Page 8 - Urdu Link - May 25, 2018

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – MAY 25, 2018 OPINION
PTM: Th e Lowdown on Manzur Pashteen

n By Riaz Haq
CA civilians have lost their lives in terrorist at-
tacks since the year 2001. In the same period,
ashtun Tahaff uz Movement (PTM) nearly 7,000 Pakistani security personnel
has held rallies across Pakistan in have been killed in fi ghting terrorists to bring
Psupport of Pashtun rights. Th e move- peace to the country.
ment was born in response to the murder
of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young Pashtun Pashtun Perpetrators and Victims
falsely accused of being a It is true that many victims of terror-
terrorist by a rogue senior ist violence in Pakistan have been Pashtuns.
police offi cer in Karachi. But data from South Asia Terrorism Portal
PTM has received very (SATP) shows that Pashtuns alone have not
little coverage in Pakistan’s suff ered from terrorism.
mainstream media but the All of Pakistan’s ethnic groups and re-
foreign media reporting on its gions have paid a price. And most of the per-
leader Manzoor Pashteen has been eff usive. petrators of such violence have been Pash-
Inside Pakistan, the PTM movement has tuns. Pakistan Army has also used violence
been mainly a social media phenomenon. to stop this violence but it was inevitable to
Foreign media appears to have relied on bring an end to an armed confl ict that could
PTM’s social media posts for their coverage. not be peacefully resolved in spite of Paki-
Pashteen’s tweets have come under criticism stan’s best eff orts. Nearly 7,000 Pakistani sol-
for disseminating misleading images and diers and policemen have died fi ghting the
disinformation about the actions of Pakistani terrorists.
military in FATA. ine grievances, the PTM leaders and sup- was killed by the Pakistan Army.
porters have attacked Pakistani soldiers as Pashteen’s account was suspended by PTM Under Suspicion
Who is Manzoor Pashteen? “terrorists in uniform”. Manzoor Pashteen Twitter for engaging in disinformation. It PTM”s detractors say the movement
Manzoor Pashteen is from South Wa- has sent out misleading tweets and disinfor- was only restored aft er he and his supporters has been hijacked by those wishing to harm
ziristan in Pakistan’s federally administered mation about the Pakistan Army. made promises to correct their behavior and Pakistan. Th ey point to the fact that it went
tribal areas (FATA). Born in 1992, he saw a One of Pashteen’s tweets had an image of pleaded for restoration. from seeking redress of genuine Pashtun
lot of violence and suff ering in his home as destroyed homes that he falsely claimed was grievances to accusing the Pakistani soldiers
the battle raged between the Taliban, par- the result of Pakistan Army action in FATA. Violence in FATA of being “terrorists in uniform”. In an inter-
ticularly the TTP, and the Pakistan security It was in fact an image from a 2011 Radio Pashteen has seen hundreds of fellow view with CNN, Pashteen asked, “Who they
forces in the last decade. Free Europe story titled “Taliban Burn Vil- Pashtuns in FATA killed and injured. Tens are harboring in their cantonment zones, if
Pashteen has been variously hailed as lages in Northwestern Pakistan”. of thousands have been displaced amid mul- not the Taliban?”
“Pashtun Che” and “Messiah” by his sup- Pashteen tweeted out an old 1960s pic- tiple military operations to clear out the Tali- Pashteen’s critics cite his misleading
porters while those opposing him have been ture from Woodstock , New York. It showed ban militants from the region. tweets as evidence that he is being manipu-
denigrated as “pygmies”. Among others, Pah- American hippies sleeping in tents. He Th ere has been a marked decrease in lated. Th is does not come as a surprise when
teen’s movement has received support from wrongly labeled them as internally displaced violence as a result of Pakistan Army Op- seen in the context of the ongoing debate in
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who is not Pashtuns (IDPs) from FATA, Pakistan. erations Zarb e Azb and Radd ul Fasad to the West about the use by hostile nations of
on good terms with Pakistan. Pakistan Army Another Pashteen tweet included the drive out militants from North and South social media to promote divisions along eth-
Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has de- picture of an Afghan child who was killed by Waziristan. Th e death toll from terrorism nic, racial, and sectarian lines.
scribed the PTM movement as “engineered” the Taliban in Helmand province. Pashteen across Pakistan has declined from the high American and British intelligence agen-
without explicitly naming it. incorrectly labeled him a Pakistani Pashtun of 11,704 in 2011 to 1,260 in 2017, according cies claim that Russian intelligence has used
While pressing for redress of their genu- child in FATA and falsely claimed the child to South Asia Terrorism Portal. Over 22,000 PTM, P7

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