Pakistani police on Wednesday released a Pashtun lawmaker, hours after he was arrested as he protested the detention of a prominent leader from the ethnic minority community.
Mohsin Dawar was arrested on Tuesday along with 15 supporters who protested in front of the National Press Club here against the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen, the chief of Pashtun Tahfuz Movement (PTM) - a movement for protection of ethnic Pashtun people in Pakistan.
Pashteen, the 27-year-old activist, was arrested along with nine supporters in Peshawar and sent to a jail on a 14-day judicial remand
Dawar in a series of tweets after release said that he and his supporters were kept at different police stations of Islamabad before he was set free with promise that all detainees were being released.
"I was told by the police that they were setting me free. I told them that I will not go until all the others are set free as well. Then they came back again, telling me that they will set all free so I decided to leave. Now I have come to know that some of the protestors are still in jail. We will wait to get a full idea of how many are still in jail and after that we will protest till each and everyone is released," he said.
"There wasn't a single report of violence by protesters from around the world. I attended the protest in Islamabad and the protesters were as peaceful as in the other places," he said.
PTM leader Dawar was elected as a member of the National Assembly from South Waziristan in 2018.
He along with fellow parliamentarian from PTM, Ali Wazir, was arrested last year in June for allegedly inciting violence against the army when local people attacked a post of security forces in South Waziristan. They were granted bail in September.
The PTM was started in 2014 by Pashteen in South Waziristan as Mehsud Tahfuz Movement to demand protection for Mehsud tribesmen at the height of war against terrorism in the tribal areas, bordering Afghanistan.
However, it was renamed as PTM in 2018 after a successful sit-in Islamabad when it began attracting youth from across country.
Former army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor in one of press conferences last year accused the group of being used by anti-Pakistan elements in Afghanistan.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani tweeted against the arrest of Pashteen and was criticised by Pakistan for interfering in its domestic affairs.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
