The head of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) says several members of the Pakistani human rights group have been detained as they attempted to reach the Supreme Court in Islamabad to demand that the state protects their rights and ensure their security.

PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen said police detained PTM members en route to a protest at Islamabad's Supreme Court on August 18, using road closures and obstacles to try and stop large conveys of protesters headed to the capital.

Despite challenges created by authorities, Pashteen said the PTM activists are continuing their journey and still plan to protest outside of the Supreme Court in Islamabad.

"Road closures, roadblocks, police violence, and attempted arrests. In the midst of all this, PTM youths are resisting and moving forward," Pashteen said noting that some protesters have reached Tarnool, about 18 kilometers from Islamabad.

Pakistan's Pashtun population, the second-largest ethnic group in the country of some 231 million people, has been bolstered by an influx of refugees from neighboring Afghanistan.

The PTM campaigns for the rights of Pakistan’s estimated 35 million Pashtuns, many of whom live along the border with Afghanistan where the military has conducted campaigns against the Pakistani Taliban..

The PTM has accused Pakistani authorities of systematic discrimination against Pashtuns and say that the ethnic group is discriminated against under the country's constitution.

The PTM has been calling for the removal of military checkpoints in tribal areas and an end to "enforced disappearances," in which suspects are detained by Pakistani security forces without due process.

Thousands of Pakistani Pashtuns have been killed and millions displaced by the Pakistani Army's campaigns since 2003.

Mass protests erupted in 2020 after Sardar Arif Wazir, one of the leaders of the PTM, was assassinated when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car. Many claimed he was killed by state-backed militants in the South Waziristan tribal district.