Pashtuns hold worldwide protests to demand release of PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen

FRANKFURT: Pashtuns have launched worldwide protests against the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen, the chief of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).

Pashteen, a prominent Pashtun leader, was arrested by the police in Pakistan's Balochistan province on December 4. He was produced before the anti-terrorism court, which handed him over to the police for seven days of physical remand. It was learned that Manzoor Pashteen announced a joint movement with Baloch activists against the Pakistani military's atrocities. He was arrested while he was going to participate in a rally from Quetta to Turbat.

The PTM has been organising a series of protests not only in Pakistan but in other parts of the world, including Germany, the United States, Austria and France.

On Friday (Dec. 11), a massive protest rally was organised in Frankfurt, Germany and Belgium, in which a large number of Pashtun activists participated.

They shouted slogans like "Pakistan is killing, the world is watching," "Stop the Pashtun Genocide," and "Free free Manzoor Pashteen". Similarly, many Pashtun political activists gathered in front of the White House in Washington, DC with banners reading "Terrorist State Pakistan" to condemn the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen.

In London, a delegation of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement submitted a memorandum at the UK Prime Minister's House at 10 Downing Street about Manzoor Pashteen's detention by Pakistani security agencies. Pashteen, who belongs to the South Waziristan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, remains critical to Pakistani security agencies. His social movement, the Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement, has been protecting the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan against state atrocities. PTM has been raising its voice against the enforced disappearances, torture and killings by the security agencies and also by terrorists like the Pakistani Taliban.