Peshawar, Pashtun leader critical of military power arrested
28-year-old Manzoor Pashteen is the leading exponent of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement. He is accused of sedition for criticizing violence in tribal areas, with strong Islamist infiltration. Independent research claims that at least 50,000 people have died since 2002, including civilians, militants and the army.
Islamabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Pakistani authorities have arrested the leader of the Pashtun movement on charges of sedition. Manzoor Pashteen, 28, is the leading exponent of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (Ptm), a group that defends the rights of the ethnic minority of the same name. He was arrested on the evening of January 27 in Peshawar, officially for a speech "offensive" to the state delivered on January 18. In reality, the group he leads and various non-governmental organizations believe that the arrest is a revenge by the military for the activists' criticism of the overpowering army and the forced disappearances of members of the ethnic minority.
The arrest of the young charismatic leader sparked protests from civil society and organizations that share the demands for greater democracy and freedom of expression in Pakistan. According to Brad Adam, director of Asian Human Rights Watch (HRW), "the government of Pakistan must find ways to resolve political discord through dialogue, rather than through intimidation." "Peaceful dissent - he underlines - is the essence of democracy and should not be treated as sedition".
On January 25, the federal government had invited Pashteen to a meeting. Defense Minister Pervez Khattak said the goal of the interview was "to bring the movement into national public discourse as the country is going through a difficult period in its history." Later the arrest was triggered under the Sedition Law (section 124A of the Criminal Code), which prohibits any word, verbal or written, visible sign or representation that may cause "hatred or contempt, arouses or attempts to cause disaffection" towards the government.
The Ptm represents the tribal minority in the region known in the past as "Federally Administered Tribal Areas, FATA", later annexed to the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. In recent years, the area has experienced intense infiltration of Taliban militants from Afghanistan, the government's military counter-offensive and US drone attacks.
The group organized numerous protests to denounce government responsibilities in extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and mine victims. According to independent research groups, the violence in the region has forced at least five million people to flee their homes. There are no official numbers, but for experts the number of civilians, militants and security forces who have died since 2002 exceeds 50 thousand. Activists also complain that the arrest of relatives and prominent members of the minority, such as the father of a well-known dissident, serve to perpetuate this climate of intimidation.
.png)
