individuals should be returned to their families, adding that “this is not a regional issue but an issue related to all Pakistan and its citizens”.
According to PTM members, almost 30,000 people from the two provinces – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan – have gone missing over the past 10 years and Pakistan’s army and ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency, appear to be behind the disappearances.
However, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has said that the number of missing individuals is 1,532.