LIVE

OPINION
Opinions | Human Rights

Pashtuns’ struggle for rights cannot be silenced through

violence
The murder of PTM leader Arif Wazir, and the Pakistani state’s reluctance to solve it,
only strengthened our resolve.

Mohsin Dawar
Mohsin Dawar is an elected member of Pakistan's national parliament and a leader of the Pashtun
Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

12 Jun 2020

Arif Wazir, one of the leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was fatally shot near his home in South
Waziristan, Pakistan on May 2, 2020 [Wikimedia Commons]

On May 1, Arif Wazir, a politician, activist, and one of the leaders of the Pashtun
Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was shot by “unidentified men” near his home in
Wana, South Waziristan. He was swiftly rushed to a local hospital and then
transferred to a larger hospital in Islamabad for life-saving treatment, but his
wounds ultimately proved fatal and he died early on May 2.

Arif’s murder was only the latest in a series of attacks against our movement,
which is working to uproot illegal armed groups from the former Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and hold the Pakistani military to
account for the crimes and human rights abuses it committed against our people,
the Pashtuns, in its war against these groups.

KEEP READING

Taliban responsible for massacre of nine Hazara men: Amnesty

Uganda suspends more than 50 rights groups, citing non-compliance

Kashmiris accuse Indian forces of arbitrary arrests, intimidation

Afghanistan: No Justice for Women

Arif’s killing devastated us, but it did not harm our resolve to bring justice to our
people. On the contrary, it reinvigorated our struggle for rights, equality, and
accountability.

Despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of people

attended Arif’s funeral in his hometown of Wana on May 3. The unprecedented
turnout had a clear underlying message: We will resist any attempt to silence our
plight.

In the days following his funeral, supporters of the PTM protested against his
murder in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and around the world. They called on the
Pakistani authorities to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators. More significantly,
they reiterated our demands for an end to illegal killings and forced
disappearances by the security forces, the removal of landmines, and the right to
live peaceful and dignified lives in our historic homeland.

The response, however, was telling. To this day, no civilian or military official has
publicly condemned Arif’s murder. No one has extended us any sympathy or
given us assurances that the crime will be investigated.

Instead, hours after his shooting, online “trolls”, who usually run covert social
media campaigns for the military, began a vicious propaganda campaign against
Arif and our movement. Among other unfounded accusations and outright lies,
they blamed Arif’s first cousin and fellow legislator, Ali Wazir, for his murder.
Even the verified Twitter account of the media team working for the governor of
Punjab province – Pakistan’s most populous region which is governed by
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, PTI – peddled such lies.

While that particular tweet was retracted the next day, no apology was offered
and no one was punished for the smear. Apart from a few English-language
dailies, state and private media outlets largely censored the killing.

The manner in which Arif was murdered was strikingly similar to the killings of
hundreds of Pashtun tribal leaders and politicians in Waziristan and other parts
of the former FATA over the past 20 years.

This assassination campaign began in the aftermath of 9/11 when Pakistan

allowed Taliban fighters and other allied fighters who were forced to flee
Afghanistan to resettle in parts of former FATA. Over the years, these groups
systematically eliminated tribal leaders and politicians who raised their voices
against them. To this day, the Pakistani state has not solved any of these
murders, perhaps because it has been tacitly using these unlawful groups to
foment instability in Afghanistan and consolidate its influence over the region.

Arif Wazir and I came of age at the height of this vicious war. We saw the
destruction of our way of life and mass killings of civilians both in terrorist
attacks and military operations. We witnessed the targeted assassinations of our
elders by known groups and individuals who are only “unknown” to our state.
These same elders had fought against the armed fighters on the government’s
behest for years. But the state repeatedly failed to deliver justice for them.

In 2018, the state merged FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, effectively abolishing
the draconian colonial-era regulations that these districts had been governed
under for decades and making its five million residents equal citizens of the
Pakistani federation.

This move initially gave Pashtuns some hope that they could finally enjoy full
citizenship rights and protections. But, despite this landmark constitutional
change, our suffering did not come to an end.

Unfortunately, today the Pakistani state appears willing to allow our region to
descend into chaos once again.

As the United States prepares to leave Afghanistan, some influential figures in

the Pakistani military seem hellbent on triggering another round of conflict in the
country to consolidate the Taliban’s power there and expand Pakistan’s influence
over the region. To achieve this, they will once again need to allow the armed
group to use Waziristan and other Pashtun areas near the Afghan border as
launching pads for their illegal activities.

For months, I have been warning, alongside other PTM leaders, against the
revival of the Taliban in Waziristan. Ali and I even raised this issue on the floor of
the National Assembly, the lower house of the Pakistani Parliament. But instead
of listening to our warnings and complaints, the state machinery chose to declare
us “unpatriotic” and “anti-state”.

In our view, Arif – just like hundreds of other tribal leaders, politicians and
activists before him – was killed as part of a larger conspiracy to end our peaceful
resistance and revive Taliban control in former FATA.

But we are determined to protect our homeland from the Taliban’s bloodshed
and the Pakistani military’s deadly strategic games. Peace inside the country and
in the region is in the best interest of Pakistan. But for peace to return and
nourish, the senseless games of Pakistani generals must end. We will not be
silenced by the state’s attempts to paint us as “unpatriotic”. We will not allow
unlawful detentions, forced disappearances, beatings, threats and even murders
by “unknown assailants” to silence our plight. We will continue our fight until our
homeland is free of military oppression and illegal armed groups, and the
perpetrators of Arif’s murder are behind bars.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Mohsin Dawar
Mohsin Dawar is an elected member of Pakistan's national parliament and a leader of the Pashtun
Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

Mohsin Dawar is an elected member of Pakistan's national parliament and a leader of the Pashtun
Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

MORE FROM AUTHOR

OPINION
The many pitfalls of the new US proposal for
Afghan peace

OPINION
PTM is on a peaceful quest to free all
Pakistanis from oppression

MOST READ

UN chief sends message to Haitians reeling

from earthquake, rains

Desperation at Kabul airport grows as

Taliban reprisals reported

‘No alternative to the Taliban’: Russia’s

envoy to Afghanistan

Taliban conducting ‘targeted door-to-door

visits’: UN document

About

Connect

Our Channels

Our Network

Follow Al Jazeera English:

© 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network