Pakistan: The Pashtuns in Pakistan have been facing discrimination in the brazen form of violation of human rights and have been subjected to enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses by the actors of state and non-state, said IFFRAS (International Forum for Rights and Security).
As per the IFFRAS report, the decision of the court was not found surprising as many eyewitnesses were forced to change their statement at the last moment to save Anwar from imprisonment.
In addition, the acquittal of Rao is another example of the Pakistani authorities, including the judiciary, blatantly discriminating against the people of ethnic Pashtun community minorities.
As per the updates, Mehsud, a 27-year-old Pashtun and model from South Waziristan, was also killed in a “fake” encounter performed by the police at an abandoned farmhouse on the Karachi outskirts along with three other victims.
Furthermore, it was reported by an inquiry team that the incident was orchestrated by the police and conducted a “fake encounter”. As per the IFFRAS, such fake encounters incidents against the Pashtuns of Pakistan are common across the country, particularly in Karachi.
However, the killing of Mehsud drew attention to the discrimination and marginalization commonly faced by Pakistani Pashtuns, specifically in the context of the “war on terror” along with the military operations in the erstwhile Federally Administrated Tribal Areas.
Moreover, the legal representative of Mehsud expressed apprehensions ever since the prosecution witnesses of the court case, who were Karachi police officers and started retracting their original statements against Rao Anwar and his team.
As per the IFFRAS, along with the Rao Anwar known history of extrajudicial encounters over 400 in Karachi, he was released by the court. In the end, the Pashtun leader, Mohsin Dawar, took to the tweeter and stated that “the acquittal of Rao Anwar and others involved in the cold-blooded murder of the Naqeebullah Mehsud is a shameful incident.”