[12][13][14] Ahead of the PTM-planned Khyber Jirga in October 2024, the Pakistani government banned the PTM on the grounds that its activities threatened the country's peace and security.

[17] In November 2018, PTM launched a justice movement for Tahir Dawar, a police officer and Pashto poet who was abducted from the capital Islamabad and tortured to death, with his corpse found 18 days after disappearance in the Dur Baba District of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.

The military said PTM members attacked security forces before any shooting began and injured several soldiers, but the army showed no evidence to contradict the witness accounts and videos, that largely pointed to the contrary.

[29][30][31][32] Several PTM activists, including two members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, were arrested by the security forces after the incident and curfew was imposed in the area.

A day after this incident, the opposition parties walked out of the National Assembly of Pakistan in protest, and asked Asad Qaiser, who was the Speaker of the National Assembly and a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to produce Wazir and Dawar before the parliament so that they could explain their viewpoint about the incident at the parliament sessions, but the speaker refused.

A government notification labeled the PTM as a "proscribed organization," accusing it of engaging in activities deemed prejudicial to the peace and stability of the country.

The ban comes amid growing tensions and increased dissent, particularly regarding the PTM's vocal criticism of the military's role in alleged human rights violations, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Pashtun regions.

Despite the ban, PTM has enjoyed widespread support in Pakistan's Pashtun-majority regions and neighboring Afghanistan, where its demand for justice for Pashtuns resonates strongly.

The timing of the ban also coincided with the scheduled Khyber Jirga, a traditional Pashtun council, further intensifying tensions between the movement's supporters and the state.

The march had 22 participants initially, but many people joined it along the way, as it passed through Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Domel, Karak, Kohat, and Darra Adam Khel, reaching Peshawar on 28 January.

[43] The jirga also demanded Pakistan Army to guarantee that they will not abduct or open fire on innocents in the tribal areas, or use violence or collective punishment against entire villages and tribes, and that they will not impose the frequent curfews on the movement of locals even after minor incidents.

[45] The sit-in in Islamabad ended on 10 February, but the organizers of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement announced that they would reconvene the protest if their demands were not fulfilled by the government.

Amir Muqam appeared in front of the protesters with the hand-written agreement from the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that included three clauses, agreeing to apprehend Rao Anwar, speed-up the clearing of Mines in South Waziristan, an intermediate college establishment in name of Naqeebullah Mehsud, and promised to addressed "genuine gravencies" raised by Jirga members.

"[47] On 13 May 2018, family members of missing Pakistanis participated in a protest rally by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement in Karachi, Pakistan by holding photos of their relatives.

[48] PTM has held public demonstrations at various places, including Bajaur, Bannu, Chaman, Charsadda, Dera Ismail Khan, Islamabad, Kabul, Karachi, Khyber, Killa Saifullah, Lahore, Loralai, North Waziristan, Peshawar, Quetta, South Waziristan, Swabi, Swat, Battagram, Tank, Zhob, as well as in several Western countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

[57] Many prominent politicians including Pakistan Peoples Party's Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Farhatullah Babar and Bushra Gohar condemned NPC for their move.

[67] Gulalai Ismail, a leading PTM member, received death threats by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for speaking enforced disappearancess allegedly carried out by the Pakistani military.