The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM)
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) is a peaceful human rights movement campaigning against extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances, discrimination and surveillance of the Pashtun community by the Pakistani authorities. Pashtuns in North-West Pakistan have been made especially vulnerable by the war against terror, unwillingly caught up and targeted in the battle between State security forces, the Taliban, and US – Afghanistan regional tensions. Their demand for the protection of the constitutional rights of Pashtuns, and their peaceful human rights work for the protection of their community have been met with hostility, criminalization and often violent reprisals by the Pakistani authorities.
Defenders investigating human rights violations in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) face a particularly hostile climate, as they are targeted by security agencies, religious groups, militants, and armed gangs.
