The Pakistani regime has stepped up its offensive against Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with incidents of targeted killing, firing and bombings happening on a daily basis. On July 29 soldiers of the Pakistan Army started indiscriminate firing on peaceful protestors at Bajaur and killed two Pashtuns. All approach roads to Bannu have now been blocked and the Paki soldiers have launched a massive search operation (in the garb of security measures) to nab any dissenting Pashtun who opposes Rawalpindi’s loot of minerals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“An unannounced curfew has been imposed in Bannu by these wardiwale dahshatgard (terrorists in uniform of the Pak Army). Nobody is allowed to step out of their homes. Everything is blocked. Pashtuns will not tolerate this, inshallah we will fight back,” a Pashtun activist told News Intervention requesting anonymity. This new wave of attack on unarmed Pashtuns in Bajaur and Bannu and other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continues despite assurances of ceasefire by the Paki regime.
Pakistan Army’s new-found policy to eliminate Pashtuns silently and steadily is an effort to curb all dissent and resistance in Pashtunistan in order to loot mineral resources and marble wealth spread across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Several industry estimates suggest that Pashtunistan has massive reserves of marble, granite, chromite, manganese, nephrite, garnet, quartz and emeralds that is worth billions of dollars. Whenever Pashtuns oppose the plunder of their resources Rawalpindi announces ‘security operations’ from Waziristan to Bajaur. These unannounced ‘security raids’ are conducted to forcibly displace Pashtuns from their homes and homeland and seize control of their land and resources.
The Pashtun National Jirga – a conglomeration of several Pashtun tribes, has called for a unified protest on August 1, Friday after the namaz.
“On Friday, August 1, after Friday prayers, all leaders and people of the Jirga in their respective regions and districts should raise their voices against the ongoing operations and massacres targeting the Pashtun homeland. A demand should be made for the immediate cessation of these operations. If this demand is not met promptly, the Pashtun National Jirga will make new decisions for future practical steps,” said Barkat Afridi, spokesperson of the Pashtun National Jirga in a social media post.
Social media is abuzz with Pashtuns urging their brethren across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to start a long march towards Islamabad. “In Bajaur, Khyber Tirah, North Waziristan, South Waziristan Upper, South Waziristan Lower, Bannu, Orakzai, Hangu, Kurram, Mohmand, F.R. Peshawar, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Zhob, Sherani, and all other war-torn areas of the Pashtun belt against oppression, tyranny, terrorism and military operations, on Friday, August 1, 2025, after Friday prayers, the Pashtun people will march in every district and tehsil, in every village, mosque, or road, towards the tehsil headquarters or the main market square of the tehsil to hold a public uprising,” said Pashtun Jirga in its letter.