Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Wednesday raised the issue of alleged discrimination against and profiling of Pakhtuns by the Islamabad administration with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Almost 1,400 suspects have been arrested by the Islamabad and Rawalpindi police in a crackdown on the PTI protesters who had marched on the federal capital last week before finally hastily retreating. The police have filed multiple cases against those involved in the protest.
Amid the situation, there have been allegations that the Islamabad administration and authorities have been allegedly targeting Pakhtuns and people from KP in the crackdown. A hashtag in solidarity with Pakhtuns also trended on social media platform X.
The Islamabad police rubbished the allegations in a post on X in the early hours of today, terming them “negative propaganda”. “During the recent law and order situation, no peaceful Pakhtun was ever detained. Legal action has been taken against miscreants and not on the basis of any nationality or region,” it said.
Formalising the sentiment, KP government Barrister Muhammad Saif lashed out today at what he called the Islamabad police’s “biased attitude” towards ordinary Pakhtuns based on provincialism and nationality.
In a post on X earlier today, he said: “The fake government is promoting ethnic prejudice in its hatred of Imran Khan. Pakhtuns are being subjected to oppression and violence in the twin cities.
“Pashto speakers are being put in prisoner vans. Poor Pakhtuns are being oppressed by posing them off as PTI workers. The fake government is promoting hatred in its grudge against Imran Khan.”
Subsequently, a post on the KP government’s X account said CM Gandapur took up the issue in a letter to PM Shehbaz, “expressing deep concern over the racial discrimination and unjustified arrests of innocent Pakhtuns in Islamabad”.
“I wish to bring to your attention a matter of concern regarding the treatment of Pakhtun labourers in Islamabad, particularly in relation to the arbitrary rounding up and the filing of unfounded ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act) FIRs against them. These individuals, who are primarily involved in low-paying jobs, have been unfairly targeted in the aftermath of the recent incidents involving peaceful political protests organised by PTI,” the letter reads.
More to follow.
