New Delhi: The shooting and subsequent arrest of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement leader Manzoor Pashteen has left Pakistanis furious with many saying his only crime is that he fights for the constitutional rights of the Pashtuns. Pashteen has become the face of growing dissent against state brutalities on the ethnic group.
A post on X by @mohsin_khanii asked Pashteen to stay strong. The post included a video that shows Pashteen meeting his supporters even as men in uniform watch.
Stay Strong Comrade @ManzoorPashteen
𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙯𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 #StateFiringOnPTM #ReleaseManzoorPashteen pic.twitter.com/9P0IVeOumn
— Mohsin Pashtun💙 (@mohsin_khanii) December 4, 2023
Pakistan police say they arrested Pashteen after armed men in his vehicle opened fire on security personnel. Raja Athar Abbas, the deputy commissioner of the northcentral city of Chaman, added that he also violated a ban on entering Balochistan province.
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) is known for criticising the country’s military for alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Pashtuns and demanding equal rights.
In a statement, earlier, the PTM alleged that Pashteen’s vehicle was fired at by law enforcement agencies while he was travelling from Chaman to Turbat, in Balochistan. He was scheduled to address a protest against the extra-judicial killing of Balaach Mola Bakhsh during an intelligence-based operation in Turbat. The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) is alleged to have killed him, along with three other men, in an encounter on November 24.
Pakistani terrorist military forces openly fired on the car of @ManzoorPashteen where he was travelling to Chaman sit-in and then later, after delivering his speech he was travelling to Turbat sit-in.
We request to the people of Chaman to reach Gadhang (ګړنګ) check-post. pic.twitter.com/WcNfW0i9jd
— PTM UK Official (@PTMUK_Official) December 4, 2023
Seema Baloch, whose X bio shows she’s a Baloch scholar, said “The attack on @ManzoorPashteen’s vehicle highlights the dangers activists endure in their quest for justice.”
The attack on @ManzoorPashteen's vehicle highlights the dangers activists endure in their quest for justice. We express solidarity with Pashteen and all those striving for a brighter future.#StopBalochGenocide #StopStateTerrorism pic.twitter.com/7IQbvc0q7y
— Seema Baloch (@mebalochseema) December 4, 2023
“Today, police were fired at from Pashteen’s car on Mall Road,” Chaman Deputy Commissioner Abbas told Dawn, adding that a case had also been registered against the PTM leader.
But the versions of the police explaining the arrest don’t seem to be adding up.
“He was required in a case by the police from Dera Ismail Khan city police station, so we [arrested him],” police official Nabibul Khan told Al Jazeera.
Also Read: Pashtun activist Manzoor Pashteen, critical of Pak army, denied entry to Balochistan
Condemning arrest
Since his arrest, #ReleaseManzoorPashteen has been trending on X and the platform has been flooded with condemnations.
Reacting to the incident, Mir Kalam, a Pakistani politician wrote, “The shooting of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement leader Manzoor Pashteen on his car and subsequent arrest is very regrettable. Instead of shooting at peaceful citizens, government officials should sit down with the leaders and address their concerns. Such actions create more tension in the government and the people.”
An X user, Aima Khan wrote, “Shocking to hear abt arrest of leader of PTM, Manzoor Pashteen. Manzoor’s crime is that he defended the constitutional rights of the Pashtuns. Government should immediately #ReleaseManzoorPashteen & respect citizens’ right to dissent.”
Another X user, Sanna Eijaz wrote, “Strongly condemn the attack and arrest on PTM leader @ManzoorPashteen in Chaman, it is the obvious reason to malign the genuine cause of the Pakhtun crossing (freedom of movement as per UN Human Rights charter) across the Durand Line boundary.”
Also Read: Manzoor Pashteen is the ‘rockstar activist’ for Pakistani Pashtuns. He has a friend in Imran
Who is Manzoor Pashteen?
PTM was founded by Pashteen and his friends in 2018. Since then they have been peacefully protesting for equal rights. Many of them have been arrested, harassed, beaten up and even killed by police.
In the past five years, the Pashtun leader has been arrested twice before, once on charges of sedition. His unwavering dedication to cause led to him quickly rising to become a cultural icon among Pakistan’s six million Pashtuns who mostly live in the country’s northwest frontier with Afghanistan.
The ethnic group native to both Pakistan and Afghanistan. While the group continues to assert its ethno-linguistic identity to seek the political rights, the Pakistan government has been sidelining their protest, calling it a threat to its national unity.
In August this year, Pashteen addressed a huge rally outside the Islamabad Supreme Court where he sharply criticised the “slaves of army generals”.
A former lawmaker Bushra Gohar told Open that Pashteen and his PTM are “a continuation of Fakhre Afghan Bacha Khan’s nonviolent struggle.” Abdul Ghaffar Khan, lovingly called Fakhr-e-Afghan was a Pashtun freedom fighter.
“There is no justice for Pashtuns in Pakistan,” Pashteen told Voice Of America last year. “When we demand our rights, equal rights, and protest against this colonial-like treatment of our people, we’re thrown [in]to jails indefinitely.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)