Sultan M Hali
THE world is reeling under the impact of the pandemic COVID-19 but the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) is busy in playing petty politics. Its two parliamentarians, Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, who should be helping the community in its moment of distress because of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, are instead raking up the case of Mashal Khan and in their usual rhetoric and hate mongering, blaming the law enforcing agencies for the crime. Readers may recall that Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of Abdul Wali Khan University was lynched on 13 April 2017 and killed on the false pretext of posting blasphemous content online. Since the human tragedy, 57 individuals reportedly involved in the heinous crime, were arrested and tried in an anti-terrorist court in Haripur.
The case lingered for year and in April 2018, the verdict was announced by Justice Fazal-e-Subhan Khan at Haripur Central Jail. According to the verdict, Mashal Khan had been falsely blamed and the prime suspect involved in the murder of Mashal, Imran Ali, awarded the death sentence. Five of his accomplices were jailed for 25 years each. Another 25 were jailed for four years each while 26 individuals were cleared of the case without any punishment. Many quarters, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan hailed the verdict, while a few were perturbed at the acquittal of 26 accused persons. Two years later, PTM parliamentarians Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir along with other PTM compatriots, are blaming this murder on so-called indoctrination of locals by agencies and others. It is ironic that the perpetrators of this murder belonged to the KP political party ANP, which is a socialist party and believes in nationalist socialism. Mohsin Dawar missed to raise this point.
Would PTM and other nationalists actually ask ANP regarding this issue. PTM has the habit of blaming the fault of a single individual on the whole organization. Are they repeating the same over the issue of Mashal Khan’s murder too? PTM’s accusation is farcical because Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir themselves are out on bail. The duo was initially charged in an FIR registered at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station Bannu on 26 May 2019 after a clash between PTM members and Army personnel near the Kharqamar checkpost in North Waziristan, resulting in the death of 13 persons and injuries to several others. Separately, they were charged in a case registered on 7 June at the CTD police station, Bannu, after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on a road in Doga Macha, North Waziristan, when an Army convoy was passing through the area. The blast had left four Army officials—a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major, a Captain and a Lance Havildar—martyred.
PTM is alleged to be playing in the hands of Indian secret agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS). Its slogan is Yeh jo dehshat gardi hai, iss ke peechhay wardi hai (‘Behind this terrorism is the uniformed army’). Earlier this year, the duo of Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were airlifted by an Afghan National Army helicopter from Pak-Afghan border at Torkham crossing to Kabul to attend the oath-taking ceremony of President Ashraf Ghani. Prior to this, both MNAs were barred by immigration officials from boarding Afghanistan’s Kam Air flight RQ-928 for Kabul since their names are on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a show of magnanimity, provided a one-time waiver to the duo to attend the oath taking ceremony of the Afghan President. Mohsin Dawar thanked President Ashraf Ghani for delaying his oath, because of the two Pakistani legislators who were barred by the FIA from flying to Kabul for being on the ECL but he forgot to mention the Pakistani Prime Minister’s magnanimity. Mohsin Dawar in a Twitter post, from Kabul also stated: “Overwhelmed by the welcome we have received here. Wishing a peaceful future for Afghanistan and the region,” he also tagged some pictures showing them travelling in an Afghan army helicopter. According to Afghan media, before reaching Kabul, the PTM leaders also briefly visited ‘officials’ in eastern Nangarhar province. They had also held a meeting with former chief of NDS Amrullah Saleh, who is famous for his anti-Pakistan stance.
The movement’s anthem is “Da Sanga Azadi Da?”, which means “What kind of freedom is this?”. Some Pashtun’s have discovered their voice with this anthem and it encloses the various grievances they have from being caught between the militants and the military. Now many Pashtuns are disgruntled by the PTM, which they believe ‘used’ the Pashtun people for their vested interests and that the group never intended to fight for the rights of the Pashtuns. In several video clips, which recently went viral on social media, angry Pashtuns can be heard hurling abuses at Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir over what they called their ‘anti-state activities’ and ‘using’ Pashtun people for their personal agenda. “We thought you [PTM] have come out for rights of Pashtun people … but you are in fact an agent of NDS. You have sold your own Pashtuns at the hands of Afghans,” an angry protester is heard saying in one of such video clips. While burning PTM caps, the Pashtuns can also be heard in the videos demanding that the government register treason cases against Dawar and Wazir and put them behind bars. PTM, especially Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir should read the writing on the wall and take heed.
—The writer is retired PAF Group Captain and a TV talk show host.
