Pakistan government bans ethnic Pashtun party

The Pakistan government on Sunday banned the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a group which fights for the rights of ethnic Pashtuns, citing it as a threat to national security.

“The federal government having reasons to believe that the PTM is engaged in certain activities prejudicial to peace and security of the country […] is pleased to list the PTM in the First Schedule as a proscribed organisation,” the Ministry of Interior said in a notification.

The group of ethnic Pushtu-speaking activists, which is highly critical of the Army, is active in the tribal region of the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The ban has been placed on the group under Section 11B of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Led by Manzoor Pashteen, the group had been active for some years, with its leadership blaming the armed forces for the problems faced by the tribal region along the Afghan border. The PTM began as the Mahsud Tahafuz Movement in May 2014 when a group of students set it up as an initiative to remove landmines from Waziristan and other parts of the tribal region.

The group rose to prominence in January 2018 after rebranding itself as the PTM following the popularity it got for seeking justice for Naqeebullah Mehsud, a fellow Pashtun who was killed in Karachi by police allegedly in a fake encounter.

Pakistan authorities have alleged that the group was playing in the hands of anti-state elements operating from within and abroad, especially in Afghanistan. However, the PTM always rejected such allegations.

In December last year, PTM chief Pashteen was arrested after his security guards allegedly opened fire targeting the police.

In 2019, a petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court seeking a ban on the party. The plea was filed a day after three people were killed and five soldiers injured in a clash between security forces and PTM protesters in North Waziristan.

In 2022, Pashteen was booked on terrorism charges, following his speech at the Asma Jahangir Conference where he had criticised the country’s armed forces.