Islamabad, May 27 (IANS) A leading international human rights organisation on Wednesday expressed grave concern over an alarming pattern of enforced disappearance of Pashtun human rights activists in Pakistan amid a wider crackdown by the state authorities.

According to Amnesty International, Fareedullah Afridi, a member of the civil rights movement Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was abducted on the evening of May 18 from Peshawar city in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Condemning the incident, the rights body noted that the police have refused to file any First Information Report (FIR) nor conducted any investigation into his disappearance despite requests from the family.

“Fareedullah Afridi is not the first PTM activist to be abducted without a trace. Amnesty International is concerned that Fareedullah’s disappearance fits into a worrying pattern of enforced disappearance of PTM activists and crackdown by state authorities,” the rights body stated.

Amnesty International called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately carry out an effective, independent and transparent investigation into Afridi’s abduction.

“If he is in custody of the authorities, his whereabouts should be disclosed; he must be released immediately, and those responsible for his disappearance be held accountable in line with international human rights standards,” it added.

Last month, in a letter addressed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Amnesty International voiced serious concern over the disappearance of activists Hanif Pashteen and Noor Ullah Tareen, members of the PTM, who were taken into police custody on November 12, 2025, while leaving the Provincial Assembly in Peshawar.

The rights body urged the Pakistani authorities to release both the human rights defenders and to immediately disclose their whereabouts to their families.

Amnesty International warned that the two activists’ secret detention raises the risk of torture, ill treatment, and other serious human rights violations.

“The lack of transparency about their whereabouts and the conditions of their detentions heightens these concerns. Their continued disappearance is part of a larger crackdown against the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and its members, including arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances,” it stated.

Highlighting the widespread abuses by Pakistani authorities, Amnesty International said, “Their enforced disappearance is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of repression against PTM activists. There have been repeated instances of arbitrary and unlawful detention, harassment, intimidation, and enforced disappearances targeting PTM members.”

–IANS

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