Pashtun Tahafuz Movement: Dissent in the mountains

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement: Dissent in the mountains


The Pashtun ethnic community, Pakistan’s second-largest demographic group, has complained of marginalization in the country for decades. The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), translated as Pashtun Protection Movement, is a grassroots organization focused on the rights of the community, especially in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and tribal areas. This movement advocates protecting the community from oppression.

On 6 October, the Pakistani government banned PTM under anti-terrorism laws, citing its involvement in activities “detrimental to the peace and security of the country”.

Amnesty International criticized the ban as “an affront on the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly in the country.” Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for South Asia, said, “For years, Pakistani authorities have suppressed such movements from marginalized areas by resorting to the unlawful use of force, disappearances of people, and media restrictions on coverage of protests or rallies. Is pressed.” ,

PTM was founded in 2014 as the Mehsud Tahafuz Movement by students to remove landmines from northern Pakistan, which is home to Pashtuns and other local tribes. The group rose to prominence in 2018 during protests against the killing of Naqibullah Mehsud, a young Pashtun, by police in Karachi. The group rebranded itself as PTM, demanding protection against extrajudicial killings.

center of insurgency

The PTM is mostly active in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region near the Afghanistan border, which has been a hotbed of terrorist activities since the days of ‘Afghan Jihad’ in the late 1970s. The region was also previously part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly referred to as FATA, which existed until 2018.

According to an analysis by Zainab Akhtar at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, “After 9/11, tribal areas again came into focus as al-Qaeda terrorists and Taliban cadres fled Afghanistan and moved there And he was forced to do so. Pakistani Army will launch several operations to eliminate or drive out these elements. In the days that followed, the entire Pashtun-dominated region witnessed armed action, resulting in deaths, deprivation, disappearances and large-scale displacement of the civilian population.” These developments led to the rise of groups like the PTM .

The group is led by Manzoor Pashteen from Waziristan, who has helped spread the movement across Pakistan and open branches in other countries such as Germany.

Mr Pashteen was booked on terrorism charges in 2022 after criticizing Pakistan’s armed forces. He was arrested in December 2023 after his security guards allegedly opened fire on police.

In 2018, Mehsud’s murder prompted a wave of protests in Pakistan, a large part of which was led by the PTI. The group has gained massive support over the years with its rallies, attended by thousands of people who believe the violence has ravaged Pashtun areas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Prominent leaders of PTM include Ali Wazir and Moshin Dawar, who contested the 2018 general election in Pakistan and reached the Parliament.

The latest ban on PTM was imposed ahead of the Pashtun National Jirga (court), an informal gathering that aims to “uphold the principles of justice, equality and democratic governance within the Pashtun community”. Led by the PTM, a three-day “jirga” began on 11 October and invited people to preserve Pashtun heritage and be part of the “democratic process to shape the destiny of the nation”.

The event was held despite PTM being outlawed and was attended by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Manzoor Pashteen.

The demands of the jirga included withdrawal of Pakistani forces as well as militants from Pashtun-inhabited areas within two months.



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