Manzoor Pashteen chief of Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement arrested
According to reports PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen sent on 14-day judicial remand
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police say they have arrested prominent rights activist Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).
Pashteen was arrested late on Sunday from the Shaheen Town area of the northwestern city of Peshawar, police official Nabibul Khan told Al Jazeera.
“He was required in a case by the police from Dera Ismail Khan city police station, so we [arrested him],” said Khan. Police did not immediately provide further details on what charges the rights activist was arrested on.
Mohsin Dawar, a PTM leader and member of parliament, confirmed the arrest to Al Jazeera.
“This is our punishment for demanding our rights in a peaceful [and] democratic manner,” Dawar said in a Twitter post on Monday. “But Manzoor’s arrest will only strengthen our resolve.”
Pashteen, in his 20s, and a small group of other young activists who had been displaced by the Pakistani military’s war against the Taliban in their native South Waziristan, founded the PTM in Dera Ismail Khan, located about 250km south of Peshawar.
They shot to national prominence in 2017 when the group championed the cause of Naqeebullah Mehsud, the victim of an extrajudicial killing by a notorious Pakistani counterterrorism police officer.
Since then, Pashteen has led rallies of thousands across the country, demanding justice for other victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and alleged torture while in security forces’ custody.
His group has also demanded that the Pakistani military clear the country’s northwestern tribal districts – the site of the war against the Pakistan Taliban since 2007 – of all land mines and other unexploded ordnance.
In April, the military warned the PTM that its “time is up”, accusing the group of being funded by foreign intelligence services.
He was eventually arrested, alongside fellow PTM leader and Member of Parliament Ali Wazir, and held for three months before being released on bail for lack of evidence against them.
PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen sent on 14-day judicial remand:
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen was sent on a 14-day judicial remand after police in Peshawar arrested him on Monday.
The arrested PTM leader was produced before a judicial magistrate and remand was secured.
PTM leader and Member of National Assembly Mohsin Dawar had confirmed the arrest on social media and demanded the immediate release of his party’s chairperson. He also urged PTM supporters to “remain calm in response to Manzoor’s arrest”.
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