Grand jirga venue attacked by army: Pashteen

KABUL (Pajhwok): A grand jirga venue in Khyber tribal district has come under attack from Pakistan army’s heavy machinery, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader said on Wednesday.

The army was using the heavy machinery to dig deep ditches in the ground, where the grand assembly was to take place. Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen alleged.

Scheduled for October 11, the PTM-called jirga -- Pashtun National Justice -- was to be attended by representatives from tribes living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The attendees were supposed to decide on ways of addressing the problems facing them..

On Wednesday, Pashteen wrote on his X handle: “The Pashtun Grand Jirga venue has come under attack from Pakistani security forces’ heavy machinery.”

Without going into details, he claimed telephone companies had also stopped providing services as part of efforts to derail the proposed assembly.

Pashteen wrote: “Pakistani police and army have captured the ground and are digging deep ditches in it. This is the current situation of Pashtuns in Pakistan, where they are not allowed to exercise their right to hold traditional jirgas in their areas.”

On October 2, the Interior Ministry in Islamabad officially outlawed PTM. In a notification, the ministry said: “The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement poses a threat to Pakistan's domestic security.”

On Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI) called on Pakistan to immediately revoke the ban on the rights-based alliance.

A week ago, Pashteen had accused Pakistani police of conducting raids on houses of PTM activists and arresting a number of them in different areas of the province.

aw/mud