Arman Loni | |
|---|---|
ارمان لوڼی | |
| Born | 1983 |
| Died | (aged 35) |
| Resting place | Killa Saifullah, Balochistan, Pakistan[3] |
| Alma mater | University of Balochistan, Quetta[4] |
| Occupation(s) | professor, human rights activist, poet[1] |
| Employer(s) | Degree College Quetta, Degree College Killa Saifullah[4] |
| Organization | Pashtun Progressive Writers[5] |
| Political party | Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party |
| Movement | Pashtun Tahafuz Movement[2] |
| Children | 3[4] |
| Father | Mohammad Ismail Loni[6] |
| Relatives | Wranga Loni[1] (sister) |
Mohammad Ibrahim Arman Loni (Pashto: محمد ابراهیم ارمان لوڼی), commonly known as Arman Loni (or Arman Luni), was a Pakistani teacher of Pashto literature, poet, and one of the founding leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).[1] Arman died on 2 February 2019 after a clash with the police, which followed his participation at a protest sit-in outside Loralai Press Club.[7][2]
The four-day sit-in had been organized by PTM activists, including Arman and his sister Wranga Loni, to protest against the 2019 Loralai attack, in which eight policemen and a civilian had been killed by the Pakistani Taliban on 29 January 2019.[8][9] His family and PTM activists said that as the police attacked him and other activists, a policeman struck Arman on the head with a gun, causing him to collapse.[1][10][11] However, according to a police spokesman, the death was caused by a heart attack following clashes between protesters and police.[7] He died at the hospital.[12] The postmortem reports indicated no torture marks on his body but there was a blood clot in his brain.[13] In a parliamentary panel, senators Farhatullah Babar and Muhammad Ali Saif supported the claims made by Arman's family and said that according to their information, the postmortem noted some critical marks in his brain, indicating that the head injury had caused some blood clots in the brain which led to his death.[11][14] Mohsin Dawar, a parliamentarian and PTM leader, said that an application to lodge a first information report (FIR) for the murder was submitted against the prime suspect assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Attaur Rehman Tareen, a retired Pakistan Air Force officer.[15] The police, however, refused to lodge an FIR, which was criticized by Shireen Mazari, the federal Human Rights Minister.[11][16] On February 3, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan took notice of Arman's death and sought an official report from the commissioner of Zhob Division within 48 hours.[17]
On February 4, the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) and other allied political parties observed a 'shutter down' strike in Balochistan in protest against the murder.[18] PTM also held widespread protests in reaction to the murder, during which dozens of its activists, including Gulalai Ismail and Abdullah Nangyal, were arrested by Pakistani authorities.[19][20][21] The arrests received widespread criticism, including condemnation from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).[22][23][24] Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Pakistani officials to transparently investigate the death, with the former also calling on the authorities to immediately release the PTM activists arrested for protesting against the murder.[25][26][27] On 14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga in Bannu demanded that Arman's death be investigated by a credible judicial commission headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, and that the report be made public.[28]
rferl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).bbcur was invoked but never defined (see the help page).sa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).humsub was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Arman Loni died on Saturday after police tried to break up a four-day demonstration in the city of Loralai by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), which stages demonstrations nationwide against violence and disappearances carried out by the state.
Samaatv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).