PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen released from jail

Pashtun rights activist arrested on slew of charges including sedition and hate speech

Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen was released from jail on Tuesday, weeks after courts granted him bail on slew of charges.

Last month, police arrested Pashteen from Peshawar’s Shaheen Town in the wee hours of January 27 on the basis of an FIR registered against him on January 18 in DI Khan on charges of sedition, hate speech, incitement against the state and criminal conspiracy.

Police had also arrested and booked over 30 people including MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir for staging a protest outside the National Press Club in Islamabad against the arrest of their leader Manzoor Pashteen.

However, they were released after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted them bail earlier this month.

On February 15, a sessions court in Tank district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had approved Pashteen's bail in two cases of sedition while he was also granted bail in a similar case by a Dera Ismail Khan court.

With additional input from AFP