Manzoor Pashteen

The PTM rose to prominence after Naqeebullah Mehsud, accused of militant connections, was killed by police in Karachi on 20 January 2018. Human rights groups note that the war on terrorism has served as a pretense for authorities to persecute Pashtuns, with thousands of young Pashtuns like Mehsud killed or abducted by authorities on shaky charges. Due to their dominance of the Taliban, Pashtuns overall have been branded as Islamists or militants.[9]

On January 26, 2018, Pashteen and 20 friends started a protest march from Dera Ismail Khan.[10][11] Many people joined the march along the way, and it reached Peshawar on January 28.[12] Upon reaching Islamabad on February 1, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement organized a sit-in called "All Pashtun National Jirga". The jirga condemned the fake encounter killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a 27-year old Pashtun shopkeeper from Waziristan, perpetrated by the Karachi Police under Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan.[13] Among other demands, the jirga also appealed the government to set up a judicial inquiry for Naqeebullah Mehsud, as well as for all the other Pashtuns murdered extrajudicially in police encounters.[13][14][15] On 13 March 2018 Human Rights Watch seconded the call to investigate Mehsud's killers and called on the Pakistani government to drop criminal cases against Manzoor Pashteen and other protest leaders.[9]

There was grand gathering of PTM in the center of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar on 8 April 2018.[16][17]

The PTM demands an end to the extrajudicial killings and disappearances, and what they allege to be the Pakistani military establishment's policy of labeling Taliban groups as either "good" or "bad" depending on whether they support the state of Pakistan. A PTM official accused both state institutions and the 'good Taliban' of threatening the PTM. They also demand removal of landmines from northwestern tribal areas, and that the army cease demolishing houses of Pashtuns accused of militant ties.[9]

In 2019, following the Kharqamar incident, a clash on 26 May between PTM supporters and Pakistani troops that left at least 13 dead, Pashteen spoke to Deutsche Welle in an interview. He accused authorities of firing on demonstrators and suppressing media reports, as well as attempting to rig elections in tribal areas where PTM candidates were likely to win. He denied anti-state and anti-Pakistan sentiment, saying that the PTM is anti-terrorism, while accusing the army of involvement in such activities.[18]

On 5 September 2017, Pashteen and his father, along with two other human rights activists, Jamal Malyar and Shah Faisal Ghazi, were detained by Pakistani security forces at Barwand check post in Tiarza Tehsil, South Waziristan.[19] Pashteen was beaten up under the allegation that his human rights campaign damaged military morale. “I said, you are building your morale by killing innocent children and then calling us terrorists,” Pashteen later told. As a result of the social media campaign for them by their supporters, they were released on 6 September by the military.[20]

On 27 January 2020, Pashteen was arrested by the police in Peshawar on allegations of sedition. The arrest was criticized by then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.[21] Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Pakistani authorities to release Pashteen and drop the charges against him, saying "using criminal laws to chill free expression and political opposition has no place in a democracy."[22] In one of the protests against the arrest outside the National Press Club in Islamabad on 28 January, PTM leader and member of the National Assembly Mohsin Dawar, Ismat Shahjahan and Ammar Rashid of the Awami Workers Party (AWP), and 26 other protesters were arrested.[23][24] Ismat Shahjahan and Mohsin Dawar were released on 29 January but Ammar Rashid and 22 others were sent to jail on sedition charges; all charges were dropped against them on 17 February.[25][26] On 2 February, at least 43 activists were briefly arrested from other protests held in solidarity with Pashteen in Dera Ismail Khan, Karachi and Faisalabad.[27] After almost a month in jail, Pashteen was released on 25 February and was received by a large number of PTM workers.[28]

On 28 March 2021, the police arrested Pashteen in Kohat and Mohsin Dawar in Karak to prevent both of them from travelling to Bannu to join and lead the Janikhel protest march. The protest was called off on 29 March after an agreement was signed between the protesters and Mahmood Khan, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, following which Pashteen and Dawar were released.[29]