Terror and Tyranny in the Pashtun Belt
A talk with Shahab Ud Din on the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement
Shahab Ud Din is an ethnic Pashtun activist and member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). After this (short) introduction of Pashtuns in Pakistan to provide context, I interviewed him on his political activity and thoughts about the future of Pashtun rights.
In April 2018, Monzoor Pashteen led a thousands-strong rally of disaffected Pashtuns in open defiance of the military against state injustice and ethnic oppression in the heart of Lahore. For years, state violence in the largely Pashtun province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had subjected millions to a regime of arbitrary arrests, kidnappings, and murder without trial in the name of the “War on Terror”. Since 2003, the Pakistani military had displaced nearly a million Pashtuns to camps and cities throughout Pakistan while killing tens of thousands of civilians.
The Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement was originally formed by Monzoor and other student activists to protest military landmines killing civilians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; but the arbitrary police kidnapping and murder of Pashtun youth Naqibullah Mehsud birthed PTM into national politics. “Long Marches” from city to city and mass-rallies in government strongholds like Islamabad grew government ire and suppression. Hundreds of activists were “disappeared” and, in many cases, killed. Hours before the 2018 Lahore Rally, the state flooded the rally square with sewage and mass-arrested organizers in a failed bid to sabotage the growing popularity of PTM.
The Pashtun picture is complicated even further by the experience of dual-oppression by Taliban terror groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alongside state violence. A longstanding state policy of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan through direct funding and recruits from state-backed radical Islamic madrassas (colleges) ceded de-facto state control in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to terrorist groups during the 2000s. The contradictory state notion of backing the '“good Taliban” in Afghanistan while applying indiscriminate and unrelenting violence on all Pashtuns to fight the “bad Taliban” created one of the largest and largely unknown humanitarian disasters in South Asia. The Pashtun rights movement is forced to struggle in the constricted, lethal space between the intertwined activities of the Pakistani military and local terrorists.
The state of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, 6 years on from its famous rally in Lahore, is dim. Monzoor Pashteen has been under arrest since December 2023 on trumped up charges, PTM co-founder and parliamentarian Mohsin Dawar recently narrowly survived a Taliban assassination, and the Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan) has grown to its highest peak in years from the victory of the Afghan Taliban. The possibility of a new state military campaign to clear the Pakistani Taliban from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa presents Pashtuns only the choice between two terrors.
I spoke to Shahab Ud Din, a long-time PTM activist, to hear his thoughts on what the movement represents, what issues its facing, and the Pashtun experience in Pakistan.
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Q. In your own words, what is the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and why do you support it?
There was a time when severe oppression was going on in the territory of Pakhtunkhwa. On the one hand, we were robbed of our resources, on the other hand, our leaders were beheaded. Bombs were dropped on our children and houses. We were killed by the Taliban on one hand, while on the other, the Pakistan Army had been brutally oppressing us. Also, there was a lack of awareness among our people and [we] were deprived of education. So, the Pashtuns did not recognize their enemy and no one could raise their voice against the oppression.
There was a young man named Manzoor Ahmed Pashteen. [He] was already fighting against oppression and wanted to free the Pashtuns from tyranny. The incident involving Naqibullah Mehsud occurred in 2018, as a police officer brutally murdered him. In response, we marched to Islamabad to demand justice for him. There were many other students who wanted to establish a platform for Pashtuns where they could raise their voices to demand their rights and prevent the ongoing dollar wars. There were many students, professors, doctors, engineers and other people from every walk of life. With their guidance and collective efforts, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement was launched.
After its inception, the movement initiated the struggle, instigating notable changes among the Pashtuns. They identified their enemies, recognized their resources, and acknowledged their rights to lead fulfilling lives. Breaking the chains of fear, they discovered the courage to demand their rights from the people. These accomplishments are the subject of an entire book.
I support the movement because it raises its voice for the oppressed. The movement wants to give them their rights and stop the fighting on Pashtun soil.
Q. What type of government or Taliban coercion and repression have you experienced so far in your PTM activities?
Once, the Pakistani army entered a house in a village in North Waziristan and took away a young man from the house. The young man's mother was an old woman. She protested that her son was innocent, asking why he should be taken to jail. In response, the soldier beat her with a gun and broke her arm. In reaction to this incident, we organized a sit-in near "Khar Kamar" in North Waziristan. When the two leaders of PTM, Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, came to join us the next day, both were stopped at the nearby checkpost and not allowed to join. We protested peacefully against this, but the Army started firing bullets, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of many elders, children, and young people.
They also killed many young people in the name of unknown persons. A young professor, Arman Loni, was arrested by the police during the protest and tortured so violently that he lost his life. My friend, Hanif Pashteen, has been imprisoned for four years. Even now, many friends are imprisoned, subjected to severe cruelty and inhuman treatment, and held in private prisons. There are many other such incidents.
Q. Were you expecting state suppression, or did it come as a surprise?
Yes, we were aware of all their atrocities. We couldn't raise our voice. We were waiting for the opportunity. This opportunity was PTM to give us a voice, and now we look into the eyes of the oppressor and demand our rights.
Q. What tools did the state employ to suppress the movement?
They made every possible effort of propaganda against us, claiming that we are traitors to the country and that we are funded by foreign countries, but they failed because they have no evidence. Now they are resorting to mischief, imprisoning us, treating us inhumanely, but we are not taking a step back, and we are fighting to reach our destination.
Q. Where do you think this repression mostly emanates from: civilian institutions or directly military?
The primary force behind this is the army, but all the others are complicit in this oppression.
Q. What is your experience with checkpoints, house-searches, and arrests? Have you experienced any?
Initially, we were treated very badly at the checkposts. We would stand for hours. They would abuse us, humiliate us, and make people suddenly disappear for years. No legal action would be taken, and justice was not served. However, now, because of PTM, they have stopped mistreating people at the checkposts. So, when someone is arrested, we, PTM activists, and the general public resist until the arrestees are presented in court. Presently, arrests of common people have decreased a bit, but PTM members are being arrested every day and serving sentences in private prisons.
[FATA, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, was previously a Pashtun tribal region in Pakistan directly governed by the state / military until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. FATA is/was a hotbed for Taliban militancy and bore the brunt of civilian death and displacement by state anti-terror campaigns in the 2000s and 2010s]
Q. As a resident of an ex-FATA territory, what was your experience like?
There are many stories that could fill hundreds of books, but I will share a few brief ones.
One night, the Taliban came and murdered my uncle, who was the tribal leader (Malik) of the village. The reason was nothing else; he was only against unjust arrests and not receiving his rights. The soldiers were also sitting there half a kilometer away, but they did not take any action because they were friends with each other. We thought that the Taliban and the army were different, but they were not. They were one, active at different times – one at night, the other during the day.
At night, the Taliban would come to our houses, asking to open the door and provide them with food. If we didn't comply, they threatened to bomb our house, forcing us to give food out of fear. The next morning, the soldiers were standing there, asking why we had given them food at night and would take us to jail. They witnessed everything but did not disturb each other; instead, they harassed the common people.
One day, as the soldiers were moving along the road, a seven-year-old child came out of his house. They fired at the child's face and head and killed him.
The Taliban carried out all actions on the orders of the army. They unjustly beheaded elders and youth, making them sit on bombs and detonating them, tearing them into pieces. People were harassed and not allowed to pursue education. They would forcibly extort money from people. The terrorists would instill extremist thoughts in children and threaten to attack schools.
One day, the mother of a young man fell seriously ill. The young man placed his mother in the car and drove her to the doctor. On the way, the army in a helicopter shot the young man in the head, and his brain, along with half of his forehead, fell on his mother's lap. She has been insane ever since.
Many more stories like this...
[Operation Zarb-e-Azb from 2014-2017 was the largest and most destructive state military campaign of the “War on Terror”]
Q. Taliban activity has increased all throughout Pakistan since the victory of the Afghan Taliban. What do you think is going to happen? Will the military repeat Operation Zarb-e-Azb?
Yes, there is a strong likelihood of this. The army is facilitating the arrival of the Taliban with the purpose of using it as a pretext for future operations. In doing so, they receive dollars from the world and loot valuable goods here. However, PTM doesn't allow them to proceed with this. A little while ago, the Taliban suddenly came to the Swat region of Pakhtunkhwa. PTM appealed to the people, warning that it would cause a lot of damage. Come and force them out of the region. People resisted and expelled them. So, now PTM has disrupted this plan for them. We will not allow them to proceed with this. The army is attempting to bring back the Taliban and conduct an operation, but we, PTM activists, are resisting, and at any cost, we will not let them succeed.
Q. What is the law-and-order situation in ex-FATA territories now?
There is no law and order or peace. Here, only the force and brutality of the army and ISI [Pakistan’s intelligence agency] prevail. Whatever they want, happens.
[Rao Anwar is the former head of police of Malir District, Karachi. He conducted hundreds of “fake encounters”, staged extra-judicial killings of civilians through planted or faked evidence. His killing of Naqibullah Mehsud in 2018 sparked outrage and demand for his prosecution. Pakistan’s anti-corruption bureau launched an investigation against him in 2021 which concluded with his acquittal in January 2023]
Q. What was the reaction to Rao Anwar’s acquittal? At the time, did people expect him to be acquitted?
Pakistani law is only for poor people and not for generals or police officers. We are aware that justice has not been served to anyone thus far, and Naqibullah Mehsud will likely not receive justice either. As expected, Rao Anwar is now walking free.
[“Afghan” and “Pashtun” refer to the same ethnic group, which are separated into the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan by the colonial British border called the “Durand Line”. “Lar” Afghans refer to Pashtuns in Pakistan and “Bar” Afghans to Pashtuns in Afghanistan]
Q. Personally, what would be a satisfying political resolution to the problems facing Pashtuns in Pakistan?
There is only one solution: to abolish the Durand Line, allowing ‘Lar’ and ‘Bar’ Afghans to unite, and the Punjabi army to withdraw from Pakhtunkhwa.
Q. What would you like to tell readers about recent events like the arrest of Monzoor Pashteen or the attempted assassination of Mohsin Dawar?
Manzoor Pashteen was arrested while on his way to join the march of the oppressed Baloch. The reason is the state's fear that the Pashtun and Baloch communities will unite against its oppression. The state is concerned that if they join forces against its oppressive rule, it could be removed from the surface of the earth. Therefore, the state is unlikely to release Manzoor Pashteen until the conclusion of the Baloch March. This is my personal opinion.
Mohsin is a parliamentary figure, and as elections approach, such occurrences are frequent. I am unsure about their intentions with this attack.
Q. Is there anything else you would like to say? Feel free to write whatever you would like.
All I am saying is that the army and the Taliban are essentially one. They crave our blood and minerals, and both are influenced by America, Russia, Arab countries, and China. What they desire is carried out here. The brutality and oppression initiated here are guided by America and other countries. Despite their oppression, we will overcome and defeat them in a manner that will surprise the world.