The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM)), a non-political movement and self-proclaimed sole representative of the Pashtun rights which used to call itself a champion of Pashtun’s rights has finally lost its popularity and credibility due to some serious internal rifts.
The Movement started by a young and energetic Pashtun Manzoor Pashteen with a motif of fighting for the basic rights of the war turned Pashtuns is about to breathe its last as it has derailed from the goal and motif it was formed for and its founding member Mohsin Dawar has parted ways with PTM and is set to launch his own party.
Such a step of Mohsin Dawar with the backing of some other senior leaders has let the differences within the Movement get to the surface and this is the reason that a huge number of its supporters turned their back and stopped supporting PTM.
Many political experts believe that the decision of Mohsin to launch his own political faction has also put a question mark on the status of PTM as launching another political party instead of taking the Movement ahead meant that it has failed to deliver.
It is pertinent to mention that in the Pashtun sit-in in Islamabad, Manzoor Pashteen had proclaimed that the movement would remain a non-parliamentary body to avoid controversies among Pashtuns on political grounds. Moreover, sources within PTM have also informed us that PTM’s international supporters are against Parliamentary politics. They perceive that a neutral position could help the movement achieve its long and short-term interests.
Meanwhile, commenting on the matter Aizaz Durrani a member of PTM said that the internal rifts will definitely affect the image and cause of PTM; saying that Mohsin Dawar and his other few supporters has badly damaged the cause of PTM.
Aizaz Durrani stated that Manzoor Pashteen was left alone in the midst; however, due to his decision of launching a new political party, Mohsin Dawar will never be able to restore his image in the eyes of Pashtuns.
Meanwhile, PTM is also facing a huge financial crisis as the foreign aid to PTM from its supporters suddenly stopped which has pushed the movement into a huge financial crisis and has also put a question mark on the status and survival of PTM in upcoming years.
A close aide of Manzoor Pashteen on the condition of anonymity told us that PTM is currently passing through a hard time as its foreign supporters have stopped financial support of the Movement and the reason for stopping the financial aid from the PTM supporters living in foreign countries was that many of PTM senior leaders were involved in corruption and embezzlement of funds they received from their supporters outside Pakistan.
Talking about the drop in PTM’s international support Aizaz Durrani said that PTM used to be very famous and popular among the Pashtuns living in different countries, but this support has come to its end as most of the PTM leaders have been allegedly involved in corruption and embezzlement in the money sent for PTM’s support by Pashtuns living in the USA and Europe.
The development indicates the evolution process within the party and also shows that everything is not as rosy as depicted by its leadership. PTM is extensively criticized by a large population due to its closeness with the Afghanistan government and ethnically exploiting common governance issues.
