Manzoor Pashteen

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manzoor Pashteen

• Manzoor hails from a poor Pashtun family from the Shamankhel section of the Mehsud tribe.

• He has received his early education at a school in his village in South Waziristan.

• His father was the only earning hand in his family and used to take loans to fulfil the needs of the entire family of eight.

• He and his family were internally displaced from Waziristan due to Operation Rah-e-Nijat.

• They were sent to Internally Displaced Person camps in Dera Ismail Khan, where he pursued his further studies.

• Since 9 January 2012, he has been working as Human Rights Activist for Pashtun people.

• On 24 September 2013, he became the president of Tribal Students Organisation. He led the organisation till 2016.

• Manzoor and his family have been displaced from their homes a total of four times because of different operations held.

• In 2014, he founded the Mehsud Tahafuz Movement, which was initially started for eliminating landmines from Waziristan, which was affected by the war in North-West Pakistan.

• It was later renamed to Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) aka Pashtun Protection Movement and is based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and Balochistan, Pakistan. 

• A red and black hat, which is worn by Manzoor is becoming a symbol of PTM and scaling new heights and is also becoming favourite among Pashtun youth.

• His friend Salar revealed that Manzoor received this red and black patterned hat from a labourer to whom he gave his new hat in exchange. Moreover, this hat has become a source of income for many vendors too. 

• The group rose to fame in January 2018, when they began a justice march movement for Naqeebullah Mehsud and many others, who were killed illegally during a police encounter in Karachi. The march passed through many places and reached Islamabad, where a sit-in called “All Pashtun National Jirga” was arranged. 

• He has raised the slogan- Yeh jo dehshatgardi hai iske pechay wardi hai,’ which means Pakistan army is behind all the terrorism.

• His co-activists describe him as a brave and fierce activist who only works for the rights of Pashtun’s, not money.