How long will they suffer?

Saleem Safi (The writer works for Geo TV)


Pukhtuns are caught in the crossfire among various players in the war ostensibly waged for eliminating Al-Qaeda and extremists forces in this region. The civil administration of FATA and the military and civil armed forces have been pushing Pukhtuns to offer the ultimate sacrifices for vague and contradictory objectives of the state. On the contrary, the extremists too expect Pukhtuns to support causes they champion. Since an overwhelming majority of tribesmen has been resisting taking sides in this war, unfortunately, they are put through trials and tribulations by competing forces on both sides.



Since the inception of this war, Pukhtun lands have been contested grounds between the government and the extremist elements. When the extremist take hold of an area, they start purging the area of people who are suspected of being loyal to the government and they are either killed or displaced. There are people within the Pukhtun community who use the extremists for personal gain. Such areas under the extremists’ control get affected as collateral damage because of the extremists’ activities to gain firm control of the area and the military’s counter-push to reclaim lost territory.



In tribal areas under government control, the security establishment in concurrence with the civil administration coerces the tribal Pukhtuns through administrative, judicial and financial leverages for raising public lashkars against outlaws and extremists. The tribal chieftains obliged the administration many times at heavy loss to life and hearth, but such lashkars have failed to be a credible bulwark against extremist forces. After raising lashkars, the government has been a silent spectator once the extremists target organisers and leaders of such lashkar.



Due to the government’s unwillingness or inability to protect Pukhtuns, the majority of tribesmen migrated to cities like Islamabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi and even went abroad. But the government chased them into the cities and arrested them and sent them back to their respective agencies. Their lives are of no value in this war. The pillars of Pukhtun social and cultural structures have been irreparably destroyed.



This ambience of coercion, confusion and cluelessness reigns supreme in Pukhtun lands. The cherished social values of trust and dependability have become extinct thus reinforcing suspicion and aversion even to initiatives for genuine amelioration. This aversion and distrust is not entirely Pukhtuns’ fault, as the evils in our midst today first introduced genuine religious and political recipes for hope and development. They had trusted the anti-US mullahs of the MMA in the hope of heavenly peace, not knowing that these elements would strengthen the forces of destruction in Pukhtun lands. Betrayed, they voted for the nationalists and pro-US politicos (ANP & PPP) at the centre and the province in the hope of peace. This bet did not pay off either, as liberals and nationalists are indulged in unprecedented corruption and bad governance.



The real power centres in Islamabad and Rawalpindi don’t care less about Pukhtuns’ ‘useless’ problems. Stopping blood and destruction in Pukhtun lands has not been their priority. For example the governor of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa had established a “Strategic Oversight Council” two years ago to monitor the military operations and reconstructions in Malakand Division and adjacent tribal areas. PM Gilani was quick to grab chairmanship of the committee, but not quick enough to hold a single meeting of this important body in the past two years. After repeated requests of the governor and Corp Commander Peshawar, the PM was kind enough to spare sometime for meeting of the council. This all important meeting was suspended due to political activities of the PM in the wake of the MQM’s and JUI (F)’s decision to quit the coalition government. Is this not an indication how serious the government is about the issues of war and peace in Pukhtun lands?



Tragically the war waged on Pukhtun lands is far from over. A few successes against the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan have boosted General David Petraeus’s moral to continue with unabated military pursuit of the Afghan problem. Pakistani security mandarins are convinced of their victory while the Taliban are certain of the US military defeat in Afghanistan. Thus all three players are up in arms to enlarge the theatre of war in Pukhtun lands. But our rulers have no time to think about the consequences of these developments.



Pukhtuns lives and hearth are being consumed as a stock of the war on terror by the Taliban, US and Pakistan. They have earned the unfortunate distinction of being extremists the world over. In cities like Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore, including other towns and cities, Pukhtuns are asuumed responsible for all terror acts. They are indiscriminately patted down at security check points in cities throughout the country. Their mere appearance raises suspicion among the security personnel including police patrols that waste no time to surround all cars with Khyber Pukhtunkhwa registration numbers as suspected.



Discrimination, rejection and destruction by the ‘national institutions’ have not dented Pukhtuns’ loyalty to this country. No movement or idea for mutiny against the state has gained currency in their lands; neither the extremists nor other destructive forces in Pukhtun lands talk of creating a separate entity. The Pakistani flag has never been disrespected or lowered in Waziristan nor can anyone dare to do so in Mohmand agency. Butcan this one-sided love continue indefinitely? How long will Pukhtuns remain a subject of humiliation and their lands serve as a laboratory for experiments by the Pakistani establishment and world powers?