‘We won’t tolerate the use of Pakhtun regions for strategic policies’

The Express Tribune

Human rights activists, students and politicians staged a protest demonstration in front of the National Press Club against the killing of innocent tribesmen in Khyber Agency and violent police action against peaceful protesters in Peshawar. The protesters — mostly students from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Fata and Balochistan — were holding banners inscribed with slogans such as “Are Pakhtuns not human”’, “Are they not Pakistanis” and “where is the media”. They resorted to full-throated sloganeering against the government for its inability to provide protection to the people. They criticised the government for the treatment meted out to peaceful protesters who had brought the bodies of loved ones brutally murdered by “the so-called protectors of the country”. “Bullets are being fired at us, what kind of freedom is this,” the protesters shouted. Speaking to the protesters, Awami National Party’s MNA Bushra Gohar condemned the killings. “Unless and until the difference between Islamabad and Rawalpindi are sorted out peace in Fata is impossible,” she said. Defending provincial government’s position, she said order to baton-charge the protesters had been issued from Governor House. “K-P Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain was heading a jirga negotiating with the protesters to go back, but as soon as the jirga members went inside the Governor House to inform the governor about the protesters’ demands, the police outside started baton-charging the protesters,” she maintained. To bring the tribal areas into mainstream politics, the government must abolish the draconian laws being enforced in the region for the last one century. “We will no longer tolerate the use of Pakhtun regions for so-called strategic policies,” she said, added that they are being killed by those whose duty is to provide protection to the people. “People of the tribal areas have been dealt a double whammy. On one hand, terrorists are targeting them, while on the other, the state declared them as terrorists,” she said. She said Fata falls under the president and the K-P governor, directly but if anything happens there, the provincial government is held responsible. “The president should devolve his powers to the provincial government and immediately abolish articles 246 and 247 of the Constitution,” she demanded. Jan Achakzai, a social activist, said the government is pursuing anti-people policies. “Unless the government is clear in its policies and targets in Afghanistan, thinking of peace is akin to daydreaming,” Achakzai said. He said tribesmen were receiving dead bodies for the last 40 years, but now a “well-planned genocide of Pakhtuns has been started”. Sarwar Bari, a social activist, appreciated the change in the establishment’s policies, but noted that, “Only changes in policies won’t help improve the situation. Practical steps must be taken.” He said everyone know who are the mentors of terrorists groups which roam the streets of Pakistan with impunity, openly claiming responsibility for killing Hazaras and Pakhtuns. “Pakhtuns are not weapon-loving people, rather they are a peace-loving people. They just want jobs, education and security,” he said. Later, a candlelight vigil was also held for the victims in Khyber Agency.