Compiling a thread on PTM's recent press conference, just so we have all the clips in one place. At the end, I'll attach a timeline of the state's previous offers of negotiations and evidence that PTM activists were backstabbed every time with jail terms, attacks, & censorship.
Manzoor Pashteen explains that the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement started in opposition to extrajudicial killings and rights abuses by security agencies.
Pashteen said that PTM welcomed negotiations but believed that the freedoms of expression and assembly were non-negotiable. It would negotiate with the state but would not surrender its right to protest, when & where an injustice occurred.
He argues that between citizens & the state, there is no need for negotiations in the presence of a constitution. The constitution mediates their relationship. Yet when the state invited PTM for negotiations in 2018, they still accepted the offer.
"We no longer desire anything in life except peace"
On current problems:
Mohsin Dawar argues that Imran Khan's recent description of OBL as a 'martyr' (/shaheed) confirms PTM's allegations that the state continues to sponsor militancy.
Abdullah Nangyal said that PTM was serious about negotiations and hoped that the government was, too.
Here's a timeline of events from Feb 2018 to Jun 2019, which traces the offers of negotiations from civilian govt & simultaneous propaganda by army against PTM. First, they used veiled terms like inimical forces but eventually told them their 'time was up'
PTM is a movement for constitutional rights that demands democracy in ex-FATA, including control over natural resources. The 'backstabbing' of PTM included not just physical attacks but pre-poll rigging that allowed the undemocratic takeover of mines:
At #StudentsSolidarityMarch in Lahore, Alamgir Wazir said that locals wouldn't give ghundah-gard jernails control over mineral wealth of FATA because it belonged only to its people. He was 1st abducted by a military intel agency then charged with sedition.
Why does the army find PTM so threatening? Because it challenges Project Taliban in all its dimensions: cultural, political, and economic.
Pashteen has been explaining PTM's demands for over 2 yrs now but he isn't given coverage on TV, thanks to ISPR, & his voice on social media has often been drowned out by a flood of vile propaganda, thanks to the likes of Farhan Virk. In his own words:
Despite all the attacks that PTM activists have endured, they have never once abandoned their commitment to non-violent resistance & negotiations with the government within the framework of the constitution.
The problem is that our civilian govt is propped up by 'deep state' (aka military establishment), which regards the constitution with contempt. PTM's demands cannot be met by a puppet govt. They require constl dem & civ supremacy. That's why it's vilified.
Generals don't even hide their contempt for the constitution. Mush saw it as 'a piece of trash to be thrown in the dustbin.' Zia said that the constitution could be un-Islamic but not army's actions. Ayub argued that democracy only worked in cold climates.
Forgot to mention that Manzoor Pashteen himself was arrested in Jan 2020.
He faced jail with courage:
Across Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the world, protests were held to demand his release. In Pakistan, these protestors were arrested and then those protesting the arrest of protestors were also arrested.
A protest in Karachi for the release of activists of PTM & AWP & @qureshik74, who were arrested in Islamabad, while protesting the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen.
The Islamabad protestors were sent to Adiala Jail and brought to the court, to face sedition charges, with chains on their hands:
They were eventually released, due to a High Court order by Justice Athar Minallah, & charges against them were dropped. But the state (read army) tried to terrorize them into submission. It didn't work as they came out of jail chanting political slogans.
Several of them wrote about their experience in Adiala Jail. Here's an account of the experience of the youngest activist among them, who was only 16 years old.
The chain of arrests that occurred is too long to list here. Most of the army's wrath was directed at PTM activists from FATA. However, those who stood in solidarity with PTM were not spared either. The young Mohsin Abdali was abducted by an intel agency.
Justice Minallah's remarks:
PTM is also a thorn in the army's side because it refuses to budge an inch from its core demand that the army stop using proxy militants like the Taliban for strategic depth. It boldly & unapologetically says: ye jo dehshat gardi hai, iske peeche vardi hai
The youngest protestor arrested was 16 and the eldest was 73 (as far as I know).
Manzoor Pashteen, and the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, have the blessings and prayers of many mothers.
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