PTM banned for contacts with terrorist outfits: Tarar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday said the ban on Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) was imposed on the basis of evidence that showed its close contacts with terrorist organisations and its involvement in a campaign against the country.

Addressing a press conference, the minister brushed aside speculations about the ban on the PTM which has been declared a proscribed organisation by the federal cabinet the other day.

He pointed out the PTM’s past practices, including burning of the flag of Pakistan, attack on Pakistani embassies and their involvement in promoting a narrative against the country under the garb of protecting Pashtuns.

Tarar said during the investigation into the attack on a Pakistani embassy, it was found that not only PTM workers were involved in this heinous crime but also some citizens of Afghanistan.

The PTM has not only been in contact with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan but also the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Fitna al-Khawarij), he added.

The minister said there is no restriction on anybody to protest or criticise but nobody would be allowed to burn the national flag, attack embassies and keep contacts with terrorist organisations.

“If an ideology is promoted among the youth on the basis of falsehoods that undermine the state’s efforts and damage the ideology of Pakistan, such actions will not be tolerated,” he said, adding that any political party found engaging with the PTM — whether through funding, opening joint accounts or transferring money — would face the music.

The minister, while acknowledging the significant contribution of Pashtuns in Pakistan movement and establishment of an independent homeland, regretted some elements using the name of Pashtuns to malign Pakistan’s security, integrity and sovereignty.

“Pakistan comes first as I reiterated time and again,” he said, adding the ban on PTM was a lesson for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which believed that “there is no Pakistan without Khan”.

Tarar regretted the campaign run by the PTI about the disappearance of Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur, who later claimed that he went into hiding and crossed 12 districts to reach Peshawar. He wondered how the KP CM felt afraid while passing through the districts of his own province.

All political parties participated in a conference on Palestine on Monday and pledged to raise their voices in support of Palestinians at international forums, he said, regretting that only one party, “Tehreek-e-Inteshar”, chose to stay away.

He said one of its leaders from the US stated that they would not be attending the meeting. Ironically, they were able to run a campaign for Goldsmith in London, promoting him against Sadiq Khan in the mayoral election, but they could not take part in the all-parties conference on the Palestine issue.

The minister said the government was doubling its efforts to send aid to Lebanon and Palestine and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already formed a committee in this regard and soon a relief account would be established for the purpose.

He said some elements were perturbed by the Pak-China friendship, but the PM had made it very clear that nobody would be allowed to destabilise Pakistan. “We are committed to Pakistan’s prosperity, security and integrity,” he stressed.

The minister said Pakistan is progressing and its economy is taking off with an increase in its foreign reserves, remittances and exports. He said inflation had been brought to 6.9 percent from 32 percent and the prime minister had instructed all the provinces to take steps to pass on its benefits to the masses. The minster asked the KP CM what has stopped him from taking the needful steps to curb inflation in the province.