PTM holds rally in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) on Sunday held a rally on the Ring Road in Peshawar.

PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen vowed not to end the protest till Rao Anwar and Ihsanullah Ihsan were punished, General (R) Musharraf was apprehended and the last missing person was either released or produced before the court.

A large number of participants, including women, were seen wearing the red and black patterned cap that was made famous by Manzoor Pashteen. Amid sloganeering, Manzoor Pashteen declared that he had started the "power play now." He announced to hold a public rally in Lahore on April 23 and in Swat on April 29.

Manzoor Pashteen said the roads would be blocked but the PTM and its supporters would walk on foot to travel to Swat. He said that the PTM was a peaceful movement. He said that the PTM supporters come to its rallies on their own free will. "We will hold rallies in the nook and corner of Pakistan," he added. Balochistan Assembly Members Arfa Siddique, Obaidullah Jan Babar and Senator Usman Khan Kakar also attended the rally.

They belonged to the Mahmood Khan Achakzai-led Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), which has stood behind the PTM since it emerged on the scene in January after the killing of Naqqbullah Mehsud in a fake police encounter ordered by Rao Anwar in Karachi.

During the rally, the organisers made announcements that people were being stopped in various areas to discourage them from participating in the rally. They said that people from all parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Manshera, reached the venue for the cause of the Pakhtuns’ rights. University students from across the country also attended the rally.