Editorial: If Pakistan was made by Pashtuns’ forefathers, then what it would have been?

EDITORIAL: Pakistan, if, was made by our forefathers, the forefathers of Pashtuns, and if it was their dream, they wouldn’t have made such a Pakistan where their children are not safe, where their children are being bitten by terrorists coming out of snake pits and biting them. If Pakistan was made by Pashtuns’ forefathers, and if they would have kicked the British out from this region, they would definitely have erased the line which has been imposed right on their chest dividing one Pashtun motherland into two, whereas those responsible for security are pushing them into the deadliest tunnel of insecurity, terrorism and eventually made homeless.

They wouldn’t have made such a country where their posterior would then be ridiculed by media and being killed in extra judicial killings and fake police encounters.

Dr. Said Alam Mehsude rightly said that Pakistan means Punjabi political elite. This, he said while addressing the sit-in protest of the thousands of disgruntled Pashtuns who came together in Islamabad to condemn Pakistan’s military oppression in the tribal belt and also to seek justice for Naqeeb, who was killed an extra judicial killing in Karachi for being a man from Waziristan, along with other Saeed Gul Afridi from Khyber Agency.

Let’s accept that it was never our dream and it cannot be. We the Pashtuns have been killed in thousands, gone missing in thousands, and we are crying that they need to be brought before law courts, if they are found guilty punish them and if they are proved innocent then set them free.

For the world what it looks to be is a war on terror, nevertheless, in the eyes of Pashtuns this is actually a war on Pashtuns.

If you have an iota of doubt then go and see with our own eyes that thousands of Pashtuns have swelled before Islamabad Press Club and they are vociferously chanting that “ye jo dehshatgardi he iskay peechay wardi he” which metaphorically means that military is behind terrorism. And whoever challenge this claim must carry out a research work that how many terrorist organisations are being operated on the soil of Pakistan.

Bearing the unspeakable atrocities being unleashed by terrorist Taliban, by military, and by American drone attacks, the Pashtuns have been receiving dead bodies from all sides. And finally when their patience gave way, they took the roads to Islamabad. But media was told by the deep state not to provide coverage to the sit-in, though this is going to be the first ever peaceful protest this capital city has ever seen. The security establishment, the parliament, the senate and the supreme court must listen to their grievances, media must not remain mum and if it remains silent, then it is not only a betrayal with those who have come together before Islamabad Press Club and dared this extreme winter just to record their anger at what the army is doing in the tribal belt.

The demands of the Islamabad sit-in by Pashtuns are very much clear.

Their demands are given in the following lines.

1): To constitute a judicial inquiry about all the extra-judicial killing of Pashtuns.
2): All the missing persons must be brought before the law courts, there must be court proceedings, those found guilty must get punishment and those proved innocent must be released.

3): All the landmines must be cleared as Pakistan army asked the 1.5 million displaced Pashtuns to repatriate while declaring they have cleared the area but it was not and there are now landmine blasts, which kill Pashtuns. In a recent incident eight of a family members were killed when their car hit a landmine in Kurram Agency.
4): The army will give us guarantee they will not open indiscriminate firing whenever there is a terror incident because civilians become the ultimate victims of such firings. No violence on civilians, and not putting security responsibility on the shoulders of the tribesmen as providing security is the job of army and not civilians. No more curfews as the decade long so called war on terror has already adversely affected the economy of Pashtuns and their businesses are ruined.
5): Rao Anwar, the accused mastermind of fake police encounter who killed dozens of Pashtuns including Naqeeb Mehsud in Karachi must be arrested and brought before the law courts.

Given that  Pashtuns were free today they wouldn’t have been seeking justices against the government and condemning the security forces rather they would have free in addressing their own issues, they would have their own media and they would have not let it happened that their compatriots must be displaced in millions.

More than a week of peaceful protest by thousands of Pashtun activists from the tribal belt, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, parts of Afghanistan and from across the world, condemned the ongoing killing or the slow-paced genocide of Pashtuns in Pakistan finally brought the arrogant and unquestionable Pakistan’s security establishment to its knees and begged the young and committed Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen and his comrades to end the sit in as this is hurting Pakistan army’s image globally. The Pashtun long march may or not succeed in taming the unbridled Pakistan’s infamous ISI from its roguish activities, yet it has given courage to the pliant and tight-lipped Pashtuns to speak for their rights. Now that 71 missing Pashtuns including teenagers have been set free, the international human rights bodies must step into this matter, establish their offices in the tribal belt as this entire war on terror in the Pashtun belt by Pakistan has been just a drama as on one hand Pakistan suppressed Pashtun nationalism by unleashing the Taliban on nationalists and on the other hand Pakistan attempted to depict itself to be a victim of terrorism to repel international pressure and at the same time to get billions of dollars in aid.

Given that the international community now come to fore and stand by Pashtuns in this peaceful protest series against Pakistan’s military which shelters terrorism, harbors terrorism and believes in terrorism as an effective instrument in gaining strategic objectives in Afghanistan, the Pashtun belt and in Kashmir. This is worth reminding the international community that Pakistan’s security establishment is making money in the name of war on terror and demonizing Pashtuns. This is also worth reminding them that Pashtuns set a good Taliban office and their cars in DI Khan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on fire after they killed a Pashtun student, and then Pakistan’s security forces started arresting those who set the Taliban’s office and their cars ablaze, which is a clear message to the world that we are not terrorists, but terrorism has been imposed on us.

THE PASHTUN TIMES