Manzoor Pashteen | |
|---|---|
منظور پښتين | |
 Pashteen at aPTM rally | |
| Chairman of thePashtun Protection Movement | |
| Assumed office February 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1994-10-25)October 25, 1994 (age 31)[1] |
| Political party | Pashtun Protection Movement |
| Relations | Ali Khan Masood (great-uncle)[2] |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Gomal University |
| Occupation | Human rights activist |
Manzoor Ahmed Pashteen[a] (born 25 October 1994) is a PakistaniPashtunhuman rights activist againstenforced disappearances,extrajudicial killings, and otherhuman rights abuses against the Pashtun population inPakistan. Pashteen leads thePashtun Tahafuz Movement ("Pashtun Protection Movement"),[3] asocial movement focused on the advocacy of rights for Pashtuns inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan.[4][5][6] From 11 to 14 October 2024, Pashteen was part of thePashtun National Jirga, held inKhyber District to discuss critical issues faced by the Pashtuns.
Pashteen was born in 1994 in Shahur (orShaheer), Mawle Khan Sarai, a small village near the town ofSarwakai inSouth Waziristan. The eldest of eight siblings, Pashteen belongs to theShamankhelMahsud tribe of thePashtuns. His father, Abdul Wadud Mahsud, is a primary school teacher at his village.[7]
Pashteen received his early education at his village's school in South Waziristan. In 2005, Pashteen and his family wereforced to flee Waziristan to settle inIDPrefugee camps inDera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, due to military operations by thePakistan Armed Forces against militants.[8] The family fled from their home in Waziristan for a second time in 2007, and returned in 2008, but fled again later that year due toOperation Zalzala. In 2009, he and his family were forced to flee Waziristan for the fourth time because ofOperation Rah-e-Nijat.
Pashteen completed hissecondary education at anarmy public school inBannu, andhigher secondary education inKarak. His father was determined to ensure his education. "Only I know", Pashteen said, "my father borrowed money for my schooling and only I know how much we have suffered".[8] Pashteen received hisDoctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2016 inGomal University, Dera Ismail Khan.[7] When he and his family returned to Waziristan in 2016, they found that their books had been looted, their home ruined, andlandmines were scattered over their lands.[9]
In May 2014, during his studies at the Gomal University, Pashteen founded the "Mahsud Tahafuz Movement",[10] asocial movement mainly focused on removing landmines fromWaziristan (especiallyMahsud land).
The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement also campaigns against war, blaming both Islamist militants and the Pakistani military for the destruction. The region has been a war zone since the 1980s, during events of the Cold War between theSoviet Union and United States, and the following conflict between western and Islamist forces.[11]
The Ministry of Interior,Government of Pakistan in its notification, dated 6 October 2024, added thePTM into list of proscribed organizations citingpublic order and security in the country.[12][13]
The PTM gained prominence afterNaqeebullah Mehsud, accused of militant connections, was killed by police inKarachi on January 20, 2018. Human rights groups note that thewar 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 theTaliban, Pashtuns overall have been branded as Islamists or militants.[11]
On January 26, 2018, Pashteen and his 20 companions began a protest march fromDera Ismail Khan.[14][15] Many people joined the march along the way, and it reachedPeshawar on January 28.[16] Upon reachingIslamabad on February 1, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement organized asit-in called "All Pashtun NationalJirga". The jirga condemned thefake encounter killing ofNaqeebullah Mehsud, a 27-year old Pashtun shopkeeper fromWaziristan, perpetrated by theKarachi Police underRao Anwar Ahmed Khan.[17] Among other demands, thejirga also appealed the government to set up ajudicial inquiry for Naqeebullah Mehsud, as well as for all the other Pashtuns murderedextrajudicially in police encounters.[17][18][19] On 13 March 2018Human 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.[11]
There was grand gathering of PTM in the center ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa,Peshawar on 8 April 2018.[20][21]
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.[11]
In 2019, following theKharqamar incident, a clash on 26 May between PTM supporters and Pakistani troops that left at least 13 dead, Pashteen spoke toDeutsche 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.[22]
Manzoor Pashteen, and the PTM, have been vocal about civilian deaths resulting from Pakistan's "war on terror" in which many innocent civilians lost their lives in Northwestern Pakistan during air campaigns. A number of cases highlighted by the PTM and investigated independently by theBBC came to light in a 2019 report titled"Uncovering Pakistan's secret human rights abuses". Reacting to the report, Pashteen told the BBC, "It has taken us almost 15 years of suffering and humiliation to gather courage to speak up, and to spread awareness about how the military trampled our constitutional rights through both direct action and a policy of support for the militants."[23][24]
Ahead of the jirga to held in October 2024 that attracted a large number of leaders, according to Manzoor Pashteen, his rights movement’s teams were subjected to physical harassment by the Pakistan state authorities during surveys in the tribal region. He said, "Jirga is an integral part of our [Pashtun] culture and nobody will be allowed to prevent us from holding them for the resolution of our grievances.”[25]
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 inTiarza Tehsil, South Waziristan.[26] 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.[27]
On 27 January 2020, Pashteen was arrested by the police inPeshawar on allegations of sedition. The arrest was criticized by thenAfghan PresidentAshraf Ghani.[28]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."[29] During a protest against the arrest outside theNational Press Club inIslamabad on 28 January, PTM leader and member of theNational AssemblyMohsin Dawar,Ismat Shahjahan andAmmar Rashid of theAwami Workers Party (AWP), and 26 other protesters were arrested.[30][31] 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.[32][31] On 2 February, at least 43 activists were briefly arrested from other protests held in solidarity with Pashteen in Dera Ismail Khan, Karachi andFaisalabad.[33] After almost a month in jail, Pashteen was released on 25 February and was received by a large number of PTM workers.[34]
On 28 March 2021, the police arrested Pashteen inKohat and Mohsin Dawar inKarak to prevent both of them from travelling to Bannu to join and lead theJanikhel protest march. The protest was called off on 29 March after an agreement was signed between the protesters andMahmood Khan, theChief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, following which Pashteen and Dawar were released.[35]
On December 4, 2023, Pashteen was arrested under mysterious circumstances. He was enroute to Turbat, where Baloch activists were protesting state-inflicted injustices when, according to eyewitnesses, Pakistani forces fired at his vehicle, injuring a passerby. He was then arrested. On December 6, his supporters assembled outside the White House, advocating for his safe release.[36] On December 7, an Islamabad court granted a seven-day remand for Pashteen, arrested in Chaman on Monday. His lawyer claimed Pashteen was "abducted" from Balochistan and produced in court three days later, citing an alleged car attack. Despite opposition, the court ordered police to present Pashteen again on December 14.[37]
Many Afghan activists support the PTM in solidarity for Pashtuns in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.[11] The Afghan government has praised Pashteen's work, withPresident Ashraf Ghani supporting the march in February, leading some groups to accuse him and the PTM of "foreign backing".[11] In May 2019 Major GeneralAsif Ghafoor, serving as a spokesman for the Pakistani military, alleged that Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies were funding the PTM.[22]
Pashteen has rejected the allegations of being a foreign agent forResearch and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India or theNational Directorate of Security of Afghanistan.[38] In another instance, following theAsma Jahangir Conference held inLahore, Manzoor Pashteen was booked underterrorism charges by Pakistani authorities for provoking resistance against the armed forces and the state institutions during his speech.[39][40]
During the recent organization of Pashtun National Court by thePashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) inKhyber District on 12 October 2024,[41] the internationally proscribedterrorist organization Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),[42] in an unprecedented move, announced a unilateral temporary ceasefire in the region in anticipation of the event, which gave rise to speculations regarding emerging nexus between proscribed terrorist organization andPTM leadership.[43][44]
Pashteen usually wears thePashteen cap at public events and rallies, leading to the originally known "Mazari hat" becoming an iconic symbol of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, and being widely renamed after him as the "Pashteen cap" or "Manzoor cap".[45]
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