The Pakistan authorities on Sunday banned the Pashtun Tahafuz Motion (PTM), a bunch which fights for the rights of ethnic Pashtuns, citing it as a menace to nationwide safety.
“The federal authorities having causes to imagine that the PTM is engaged in sure actions prejudicial to peace and safety of the nation […] is happy to listing the PTM within the First Schedule as a proscribed organisation,” the Ministry of Inside mentioned in a notification.
The group of ethnic Pushtu-speaking activists, which is extremely vital of the Military, is lively within the tribal area of the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The ban has been positioned on the group underneath Part 11B of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
Led by Manzoor Pashteen, the group had been lively for some years, with its management blaming the armed forces for the issues confronted by the tribal area alongside the Afghan border. The PTM started because the Mahsud Tahafuz Motion in Might 2014 when a bunch of scholars set it up as an initiative to take away landmines from Waziristan and different components of the tribal area.
The group rose to prominence in January 2018 after rebranding itself because the PTM following the recognition it bought for in search of justice for Naqeebullah Mehsud, a fellow Pashtun who was killed in Karachi by police allegedly in a pretend encounter.
Pakistan authorities have alleged that the group was enjoying within the fingers of anti-state components working from inside and overseas, particularly in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, the PTM at all times rejected such allegations.
In December final 12 months, PTM chief Pashteen was arrested after his safety guards allegedly opened hearth concentrating on the police.
In 2019, a petition was filed within the Islamabad Excessive Court docket in search of a ban on the social gathering. The plea was filed a day after three individuals had been killed and 5 troopers injured in a conflict between safety forces and PTM protesters in North Waziristan.
In 2022, Pashteen was booked on terrorism prices, following his speech on the Asma Jahangir Convention the place he had criticised the nation’s armed forces.
Revealed – October 07, 2024 02:21 am IST
