IN any genuine struggle for justice, the courage to speak uncomfortable truths defines the moral compass of a movement.
Advocacy loses its soul when selective outrage replaces principled clarity. The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which positioned itself as a voice for the voiceless in Pakistan’s violence-hit tribal belt, stands at a troubling crossroads. It claims to champion peace, dignity and rights for Pashtuns, yet its persistent silence on the atrocities committed by the Fitna Al Khawarij (FAK) casts a long, dark shadow over its moral credibility.
PTM emerged from years of anguish and bloodshed. Entire communities in the tribal areas were caught between militant brutality and military operations. The pain was real and the grievances were legitimate. But legitimacy demands consistency. And here lies PTM’s paradox: while it relentlessly critiques state excesses—often with passion and detail—it fails to muster the same outrage against non-state actors like FAK who have repeatedly terrorized the very communities PTM claims to represent.
This silence is not just an omission; it is a political and conspirational choice. When schools are bombed, marketplaces attacked and mosques turned into scenes of carnage by FAK, the PTM’s refusal to even acknowledge these horrors exposes a dangerous blind spot. PTM’s stance, wrapped in the guise of neutrality, resembles complicity more than conscientious restraint. One cannot stand for justice while willfully ignoring half the injustice.
The PTM’s defenders argue that the movement seeks to highlight state oppression because it has been historically unaccountable. But true advocacy is not a one-way street. If justice is truly the PTM’s aim, then it must be brave enough to confront all actors responsible for Pashtun suffering—regardless of political consequences. Turning a blind eye to FAK’s violence undermines not just their integrity, but also the broader struggle for peace and dignity. Pashtun communities have been doubly wounded—first by the bullets and bombs of militants and then by the crushing burden of being treated as collateral in a larger geopolitical game. In this context, PTM’s unwillingness to call out FAK’s crimes becomes not only a betrayal of its own cause but also a deception toward the people it seeks to empower. The trauma of a mother who lost her child in a suicide blast planted by FAK is no less than the grief of a family mourning a son lost in an unjust raid. Ignoring one while amplifying the other is not justice—it is narrative manipulation.
By focusing exclusively on state abuses, PTM has become a movement that offers catharsis but no clarity, outrage but no solutions. It becomes a political actor rather than a principled one. The consequences of this are grave—not only for the PTM but for the larger Pashtun struggle that deserves a leadership willing to name all enemies of peace, not just the convenient ones. Justice cannot be cherry-picked and until PTM confronts all sources of Pashtun suffering, its blind spot on terrorism will continue undermining the very justice it claims to seek.
—The writer is an alumnus of QAU, MPhil scholar & a freelance columnist, based in Islamabad.
