Rights group demands immediate release of Pashtun human rights defenders in Pakistan
Islamabad, April 30 (IANS) A leading international human rights organisation on Thursday called on Pakistani authorities to release human rights defenders Hanif Pashteen and Noor Ullah Tareen and to immediately disclose their whereabouts to their families.
In a letter addressed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Amnesty International expressed grave concern over the disappearance of activists Hanif Pashteen and Noor Ullah Tareen, members of the civil rights movement Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), who were taken into police custody on November 12, 2025, while leaving the Provincial Assembly in Peshawar.
According to the rights body, they were attending a provincial assembly session, convened by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, as community representatives. After being denied the opportunity to present their views, they boycotted the session and left the assembly premises.
Shortly after their exit, it said, the delegation was intercepted by police personnel.
Citing eyewitness accounts, Amnesty International revealed that the capital city police officer of Peshawar was present at the scene and directed the seven members of the delegation, including Hanif Pashteen and Noor Ullah Tareen, to be taken in police vehicles.
Amnesty International noted that the whereabouts of all seven individuals were not known following their detention. Earlier, on January 18, 2026, it said, the other five forcibly disappeared people were released from Attock Jail in Punjab province.
“However, Hanif Pashteen and Noor Ullah Tareen remain subjected to enforced disappearance. Since then, their whereabouts remain unknown, and their family members have not been informed of any formal charges,” the rights body mentioned.
“Their enforced disappearance is a violation of the rights to liberty and to a fair trial and is in itself a violation of international law, raising serious concerns for their life, safety and well-being,” it added.
Amnesty International warned that the two activists’ secret detention raises the risk of torture, ill treatment, and other serious human rights violations.
“The lack of transparency about their whereabouts and the conditions of their detentions heightens these concerns. Their continued disappearance is part of a larger crackdown against the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and its members, including arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances,” it stated.
Highlighting the widespread abuses by Pakistani authorities, Amnesty International said, “Their enforced disappearance is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of repression against PTM activists. There have been repeated instances of arbitrary and unlawful detention, harassment, intimidation, and enforced disappearances targeting PTM members.”
–IANS
scor/sd/
