Tariq Saeed
Peshawar
Hundreds of Charged workers of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) protested in Peshawar and other parts of the province against the arrest of its Chief Manzoor Pashteen as the MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir , former senator and Human rights activist Afrasyab Khattak were taken into custody in Islamabad on Tuesday.
On the other hand the PTM Chief Manzoor Pashteen, accused of “creating anti-state sentiments in the country” who was arrested in Peshawar’s Shaheen Town on Monday and was sent to the city’s central jail on a 14-day judicial remand, was on Tuesday shifted to Dera Ismail Khan on a local court’s orders.
The leaders of PTM MNAs Mohsin Dawar, Ali Wazir and former Senator Afrasyab Khattak were also taken into custody from the country’s capital where they were demonstrating against PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen’s arrest outside Islamabad Press Club.
Police said a case was registered against the PTM chief at the City Police Station in DI Khan on January 18 under sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 124 (sedition), and 123-A (condemning the creation of the country and advocating the abolishment of its sovereignty) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the first information report Pashteen and other PTM leaders had attended a gathering on January 18 in DI Khan where the PTM chief had allegedly said that the 1973 Constitution violated basic human rights. The FIR added that Pashteen also made derogatory remarks about the state. Police had also arrested nine other PTM workers who were identified as Muhammad Salam, Abdul Hameed, Idrees, Bilal, Mohib, Sajjadul Hassan, Aimal, Farooq and Muhammad Salman.
In Peshawar, the PTM workers and supporters gathered outside the city’s press club on Tuesday to protest against Pashteen’s arrest and demanded his early release. Protest demonstrations were also held Tehsil Mir Ali, Tank and Miranshah where the PTM activists Chanted slogans in favor of their leaders and demanded their immediate release.
The state , it may be recalled, had swung into action against the PTM leadership following the bloody clashes between the Security forces and the activists of the Pashtoon Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) when it launched attack on a military check-post in the North Waziristan tribal district on May 26 2019 . The clash had resulted in serious injuries to five troops while several activists of the PTM were reported killed and ten others wounded seriously.
Though the security forces had arrested the senior PTM leader Ali Wazir MNA along with seven other accomplices saying Ali Wazir MNA and Mohsin Dawar MNA had supervised attack on the Khar Qamar military check post in the NW tribal district and were inciting the people against the state institutions, Mohsin Dawar had slipped away during the shoot-out between the Security Forces and the attackers. He was, however, picked up from an undisclosed location in the North Waziristan on May 30, though his lawyer insisted the MNA had voluntarily surrendered himself into the custody of law enforcement personnel following a decision by a tribal Jirga.
The two PTM MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were released on September 21 2019 from Haripur jail following the approval of their bail application by the Peshawar High Court.
