Pakistan Army warns Pashtun Tahafuz Movement

The Pakistani Army on Monday said that it wanted to make every effort to resolve the issues faced by the Pashtuns in tribal areas, but warned that the "manner" adopted by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) to voice such grievances would no longer be tolerated.

Addressing a press conference at the General Headquarters, Asif Ghafoor, the Director General of Pakistan Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said: "We want to do everything for the people (of tribal areas), but those who are playing in the hands of people, their time is up. Their time is up."

"The instructions of the Army chief will be fully followed. People will not face any sort of problem and neither will any unlawful path be adopted," Ghafoor said, suggesting possible action against the PTM, according to Dawn online.

"Everything will be done lawfully."

The spokesperson said that the Army refrained from taking action against the PTM's "controversial" slogans because of its consideration for common Pashtuns who are being provoked.

The PTM is a rights-based alliance that, besides calling for the de-mining of the former tribal areas and greater freedom of movement in the latter, has insisted on an end to the practices of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and unlawful detentions, and for their practitioners to be held to account.

--IANS

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