Human rights watchdog Amnesty International, in its Women protest demanding the release of human rights activist Manzoor Pashteen, in Karachi, Pakistan, Jan. 28, 2020.Manzoor Pashteen arrest
Days before the Amnesty report, police in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar detained a young firebrand leader of a relatively new movement called Pashtun Tahafuz Movement that campaigns against alleged human rights violations by the country’s powerful military. The arrest of 27-year-old Manzoor Pashteen led to demonstrations in various cities and more arrests in the capital Islamabad.While the demonstrations were peaceful, police charged the almost two dozen people it arrested with “sedition” among other charges.Pakistan’s independent and non-partisan body, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called these arrests unconstitutional.”The arbitrary use of the charge of sedition under an archaic law to curb political dissent – that has in no way incited hatred or violence – indicates how little regard the state has for its citizens’ civil and political liberties,” an HRCP press release said.One of the issues PTM repeatedly raised was forced disappearances. Under pressure from PTM and other groups, many people who had disappeared and were believed to be in the custody of intelligence agencies returned home.”Even as hundreds of disappeared people were released throughout 2019, no one was held to account for even one of them,” Amnesty said in its report. 
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