As India is facing protests in all the states, likes of PTM leaders are being pursued rather pushed by foreign hostile intelligence agencies to stir violence in Pakistan. According to Reuters report, the protest, dubbed the ‘Million March’, was organized by an umbrella group of Muslim and civil society organizations. Despite police saying no march would be allowed and that permission had only been granted for a 1,000-person gathering, tens of thousands of people protested in India. The Indian government has faced weeks of acrimonious and, at times, violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed by Modi’s government in December. The Hyderabad protesters held placards with slogans including “Withdraw CAA immediately,” and “India’s only religion in Secularism.” The Reuters witness said the protest remained peaceful, and estimated that more than one hundred thousand people were in attendance.
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After being dormant for a while, PTM is once again active and trying to create chaos, confusion and bloodshed to revitalize their narrative, which lost its strength after FATA’s merger with KPK. Of course, it is at the behest of hostile intelligence agencies. On 12th January, Gulalai Ismail tweeted: “Despite severe crackdown against PTM activists by the state authorities in the past few months, thousands of Pashtun men gathered in Bannu to protest against war economy, militarisation, injustices & human rights abuses such as enforced disappearances & extrajudicial killings”. In a video circulating on social media, Ali Wazir is seen addressing a crowd in Banuu, where he said that “we will cut down the barbed wires and fences which Pak Army has erected on Pak-Afghan border and use them to hang soldiers”. Such statements are reminiscent of TTP militants.
It should be remembered that Manzoor Pashteen and other leaders of PTM did not even condemn violence against Afghans by the US forces and Indian sponsored ISIS. Anyhow, PTM leaders and its social media activists and supporters are pitched against the government and the state institutions, and trying to create a wedge between people and national institutions. Earlier, Durand Line and Pashtunistan issues at the behest of Afghanistan and India were buried under the rubble of Afghan jihad. It is worth noting that PTM or its Afghan supporters are not voicing concerns on Pashtun genocide? Why the dichotomy? Can PTM hold a Jalsa for Pashtuns protection in Kabul; after all President Ghani has supported PTM? Why PTM is not talking against US, NDS, RAW and Afghanistan Government for killing Pashtuns? One can understand that PTM is playing in their hands.
In 2018, the Washington Post had published a treatise authored by Pamela Constable and Haq Nawaz Khan, which was supportive of the PTM, and highlighted the outpourings of its leaders maligning Pakistan’s armed forces. It however admitted foreign hand behind the movement. The authors stated: “The new Pashtun movement has received support from Afghans, including a strong endorsement from President Ashraf Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun. But this has only made the movement more controversial, because relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are tense.” There is a perception that Afghan intelligence agency NDS and Indian RAW made inroads in the PTM as well, otherwise this nascent organization did not have enough funds to organize demonstrations and rallies in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. In his write-ups, Harsha Kakar, Major General (retd) from Indian army had highlighted the protest demonstrations by Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).