A Pashtun human rights activist’s open defiance of the Pakistan Army has rattled the nation and left many in the country worried over the mobilisation of Pashtuns. Over the past few months, Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen has become the face of the growing Pashtun Tahafuz Movement in a country where the majority kowtow to the military.
Pashteen addressed a huge rally outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on 18 August, where he sharply criticised the nation’s leaders as “slaves of army generals”. Wearing his trademark red and black ‘Mazari’ cap, now famously known as the ‘Pashteen’ cap, the “rockstar activist” demanded a separate country for minorities, which was welcomed with a loud cheer.
Pashteen’s 32-minute speech, in which he referred to the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, has gone viral.
“Bengalis took off your pants, but we are not Bengali. We are Pashtun and Baloch, we will take off your skin,” the activist roared before an enthusiastic crowd.
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A growing ‘problem’
This isn’t the first time when Pashteen’s speech has created an uproar.
Historian Ammar Ali Jan argues that Pashteen is fast becoming a problem for the State. A member of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement that seeks to address concerns about democracy in Pakistan, Ali Jan discussed the reasons behind Pashteen’s popularity in a detailed conversation with ThePrint over the phone.
“He has been raising taboo topics, particularly surrounding the peripheries of Pakistan—the enforced disappearances, the violence related to war on terror and other security-related issues that other politicians and social movements are scared to address,” says Ali Jan.
This, he adds, is partly why the movement appeals to both the Pashtuns and the broader democratic intelligentsia in the country.
About 18 per cent of Pakistanis are Pashtuns, who make up the largest ethnic community in neighbouring Afghanistan.
“The State is extremely paranoid about its response to the PTM because it feels that it is a separatist movement, where it tries to raise the spectre of Bangladesh again and again,” the historian adds.
What’s interesting, though, is that even in this extremely repressive atmosphere, Pashteen has been able to mobilise Pashtuns. He commands respect, especially among the younger generations, and the movement is growing despite media blackouts and repression.
Pashteen has now become a prominent player in Pakistan’s political arena, but he himself has claimed that power is not his goal.
“For him, this is a resistance movement for the rights of the tribal people,” lawyer-activist Haider Ali Butt told ThePrint.
Who is Manzoor Pashteen?
Over the past five years, Pashteen has been arrested and detained many times on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy.
According to Butt, the Pakistani government always comes down heavily on Pashteen and the PTM. “It is the only party against which sedition charges are invoked,” he said, referring to PTM supporters.
Pashteen grew up in a remote village in the mountainous terrain of South Waziristan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. PTM gained momentum in 2018, following the extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, an aspiring model from the Pashtun community.
At the time, Pashteen and his 20 friends organised a march to Islamabad to raise awareness about the atrocities inflicted on their community. Called the PTM’s Long March, it became a turning point in Pashteen’s career as a political activist.
Essentially an anti-war campaign, the PTM initially saw support from major political parties, including Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Khan promised to fulfil the protesters’ demands once in power. But he conveniently reneged on his promises, added Butt.
Nevertheless, Pashteen’s PTM now has the support of the PTI—both united in their anti-army stance.
“Pashteen is now viewed by political parties as a brave, young political leader who speaks up against the military establishment brazenly,” says Butt.
The credibility crisis
Pashteen’s critics are quick to point to his alleged ties with Afghanistan, drawing from former President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani’s support to the PTM’s Long March.
Leading the brigade of critics are Pakistani generals who claim that the PTM has received funding from Afghanistan’s intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
In 2020, Lieutenant General Asif Ghafoor said, “Those who play on the hands of others, their time is up.”
In 2020, Islamabad advised Ghani against meddling in its “internal matters” after the former tweeted his concerns over Pashteen’s arrest.
The recent Islamabad rally once again brought the focus back to the PTM’s alleged foreign ties. Political commentator Mooed Pirzada, who had earlier written about the PTM serving a regional agenda in Pakistan, drew parallels between Pashteen’s recent rally and PTI protests following Imran Khan’s arrest in May 2023.
Manzoor Pashteen speaking to hundreds of people in Islamabad is similar to crowd marching from Liberty Chowk & entering Corps Commander House! Same script! https://t.co/V9HZlKiWSV via @YouTube
— Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) August 20, 2023
‘Ties’ with Afghanistan
In the 1800s, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018, served as a buffer between the British Empire in India and Afghanistan, a region close to Imperial Russia. Pashtuns now live on both sides of the Durand Line that divides Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Any rumblings in Afghanistan spread to Pakistan’s tribal regions as well. The Pakistan Army’s Operation Zarb-e-Azb against the Taliban in the Pashtun region in 2014 displaced thousands; many moved to Pakistani cities in search of better opportunities.
But these Pashtuns claim they face discrimination even in cities like Karachi where they are pulled out of public spaces for security checks and have to carry a Watan Card, locally called the Waziristan Visa.
Pashteen is tapping into this resentment to gather Pashtuns to his cause. His associates say that he has gone underground after his speech. The Pakistani government has launched a massive crackdown on PTM and dozens of members have been arrested.
On 20 August, Pakistani human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and former lawmaker Ali Wazir were arrested for allegedly gathering and interfering in “state affairs” after they participated in the rally.
“Pakistani State has a history of repressing political movements, be it against Ayub Khan or Zia-ul-Haq. Political parties have failed to represent the people and are just stooges of the establishment. It is only through parties like PTM and other movements that the future of Pakistan can be made better,” Butt said.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)