1D54D74C4B788B01A39CE8E6899019C7 Manzoor Pashteen, the young activist who challenged Pakistan's military over human rights abuses, is arrested -->
U3F1ZWV6ZTQxMzQwNzAyOTQ1X0FjdGl2YXRpb240NjgzMzMxMjYxMjY=
recent
أخبار ساخنة

Manzoor Pashteen, the young activist who challenged Pakistan's military over human rights abuses, is arrested

moustafa
Home

Pashteen leads the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement

Manzoor Pashteen. Image by Qurratulain Zaman, used with permission.”

On January 27, 2020, Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen, the young human rights activist from South Waziristan, Pakistan who dared to challenge the country's military over its human rights record, was arrested for alleged conspiracy and sedition.

According to a police complaint lodged against him on January 21, Pashteen is accused of using threatening and derogatory language against the state during a public gathering on January 18.

The Pakistan Penal Code states that certain sedition charges can carry a possible life sentence.

Who is Manzoor Pashteen?

The son of a primary school teacher, 25-year-old Pashteen has been highlighting the plight of the Pashtun people — also known as Pathans — an ethnic group residing mostly in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Thirty million Pashtuns, representing 15 percent of Pakistan's total population, are disadvantaged, and anti-Pashtun sentiment prevails in both countries. In the past decade, there have been reports of systematic abuse and enforced disappearances of the Pashtun people by the Pakistani army.

Read more: The Pashtun Long March Asks for Justice After Years of Ethnic Targeting

Pashteen leads the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a social movement for Pashtun human rights. Based in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Pashteen founded the group in 2014. Over the past few years, its members have been facing legal harassment for speaking out for the rights of the Pashtun people, and for calling for justice when it comes to violations against the community.

In May 2019, for example, local members of parliament Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were arrested in North Waziristan on allegations that their supporters had attacked a Pakistan Army check post in North Waziristan’s Kharqamar. They are currently out on bail.

Media coverage of the movement and its activities also faces restrictions; in fact, local television channels avoid covering the movement altogether. In February 2019, Pashteen's interview with The New York Times (NYT), which called for an end to the enforced disappearances and extra-judicial murders of ethnic Pashtuns by security officials was, thanks to the military, forced to be censored inside Pakistan. The NYT's local edition in Pakistan dropped the article and the column with his interview appeared blank: 

In May 2018, Global Voices reported how digital outlets that covered the movement from a critical angle experienced disruptions to their websites.

Read more: Media censorship surrounds the Pashtun rights movement in Pakistan

Mohsin Dawar, member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and one of the leaders of the Pashtoon Tahafuz Movement, tweeted:

“These arrests are not going to put us down,” Dawar told Global Voices in a phone interview. “This is a sign for recognition of our demands of justice, peace and equality.”

Crackdown on political activists

The Pashtoon Tahafuz Movement called a press conference and a peaceful protest to highlight Manzoor's case, as well as the plight of nine others who were arrested with him. However, on January 28, during a demonstration against Pashteen's arrest, Dawar, along with 22 other peaceful protestors, were dragged into police vans and arrested. Dawar was released the following day and the rest of them were sent to Adiala Jail in judicial custody. A first information report (FIR) was lodged against them accusing of different crimes as per the Pakistan Penal Code including “assault on public servants”, “defaming army” and “obstructing public servants from discharging duties” and they were denied bail.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a statement:

There is no indication that the protestors resorted to violence at any point, although video footage shows several of them being manhandled by the police. HRCP believes that these actions were unconstitutional and have violated citizens’ right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The arbitrary use of the charge of sedition under an archaic law to curb political dissent – that has in no way incited hatred or violence – indicates how little regard the state has for its citizens’ civil and political liberties.

Journalist Fahad Desmukh tweeted:

Social media users shared independent videos in which police could be seen dragging women activists. Political activist Tooba Syed tweeted one such video:

Professor of political science Aasim Sajjad Akhtar tweeted his support for the 22 protestors still in custody:

Secretary of the Awami Workers Party Maria H Malik also tweeted: 

Twitter blocking and suspending accounts

To survive as an organic, grassroots movement, the PTH depends on social media to spread information, but activists say they are facing ‘suspension’ and ‘legal threats’ from Twitter, a popular social networking site.

Widespread reporting of Twitter accounts is a tactic used by pro-government trolls to silence PTM supporters or anyone else speaking out against human rights abuses in the country.  

Ziyad Faisal, editor of The Friday Times, tweeted:

Maria H. Malik tweeted about her own experience:

In 2018, Pakistani authorities threatened to ban Twitter, alleging that the platform had not responded to their requests to block certain ‘offensive’ material. In 2019, Twitter sent notices to a number of Pakistani journalists and human rights activists, informing them that their content was allegedly in violation of Pakistani law.

Written by Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman · comments (0)
Donate ·



No comments
Post a Comment

Post a Comment

NameEmailMessage