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- Pakistan’s interior ministry says Pashtun Tahafuz Movement involved in activities “prejudicial” to country’s peace and security
- Formed in 2014, PTM advocates for the rights of Pashtuns, especially in country’s militancy-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced on Sunday it had declared the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a prominent Pashtun rights group, a “proscribed organization” for being involved in activities prejudicial to the country’s peace and security.
Originally formed as the Mehsud Tahafuz Movement in 2014, the PTM campaigns against alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns and other ethnic minorities in Pakistan.
The PTM alleges Pashtuns have faced rights abuses during Pakistan’s war against militants, mainly in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It blames Pakistan’s powerful military for rights abuses in the northwestern province, a charge the institution has consistently denied.
In a notification released on Sunday, the interior ministry said it has “reasons to believe” the PTM is engaged in “certain activities which are prejudicial to the peace and security of the country.” The notification did not elaborate what activities it was referring to.
“NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 11B of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (XXVII of 1997), the Federal Government is pleased to list the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in the First Schedule as a proscribed organization for the purposes of the said Act,” the notification read.
Formed by veterinary sciences student Manzoor Pashteen, the PTM was a pressure group that shot to national prominence when they spearheaded protests against the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young garment trader and aspiring model shot dead by police in Karachi in 2018.
In the 2018 election, PTM leaders Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were elected to parliament from Pakistan’s restive North and South Waziristan districts, respectively.
The PTM says it has faced harassment, intimidation and censorship at the hands of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has ruled the country directly for over 30 years since it gained independence in 1947.
The military denies the PTM’s accusations and has often accused it of being funded by foreign intelligence agencies, notably Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The PTM denies these allegations.