Here Is Why #PashtunLongMarch Has Been Trending On Twitter For Almost A Week Now!

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#PashtunLongMarch

#PashtunLongMarch has been trending on Twitter long enough for one to notice despite the undercoverage of the event by the mainstream media. A sizeable number of Pashtun community has gathered in front of the National Press Club, Islamabad since February 1st, 2018 to demand justice for Naqeeb Ullah Mehsud, a young Pashtun who became victim of extrajudicial killing in Karachi earlier last month.

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According to the following tweet, besides seeking justice for Naqeeb, the agenda of the peaceful sit-in also includes demands to curb racial profiling of Pashtuns and discrimination against their community.

Renowned social activist, M. Jibran Nasir also took to Twitter on Sunday to give voice to the protesters.

While the hashtag is being used to underscore the objectives of #PashtunLongMarch, many people including noted journalists and activists are tweeting out to highlight the blatant hypocrisy of mainstream media. Here is what Gulalai Ismail and others had to say!

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This is not the first time that Pakistani mainstream media has given selective coverage to the protests emerging in the country. That being said, this is surely the first time that this misconduct has been called out so loudly on the social media.

In fact, if it weren’t for alternate platforms like Twitter, we would have never known about the #PashtunLongMarch, let alone questioning its under-reporting.

Read: Zainab, Politics, Media And Us

We hope and pray that after this episode, media will try to do better by giving voice to the causes which are more important than a groom covering his own wedding!

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Whether a Pashtun, Punjabi, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Baloch, Saraiki or Muhajir, Pakistan must stand united and demand an end to racial profiling and extrajudicial killings of our citizens. The only way we can save innocent Naqeebs from becoming easy victims of the corrupt system is by standing firm with each other as a single, strong front.