Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen was arrested from Shaheen Town, Peshawar during the early hours of Monday morning, officials said.He was remanded to Police custody for 14 days by the local court.
Police also arrested nine other PTM workers who were identified as Muhammad Salam, Abdul Hameed, Idrees, Bilal, Mohib, Sajjadul Hassan, Aimal, Farooq and Muhammad Salman.
Tahkal police station official Shiraz Khan confirmed the arrest. The police official said that the PTM chief is currently in Peshawar in police custody but will be shifted to Dera Ismail Khan where an FIR has been registered against him.
Police will present Pashteen before a judicial magistrate for his transitory remand, he added.
According to police, a case was registered against the PTM chief at the City police station in DI Khan on Jan 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 FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Pashteen and other PTM leaders had attended a gathering on Jan 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 comments about the state.
Taking to Twitter, senior PTM leader and MNA Mohsin Dawar said: "This is our punishment for demanding our rights in a peaceful and democratic manner. Manzoor's arrest will only strengthen our resolve. We demand the immediate release of Manzoor Pashteen."
Last night Manzoor Pashteen was arrested in Tehkaal, Peshawar. This is our punishment for demanding our rights in a peaceful & democratic manner. But Manzoor's arrest will only strengthen our resolve. We demand the immediate release of Manzoor Pashteen.#ReleaseManzoorPashteen
He urged PTM workers and supporters to remain calm in the wake of the arrest. "We will devise a strategy after consultations. We are up against those who are most troubled by demands for constitutional rights, and we will continue doing that."
He announced that PTM will hold an emergency press conference at the Islamabad Press Club at 3pm and urged party workers to show their support.
PPP, senators call for immediate release
The PPP, in a statement today, demanded that Pashteen be released immediately and that a dialogue be initiated between the government and the youth of tribal areas.
The statement, issued by General Secretary of PPP's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter Faisal Kundi, said that "political arrests only aggravate the situation and [do] not help resolve political issues"
"It is most foolish and highly condemnable that the voice of tribal youth is being silenced through brute state force at a time when there is urgent need for a dialogue," the statement read.
Senators Usman Kakar and Hasil Bizenjo, during the Senate session today, demanded the release of Pashteen, as the former warned that the development would garner a reaction from the PTM leader's supporters.
Following Pashteen's arrest, #ReleaseManzoorPashteen started trending on Twitter with various politicians and human rights activists calling for his release.
Human rights group Amnesty International also called for Pashteen's "immediate and unconditional" release.
Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leaders and MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir on Monday condemned the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen and said that instead of addressing the group's grievances, the state had resorted to arresting its leader.
Dawar was addressing a press conference in Islamabad, hours after Pashteen was arrested from Peshawar's Shaheen Town. He was joined by Wazir, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Senator Usman Kakar, politician Afrasiab Khattak and PPP's Farhatullah Babar.
Dawar said that he had called the police to ask on what grounds Pashteen had been arrested but they did not give any reasons and refused to cooperate.
Terming the arrest as "abduction", Dawar said: "We think that Manzoor Pashteen has been arrested for the speech he delivered in Bannu in which he said he will gather all Pashtun leaders." He urged PTM workers to stay "peaceful like always" and announced that the group will hold protests across the country as well as abroad on Tuesday.
"FIRs will not frighten us. Resistance will balloon now," Dawar declared.
Wazir recalled that Defence Minister Pervez Khattak had recently offered to hold dialogue with the rights group in order to address their issues and yet Pashteen had been arrested.
"It means the government and state are not on the same page," Wazir said.
PPP leader Babar said that his party had condemned Pashteen's arrest and demanded the "immediate release" of the PTM chief as well as his supporters, who had been taken into custody.
"It is strange that the defence minister had offered dialogue to PTM but [now] the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen is an eye-opener," Babar said.
"Political detentions will deteriorate internal security," the PPP leader warned.
Senator Kakar also condemned Pashteen's arrest and said: "Manzoor Pashteen's narrative and popularity have given sleepless nights to the government and those at the helms of affairs."
Khattak termed Pashteen's arrest as a "dangerous" move, saying, "the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen has turned him into a reality."
"Why are you not ready to book Musharraf who sabotaged the Constitution?" the politician demanded and called upon rights groups to take notice of Pashteen's "illegal arrest".
"How will you sell atrocities in occupied-Kashmir when you are treating your own people in the same manner?" Khattak added.
PTM chief Pashteen was sent to Peshawar's central jail on a 14-day day judicial remand by a magistrate after he was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning.
According to police, a case was registered against the PTM chief at the City police station in DI Khan on Jan 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 (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, 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 comments 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 under the tenancy act.
