Quetta, Jul 24 (IANS): Pashtun leader and Member of Pakistan National Assembly, Mohsin Dawar, said he was again stopped from entering Balochistan again, Balochistan Post reported.

Taking to Twitter, Dawar said that he and Afrasiab Khattak were unceremoniously stopped from entering Balochistan, and their flight was rerouted to the federal capital Islamabad.

Dawar was travelling to Quetta to participate in the provincial conference of his party when he was not allowed to set foot in Balochistan and his flight was diverted to Islamabad. Dawar said that some elements were "making noise" over the announcement of his travel to Balochistan. He said the airlines had made "lame excuses" over diverting the flight. "Troll brigades had been campaigning for us to be stopped since yesterday," Dawar wrote, Balochistan Post reported.

Pashtun leader Khattak said they were not allowed to book another flight for Monday. He said that people imposing bans on travelling to Balochistan must contemplate the consequences of leaving the people of Balochistan alone in an "atmosphere of terror".

This is not the first time that the Pashtun leader has been stopped from travelling from Balochistan. He was stopped several times in the past few years on the pretext of "security". In September 2020, Dawar was barred from leaving the airport after landing in Quetta. The airport security had told him that he had been banned from entering Balochistan for 90 days "in the best interest of public peace and safety".

A month later, Dawar was once again not allowed entry into Balochistan and barred from leaving the airport after landing in the provincial capital. Dawar said that he had been "detained at Quetta airport" along with a friend. "Once again our rights are being violated by state above state," he wrote. "I am told its because of security risks. Why are these risks limited to me only? We refuse to be silenced like this. We will not be intimidated", he tweeted, Balochistan Post reported.

The Interior Ministry of Pakistan announced in November 2021 that the three Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leaders – Dawar, Manzoor Pashteen and Ali Wazir – were banned from entering Balochistan for three months.