On May 26, a symbolic protest walk was held in City Park Skardu against the occupation of forests and rest houses. The protesters voiced strong opposition to the Pakistan Army’s attempts to seize the land of Pakistan-Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (POGB) under the guise of green tourism.

They accused the military of exploiting POGB’s resources for its own gain, enforced through the threat of arms.

Separately, Najaf Ali, Chairman of the Awami Action Committee Baltistan, led a protest in Skardu City Park against the occupation by a non-local company. He also instructed the construction staff to cease their activities in the park.

Meanwhile on May 27, an important meeting was convened at Jamia Masjid Gamba Skardu, called by the Deputy Imam of Friday Prayers. The meeting was attended by members of the Awami Action Committee and local leaders. During the gathering, there was a consensus to launch a door-to-door public awareness campaign. The participants agreed to initiate a movement soon to resist the military’s efforts to seize the region’s resources.

The protestors emphasized that the resources of Gilgit-Baltistan, from the riverbanks to the mountain peaks, rightfully belong to the local people and that any occupation by external forces is unacceptable.

It is worth mentioning that POGB started to boil after the occupying government put 20 guest houses and 16 forest Nurseries land to a non-native private company, allegedly a favourite of Pak Army. The sole purpose of such lease is the land grab to make the native population landless and minority in their own land, thereby making them voiceless.

Pashtuns across Pakistan, along with other human rights activists, commemorated the victims of the Kala Qamar massacre and paid tribute to them on Sunday (May 26).

In North Waziristan, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) held a public meeting to honor the martyrs. The organization’s leader, Manzoor Pashteen, was present during the meeting.

The massacre took place on May 26, 2019, when the Pakistan Army opened fire on peaceful PTM protesters at the Khar Qamar check post in North Waziristan. The brutal act resulted in the deaths of 15 individuals and left 45 others injured.

The Pakistan Army attempted to blame the PTM, claiming that the protesters had attacked the army, leading to the firing. However, these claims were unfounded, and no evidence was provided to support them. Following the incident, several PTM activists, including Members of the National Assembly Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, were arrested.

Videos from the incident showed that the activists were unarmed and protesting against the brutal torture of an elderly woman by the Pakistan Army on May 25, 2019, as well as the ongoing subversion and human rights violations against Pashtuns.

At the time of the massacre, the PTM had been established for almost a year, with its leaders and activists facing false charges of treason and other accusations. The Pakistan Army used brutal force in an attempt to curb the movement. However, the resilience of the PTM has made it a strong force against Pakistani oppression.

The Khar Qamar massacre serves as a stark reminder of the high price paid for raising one’s voice against the Pakistan Army’s oppression and human rights violations.

In less than a year of the Jaranwala horror, the Christian community in Pakistan is once again reeling under the threat to their very existence in the Islamic Republic. The latest ordeal was witnessed in Sargodha, where a Christian man was nearly lynched, his belongings were looted and his shoe factory was set ablaze, all because he was accused of blasphemy.

Even more concerning is the role of authorities in Pakistan, which has not only become a mute spectator during such incidents but also try to sweep the issue under the carpet, a Pakistani norm which was evident in Jaranwala also.

Pak media hesitant to name TLP

Pakistani media by and large projected it as an attack by an agitated mob against blasphemy, ignoring the fact that the mob largely comprised the extremists of Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP).

The police are now busy arresting perpetrators, 44 have been identified. But how Pakistan’s law and order works is no hidden fact. The point here is that Nazir Masih’s house, factory, and entire Mujahid colony, where he lived, were vandalised in front of the police but no action was taken and so this FIR and all follow-up investigation is just a pretence of law enforcement.

The ordeal didn’t end here, after nearly killing Masih, the TLP extremists then turned towards the ambulance he was taken to the hospital in. They attacked it with bricks and vandalised it to prevent Masih from being taken to the hospital.

Blasphemy: Pakistani law, policing by mob

Notably, the Blasphemy law in Pakistan provisions the death sentence for the accused. Surprisingly, no accused has been legally sentenced so far; however, scores of them are lynched by the radicalised mob.

This clearly tells that Pakistan is hell for minorities. A large section of society, the dominant political force and authorities all are guided by Islamic fundamentalism which advocates for the purge of religious minorities and considers it a sacred duty to Islamise them.