WASHINGTON: Mohsin Javad Dawar, a leader of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), addressed journalists, academics and US State Department officials at a roundtable discussion this week at the Washington DC-based think tank The Hudson Institute.
Dawar, recently elected to the National Assembly as an independent candidate from North Waziristan, is in the US as part the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).
The professional exchange programme allows current and emerging leaders from various fields to cultivate relationships in America through short visits that include professional meetings related to the participants’ professional interests. While in Washington DC, Dawar will attend seminars and speak with think tanks, academics and US officials.
Speaking at the roundtable discussion, Dawar said the movement has four demands that are aimed at improving the treatment of Pashtuns in the North Waziristan region. “Extrajudicial killings should be stopped; those kept in custody without any due process should be released; landmines in the area be removed; humiliation of families and individual Pashtuns at checkpoints be stopped,” he said.
When asked if the movement has aspirations to develop into a political group, Dawar said, “The goal of the movement is to remain a non-violent and peaceful pressure group … we have no plans to be a political group.”
The Pashtuns, Dawar said, have been subjected to abuses and human rights violations for years. The turning point for the movement was the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud by police in Karachi this year in a fake shootout, he said. “Despite the injustices the Pashtuns have been subjected to, they do not intend to retaliate with arms. We are totally non-violent, and that is our strategy,” he added.
Published in Daily Times, October 19th 2018.