Amnesty Int’l & PTM’s role in anti-Pak narratives
Publishing date: 02 December 2025
Published in: Pak Observer
PAKISTAN has endured decades of terrorism, paying a heavy price in human lives and national security.
Over 94,000 citizens—including soldiers, police personnel, tribal elders and innocent civilians—have been martyred in the fight against extremist groups. Despite this staggering human cost, Amnesty International consistently chooses a selective narrative, ignoring Pakistan’s sacrifices while amplifying the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a group whose leadership actively promotes anti-state rhetoric, echoes foreign-backed narratives and indirectly shields forces undermining Pakistan’s sovereignty.
The PTM’s political agenda is transparent. It magnifies every criticism of Pakistan while overlooking the devastation wrought by terrorist attacks, from schools and mosques to tribal jirgas. Its leaders glorify sanctuaries for cross-border militants and provide a platform for propaganda aligned with RAW-backed networks. Amnesty International, by echoing these narratives without verification, has effectively become a megaphone for foreign interests, presenting selective outrage as human rights advocacy.
The issue becomes more glaring when examining their silence on specific terrorist attacks. Neither Amnesty International nor PTM condemned the assault in Islamabad, the attack on Cadet College Wana in Waziristan or the strike on the Federal Constabulary headquarters in Peshawar. This consistent omission is not merely negligence; it reveals a troubling complicity. When organizations tasked with advocating human rights fail to condemn acts of terror that claim innocent lives, they tacitly endorse anti-state agenda and compromise moral authority.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s security forces operate under extraordinarily dangerous conditions, risking their lives daily to dismantle terrorist networks, prevent suicide bombings and safeguard millions of civilians. Yet, these efforts rarely receive acknowledgment from Amnesty. By selectively highlighting PTM activists while ignoring the sacrifices of Pakistan’s citizens and defenders, the organization reduces human rights to a tool for advancing foreign political objectives. This selective activism erodes credibility and exposes a fundamental bias.
Pakistan has the right—and indeed the duty—to investigate individuals and networks connected to extremist groups or foreign intelligence agencies. The PTM has repeatedly crossed red lines by promoting narratives that coincide with adversarial agenda. Amnesty’s defence of PTM’s actions serves as a shield for foreign interests while undermining Pakistan’s fight against terrorism. No entity that turns a blind eye to 94,000 martyrs, children killed in school and soldiers defending national borders has the moral authority to lecture Pakistan on human rights.
Ultimately, Amnesty International’s bias and PTM’s foreign-backed agenda are inseparable. By weaponizing human rights narratives selectively, both distort reality, ignore real victims of terrorism and obscure Pakistan’s immense sacrifices. Silence in the face of attacks in Islamabad, Wana and Peshawar underscores this complicity. The international community must distinguish between genuine human rights advocacy and orchestrated campaigns designed to delegitimize a sovereign nation. Justice cannot be selective; Pakistan’s struggle against terrorism deserves recognition, not politically motivated outrage.