PPP condemns arrest of Manzoor Pashteen
Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party has condemned the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen head of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) last night and demanded his immediate release and initiation of a dialogue with the youth of tribal areas.
In a statement, General Secretary of the KPK chapter of PPP and former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi said that political arrests only aggravated the situation and did 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, he said.
Just a day before the Defence Minister Pervez Khattak publicly offered dialogue to the tribal youth he said and asked as to who had countered the dialogue offer and why? The Defence Minister owes an explanation to the nation, he said.
Faisal Kundi said that the demand of the tribal people for the reconstruction of destroyed homes of the people, return to their homes and honorable rehabilitation of the displaced people was a legitimate one that must have been acted upon long ago. This legitimate demand will not be swept aside by arresting Manzoor Pashteen, he said.
He said that after the merger of tribal districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the breaking of backbone of the militants as claimed it was incomprehensible as to why the tribal areas were still no go areas for the people of Pakistan and the policing still being done by non police security agencies.
He demanded that policing in tribal areas be entrusted to the police, the damaged homes, schools and properties be reconstructed and all the displaced people be sent back to their homes and rehabilitated. He recalled that during insurgency in Swat the PPP government arranged for the return of all internally displaced peoples soon after the militants were defeated and asked as to why the government did not want to send back the internally displace persons of tribal areas to their homes.
