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Pakistan bans Pashtun group as government cracks down on dissent

Published
6 months agoon
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Ekwutos BlogPakistani authorities have unleashed a draconian crackdown on dissent, breaking up opposition protests with violence and mass arrests and banning a movement to promote the rights of the ethnic Pashtun community under terrorism laws.
Hundreds of riot police fired teargas and charged with batons as supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of the incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, gathered to protest over the weekend in the cities of Islamabad and Lahore.
Dozens of PTI figures, including prominent leaders and lawyers, were arrested and hundreds more were charged under terrorism laws, with Khan among those named.
Khan’s supporters took to the streets to demand the release of their leader and to call for an independent judiciary. Khan, 71, has been held in jail since August 2023 on upwards of 100 charges of corruption and terrorism that he alleges are politically motivated. Khan was earlier sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets but the courts overturned the verdict.
Related: North-west Pakistan in grip of deadly Taliban resurgence
The weekend’s events marked a notable escalation of a crackdown on PTI that started several months ago. The crackdown began before February’s election, which was marred by allegations against the military establishment that it had rigged results to prevent the PTI from taking power.
Among the senior PTI figures picked up by authorities on the weekend was Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. His party alleged he was “disappeared” from Islamabad for more than 24 hours before reappearing on Sunday night in parliament, where he claimed he had been held by police and paramilitary forces.
On Sunday night, the interior ministry suddenly announced that the government would be banning the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a peaceful organisation that has long championed the rights of Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtuns.
PTM has been highly critical of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment and its role in abuses and enforced disappearances in the Pashtun-dominated areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
In a brief statement, the ministry said that PTM had been declared a terrorist organisation due to “certain activities that are prejudicial to the peace and security of the country”. Pakistan’s human rights commission condemned the ban, emphasising that PTM was a peaceful organisation and describing the government’s decision as “neither transparent nor warranted”.
PTM has recently begun to mobilise in large numbers and had planned a historic three-day national gathering this week in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The national gathering was planned as a response to the worsening security situation and increase in militant attacks in the region, as well as to challenge abuses committed by the military against Pashtuns. In an unusual move, PTI and other opposition parties had agreed to join the event in a show of unity.
Hundreds of PTM members have been arrested in recent days, and the organisation’s founder and leader, Manzoor Pashteen, is now in hiding. Fida Wazir, a PTM leader, said the group still intended to go ahead with the event, despite police and paramilitary forces attempting to break it up with violence and by setting fire to their camps.
“We will challenge the illegal ban in the court tomorrow,” said Wazir. “We are hopeful that the court will overturn the unjust and unconstitutional ban.”
The government is taking an increasingly iron-fisted approach to all forms of opposition even as it is weakened by growing economic and security problems.
It is ruled by an unwieldy coalition of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and its former rival the Pakistan People’s party (PPP), and is seen as weak and beholden to the powerful military, which has long been accused of interfering in political affairs. The prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is increasingly unpopular with the public as the country grapples with sky-high inflation and an economic crisis.
Militant attacks have continued to rise in Pakistan’s border areas in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of neighbouring Afghanistan, with little sign of the security situation improving. Almost 1,000 people have been killed in militant attacks and counter-terrorism operations in the past three months alone, the majority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and neighbouring Balochistan.
Senior figures in PML-N have repeatedly sought to blame Khan and PTI for the country’s woes. In July, the government said they would be banning Khan’s party but have yet to act on the threat.
This week, Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N chief minister of Punjab and the niece of the prime minister, said PTI was a “terrorist group that repeatedly is attacking its own country”, adding: “The state should treat the PTI like terrorists – otherwise, it will be too late.”
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EVENTS
Lagos Court Jails Man Three Months for Non-Declaration of $30,000 at Airport

Published
2 hours agoon
April 3, 2025By
Ekwutos Blog
Justice Deinde I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, convicted and sentenced Okunfulure Olusola Steve to three Months imprisonment for money laundering.
The convict was arrested on March 28, 2025 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, for false currency declaration to the tune of $30,0000.
The NCS had, on Friday, March 28, 2025, handed him over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Okotie Eboh, Ikoyi, Lagos for further investigations.
Consequently, he was arraigned on Wednesday on one-count charge bordering on money laundering.
The count reads: “That you, Okunfulure Olusola Steve, on the 28th day of March, 2025 in Lagos, within the Jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, failed to make a declaration of the sum of $20,000 (Twenty Thousand United States Dollars) to the Nigerian Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, and thereby committed an offence Contrary to and Punishable under Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
The defendant pleaded “guilty” to the charge when it was read to him.
Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C. Okezie called on Felicia Paul, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case.
Paul, while giving details of how she knew the defendant, told the court that the NCS handed him over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC on Friday, March 28, 2025.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Paul also told the court that the defendant was arrested with the sum of $30,000, which he failed to declare. She further told the court that “ his statement was recorded under caution and was served with the bail conditions.”
Thereafter, she identified the defendant’s statement, the handing-over note from the NCS, the arresting officer’s statement as well as the sum of $30,000(Thirty Thousand US Dollars) to the EFCC.
Okozie then sought to tender, in evidence, the documents.
Justice Dipeolu admitted and marked them as exhibits 1,2,3 and 4 and held that “ I have read the exhibits, the statement of the defendant, and I found him guilty. He is accordingly convicted as charged.”
Okezie thereafter prayed that the undeclared sum of $20,000 be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria and that the defendant be jailed.
Defence counsel, Joel Ogundere, while addressing the court, said that the defendant “is a first-time offender and is not aware of the disclosure policy . He is a family man and has responsibilities. His bank account shows the legitimacy of the funds.”
He also prayed the court to “ magnanimously waive any prison sentence”, adding that the convict would not mind forfeiting the sum of money or pay a fine.
Justice Dipeolu convicted and sentenced the defendant to three months imprisonment, with effect from the date of his arrest on March 28,2025. The Judge also ordered that the money be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Steve, a departing passenger on Delta Airline to Atlanta, United States had declared that he was not in possession of any sum of money in foreign currency but in Naira, while being profiled at the Currency Declaration Desk.
However, the sum of $30,000 undeclared was found on him during a search conducted by operatives of the NCS.
He was subsequently handed over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC for further investigations, a development that led to his arraignment and conviction.
EVENTS
Nigerians in US to protest at White House over emergency rule in Rivers State

Published
7 hours agoon
April 3, 2025By
Ekwutos Blog
A coalition of Nigerian activists in the United States, under the Democratic Movement, DM, has called on global leaders, the United Nations and the African Union to intervene in what it described as a blatant attack on democracy in Rivers State.
The pro-democracy movement also announced a planned rally at the United States White House to protest the declaration of emergency rule in the oil-rich state.
The coalition is demanding the reversal of the emergency rule imposed on Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, the reinstatement of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and the restoration of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The group also called on President Donald Trump to engage with Nigerian authorities and call for the immediate restoration of constitutional order.
A statement, on Thursday by the Coalition, signed by Cosmos Achief, its President, said the protest to the US white house aims to draw global attention to the “direct assault on democracy and the will of the people.”
The statement read, “We cannot sit back while an elected governor is removed, an entire legislature is suspended, and an unelected administrator is imposed. These are dangerous precedents that threaten Nigeria’s democracy,” he said.
The coalition said the protest will take place in Washington, D.C., with demonstrators marching to the White House and the U.S. Department of State to submit petitions demanding international intervention.
“The world needs to see what is happening in Rivers State. A democratically elected government has been suspended under the guise of emergency rule. We are urging President Donald Trump to engage with Nigerian authorities and call for the immediate restoration of constitutional order,” the statement added.
“The president must understand that his actions could lead to serious diplomatic consequences. This move is a step toward dictatorship, and Nigeria risks facing international sanctions if democratic principles are not respected,” Achief warned.
The demonstration is expected to draw the attention of Nigerians in the diaspora, civil rights activists, and supporters of democracy who share concerns about governance in Nigeria.
EVENTS
Former President Muhammadu Buhari sends his heartfelt condolences to the family of the of Alhaji Abbas Sunusi, Galadiman Kano, who passed away yesterday.

Published
1 day agoon
April 2, 2025By
Ekwutos Blog
Former President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his heartfelt condolences to the family of Alhaji Abbas Sunusi, the Galadiman Kano, who passed away yesterday.
In a gesture of solidarity, Buhari also offered his sympathies to the Kano Emirate Council, the government, and the people of Kano State.
This move is reminiscent of Buhari’s previous condolences to the people and government of Kano State, following the passing of notable figures such as Alhaji Ibrahim El-Yakub, a former Federal Commissioner of Water Resources

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