In an interview with BBC Urdu, Shah said: "They are Pakistani citizens. They have violated the law of the country, and they were arrested. As far as the Pashtuns are concerned, they stand with this government."
He said, "PTI has a two-third majority in the KP province. Imran Khan is more popular in tribal and Pashtun areas than he is in his own district.” The interior minister maintained that those who violate the country's law will be arrested.
“No other political leader has done what he [Imran] has done for the merger of tribal districts and for bringing the Pashtun into the mainstream. So, then who is their leader, Pashteen or Imran," the interior minister questioned.
While talking about the grounds of Pashteen’s arrest, Ijaz Shah said, "there is a case registered against Manzoor Pashteen in Dera Ismail Khan on the basis of which he was arrested. Yesterday or the day before, an MNA from his party, a very good person, was using foul language against the country and state institutions and he has been caught.”
On Monday, PTM founding leader Manzoor Pashteen was sent to Peshawar's Central Jail on a 14-day judicial remand by a magistrate hours after he was arrested from the city's Shaheen Town. Leaders of AWP including its Punjab President Ammar Rashid and MNA Mohsin Dawar were arrested under sedition charges on Tuesday. However, Mohsin Dawar was released the next day.