A mob led by Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leaders and National Assembly members Mohsin Javed Dawar and Ali Wazir assaulted Kharqamar checkpost in Boyya area of North Waziristan tribal district on May 26, causing injuries to five soldiers of the Pakistan Army.
According to ISPR, “Due to firing of the group, five army soldiers got injured. In exchange of fire, three individuals who attacked the post lost their lives and 10 got injured. All injured have been evacuated to army hospital for treatment,” the ISPR stated, adding that Ali Wazir along with eight individuals has been arrested, while Mohsin Dawar was at large after inciting the crowd.
The DG ISPR opined that the aim of the attack at the check-post was to exert pressure for the release of a suspected facilitator of terrorists arrested the previous day. Earlier, PTM leader Gulalai Ismail tried to instigate public opinion in the garb of expressing solidarity for the slain child Farishta in the Federal Capital. She tried to defame the government as well as the Armed Forces of Pakistan. On May 6, an FIR had been registered against members of the PTM central committee, including MNA Ali Wazir in North Waziristan for inciting people to revolt against the state.
According to sources, a clearance operation was conducted on May 24 in Doga area of North Waziristan as part of the sanitisation campaign. Troops deployed on one of the blocking positions received fire from Doga village and a soldier received a bullet injury in his belly. Following the incident, two suspects were taken into custody on May 25. A day after the arrests, MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir on 26 May incited the people to launch an assault on the army checkpost.
It is worth mentioning here that under the Pakistan Army Act, if an army checkpost is assaulted, the troops are legally covered to effectively respond to the attack and those who assault can be tried by the military courts.
Hours after the deadly clash between PTM supporters and the security forces, the Army spokesperson vowed not to allow anyone to ‘undo the gains of decades-long national struggle and sacrifices of brave Pakistani tribesmen’. “Innocent PTM supporters/workers need care. Only few are inciting and using them against state institutions for vested agenda.”
After the clash, visuals of protest and ensuing violence started circulating on social media, including the Afghan media group Pajhwok. However, later it turned out that all the visuals were fake.
In a statement, Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Syed Amjad Shah expressed that any demand of an individual or a group which is within the Constitution must be fulfilled by the government. “But, a few members of PTM are inciting people for separation and are demonising the state institutions through an empty rhetoric which comes in the ambit of treason,” he said, and called upon the government to take strict legal action against all such elements.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said the attack on army checkpost was condemnable and that the government would act according to the law. Responding to the attack by a mob led by Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar on security forces, she said Prime Minister Imran Khan has done a lot for the tribal people. She said the process of progress of tribal areas was going on, but some miscreants are trying to stop it. “These miscreants are playing in the foreign hands. These people have challenged the writ of the state and an action will be taken against them according to the law,” she said, and vowed that no one will be allowed to play with the country’s national interests. A petition has already been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the PTM for speaking against the state institutions, including the Pakistan Army. The application filed by Colonel (r) Javed Iqbal will be heard by Mr Justice Amir Farooq of the IHC.
MNA Dawar, who is absconding to avoid arrest, spoke to VOA’s Deewa Service claiming that security personnel were trying to block them from going to demonstrate against alleged abuses by the military during a search operation in the region a day earlier. Dawar claimed that the PTM was protesting against a woman who had been hurt. The question arises that why a demonstration against an Army checkpost was carried out, where nerves are already frayed following numerous terrorist attacks. Both Dawar and Ali Wazir are members of Parliament and they could have approached the Army headquarters or addressed their grievances in Parliament, instead of leading violent protests. However, the PTM leaders denied the accusations, saying soldiers fired on people who had been protesting peacefully. PTM activist Rahim Dawar of North Waziristan said he saw dozens of people who had been wounded in the firing.
A cellphone video shared in various WhatsApp groups shows Mohsin Dawar and other protesters angrily yelling at security personnel, demanding to be let through. It is despicable that political leaders from the mainstream started to reap political benefits from the event.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the young leader of Pakistan’s People Party (PPP) and son of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said he could not believe the violence was perpetrated by PTM leaders.
“I’m sorry, what? How can Mohsin Dawar attack a check post? … I don’t think that an elected member of Parliament can carry out an attack like this,” he said when questioned about the incident during a press conference. Acknowledging that he was unaware of facts in this case, he added that the country nonetheless needed to engage with the young political activists and address their grievances.
“If we call out own citizens, our own politicians, “traitors” every time they demand their rights, demand democracy, demand rule of law, then it will lead to something dangerous,” Bhutto Zardari said.
“Have we not paid a heavy price for trying to crush protests and silence dissent,” tweeted Maryam Nawaz Sharif, vice president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the daughter and heir-apparent of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Both Bhutto Zardari and Sharif seemed to be alluding to Pakistan’s history, when part of the country, called East Pakistan, separated to make Bangladesh after its population felt oppressed and sidelined by the ruling elite in West Pakistan.
Andrew Korybko, in his Op-Ed ‘Why Did A Fugitive PTM Leader and Voice of America Collaborate After A Recent Attack?’ asks the ultimate question: whether PTM & his US sponsors are trying to mastermind an incipient Colour Revolution in the Afghan frontier region that could then evolve into another Unconventional War there as the next stage of the ongoing Hybrid War on Pakistan? Dawar fled and therefore became a fugitive, though what he did next is raising all sorts of questions about his long-term strategic intentions.
It has now been confirmed through his aides that Mohsin Dawar was armed when the assault on the Army checkpost took place. The fugitive’s warnings to Pakistan Army to quit Waziristan via surreptitious interviews to foreign media continue to cause consternation in the security forces.
The readers should judge for themselves how a so-called non-violent movement has morphed into challenging the state on the eve of the high-profile visit of the Chinese Vice President and other international dignitaries to Pakistan.
