Daily Times

The emergence of the civil rights movement, the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), in the second week of February last year is in itself a unique phenomenon, surprising its opponents, proponents as well as social and political observers.  But in reality it represents the opening of a flood gate which now spells out the accumulated miseries and resentments caused by the long dark period of turning a specific region into a war zone and using its inhabitants as expendables. This void was created by the mainstream political parties that were either too docile to question the power play, or were perhaps taking part in the game.

The PTM is actually a practical example of the bottoms up model of political activism. A movement not contemplated by some utopian intellectuals or timid politicians, who compromise on every constitutional and civil right of the citizens either to get some crunches of power or to save their own skin. Instead, PTM is a group of youngsters who came out on roads to march from D.I Khan to Islamabad, propelled and resourced only by threats to their existence. By the time the group reached Islamabad it had bulged and had turned into a movement challenging the hitherto unchallenged.

Though, the movement emerged from the region which was subjected to the carefully orchestrated game of death and destruction, clad in layers of secrecy, it attracted national and global attention. Despite the intentional blacking out of the movement from the local media, especially electronic, it evoked sympathies due to its cause and characteristics.

The PTM departed from the history of the region where almost every movement, from Roshanai Movement of Bayzeed Ansari Alias Peer-i-Roshan to the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan), hinged heavily on religious rhetoric. The movement did not resort to ignite ethnic and racial sentiments to attract the masses but anchored itself primarily on adherence to the Constitution in letter and spirit, which is a document rooted in the consensus of all ethnicities and nationalities guaranteeing their rights in the federation.

The recent Sahiwal and Khaisore incidents and the subsequent official reactions indicate that the violation of fundamental rights is not merely an isolated deviation or an operational excess but is embedded in the policy

Therefore, the primary charter of the PTM’s demands is the protection of civil rights, governance and accountability as enshrined in the Constitution.  These characteristics give strength to the movement as well as hope to the people of a state whose failings and problems mostly lay in self-assumed above the constitutional status of non-elected power wielders.

The recent Sahiwal and Khaisore incidents and the subsequent official reaction indicate that the violation of fundamental and constitutional rights of the citizens is not merely an isolated deviation or an operational excess but is embedded in the policy of creating and maintaining a specific environment of terror.

From outright denial to relentless efforts to twist the facts for the purpose of concealing are part of the strategy to erase all those footprints leading to exposing the real architects of the entire paradigm.

The Sahiwal incident got unprecedented limelight by the social as well as mainstream media due its occurrence in the mainland Punjab. Another major reason was the involvement of the civilian police force in the heinous attack. Thus Machiavellian tactics are being employed to protect those who need to be protected. If the JIT, comprising those agencies who were part of providing intelligence and conducting the operation established the link of the driver Zeeshan with alleged terrorists. It is a foregone conclusion that the intelligence providers will be exonerated and the impact of the murder of Khalil’s family would be reduced in the name of collateral damage. To pacify the national anger a few small heads would be rolled.

Unfortunately, the Khaisore atrocity in North Waziristan was summarily hushed up and withheld from becoming visible on mainstream media. The whys and where-ofs of who was behind the cover up is not too difficult to fathom.

Through a video clip that went viral on social media, the Khaisore incident involved the 13-year-old Hayat Khan, accusing personnel of the security forces of entering his house without permission and harassing his mother and sister after the arrest of his father and brother.

Later, while talking to a crowd of the local youth and to a delegation of women, including former parliamentarian Bushra Gohar, Ismat Shahjahan, Sana Ijaz and Gulalai Ismail, Hayat’s mother confirmed not only the claim of her son but also provided more details. She claimed that she was not only physically pressurised but was also made monetary offers through various channels to recant the statement.

Though, the incident was viral on social media and raised in both houses of the Parliament so far, the mainstream media has only highlighted the official denial. It has neither taken the viewpoint of Hayat’s mother nor any member of the women’s delegation. The coverage and the much needed debate on the issue remains non-existent. Since the incident went viral on social media, a fresh wave of public uprising has erupted in North and South Waziristan.

The PTM organised a huge public protest in the village of Khaisore on January 20 that was addressed by Manzoor Pashtoon and Mohsin Dawar, a member of the National Assembly (MNA) elected from the area. On January 30, a huge procession representing all tribes that left South Waziristan for Khaisore ended up in a crowd of thousands addressed by another MNA Ali Wazir. How can the authorities deny the incident without an in-depth and credible investigation, and relying on a so-called local jirga apparently convened to whitewash the incident?

Khaisore is a mere tip of the iceberg of the excesses and violations perpetrated from Swat to Waziristan but no one, including the political leaders and civil society, dares to speak about it. The PTM has galvanized the oppressed voices to speak against brutalities committed during the country’s war against terrorism. It is changing the political landscape of the country by pushing with full force for the supremacy of the Constitution.

The writer is a freelance journalist currently contributing to @dailytimespak

Published in Daily Times, February 2^nd 2019.