Pashtun leaders Manzoor Pashteen, Mohsin Dawar arrested in Pakistan

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Manzoor Ahmad Pashtun and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Mohsin Dawar were arrested on Sunday by the provincial police in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while they were on way to participate in 'Pashtun Long March' towards Islamabad against the killing of four Pashtun teens.

Hundreds of demonstrators of J Khel dharna marched towards Islamabad to protest against the brutal murder of four Pashtun youths hailing from Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"Police use tear gas on #PashtunLongMarch2Islamabad arresting Manzoor Pashteen and Mohsin Dawarr with dozens of others. #JKhelSitIn began on March 21, demanding: Judicial inquiry to investigate the killing of 4 boys and compensation and Operation against all good and bad Taliban," Afghstan-based journalist Bashir Ahmad Gwakh tweeted.

Slamming the inaction of the authorities, MNA Dawar, said in a tweet that the least that government can do is to stop these confrontations to avoid more losses.

"Tortured dead bodies of 4 teenagers were ignored for 8 days by Provincial and Federal government. Now police is not allowing the #JKhilLongMarch2Islamabad. I was stopped by police at Karak. The least that Govt can do is to stop these confrontations to avoid more losses. We will not back out," Dawar tweeted.

The local residents have staged a sit-in in J Khel since March 21, demanding the arrest of the culprits involved in the murder of the teenagers, The Express Tribune reported.

The four youths, whose mutilated bodies were found in the open field near an army camp, were allegedly picked on the pretext of espionage by Pakistan-backed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Locals accuse the Pakistan army and dreadful TTP, whom the army and the establishment label as people's and country's enemy, are operating hand in glove to suppress the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, an increasingly popular for the rights of tribal natives.

Pashtun leaders have time and again accused the Pakistan Army of carrying out violence in the region with impunity. They say the army, which has over deployed troops in the name of regional security from terrorists, has in fact provided them patronage in carrying out attacks against minority tribal population.

( With inputs from ANI )