analysis: Dangerous abyss of perceptions —Farhat Taj
analysis: Dangerous abyss of perceptions —Farhat Taj
Courtesy to "Daily Times"
The Pakistan Army is engaged in ‘friendly fire’ with the jihadi
gangs in which the civilians, poor soldiers of the security forces,
especially FC soldiers, policemen and foot soldiers of the Taliban are
killed. This, according to the Pakhtun perception, is in line with the
scheme of things of the military-militant leadership
I have
been writing in these pages that there is a remarkable difference in
the perceptions of the people of Pakhtunkhwa, including FATA, and the
majority of people in the rest of Pakistan with regard to what drives
terrorism in our country. For the latter, it is the US, India and
Israel rocking our country with terrorism on the pretext that no Muslim
can ever kill fellow Muslims. Whereas the former believe that fellow
Muslims in the Pakistani religious-political parties, jihadi
organisations, retired and in service generals of the Pakistan army
(the real lords of our country), and media Taliban (pro-Taliban
journalists and analysts) have created a complex mixture of fanatical,
sectarian, anti-civilisation and anti-humanity state of mind among
fellow Pakistanis, who are now thoroughly engaged in the genocide of
the Pakhtun and replacing the Pakhtun culture with the seventh century
Arab tribal culture. The US, India and Israel may or may not be fishing
in troubled waters, but they are certainly not running the deadly show
on the Pakhtun lands in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the
international jihadi forces are fully in alliance with the Pakistani
jihadis. The Pakistan Army is engaged in ‘friendly fire’ with the
jihadi gangs in which the civilians, poor soldiers of the security
forces, especially FC soldiers, policemen and foot soldiers of the
Taliban are being killed. This, according to the Pakhtun perception, is
in line with the scheme of things of the military-militant leadership
in terms of ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan.
In a conference
held in Peshawar on December 12-13, 2009, this issue of the difference
of perceptions was thoroughly discussed. The conference, named
‘Terrorism: The Ways Out’ was attended by political parties and civil
society organisations of Pakhtunkhwa and FATA that actively oppose
terrorism: Awami National Party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party,
Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians, Pakistan People’s
Party-Sherpao, National Party and Awami Party Pakistan. Civil society
included organisations under the banner of Amn Tehrik (Peace Movement),
businessmen, doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, labourers and
intellectuals.
The conference concluded the following in terms
of the difference in perceptions. One of its reasons is perfectly
natural. There is a Pashto proverb that burns are felt where there is
fire. Most of the fire of terrorism is burning in the Pakhtun lands.
The second reason is the policy of the government. In pursuit of
strategic depth in Afghanistan, the government of dictator Musharraf
allowed massive media coverage to the people who were supporting
terrorism. This includes some retired generals and a few journalists
and analysts. As a result, those living in other parts of the country
or those who were not directly affected by terrorism were
systematically indoctrinated with pro-terrorism ideas for about eight
years. This nurtured a social environment that is tolerant to those
committing terrorism. Those living in the war zone are eyewitnesses to
all that is happening there and they have their own perceptions of this
war.
The conference noted with great concern that it continues
to be propagated in the media, though in an implied manner, that
terrorism is the continuation of jihad against the Soviet Union. The
fact is that almost all of those who were fighting against the Soviets
have become an active part of the political canvas of Afghanistan in
order to bring stability to the democratic process in that country.
They are the foremost opponents of terrorism. They include Professor
Mujaddidi, Burhan-ud-Din Rabbani, Pir Gilani, Abdul Rasool Siaf, Abdul
Rasheed Dostam and the party of late Ahmed Shah Masood. Only two people
of the anti-Soviet campaigns are now involved in terrorism, i.e.
Gulbadin Hikmatyar and Jalal-ud-Din Haqqani. Gulbadin’s party is almost
non-existent. Only one of his commanders, Kashmir Khan, and a few
friends are supporting him. Haqqani had already joined the Taliban and
is based in North Waziristan, where he commands an entire terror
secretariat.
Moreover, none of the Pakistani terrorist
organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkatul Mujahideen,
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhamamd, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,
Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansar-ul-Islam, Amar-bil-Maroof,
Tahreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi and Tahreek-e-Taliban had
participated in the anti-Soviet campaign. Despite this, it was
propagated over the media that these terrorists were part of the
anti-Soviet campaign and they have been living in the tribal areas for
thirty years where they had married the local women and thus became
part and parcel of the tribal society. The fact is that in the tribal
areas, a foreigner is never called a native even if he had taken asylum
and lived there for centuries. The Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan did
not allow even a single non-local to stay in their area during this
whole period.
The conference participants observed that people
of the war-affected areas think that the army and the Taliban are
friends, not enemies. These people have been persistently asking the
question why the military failed to target the core leadership of the
militants in all the 17 military operations in FATA? It is true that
during the military operations the top as well as the second and the
third cadre leadership were neither killed nor wounded nor captured.
Moreover, the news of the killing of many terrorist leaders was
broadcast several times over the media but they are still alive.
Commanders like Ibn-e-Amin, Shah Duran and Ikram-ud-Din are the prime
examples of such false propaganda.
In Swat, the news that
Fazlullah is under siege was broadcast three times by the ISPR but in
the same month it was propagated through the media that he had escaped
to Afghanistan. Fazlullah’s close associates Muslim Khan, Haroon and
Mahmood were arrested by the military but six months have passed and
nobody knows what happened to them.
In the past, Sufi Muhammad
was arrested and then released in a so-called peace deal, which was
imposed upon the provincial political leadership at gunpoint. The
valiant police of the Pakhtunkhwa province once arrested 28 terrorists
with suicide jackets and these terrorists were taken away by the
intelligence agencies for further investigation. These people were kept
somewhere for a few months. They were released the day when General
Pervez Musharraf imposed the Emergency. Only a few words came to us
about their release. It is due to these reasons that the people of the
war-affected areas are neither satisfied with the military operations
nor do they entertain false hopes.
The issue of drone attacks is
the most important one. If the people of the war-affected areas are
satisfied with any counter-militancy strategy, it is the drone attacks.
According to the people of Waziristan, drones have never killed any
civilian. Some people in Waziristan even compare the drones with
ababils (the holy swallows sent by God to avenge Abraha, the invader of
the Khana Kaaba). A component of the Pakistani media, some retired
generals, a few journalists/analysts and pro-Taliban political parties
never stop their baseless propaganda against drone attacks.
I
would request all fellow Pakistanis to urgently address these issues.
Any more silence on this matter could be dangerous for the integrity of
Pakistan. The generals, militant groups, religious-political parties
and a section of our mainstream media, especially Urdu media, are
pushing the entire Pakhtunkhwa towards becoming another Bangladesh. If
this happened, those fellow Pakistanis who otherwise may not agree with
the military, militants and the media Taliban, but chose to remain
silent, would also be responsible for another break up of Pakistan.
The
writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender
Research, University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for
Regional Research and Advocacy. She can be reached at bergen34@yahoo.co
In : Farhat Taj
Notes