LAHORE: At least 200 Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) members have been “picked up” in the past two weeks, researcher and activist Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi claimed on Saturday.
The activist added that those who were “picked up” included individuals who had met or were in contact with the PTM members.
On the other hand, PTM leader Mohsin Dawar said that the Sindh police has lodged an FIR against him, party leader Ali Wazir and several other figures “for speaking at different corner meetings in Karachi”.
The PTM leaders had also requested Sindh authorities for permission to hold a rally in Karachi, which was reportedly dismissed.
The administration in Karachi denied permission to the PTM to hold its planned rally in the city on the 13th of May.
The administration blamed the PTM for “disseminating false propaganda against state institutions”, and in response, launched an investigation against the leaders of the movement in the city.
Hashim Khan Mandokhel, a representative of the PTM, had earlier lodged an application to the Deputy Commissioner to hold a public rally at Bagh-e-Jinnah in Pakistan’s largest city on the 13th of May.
Sources claimed that senior officials deliberated the PTM’s application for a rally, and claimed that contradictions plagued the application.
