Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen is the founder of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and the organizer of two grand Pashtun jirgas in 2022 and 2024.
Pashteen was born on October 25, 1994, in a small village named Moola Khan Sarai in South Waziristan. His father, Abdul Wadood Mehsud, was a teacher at the village school. The eldest of eight siblings, Manzoor Ahmad started his education in his village school, attended middle school in Bannu, and completed high school in Karak. He later pursued higher education at Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan, where he earned a degree in Veterinary Medicine (DVM).
Mr. Pashteen belongs to the Mehsud tribe and grew up in a poor family. As a young boy, he experienced displacement four times, the last of which occurred in 2009 due to Pakistani military operations, forcing his family to relocate to Dera Ismail Khan. In 2016, they returned to their devastated home.
During his university years, Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen served as the leader of the Tribal Students Organization and developed a keen interest in the revolutionary movements and leaders of the world.
Pashteen draws inspiration from non-violent leaders like Bacha Khan, Bayazid Roshan—the leader of the Roshani movement—and Khushal Khan Khattak, the celebrated warrior poet of the Pashtuns’ rich history.
Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen grew up in a Pashtun homeland where the Pakistani government committed numerous atrocities and crimes. During this time, Pakistan trained the young Pashtun generation in extremism and used them for its objectives, both in the Lower and Upper Pashtun/Afghan regions.
The Pakistani government used these Pashtuns to counter powerful governments in Afghanistan, planted landmines in Pashtun areas, conducted military operations and bombings against innocent, unarmed civilians, and made prominent Pashtun leaders disappear. Some were tortured to death, with their bodies never returned to their families, and many more were victimized.
Witnessing these events, Pashteen first formed the Mehsud Protection Movement in 2013.
In January 2018, Karachi police killed a Pashtun named Naqeebullah Mehsud, accusing him of terrorism. Manzoor Pashteen and 20 companions began a long march from Dera Ismail Khan, raising awareness that terrorism had been imposed on the Pashtuns and that they were also being killed under the guise of counter-terrorism. Their march reached Islamabad in February 2018, where they initiated a sit-in under the banner of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).
In April 2018, another major gathering took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where PTM raised its voice against the unlawful killings, disappearances, and anti-Pashtun military policies by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and military, calling for the removal of landmines from Pashtun regions.
Initially, the PTM leaders made the following demands from the Pakistani government:
- An end to the military and intelligence agencies’ oppression of the Pashtuns.
- The recovery of thousands of missing Pashtuns.
- Fair trials for prisoners and the release of innocent detainees.
- Prevention of the looting and plundering of Pashtuns’ wealth by the government.
- Stopping the killing of innocent Pashtuns and the destruction of their homes under the pretext of military operations.
- Granting Pashtuns the same civil and human rights as other ethnic groups in Pakistan.
Manzoor Pashteen has also written a book of 1,400 pages about the situation in Waziristan, detailing the atrocities committed against the Pashtuns by the Pakistani government, though it has not been published yet. He believes this book will help awaken the Pashtuns and other human rights advocates.
In March 2022, Pashteen convened a grand jirga in Bannu, where the social issues of the Lower and Upper Pashtuns/Afghans were discussed.
Addressing this jirga, Pashteen said, “Currently, more than 8,000 Pashtun youths are missing.” The discussions focused on control over resources, women’s rights, and the status of the Pashto language in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. There was also a call for a representative government in Afghanistan through a grand jirga and general elections, in line with international standards. The extension of barbed wire along the Durand Line was condemned, and the release of political prisoners, including Ali Wazir, was demanded.
At one point, Pashteen expressed his desire for “15-20 determined companions” to effectively lead the protest movement against war, killings, and oppression.
One of his closest companions was the nationalist poet Ghilaman Wazir, who was killed on July 10, 2024, in Islamabad.
During Ghilaman Wazir’s funeral, Pashteen announced the formation of a grand jirga on October 11.
Despite opposition from the Pakistani military and government, this jirga was held on October 12-13, 2024, with the participation of tens of thousands of Pashtuns. Some of its key and widely praised resolutions were:
- The military, Taliban, ISIS, and all other armed groups must vacate Pashtun regions within two months.
- A national Pashtun force will be established, with each political party and district contributing 3,000 unarmed youths to protect the interests of the Pashtun homeland.
- The jirga does not recognize the Durand Line, and movement across it will continue without passports or visas, as it did in the past.
- The custom of giving girls in badal (tribal retribution) will be abolished.
- All political prisoners must be released immediately.
- A respectful request was made to the Afghan Taliban to allow girls’ education.
Due to his activism, Pashteen has been repeatedly arrested and tortured. On September 5, 2017, he was arrested alongside his father and two other activists by security forces in South Waziristan. After a day of interrogation, he was released. In January 2020, Peshawar police arrested him on charges of conspiracy, and he spent almost two months in prison.
He was also arrested on March 28, 2021, but released a day later.
Most recently, he was arrested on December 4, 2023, and released on February 7, 2024.
It’s worth noting that Manzoor Pashteen is also a Pashto-language poet and writer. Although his busy schedule leaves little time for poetry, he frequently writes prose and publishes it on various social media platforms.
Since the beginning of his activism, Manzoor Pashteen has consistently raised the issues and demands of the Lower and Upper Pashtuns/Afghans as a united cause, earning the trust and admiration of many as a young, courageous leader across the Pashtun regions.