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PTM banned for ‘threatening’ peace and security

6 Min Read

October 7, 2024

By Aitzaz Ibrahim

LAHORE

The Ministry of Interior banned the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) under section 11B (1) of the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997, via an official notification issued this Sunday, October 6.

Citing “reasons to believe that PTM is engaged in certain activities that are prejudicial to the peace and security of the country,”  the Federal Government expressed its “pleasure” in listing the civil rights movement as a proscribed organization in the First Schedule.

 

The proscription notice comes just five days before the PTM was set to hold its three-day Pashtun Qaumi Jirga or Pashtun National Gathering, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber District meant to hold a peaceful discussion on specific issues such as rising militancy and civil unrest,  and devise a plan of action on these regional concerns.

In the Crosshairs of the State

Earlier on the nights of October 1 and 2, the Peshawar and Khyber Police led a joint operation against a PTM camp in the Jamrud area of Khyber District, dismantling the camp after dispersing activists with teargas in the raid. After PTM members attempted to reconvene in the area, the police raided once again and set fire to the campaign material.

Clashes between the PTM and the police were reported, with the movement’s figurehead, Manzoor Pashteen, claiming on social media that several of their workers were injured in the clashes while scores were arrested.

 

 

Speaking to Voicepk, a PTM source expressed their belief that the ban is an attempt to sabotage the gathering slated for October 11.

“Following the government’s decision, Pashteen and the other PTM members held a meeting in which it was unanimously decided that the jirga would be held under any and all circumstances,” they declared. Regarding Voicepk’s query whether PTM will challenge the notification in court, the source stated that any decision in this regard will be announced at the gathering on October 11.

Widespread Condemnation

The Federal Government’s decision to ban the movement has drawn criticism from Pakistan’s civil society and various political parties.

The first to condemn the government action was the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the country’s oldest and foremost human rights watchdog, which demanded that the government must withdraw its notification against what “a rights-based movement that has never resorted to violence and has always used the framework of the Constitution to advocate its cause.” The HRCP further urged for the unconditional release of PTM representative and former Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazir.

Meanwhile, the central Chairperson of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and former PTM member Mohsin Dawar, also expressed his view that the notification “sends a message to the families of missing persons and those demanding human rights that the State doesn’t believe in peaceful struggles.”

 

Farhatullah Babar, a veteran politician of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) held that notifications cannot erase political parties and movements, and warned of repeating the same mistake of governments of yore.

Mahrang Baloch, a prominent leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and one of the central organisers of the Baloch Raaji Muchi which began in July this year, termed the federal government’s decision “a severe encroachment on democratic principles and an alarming escalation of state authoritarianism.”

Founding leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain issued a video statement on his X profile, lambasting the Government’s “conspiracy” against the Pashtun nation and demanding the immediate withdrawal of the notification.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader and former Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan called the decision an attack on civil rights, and asserted that instead of banning a peaceful political struggle, the government should resolve the unrest in KP and its tribal districts.

WHAT IS THE PASHTUN TAHAFFUZ MOVEMENT

In 2013, a group of student activists launched a grassroots movement in South Waziristan for the right to life and property mainly for the Mehsud, a Pashtun tribe. Led by Manzoor Pashteen, the Mehsud Tahaffuz Movement (MTM) called for the demining of the Mehsud territory, impartial investigations and trials of those involved in the enforced disappearances of the tribe’s men, the ending of humiliating practices against locals at security checkpoints, extortions, and targeted killings—whether by the Taliban or whether in military operations—and the provision of fair compensation for properties damaged as a result of the conflict.

The MTM was renamed to Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), after an extrajudicial killing of internally displaced person (IDP), Naqeebullah Mehsud, by Karachi Police in January 2018, and the movement widened its demands to encompass all Pashtuns, not just the Mehsuds.

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