Pak Army will not use force against Pashtun Tahafuz Movement-ISPR

The Pakistan Army will not use force against the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and will continue to engage with them in an attempt to resolve their issues, said the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor.

Interacting with media on Monday afternoon, Major General Ghafoor said, "The Chief of Army Staff (General Bajwa) has strictly advised the forces to avoid use of force against PTM members. We now have strong evidence to prove that PTM is being exploited by foreign elements."

Major Ghafoor said that he had personally met PTM members, including Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Ahmed.

"I held separate meetings with Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Pashteen and then arranged their meetings with military officers to resolve their issues," he said.

"Dawar sent me a text and thanked me for addressing his issues. But all of a sudden, hundreds of social media accounts were created to launch anti-Pakistan propaganda. How could so many caps be made? How could foreign media start telecasting their protests live? Thankfully, local media ignored their propaganda," he said.

In WANA, he said, it was a clash between the PTM and the Aman Committee.

"Army helicopters were used to transport the injured to hospitals, but unfortunately, they started sharing a fake photograph of some girl being shot. There was no such casualty in WANA," Major General Ghafoor said.

In response to a question about the PTM's demands about missing persons, Major General Ghafoor said, "War is not a fair game and everybody who is picked up is not a Pashtun, every terrorist is not a Pashtun and not every Pashtun is a terrorist."

"It doesn't affect us if you make false claims on social media. The people of Pakistan greatly respect the armed forces because of the sacrifices they have given in the war against terrorism. Our focus is on the job and we should not deviate from it. The Pakistan Army is the only force which has won the war against terrorism. Whoever wears the uniform, be it police, army, FC, Rangers is part of us. They all are in the line of fire and they are doing it for the country," he said.

He also said that FATA will be at par with Punjab in coming years.

"Checkposts are being abolished as the security situation improves. FATA was a combat area and even check posts are in place in cities like Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta," he said.