- What to expect when an entire group breaks free from their cowered silence
Their pleasures abandoned them long ago, their hopes dashed eons back, and now, dearest sirs and ma’ams, their fears have died. The debt was long due. They have just begun to pay it back. I read Shelley way back. I didn’t understand him then. Now, seeing thousands of Pashtuns sans fears holding them back and brimming with newfound hope, I think I understand what Shelley had in mind when he wrote ‘Death Is Here And Death Is There’. The sons and daughters of forgotten Pashtuns have finally decided to traverse the road less taken.
They know that life is a strange struggle. The monsters of yesteryears are victims of today, the successors of oppressed nobodies become the mouthpieces of liberty and deliverance, the meek and humble, once empowered, turn into brutal taskmasters. War, famine, want, and poverty brings the best and the worst of qualities in us mortals.
Same happened to them Pashtuns. When terrorism wreaked havoc in all parts of the country. They shouldered the brunt. There was a time, not very long ago, when bomb blasts, suicide blasts, killings of innocent people from majority and minority groups was the order of the day. The civilians and military decided to root out this menace. Operations in so-called ‘Ilaqa-Gher’ were conducted. Resultantly, millions were displaced internally, collateral damage in form of civilian losses skyrocketed and Pashtuns in particular were once again at the receiving end of proverbial stick.
For more than a decade, they had their grievances. Fear dominated them, misgivings kept on piling up, they sought solace in silence and their dissent was mum and mute. And then they had a godsend. Their cause got a martyr in shape and dead body of Naqeeb Ullah Mehsud. Manzoor Pashteen arose to vindicate a brother he never met. And as they say, the rest is history.
‘It is not actual suffering but the taste of better things which excites people to revolt’, writes philosopher Eric Hoffer in his magnum opus The True Believer. In the Pashtuns’ case it was actual, acute and all pervasive suffering, day in, day out. And it would be futile to judge the viability of their new movement by the truth of its doctrine and the feasibility of its promises. The only thing that matters is how they can capitalise on the pent up frustration in their ranks. Many among them lost their cattle, home, hearth, and loved ones. Condemned to camps for aptly named Internally Displaced People (IDPs) their plight remained in the background as concerns greater than theirs held sway over policy makers, rulers and public imagination.
Exploiting social media to the fullest, PTM has spread motivational songs, memes, taunting remarks at the state policy of fighting terror and answering and countering allegations against its cause
‘Man is a coward and can get accustomed to anything,’ wrote a melancholic Dostoevsky and insisted that it is the most exact definition of man. We, dearest sirs and ma’ams, in the ultimate analysis are cowards accustomed to many things. But even cowards snap under extreme duress. And when they do, trust me, all hell breaks loose.
At present there are three movements running parallel to each other. The father and tribesmen of Naqeeb Ullah Mehsud and Mehsud tribe jirga are fighting their case in Supreme Court. Youth jirga of FATA, a movement working for merger of FATA in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and performing the exacting task of registering missing persons data is in full swing.
And lastly, we have the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), that is going from strength to strength. PTM has bagged full support from various political and social quarters to ask for Pushtoon rights, an end to inhumane treatment by the forces of Pashtuns in so called ‘Ilaqa Gher’, whereabouts of missing persons, elimination of IEDs and extrajudicial killings of Pashtoons for who knows what greater good.
Exploiting social media to the fullest, PTM has spread motivational songs, memes, taunting remarks at the state policy of fighting terror and answering and countering allegations against its cause. Like their predecessors in Sindh and Balochistan who struggled for their rights and share, PTM too is being labelled as NDS-RAW sponsored movement aiming at disintegration of Pakistan as part of some great grand conspiracy. However, all that is paddled to advance skepticism and as ‘proofs’ are shadowy IP addresses, blurred videos, and a gratuitous campaign inundated with calls to patriotism, brotherhood and warnings against ending up as playthings in hands of ever-present, ever-evil enemies.
About time that state and the ‘powers-that-be’ realise that PTM and other movements are neither anti-state nor aim at breaking Pakistan into pieces. These movements are children of neglect and oppression, brought up in the lap of lack of opportunities and want and has finally grown up and demand their share in the pie. The state has so far refused to even acknowledge that deadly fault lines divide the citizenry in many big and small groups. Pashtuns are just one ethnic segment that has raised its voice, many more like Hazaras, Sindhis, Seraikis and others will and must take cue from them.
About time to wrap this piece up. Once again will do it with a quote; ‘A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialised by fanatics and consolidated by men of action,’ Is PTM ready to be consolidated by men of action. That, dearest sirs and ma’ams, is the question.