Daily Times

A section of population in Afghanistan holds Pakistan wholly responsible for the destruction of Afghanistan since the days of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Others have never accepted Pakistan as state and would like to eliminate it at the first available opportunity. They have claims on Pashtun areas of Pakistan despite the fact that minus a short period under the tribal confederation of Ahmad Shah Abdali, around 100 years, the Pashtun areas of Pakistan  always been under the rule of Delhi or other places east of the river Indus. More unfortunately, the anti-Pakistan people in Afghanistan are fired more by racism and hate against Punjab and far less by reason and historically verifiable facts in their case against Pakistan.They  want to use the Pashtun of Pakistan as their proxies against the Punjab to break the federation of Pakistan. They see an opportunity in PTM to disintegrate Pakistan by encouraging the Pashtun of Pakistan revolt against the federation. This must never be allowed and the chances that this can actually happen are very low, at best. Nothing on the ground indicates that  peopleof Pakhtunkhwa want disintegration of Pakistan, in which they are well integrated. Whatever progress in education, economy and culture that Pashtun as wider society in Pakistan and Afghanistan  have made so far is wholly concentrated in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan and Pakistani state institutions have a key role in making the progress a reality. Pashtun of Pakistan are well aware of this fact. Moreover, Pashtun in Pakistan have no issues with the Punjab that would motivate racism or violence against Punjab. There are political differences thatPakhtunkhwa and other smaller provinces of Pakistan  have  with Punjab, but there are also  proper legal and democratic  forums to address such inter provincial political difference. Someof the differences are already addressed by all political parties of Pakistan through the 18th constitutional amendment by the last PPP-ANP federal government.

Some of PTM supporters argue that PTM is a movement, not organization, and does not have the capacity to stop  a certain people  from coming to its demonstrations. This is simply a plausibly deniable excuse of the growing anti-Pakistan orientation of the PTM abroad. More dangerously, this also implies that PTM is now giving mix signals. In Pakistan, it keeps saying it demands are within the law of Pakistan and at the same time hesitate to distance itself from the anti-Pakistani elements abroad.

PTM cannot have it both ways. Either it has to keep within the law of Pakistan, which also implies it must distance itself from all kinds people and groups openly asking for destruction of Pakistan or its claim of being within the contour of the law is compromised with potentially violent consequences in Pakhtunkhwa. The mix signal provides the ‘evidence’ to the intelligence agencies of Pakistan to perceive PTM as a potential threat to the integrity of Pakistan. Generally, intelligence agencies anywhere in the world tend to prioritise threat, real or perceived, to the state securityto eliminate them and any other causes, especially including protection of human rights-which is also part of their work-are put in the background. This will most probably be the approach of the ISI, the powerful intelligence of Pakistan. The consequence will be that Pakhtunkhwa will be exposed to more violence. Hostile agencies in the region would try to use PTM against the ISI, which will respond in kind. The soil of Pakhtunkhwa will become as arena of their violent manoeuvring and countermanoeuvring and more innocent Pashtun blood would be spilled. It is therefore of prime important to protect PTM from being used or abused in any sense by any intelligence agencies in their nefarious tournaments of power.

Also important is the fact Pakhtunkhwa pubic support to PTM is with the view that allits  demands have to be addressed by the existing institutions in Pakistan. A part of PTM, even if abroad, asking for destruction of Pakistan has no popular support in Pakhtunkhwa and everywhere in the region people have begun questioning the motives of PTM. PTM currently have little support in several large districts in Pakhtunkgwa, such as Kohat, Orakzai, Kurram, Karak, Mardan, Swabi, Chitral, entire Hazara division, and large parts of Peshawar and its surrounding areas. The reason in my view is that it is now giving mix signals-both pro and anti-Pakistan-which is undermining its popularity among Pashtun and also in other areas of Pakistan.

It must also be remembered that it is the only the state of Pakistan that has taken upon itself the obligations to protect life, dignity and human rights of its citizens under the constitution of Pakistan and also under the international human rights agreements that Pakistan has signed. No other state, but only Pakistan, has such rights obligations in relation to its citizens. This implies that state institutions of Pakistan, including its powerful security institutions must act to deliver on the Pakistani state obligation to respect, protect and fulfil rights of its citizens. In this context PTM can be a platform where people from all ethnicities in Pakistan can produce enough public pressure on the army-intelligence institution abide by the law in dealing with people of Pakistan. Therefore, PTM, in my view should disengage with all anti-Pakistan elements and make alliance with pro-human rights people across all ethnicities in Pakistan in order to keep our security agencies in embarrassed position by exposing their rights violations. This kind of multi-ethnic public pressure could be a way forward to ensure the security agencies abide by the rule of law.

It is an unfortunate fact that security/intelligence agencies around the world do engage in covert, at times, unlawful, actions causing serious damages to innocent human lives. The intelligences agencies ostensibly in duel or cooperation or both with the ISI in this region such as CIA, RAW, NDS, Mossad, among others, all engage in violent covert actions. However, they ensure that their actions do not lead to gross human rights violations on their own soil, not at least at the scale in which the western districts of Pakhtunkhwa (formally FATA) have suffered in covert operations or willful inaction of the intelligences agencies of Pakistan during the war on terror. Similarly, it is expected of the ISI to ensure security of life in Pakistan. Citizens of Pakistan are expected are to support their security agencies in responding to foreign threats, but the security agencies have to remember that protection of right to life and other related basic rights of citizens are also part of their responsibility. They have to ensure it regardless whatever methods they may have to employee to counter the threats posed by hostile foreign agencies.In this regard, it should be appreciated that the intelligence of Pakistan has released, upon the PTM demand, 100s of people they have disappeared. The agencies of Pakistan must be more cooperative and forthcoming. Any delaying tactics, seemingly under the pressure of the intelligences agencies, in the release of the arrested PTM workers, such Alamzeb Wazir, should stop. If the agencies have any evidence against Alamzeb Wazir, they must present it in the court or otherwise let the court freely decide his case as per the law. Wazir’s only ‘crime’ so far it looks is that he collected and preserved data about persons allegedly disappeared by the intelligence agencies of Pakistan. This is not a crime and holding him behind the bar for this reason is wrong, against the law and canundermine public support for the state against among especially young people affected by the war on terror.

Moreover, the western districts of Pakhtunkhwa have long been used as strategic space. It must stop now and there is a hope for it too. The area in now formally part of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and under the normal legal framework of Pakistan. All necessary steps must be immediately taken to implement the legal set up of Pakistan with all its paraphernalia in the region. No special laws must be made for the region and any delaying tactics in the way of brining the Pakistani legal set up in the area must be given up.  The ISI along with other relevant parts of the state must ensure rule of law and protection of life in the formally lawless region. It is important for survival of Pakistan as multi-ethnic federation.

It is in the interest of all citizens of Pakistan that this federation survives and become prosperous.  Over a thousand years experiences of making and breaking of states in our region are enormously violent and destructive.The Delhi Sultans, the Mughals, the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Sikh under Ranjit Singh and the British have  broken and made states in the this region. Each fall and rise of the states have been accompanied with massive destruction and sufferings for the people of the region.  In 1947 partition of India, all major ethnicities in Pakistan suffered and their ancestral lands stood divided. The Punjab suffered the most where communal violence killed millions and the landmass of the province was distributed between India and Pakistan. Muhajirs from other Indian provinceshad to flee their homes in India and start a new life from the scratch in the new state Pakistan. Sindh lost its cultural links with Rajistan and Sindhi Hindus suffered the most. Baluchistan stands divided. Pashtuns stand cut off from Abdali tribal confederation in Afghanistan with which they a linguistic and some cultural ties.  Pashtun Hindus and Sikhs had to escape empty handed to India. More importantly, the Pashtun now Pakistani citizens were ditched and deceived by the Indian National Congress Party. Our province, Pakhtunkhwa, gave the much needed ‘confirmation certificate’ to the secular claims of the Nehro-Gandhi led Indian National Congress party. With the Jinnah led Muslim League party challenging the secular claim of the congress party, the party desperately needed a Muslim  majority province to vote for it. It was only the Muslim majority Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province (known as NWFP at the time) that voted for congress party led by Bacha Khan in the province. But during the political wheeling and dealing with the British in 1947 the same congress part abandoned our province to the British to do as they please with it. So disappointed was Bacha Khan, the congress party leader in our province that he famously uttered these words to Ghandi: ‘you have thrown us to the wolves’. The congress party has yet to tender apology for its ‘betrayal of the Pashtun.  Betrayal, deception and massacres are the hallmarks of breaking and making of states in this region. There is nothing substantial to assume that next experience of redrawing maps in this region will be smooth. Collapse of Pakistan, would be a big win for the hostile intelligence agencies active in the area, and they would probably celebrate it with wine, dine and dance parties, but would fetch mass scale death and destruction to people of Pakistan. It would throw another two, three generations of its multi-ethnic population in toviolent chaos and unending trauma. This is neither necessary nor desirable and no ethnic group in Pakistan is ready to invite this kind of dangers upon itself.

Pakistan has a great potential to not only survive but prosperous. It enormous ethnic diversity could be its enormous strength provide the rule of law dominate the federation. One hurdle in the rule of law is our army as institution considers itself above the law. Let us PTM be the opportunity that pushes through public pressure the army and the related security-intelligence set up within the contour of the law. Let PTM be the opportunity for rule of law in Pakistan, not for destruction of Pakistan. But for that to happen PTM must totally disengage with anti-Pakistan elements; non-Pashtun ethnicities of Pakistan must support PTM and the intelligence agencies of Pakistan must abide by the rule of law on the entire soil of Pakistan: Karachi to Khyber.

Published in Daily Times, March 22^nd 2019.