Pashtun Tahafuz Movement

Formerly named the "Mahsud Tahafuz Movement", the movement rose to prominence in January 2018 when it began a justice movement for Naqeebullah Mehsud, who was extrajudicially killed in a fake encounter staged by the police officer Rao Anwar in Karachi.[12] When the movement gained popularity among the Pashtuns in late January 2018, the word "Mahsud" in its name, which referred to the Mahsud tribe from Waziristan, was changed into "Pashtun" to refer to all Pashtuns.

In November 2018, PTM launched a justice movement for Tahir Dawar, a police officer and Pashto poet who was abducted from the capital Islamabad and tortured to death, with his corpse found 18 days after disappearance in the Dur Baba District of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.[13] PTM, as well as Tahir's family, demanded that Tahir's murder must be investigated through an international commission rather than a Pakistani one because the case involved two countries.[14][15] PTM again gained international press coverage in February 2019 when the Balochistan Police allegedly extrajudicially murdered one of the leaders of PTM, Arman Loni, in Loralai. Protests followed which led to the detention of more than 20 PTM activists, including Gulalai Ismail and Abdullah Nangyal.[16][17][18][19] In May 2020, after the assassination of PTM leader Arif Wazir, another wave of widespread protests was held during which several PTM activists, including Gilaman and Nadeem Askar, were arrested by Pakistani authorities.[20]

Mainstream media outlets in Pakistan have been largely ignoring the PTM, leaving social media as the primary channel for communicating with the rest of Pakistan and strengthening the narrative that the PTM is being ignored by the system.[32]

On 23 March, the PTM meeting was scheduled to be held in Peshawar University, but Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Islam Zeb, issued an order under section 144 CrPC, imposing ban on political meetings in University and stated any violation against the order shall be preceded against u/s 188 PPC and order will be exercised "for 30 days unless modified or withdrawn."[33] Later the meeting was held in Baghi-e-Naran, Hayatabad with 200 person attending the gathering.[33]

The movement's anthem is "Da Sanga Azadi Da?", which means "What kind of freedom is this?". Many Pashtun's have discovered their voice with this anthem and it encloses the various grievances they have from being caught between the militants and the military.[34][35]

On 26 April 2019, Mohsin Dawar tweeted that he and his fellow National Assembly member Ali Wazir were barred from holding a press conference at National Press Club (NPC) despite having prior bookings.[36] Many prominent politicians including Pakistan Peoples Party's Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Farhatullah Babar and Bushra Gohar condemned NPC for their move. The next day, NPC issued statement claiming that the lawmakers had not made any prior bookings.[37][38] The Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told the journalist Hamid Mir not to invite PTM members on media in response to a question by the journalist as to whether the media houses should invite PTM leaders on TV channels.[39] On 29 April 2019, Asif Ghafoor said PTM would no longer be tolerated. "Their time is up,"[40] he said of PTM at the press conference.[41][42]

The Pashteen hat (also known as the Mazari hat) has become the most iconic symbol of PTM, as Manzoor Pashteen regularly wears it at public rallies and events.[43]

On 26 May 2019, PTM members including the Pakistani parliamentarians Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar protested in the Kharqamar area of Datta Khel Subdivision, North Waziristan. PTM claimed that the gathering had been organized by peaceful and unarmed activists to protest against the beating up of a woman by the military on May 25 and other human rights abuses in the area,[44] but the military alleged that the PTM leaders instead wanted to “exert pressure for release of suspected terrorists’ facilitators”.[44] As the military forces shot into the PTM protest gathering, more than 13 PTM supporters were killed and over 25 others injured.[45] However, according to Pakistani military, five Pakistani soldier were injured as result of PTM members firing.[46][45][47] Following the incident several PTM members, including Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, were arrested by the security forces after the incident and curfew was imposed in the area. A day after this incident, the opposition parties walked out of the National Assembly of Pakistan in protest, and asked Asad Qaiser, the Speaker of the National Assembly, to produce Wazir and Dawar before the parliament so that they could explain their viewpoint about the incident at the parliament, but the speaker refused.[48]

On 1 June 2019, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan, announced a financial package of Rs2.5 million for the families of the people killed in the Kharqamar incident and Rs1 million to those injured in the incident.[49] On 14 October 2020, the government withdrew the Kharqamar case against PTM, and Wazir and Dawar were acquitted of all charges.[50][51]

PTM openly criticizes the Pakistan Army and accuses the Pakistani state of violating the basic human rights of the Pashtuns,[52] while the Pakistan Army has claimed that PTM is backed by foreign powers and their gatherings are "engineered".[53][54] PTM claims that as a result, news organizations in Pakistan have been pressured to ignore PTM, and university professors have been forced to identify the students attending PTM's protest gatherings.[53] Some Pakistani politicians and journalists also view PTM as working on a foreign or Pashtun nationalist agenda.[55] However, PTM's leadership has openly declared that they are protesting through peaceful means within the Constitution of Pakistan.[9]

Founder of Aware Girls, Gulalai Ismail, was threatened with death by the Inter-Services Intelligence after she joined the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and protested against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by the Pakistani state.[56] After raising awareness of sexual assault committed by Pakistani security forces on women, Gulalai Ismail fled the country as police forces were on their way to arrest her.[56]

Leaders of PTM including Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar have been criticized for making controversial remarks about other ethnic groups of Pakistan .[57] Mohsin Dawar in a tweet stated that the policeman who arrested him was a "...Punjabi with a dirty demeanour".[58] Ali Wazir has also been criticized by Pakistani media for stating that Lahore and Rawalpindi were "terrorist hotspots" demanding United States attack them in a speech in Charsadda.[59] Based on these remarks Information Minister of KPK , Shaukat Ali Yousafzai demanded him to be removed from National Assembly proceedings.[59]

• Waziristan
• Killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud
• Manzoor Pashteen
• Ali Wazir
• Mohsin Dawar
• Enforced disappearances in Pakistan
• Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism
• Targeted killings in Pakistan