PESHAWAR - A local court in Peshawar on Tuesday directed authorities to transfer Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement
(PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen to Dera Ismail
Khan Jail, a day after he was taken into custody on
a 14-day judicial remand.
Accepting the DI Khan police’s request to transfer Pashteen to DI Khan on a first information report accusing him of sedition and incitement, the
district and sessions court also rejected a plea by
the accused for transit bail. The PTM chief was
arrested on Monday after a First Information Report was registered against him in DI Khan under
Sections 506, 153-A, 120-B, 124 of the Pakistan
Penal Code. The FIR alleges Pashteen, along with
other leaders of the PTM, had claimed the Constitution of 1973 violated basic human rights during
a speech in DI Khan on January 18. It also claimed
that he passed derogatory remarks about the state
of Pakistan. In addition to the PTM leader, several
workers of the civil rights movement have also
been taken into custody. Local media has identified these men as Muhammad Salam, Abdul Hameed, Idrees, Bilal, Mohib, Sajjadul Hassan, Aimal,
Farooq and Muhammad Salman.
Following the PTM leader’s arrest, the movement’s remaining leadership, including lawmakers Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir have announced
to stage protest demonstration in various parts of
the country demanding his release.
The PTM rose to prominence in February, 2018
after the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah
Mehsud in Karachi. As protests spread nationwide, the rights-based alliance—which seeks an
end to enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, unlawful detentions, and accountability for
all those found complicit in these activities came
under fire from the military, which has accused
the group of colluding with “enemy forces” to destabilise the country.