The past few years have seen the emergence of two major new political movements in Pakistan—each of which holds important implications for understanding the country’s current state of play. One is the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a civil society group comprised mainly of ethnic Pashtuns—who live primarily in Pakistan’s tribal areas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, and parts of the port city of Karachi. The other is Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a religious political party. Each group is controversial in its own right but still draws power from a large and passionate support base. Indeed, while there are no reliable estimates of each group’s membership, both the PTM and TLP manage to attract thousands to their rallies. Yet, the views, experiences and likely trajectories of the two political movements could not be more different.
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