Quetta – Manzoor Pashteen, the founder of the ethnic rights group Pashtun Tahafuzz Movement (PTM), was arrested by the police in Chaman, Balochistan while he was on his way to Turbat to attend a sit-in against extrajudicial killings of Baloch men. According to PTM activists, the police opened fire at the vehicle carrying Pashteen and his supporters before arresting him.
PTM sources further said that two activists of the group were injured, but Pashteen remained unhurt.
In a statement issued four hours after the arrest, Chaman Deputy Commissioner Raja Athar Abbas claimed that the arrest was made after PTM workers fired at the police from Pashteen’s vehicle.
Before his arrest on Monday, Pashteen had addressed a sit-in in Chaman against the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. During his speech at the Chaman protest, he had announced that the PTM would stand in solidarity with the Baloch activists who have staged a sit-in in Turbat.
Last month, National Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman and former lawmaker Mohsin Dawar was briefly detained in Quetta and forced to go back to Islamabad while he was on his way to Chaman to attend this protest against Pakistan government’s new border crossing laws.
A day later, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch, the leader of Gwadar’s rights movement Haq Do Tehreek (HDT), was also arrested by local authorities ahead of his visit to Chaman for participation in the same protest. The sit-in in Chaman has been going on for over 40 days now.
