PESHAWAR: Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was released from prison on Tuesday, after a sessions court in Dera Ismail Khan granted him bail in the fifth and last case against him, his lawyer confirmed to Arab News.
“After spending nearly a month in Central Jail, Dera Ismail Khan, Pashteen has won the legal battle and come out of prison. He was granted bail in all five cases after we submitted three different surety bonds of up to Rs300,000 in court,” said the lawyer, Saeed Akhtar, also a PTM leader.
Pashteen was arrested in Peshawar on Jan. 27 on a number of charges, ranging hate speech to criminal conspiracy and sedition.
Jubilant Pashteen delivered a brief speech to PTM supporters who came to welcome him upon his release.
“We fought a legal battle within the constitutional framework for the release of our leader,” said Abdullah Nangyal, a PTM activist. “We have won today.”
Parliamentarian and PTM member Ali Wazir told Arab News he was certain that Pashteen would soon come out of prison.
“The cases lodged against Pashteen were concocted and groundless. Today is our victory and the victory of law and justice. Our struggle for the supremacy of law will continue,” he said.
PTM campaigns against alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns and members of other ethnic minorities.
It emerged in 2018, after the killing of an ethnic Pashtun man by police in the port city of Karachi. The killing led to nationwide protests and turned the issue of alleged state violence against Pashtuns into a national debate.
The Pakistani military accuses the PTM of being funded by foreign states, such as India and Afghanistan. The PTM denies any foreign links.
Many PTM supporters are ethnic Pashtuns who hail originally from areas bordering Afghanistan, which used to be the center point of a long insurgency by Taliban and other militants and subsequent operations by the Pakistani military.
Millions of people from the region have been displaced due to the operations.
PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen released from prison
https://arab.news/wuzyr
PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen released from prison
- Pashteen was arrested in January on charges ranging from hate speech to sedition
- PTM parliamentarian Ali Wazir says his colleague was imprisoned on false charges
UAE president to visit Pakistan on Dec. 26 to strengthen trade, investment cooperation
- Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit Pakistan with high-level delegation of ministers, officials, says FO
- UAE president to meet PM Shehbaz Sharif to review bilateral ties, discuss matters of regional and global interest
ISLAMABAD: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit Pakistan on Dec. 26 to review ties between the two nations, exchange views on regional matters and strengthen collaboration with Islamabad in trade, investment, energy and development sectors, the Pakistani foreign office said on Wednesday.
Al Nayhan, who will undertake his first official visit to Pakistan as the UAE’s president later this week, will arrive with a high-level delegation comprising ministers and senior officials, the foreign office said in a statement.
“The visit of High Highness reflects the depth of bilateral relations between the two countries and shared commitment of both sides to further enhancing collaboration in key areas, including trade, investment, energy, development and regional stability,” the statement said.
The UAE president will review the entire spectrum of bilateral ties in a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
“The visit will provide an important opportunity to further strengthen the longstanding brotherly relations between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates,” the foreign office noted.
The announcement from the foreign office takes place a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met UAE Ambassador Salem Mohammed Salem Al Bawab Al Zaabi in Islamabad. The prime minister urged both countries to enhance cooperation in trade and investment.
Pakistan considers the UAE among its closest economic and regional allies, since the Gulf nation is Islamabad’s third-largest trading partner after China and the US.
Policymakers in Pakistan consider the UAE an optimal export destination due to its geographical proximity, which minimizes transportation and freight costs while facilitating commercial transactions.
Both nations have signed agreements worth billions of dollars recently as Pakistan eyes greater trade and economic ties with Gulf states.
In January 2024, Pakistan and the UAE signed multiple agreements worth more than $3 billion for cooperation in railways, economic zones and infrastructure sectors.
The UAE is also a major source of foreign investment in Pakistan, which has been valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE’s foreign ministry.
