analysis: Paranoid about Pakhtun ethnic identity —Farhat Taj
analysis: Paranoid about Pakhtun ethnic identity —Farhat Taj
Courtesy to "Daily Times"
The people of Hazara have the right to demand a separate province in
their area, but they have no right to dictate a name of their choice on
the overwhelming majority of the Pakhtun
Renaming of the NWFP as
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
in the 18th constitutional amendment has led to a wave of violence in
Hazara Division. Eight people have been killed, including policemen on
duty and dozens injured. The PMN-N and the PML-Q hold each other’s
politics responsible for the unrest in Hazara. Together they also
consider the ANP responsible for this violent situation. Farooq
Leghari, the former president of Pakistan, said the renaming of the
province would create divisions in Pakistan. Mr Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N
leader, repeatedly said he reluctantly agreed to rename the province as
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Someone even challenged the renaming of the NWFP in
the high court on the plea that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a step towards
Pakhtunistan. Leaders of the demonstrators in Hazara openly declare
they will take revenge from the Pakhtuns for the killing of their
companions. The media is giving an unprecedented coverage to the
protests in Hazara — such coverage has never been given to any Pakhtun
issues that even remotely depict Pakhtun nationalism.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
is a compromised name — thanks to the ANP. This party has a track
record of compromising on the Pakhtun interests. It did so on this
occasion as well. The ANP should have stuck to Pakhtunkhwa and should
have rejected the whole constitutional package for that. Moreover, the
constitutional package offers nothing for the people of FATA. How could
the ANP, a Pakhtun nationalist party, accept the constitutional package
without FATA reforms? It is ridiculous that one of the FATA
parliamentarians proposed ‘Qabailistan’ as a new name for FATA but he
and his colleagues said nothing about the constitutional reforms in
FATA.
Despite the ANP’s compromises, the way the Hazara protests
have been exploited by the Punjab-based political parties and covered
by the Pakistani media shows once more that many powerful forces in
Pakistan are paranoid about anything that symbolises Pakhtun ethnic
identity. The Pakistani state has suppressed Pakhtun nationalism for
decades and has divided the people in four administrative units (FATA,
NWFP, Balochistan and the Pakhtun territories in the Punjab province).
For the paranoid Pakistanis, the only acceptable Pakhtun is either a
murdered Pakhtun or Talib Pakhtun. There is so much goodwill for the
Pakhtun Taliban and so much oblivion, even disgust for the anti-Taliban
Pakhtun. The anti-Taliban Pakhtuns, whether nationalists or otherwise
have been killed like insects all over FATA by the military and its
B-team, the Taliban, and no one in Pakistan seems to care, whereas the
Hazara anti-Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa demonstrations have captured the
imagination of entire Pakistan.
There is so much media uproar
over the killing of the people in Hazara. This is justified and those
who killed the innocent people must be held accountable. But the same
media outlets are deaf and dumb over the brutal killing of over 70
innocent Pakhtun women, children and men in Tirah, FATA, by the
Pakistan Army a week ago! All the politicians and news analysts
screaming over the killings in Hazara are deadly silent over the
murderous act of the Pakistan Army against the innocent Pakhtun
civilians.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has made a judicial
committee to probe the killings in Hazara. Who will make a similar
judicial committee to investigate the killings in Tirah? It is true
that the Pakhtun of FATA have no human rights under the constitution of
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. But the republic has signed the UN
Human Rights Declaration that guarantees human rights to the people of
FATA. Should the people of FATA turn to the UN for a judicial
investigation since the military and political masters of Pakistan
never considered the death and destruction in FATA worthy of judicial
investigation?
The Pakhtuns are subservient and loyal citizens
of Pakistan and yet there is no dearth of fellow Pakistanis who doubt
their loyalty to the state the moment they refer to their ethnic
identity. They are not even welcomed to celebrate the belated state
recognition of their right, i.e. their ethnic identity being reflected
in the name of their province. Politicians and news analysts have
condemned the ANP for the celebrations. Rana Sanaullah, provincial law
minister Punjab, holds the ANP celebrations over the renaming of the
province responsible for the protests in Hazara. There are also those
who cannot even tolerate the celebrations and have killed tens of
Pakhtuns in Timergara by attacking the celebration rally. The media and
politicians of Pakistan have forgotten the martyrs of Timergara, but
continue to criticise the Pakhtuns who celebrated the renaming. What
kind of state-citizens relationship is this where the Pakhtuns cannot
even express joy?
The ANP has already announced to welcome a
separate province in Hazara through constitutional means. Now the PML-N
must show the grace to accept the Seraiki demand of a separate province
in south Punjab.
The people of Hazara have the right to demand
a separate province in their area, but they have no right to dictate a
name of their choice on the overwhelming majority of the Pakhtun.
Seventy-three percent of population of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa identify
Pashto as their mother tongue according to the 1998 census in Pakistan.
According to the same census, Pakhtuns are the second largest ethnic
group of Pakistan after the Punjabis in terms of mother language.
Let
us not forget that the population of Hazara is not homogenous in terms
of culture and language. Hazara is also home of those Pakhtuns who have
preserved their language, tribal culture and customs, like the Pakhtuns
in Batagram, Kaladaka, Oogi, etc. The Jaduns and Tareens of Hazara are
ethnic Pakhtun, although they have abandoned the Pashto language. It is
pertinent to mention that some elected representatives and civil
society members from Batagram, Kaladaka, Kohistan and Shangla have
demanded separation from Haraza Division to join the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
province in the event of Hazara becoming a separate province. It is
clear that most of the Pakistani media and the political forces,
paranoid about the Pakhtun ethnic identity, would ignore this demand of
the Pakhtuns in Hazara.
I am afraid peace is not going to come
to the Pakhtun land as along as our fellow Pakistanis in Punjab are
caught up in fear of the Pakhtun identity. They have to get rid of
their paranoia for a durable peace in 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.com
In : Farhat Taj
Notes