Right agenda, wrong platform

• Neqeebullah Mehsud’s case buried under PTM’s political slogans

Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, founded in 2014 ostensibly to clear Waziristan of land mines that were taking a tragic civilian toll, with added lustre of a social movement for Pashtun rights in FATA, KP and Balochistan, has increasingly donned the mantle of an aggressive political movement, beginning with its Long March against Naqeebullah Mehsud’s extra-judicial killing, and its latest impressive protest staged in Peshawar on Sunday. The PTM Long March had commenced from DI Khan on January 26, reaching Islamabad via Peshawar on February 1, culminating in the All Pashtun National Jirga till February 10, which in fact diluted the emotional impact of Naqeebullah’s murder by plunging in Pashtun’s general grievances.

In Sunday’s well attended meeting the PTM spread its growing wings even farther, implying distrust in the military by demanding local police (preferably Pashtuns) manning check posts in FATA, the sensitive issue of missing persons, talk of ‘oppressors’ and odious comparisons with Genghiz Khan, alleged lack of Pashtun’s ‘basic human rights’, of ending ‘occupation of (FATA) schools and hospitals’, the chanting of the movement’s provocative rallying cry , ‘what kind of freedom is this’, all of which strangely found instant resonance on the other side of Durand Line, including the movements Mazari red cap, and lastly, punishment for Rao Anwar, Ehsanullah Ehsan and Pervez Musharraf. The PTM leader has also talked of more gatherings in Karachi, Hyderabad, Loralai, Bannu, of ‘Jalsa Raddul Fasaad’ in Lahore and ‘Raah-e-Raast’ in Swat, and a sit-in in Islamabad, which will only end after ‘an international guarantee’. A strange condition indeed.

The PTM has obviously garnered the support of idealist-minded youth, including women, whose future and very lives are most at stake in the present adverse environment, and the government needs to address their genuine demands in earnest, irrespective of party constraints and affiliations, including KP-FATA merger, more civilian input in rebuilding FATA, and compensation to tribals rendered homeless by the war on terror. The PTM too must seriously ponder the country’s present disturbed political and economic situation, and avoid words and deeds that would make it an ethnic counterpart of Karachi’s fallen MQM London.