State vs. citizens

The twists and turns preceding and accompanying the holding of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement’s (PTM’s) Jirga in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) could not be described as anything but mind boggling. Initially, the police and security forces attacked the venue in Jamrud while preparations were still afoot.

The toll of this (as it turned out later, quite unnecessary use of force) was four killed. Then Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi railed against the alleged calls by the PTM to ‘take up arms’ against the state, announcing the PTM had been banned, and ruling out therefore the Jirga being allowed.**

But lo and behold, within a day or so, Mr Naqvi sat looking perplexed with KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who led the drive to reverse harsh actions against the Jirga, held the PTM ban ‘in abeyance’, facilitated the Jirga’s arrangements, and even allowed political parties to attend it. Despite this about turn, the KP government’s spokesperson, Barrister Saif, again ruled out allowing the Jirga by a proscribed outfit. For this unnecessary legerdemain, he was roundly attacked by his own PTI for being an establishment ‘tout’.

However, it seems wiser counsel had overridden the all too familiar knee-jerk reaction by the state to dissent, any dissent, no matter where it came from and for what reason.

The PTM is a grievance platform of the people of KP, especially the tribal regions, against the results visited on them by terrorism and the security forces’ anti-terrorism campaigns over the last two decades. Manzoor Pashteen, the PTM leader, outlined for the Jirga and a wider audience at home and abroad, what these events had wrought on the Pashtuns.

The total number of displaced people is 5.7 million, of whom 2.3 million are still displaced, 76,584 people have been killed, including 1,375 tribal elders and 3,000 religious figures, with 6,700 people still ‘missing’. The toll of houses and mosques either completely or partially destroyed is 370,000.

This is a snapshot of what the people in KP, particularly the tribal areas, have suffered. Is it any wonder then that a movement such as PTM should have arisen to question this past record and argue against any repeat of it? Whatever is the share of the terrorists of the TTP and their ilk in this human and material toll, the security forces too have their share of blame for conducting all out, indiscriminate military operations without any regard for the local populace.

This runs counter to the wisdom acquired by counter-terrorism operations the world over, which always strive to avoid, as far as possible, innocent civilian casualties and make great efforts to keep the local populace on their side. Pashteen also lamented the extraction of the natural resources of KP and Balochistan without any benefit to the locals.

Pashteen put forward the demand that security forces and terrorist groups like the TTP should vacate the tribal areas within 60 days. If this was done, he argued, peace would naturally return and be maintained by the proposal to form an unarmed Pashtun Milli Lashkar to keep the peace.

Amongst the other notable voices at the Jirga, including PTI, Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and others, it was a matter of some satisfaction to hear Dr Mahrang Baloch, who has been leading a peaceful campaign against the enforced disappearance of thousands of the loved ones of bereft families in Balochistan.

Is the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s (BYC’s) demand that these missing persons be produced or, if there is any charge against them, be arraigned before a court of law, an anti-state posture? After all what she and her comrades are demanding is according to the law of the land. Why then, is she and her movement labelled ‘anti-state’ and treated accordingly? Coming from a conservative, still largely tribal society, Dr Mahrang Baloch has set an unprecedented example of courage and steadfastness, along with her colleagues, of struggling for human rights and justice. Is this an anti-state crime?

Dr Mahrang Baloch has been chosen by Time magazine as one of the outstanding women from all over the world.

But when she tried to fly to New York on the magazine’s invitation to an investiture ceremony, she was detained at Karachi airport for five hours, harassed, and finally not allowed to fly. As if this were not enough, a day or so later she has been indicted in a case of terrorism allegedly because of her contacts with, and working for, the Baloch insurgent groups.

What is the message the state is conveying through such shenanigans? That the state is everything, its citizens nothing, even when they seek their legitimate rights.

All the state will end up doing by its failure to engage the dissenting voices (as, finally, in the Jamrud Jirga) and carrying on its unwise repressive actions against peaceful movements of citizens such as PTM and BYC is to convince the youth of the affected Pashtun and Baloch communities that there is no justice to be had by such peaceful remonstrations and demonstrations. If so, where will this large body of disgruntled youth end up? More than likely in the embrace of the very forces they are prematurely accused of being part of. A self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one. Who, or what, will this help?

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024