Twenty-three terrorists killed in Bara operation

Twenty-three terrorists killed in Bara operation

Wednesday, 25 Nov, 2009

The aim of the assault was to capture mountain heights and strategic locations from the militants who had been attacking Peshawar. —Reuters/File Photo

LANDI KOTAL: Security forces killed at least 23 terrorists during a fresh operation in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Tuesday.

The troops were backed by helicopters, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and heavy artillery.

A press release issued by the Frontier Corps media cell in Jamrud said that during the day-long operation, codenamed ‘Khwakh Ba De Sham’ at least 23 terrorists were killed and 36 suspects arrested. Twelve explosives-laden vehicles were destroyed and a huge quantity of arms and ammunitions seized in different localities of Bara.

It said that an important base of Lashkar-i-Islam in Gurgurai was taken over by security forces without any significant resistance. Local officials say that LI militants used the base for most of their attacks.

The area also has a network of caves, training camps, ammunition dumps and private jails.

Security forces imposed a curfew in Bara on Tuesday and plugged all points of entry from Orakzai Agency and Tirah to prevent terrorists’ infiltration and escape.

Troops erected barricades at Mamanri, Chora, Sheen Kamar and Zawa, destroyed an illegal Lashkar-i-Islam checkpoint in Merikhel area of Akkakhel and set up their own post.

Troops entered the remote village of Chora in Jamrud tehsil and were warmly welcomed by local people. Chora region had become a terrorist hub and was used for launching rocket attacks on security forces.

In a related development, the army moved tanks into central Kurram tribal region in an area adjacent to Khyber and Orakzai agencies, adds our Peshawar Bureau.

Sources told Dawn by phone that a column of tanks was seen heading towards central Kurram on Tuesday and preparations seemed to be under way for a full-scale offensive in the area considered to be a safe haven of militants.

Well-placed sources said that troops were planning a three-pronged incursion into Tirah area which is linked to Kurram, Orakzai and Khyber. The region with forests and rough terrain is the most backward part of Fata.

Meanwhile, a resident of Alizai town in Lower Kurram said that tanks were pounding at militants’ positions and hilltops along the main Thall-Parachinar road. Before troop mobilisation, the political administration had held talks with local elders and banned display of weapons in parts of central Kurram.

Also on Tuesday, local authorities announced a curfew in Sadda town till Eid and asked residents to stay indoors.

source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/07-security-forces-kill-18-militants-in-bara-region-ha-05

Nato air strikes kill seven in Tirah F.P. Report

Nato air strikes kill seven in Tirah F.P. Report

Monday, November 10, 2008, Zi'qad 11, 1429 A.H. MORGA: Seven persons were killed and three others injured when NATO-led fighter jets bombed Tirah valley along Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Agency on Sunday afternoon. The fighter jets targeted a group of 40 pedestrians on Morga mountains in Tirah valley killing seven of the tribals on the spot and three others were injured. The dead and injured were taken to Parachinar. Names of the dead could not be confirmed due non-availabilty of commmunication system as the local tribes are from Mahamod, Ali Sherzai and Chamkani. In Bajaur fighter planes carried out fresh strikes on militants’ hideouts, killing at least 13 in Tehsil Mamond on Sunday. Meanwhile, Mamond and Salarzai tribes will hold separate jirga in order to establish peace in the volatile region. Sources said that security forces heavily pounded militants’ hideouts in Mamond, Damadola and Kharkay in which 13 people were killed. The death toll may rise, according to sources. Helicopter gunships have launched raids on militants’ positions in Zorband and Sabagi areas of the troubled agency. On the other hand, Political Administration has issued a fresh warning asking Afghan refugees to leave the area within next three days, otherwise action will be taken after expiry of deadline given to Afghan refugees.

Editorial: Bajaur: attacking the jirgas

Editorial: Bajaur: attacking the jirgas

The Salarzai tribe that had begun to oppose the Taliban in Bajaur has been attacked near the town of Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur tribal agency. Their jirga was attacked by a suicide bomber who rushed into the gathering of elders and exploded himself on Wednesday. In all 22 elders were killed, including the leaders and commanders of the lashkar (militia) that they had put together to fight and expel the Taliban and their affiliated “foreigners” from the area. Forty-five members of the 300-strong council of elders were wounded.

An organisation of obscure origin has claimed the deed. This is a pattern and tells us how the Taliban and their patron Al Qaeda have come under pressure lately from the jirgas and reacted. In March, they had to massacre a jirga in Darra Adam Khel and last month they repeated the deed on a jirga in Orakzai agency, killing over a hundred elders. This is stage two of the strategy employed by the terrorists. They began by killing the maliks and single individuals of influence in the Tribal Areas to replace the traditional system of self-governance. Stage two is now upon us and is more problematic.

The jirga remains the apex of the system of authority among the tribes. When the maliks were being killed, the jirgas remained silent, linking the killings to “injustice” in Afghanistan. But as the Taliban began to impose their rule over them with punishments serving as instruments of fear, public reaction to them began to change. The problem was that the state at that time was not around to reassure them that they would be supported if they defied the terrorist regime. But now in Bajaur, for the first time, the Taliban and their “foreigners” are getting hurt in their confrontation with the Pakistan army, as is apparent from the suing for peace by Baitullah Mehsud, their “caliph” in South Waziristan. So now the tribes and jirgas are beginning to reassert themselves.

The Salarzai showed patience when their economy was being demolished and their schools were being pulled down by the Taliban. But after the army began operations in Bajaur, the Salarzai began to express their true response to the Taliban, something that has not happened elsewhere in the Tribal Areas, either because the military operations there have been fitful or have not succeeded. Therefore the attack on the Salarzai jirga clearly shows a new trend in the adventure story of the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine: they are becoming unpopular among the tribesmen and trying to cow them down by attacking their jirgas.

But the jirga killings are simply going to damage the Taliban’s cause further. Nowhere was the popular reaction against the “foreign” terrorists more intense than in the Malakand division (Swat, Dir, etc). But the people there were “softened” in favour of the Taliban by the MMA government in Peshawar which ruled in the area, just as it did not encourage the people of FATA to rise against the terrorists. Thus when the elections rolled around, the Swatis clearly indicted the MMA government for not looking after them. They also began to condemn the government when the military operations inflicted a lot of damage on them without eliminating the terrorists. So the fear factor came in and their message was: leave us to the mercies of the Taliban.

Fortunately, things changed after the exit of President Pervez Musharraf from the scene and his policy of mollifying the MMA because it helped him stay in power through the 17th Amendment. With the PPP in power in Islamabad and an apolitical army chief in the person of General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani heading the army, the scene has changed for the better and the pressure on the Taliban has started to build up. This must be kept up and, more importantly, other tribal agencies should be brought under military operations.

South Waziristan, where the last military operation in May this year discovered the “suicide academy” where suicide-bombers were trained for the whole of Pakistan, is back in the hands of Baitullah Mehsud whose second marriage was celebrated by subservient tribesmen on the occasion of last Eid to show that he was still the “caliph”. Kurram Agency is also a place gradually going out of the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan. Since Peshawar failed to re-establish the traffic on the road going to Parachinar, the agency’s economy has become connected to Afghanistan. If you want to send food and medicines to Parachinar, you have to first smuggle them to Afghanistan. Since the Pakistani state could not come to the help of the besieged tribes there, their co-tribals from Afghanistan are coming in to defend them. This is not a situation which Islamabad can take for very long.

Attacking the jirgas is a sign of weakness in the Taliban “movement”. More and more tribesmen are going to turn against them as their elders are exterminated. More citizens’ militias will be formed against the Taliban; but the terrorists will be rolled back only if the Pakistan army goes in and helps its own people to defend themselves. This is the war that Pakistan has to fight, and from it hangs the prospect of what will happen in the region in the coming weeks and months. *

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Genocide of indigenous people of Parachinar,Kurram Agency in Pakistan by Taliban

Genocide of indigenous people of Parachinar,Kurram Agency in Pakistan by Taliban

Currently, over half a million of people residing in Kurram Agency of tribal areas of Pakistan are facing a catastrophic genocide due to the complicity or ineffectiveness of the Government of Pakistan to establish the rule of law in the Kurram Agency. These people living in the Kurram Agency on the Pak-Afghan Border, are the indigenous population facing the wrath of the extremist militants known as Taliban across the region. The crime of these indigenous people is that they do not subscribe to the ideology of Taliban.

Parachinar is the headquarter of the Kurram Agency, one of the FATA agencies in the North Frontier areas of Pakistan near the Afghanistan border.  This agency is surrounded by other tribal agencies where Taliban and their supporters have strong hold.  But they still have to take over the headquarters of Kurram Agency to establish their complete rule in the region. Violence is their major tactic, including shooting down straight away, beheading or lynching to death. Most of their opponents either have left the areas or submitted to Taliban rule.

The world has become alive to the grave threat of the terrorism to the civilised world since the attacks on the twin towers of New York on 11 September, 2001. But the terrorism perpetrated by those very forces which are now identified as Al-Qaeda and Taliban, is not new to several areas of the tribal belt, known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It has been playing havoc since the 1980s when the Western world had complicity colluded with the “Mujahideen” to wage a covert war against the Soviet forces that had occupied Afghanistan.

The Mujahideen, with their extremist Islamic worldview, continued to perpetuate in Afghanistan, as well as in Pakistani tribal areas even after the withdrawal of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan. Later, they surfaced in the form of the Taliban and took over the whole of Afghanistan. Their counterparts in Pakistani tribal areas also tried to impose the Taliban brand of Islam in these areas, but faced resistance from the local people of Parachinar Kurram Agency.

The Taliban have been killing and plundering the villages around Parachinar and pose a grave threat to the existence of its indigenous people. It’s only people of Parachinar who have been guarding their “Taliban-free” character, and that’s the main reason that the Taliban are bent upon destroying these local people. It’s Parachinar which has got the highest literacy rate in the tribal areas where girls also go to schools, something the Taliban do not tolerate!

These indigenous people of Parachinar had been subjected to many attacks since the 1960s, but now, since 2007, not only the people of Parachinar have been attacked by the Taliban several times, roads coming to this town have also been blockaded by Taliban and their supporters. The Pakistan Government has been complacent or actively complicit in the whole affair on the side of one party, the Taliban, who through violent means are trying to increase their control over the Kurram Agency.

In April 2007, 60 people were killed when Taliban attacked the Parachinar city. Later, the authorities imposed a curfew and no one was allowed to move in or out of the Parachinar town for over two months. This was the first indication of the Taliban infiltration in the Kurram Agency. The Taliban want to use the Kurram Agency like other bordering towns and areas to carry out their insurgency along with Afghan Taliban across the border against the Kabul Administration and NATO forces.

However, the peace loving people of Parachinar opposed the Taliban who had become infuriated and had started taking revenge for their failure by attacking, blockading, kidnapping and beheading innocent people to terrorize their opponents. Since then, there has not been a single day when violence has not struck the Parachinar valley. In November 2007, the Taliban and their supporters, again, attacked the people of Parachinar. This attack left 75 people dead and over 300 wounded. Since then, there has been no reprieve for the people of Parachinar.

Due to the complicity of the minion officials of the local security agencies, and ineffective policies at the higher level, the Taliban were so much emboldened that they started attacking in front of security forces. On 16 April 2008, a convoy of 20-25 vehicles accompanied by the security forces, including the Pakistani Army, was attacked by the Taliban at a town known as Sadda, which falls on the main road between Parachinar and Peshawar.  Four people were killed of the convoy, but the security forces remained silent, perhaps they were not ordered to take any action against the Taliban.

Organized ambushes and attacks aside, the Taliban also carried out two suicide bomber attacks on the people of Parachinar, one on 14 August 2007 and the other on 16 February, 2008, killing 15 and 58 people respectively. It has also been ascertained by the local people of Parachinar that as much as 40 people were slaughtered on different occasions from the only main road link between Parachinar and Peshawar. The Taliban last year took over a contingent of Pakistan security forces spared all of them but beheaded one of them. His only crime was that he belonged to Parachinar.

Recently secondary school examinations were postponed by the Pakistan government because the authorities were not able to maintain law and order situation in Kurram agency. But students in a very unusual way came out on the road and demanded for the holding of exams because they did not want to waste their academic year. Pakistan authorities later restored the examination schedule. But during the examination, two students of village Alizai of the Kurram Agency, were kidnapped by the Taliban. One of them was shot dead straight away, while the other was slaughtered by them at a grave of one of their dead collaborators near village Bagzai.

Moreover, during the same period, the Pakistan Army also killed two local people who were returning to their home. An ambulance carrying patients to a Peshawar from Parachinar was attacked with a rocket-propelled gun by Taliban on a main road. This resulted in the death of seven people including several women. Nowadays Taliban have started target killing of the people of Parachinar who are living, studying and working in Peshawar and other cities of the country. The Pakistani government, as well as its army failed to take any action against Taliban to stop the killings of innocent people. Locals say that the Taliban are being supported by Pakistani government which has given them a free hand for some other gains best known to the authorities.

Posted by hasnain

http://hasnain.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/stop-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-parachinaar-pakistan/

Almost one million people of Parachinar remain stranded for more than a year by the criminals of Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba & Al-Qaeda,

Almost one million people of Parachinar remain stranded for more than a year by the criminals of Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba & Al-Qaeda

Appeal for help to the international community

PESHAWAR: Delay in reopening road delays return of peace to Kurram

By Zulfiqar Ali

PESHAWAR, Oct 23: Delay in reopening of Thall-Parachinar Road despite an agreement, reached between the warring tribes of Kurram tribal region in Murree on Oct 16, is likely to shatter people’s confidence.

Under the peace agreement, signed by the rival parties, a 30-member jirga had to proceed to Parachinar on Wednesday last by road to end yearlong blockade of the area bordering Afghanistan.

Former federal minister Malik Waris Khan Afridi, who is leading the jirga, told Dawn that plan had been revised and mediators comprising notables and former parliamentarians from Fata and Hangu district along with 34 local elders were likely to go to Parachinar on Saturday.

“Both parties want lasting peace and have agreed to reopen the main road and resolve the disputes. Now this is the government’s responsibility to facilitate the process for the jirga to proceed to the area by road in order to rebuild confidence of the local people,” he maintained.

He said that further delay in reopening of the main road might shatter peace process, adding that according to the agreement negligence on the part of the local administration or any other government agency might be considered a deliberate move to sabotage the peace process.

“If administration takes jirga members to Parachinar by helicopters then it will not serve the purpose and will spoil all the efforts,” he said and urged that the government should rein in trouble makers to save the peace process.

Upper parts of Kurram had remained cut off from the rest of the country since November 6 last when fierce clashes broke out in the region.

The blockade had badly affected socio-economic activities in the region which forced local people to travel to Peshawar via Afghanistan.

The political administration had made an abortive attempt to open the road in June last for transporting food to Parachinar but the convoy was attacked near Sadda in Lower Kurram.

Sajjid Hussain, an MNA from the area, said that around 1,600 people had been killed and more then 3,000 wounded in fighting, causing large scale displacement and destruction. He said that Fata Secretariat in coordination with the Federal Interior Ministry was working out a plan for road safety.

Sources said that one of the reasons for delaying visit of jirga was immediate transfer of political agent Mohammad Azam Khan, who was posted as managing director of Sarhad Tourism Corporation.

Officials said that as the political agent was transferred after he was promoted to grade 20. Only grade 19 officer can be posted as political agent of Kurram.

“Transfer of Azam Khan at this very moment was not a wise decision on the part of the government.

His transfer conveys a clear message that government is not sincere in restoration of peace in Kurram,” said a jirga member from Parachinar. He said that Azam Khan should stay in Parachinar once joint jirga reached by road to start dialogue.

Sources said that normalcy was fast returning to Kurram valley and rival groups had voluntarily vacated trenches in sensitive areas and stopped plundering and destroying each other properties.

In Parachinar town, the administrative headquarters, local elders have voluntarily placed complete ban on display of weapons. Peace committees have been set up to check the movement of miscreants. (Dawn)

By Zulfiqar Ali

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2008/10/almost-one-million-people-of-parachinar.html

ANALYSIS: Blind to the threat —Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi

ANALYSIS: Blind to the threat —Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi

If the Taliban agenda was nothing more than the expulsion of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan their efforts to expand their domain to some of the settled districts of the NWFP makes no sense. And what is the justification of the sectarian violence in Kurram Agency?

The government and major opposition parties are euphoric over the unanimous passage of the resolution on militancy in the tribal areas during the joint session of parliament. They think that they have evolved a credible approach to dealing with the insurgency and its violent fallout in mainland Pakistan.

The government is pleased with the resolution because it can easily project this development as an indication of growing political harmony among Pakistan’s diverse political actors. Opposition parties had initially used the joint session to build pressure on the government. The PMLN leadership, for instance, criticised the government for its refusal to honour the commitment to restore all superior court judges through an executive order. The government also faced criticism for its inability to halt the current economic downslide. The unanimous resolution eases some pressure on the government for the time being.

The PMLN, the Jama’at-e Islami and the JUIF are happy that the resolution neutralises, if not negates, the official argument that the war on terror is Pakistan’s war. The resolution accommodates the major positions of these parties on militancy and the operations in the tribal areas by calling for the withdrawal of regular troops from the region.

The resolution serves the interests of the Pakistani Taliban, who must be pleased that the resolution endorses their major demands without asking for any reciprocal commitment. It suggests the end of the army operation and consequent withdrawal, something the Taliban have been demanding since the beginning of the operation. It also calls for negotiations with the Taliban on the contentious issues.

What does the government get in return? Nothing. The Taliban have not made any commitment so far on suspending their violent activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan in response to the resolution, not to speak of agreeing to function within the framework of the Pakistani constitution.

The optimism surrounding the passage of this resolution is misplaced. It is well known that a parliamentary resolution, even when adopted unanimously, is not binding on the government. It has moral and political implications, but they are usually not acted upon. Even if they are, it is selective. It would be interesting to know how many members were present in the session with the resolution was approved ‘unanimously’.

The resolution is a good declaration of intent, with emphasis on the peaceful and negotiated settlement of differences. However, it does not outline ways and means to operationalised its basic ideas into concrete policy measures. Some suggestions are not likely to be implemented at all, which will start a new polemical debate between the government and the opposition.

Representatives of the military provided detailed briefing to the parliamentarians to underline the major threat to internal security and stability posed by the Taliban, and to highlight that the Taliban were trying to establish an alternate authority by paralysing the Pakistani state. The current political government shares this perspective. The president and the prime minister have issued several statements over the last two months supporting military action. It is clear from their policy statements that they would like these operations to continue till state authority is firmly established.

The army wanted the political parties to support it in its venture in the tribal areas. Such support is needed because the army and paramilitary forces have lost over three thousand personnel in these operations over the last five years.

Yet the resolution does not have a word of sympathy for the armed forces, which is likely to disappoint them. Parliamentarians should have appreciated their efforts and then asked for limited or no use of force in the tribal areas. It seems that the parliamentarians hardly paid any attention to the briefings and drafted the resolution based on their pre-briefing perspectives.

The Islamist perspective, which does not view the Taliban as a threat to Pakistan, seems to dominate the resolution. The Taliban are portrayed as one of the ‘stakeholders’ in the political equation. There is no condemnation of suicide attacks or the blowing up of girls’ schools or public executions.

The PMLN, the PMLQ, the Jama’at-e Islami, the JUIF, the Tehreek-e Insaf and a host of Islamist groups take a naïve view of violence in the tribal areas and beyond. Instead of viewing the Taliban as Pakistan’s adversary, they sympathise with them as they are fighting US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. They hold the view that the Taliban will have no reason to use violence if American troops quit Afghanistan, since Pakistan’s support for the war on terror is the main cause of insurgency east of the Durand Line. In other words, changes have to be made in Pakistan’s policies, not in the Taliban’s.

American presence in Afghanistan can be viewed as one of the factors responsible for the Taliban resurgence. However, by now, the Taliban have expanded their agenda to include the establishment of a political and administrative domain in and around the tribal areas by neutralising the writ of the Pakistani state.

If the Taliban agenda was nothing more than the expulsion of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan their efforts to expand their domain to some of the settled districts of the NWFP makes no sense: no American troops are present in these areas. And what is the justification of the sectarian violence in Kurram Agency?

It is not clear if US troops in Afghanistan can be put under pressure by the Taliban policy of threatening Pakistani businesspeople and warning them against involvement in any ventures that are unacceptable to the Taliban. The main target of the Taliban is the Pakistani state, yet the resolution fails to take this into account.

Given the expanded Taliban agenda, the government of Pakistan will find it difficult to completely withdraw forces from the tribal areas and leave the security of the region to the insufficiently trained and equipped paramilitary forces. The resolution gives some leverage to the government by suggesting that the army be replaced “where possible with civilian law enforcement agencies with enhanced capacity”. However, the opposition expects a total cessation of military operations, which the government cannot initiate in the absence of a commitment by the Taliban to respect Pakistani state authority and end all violence.

If the opposition parties, the JUIF and parliamentarians from the tribal areas are interesting in evolving an amicable settlement of the trouble in the tribal areas, they should set up a committee for initiating non-official dialogue with the Taliban leadership to formulate proposals for a possible solution. Both sides will be expected to interact within the framework of the constitution. If some credible proposals can be evolved, the opposition would have a better case for implementing the parliamentary resolution.

Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\26\story_26-10-2008_pg3_2

october, 26, 2008

Hidden Truth about Parachinar!

Hidden Truth about Parachinar!

Sarwan Ali-an honest man, is a retired Lance Naik from the village Malana in the outskirt of Parachinar and has been living with his wife in a single room. Not any more. Now, he is fighting for his life in Agency HQ Hospital, Parachinar, from a gunshot wound. Wounds inflicted from bombs, snipers, splinters and guns have become part of daily life in Kurrum agency mostly linked to sectarian strife. But his wound is different. He was not shot by the opposing group for his affiliation to any sect. His is a self inflicted wound. Reason? Before the sectarian conflict, he would go to Parachinar and work on ‘Dhiari’ (daily wages) to earn enough to sustain himself and his wife. After the escalation in war, situation has changed dramatically. In a short span, the death toll has reached hundreds and the injured thousands. The prices of daily commodities have rocketed sky-high as the only road linking Parachinar with mainland Pakistan remains closed. This has paralysed the life in Parachinar, closing the markets and stopping the construction work.

As a consequence, the poor are suffering the most. The days of ‘Dhiari’ are over and they, like Sarwan Ali, are jobless and with no income. Many mornings, he went to the town expecting to earn a few rupees and every evening he came back empty handed with shattered hopes. Many nights he and his wife went to bed without proper food with bellyful of boiled leaves from the nearby ShahTut tree. He was too proud to beg and too honest to steel. He sold all their possessions, except for his rifle. In the Pukhtun culture, rifle is considered to be a man’s honour; he couldn’t sell his honour. He returned home one evening feeling low and disheartened after another fruitless day and found his grief stricken wife shivering like a leaf. He knew it was Malaria as he saw her in that state before. But still, he put his trembling hand on her forehead; she was burning hot. He also knew she needed medicine to bring the temperature down and to treat the Malaria but this time, unlike the previous time; he didn’t have money to buy the needed medicine. The feeling of desperation hit him hard and the sense of worthlessness stabbed him deep. He couldn’t bear to see the pain on her pale face. He knew she was not only sick but also weak from lack of food. Filled with despondency, he moved to one corner, picked up his gun, loaded it and turned around to face her. Tears were rolling down her face. She knew what he was about to do. “You’re an honourable man Sarwan Ali. Do what you have to do.” She closed her eyes waiting for the end. He pointed the gun at her but could not bring himself to shoot her. He started crying like a child and for a long time, the two caring souls broke the silence with their agonising sobs. Then slowly, he eased the pressure on the trigger and started walking towards the door. He decided to sell his honour, his gun, in Parachinar to buy medicine for his dear wife. He went to a chemist shop and offered to sell his gun and get medicine out of the price. He was told that there was no medicine because none was coming through the blocked roads from Peshawar. Sarwan pleaded with him and told him about his wife’s condition. The man felt sorry for him and handed him over two Paracetamols. Back in the room, he gave the tablets to his wife and after a while she stopped shivering and went to sleep. He watched her sleep for a long time, then got up slowly, performed Wazu as if he was preparing for prayer; picked up his gun and without a second thought shot himself. The bullet passed through his chest. This is the life in the war-torn Parachinar, where death is as cheap as sipping water from a stream; a town, which was known for pleasant weather and natural beauty.

A town, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto fell in love with and wanted to turn it into a settlement like Switzerland. That was the time when Shah of Iran had friendly relation with Saudi King. That was the time when Sunni-Shia misunderstandings did not change into hate. That was the time when skirmishes between Sunni and Shais remained local and were settled amicably by the administration. That was the time when Afghanistan was not taken over by Taliban. And that was the time when general Zia was still serving as army chief under ZAB. Things changed when Shah was deposed in Iran, when Zia took over in Pakistan, when Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviets, when America supported fanatic Sunni Arabs against Soviets, and when it helped Sunni Pukhtuns against Iran. Things changed radically. What people didn’t realise was that America was using Muslim religious sentiments for its own gains. It poured money into the pockets of Afghan Warlords with the help of general Zia and turned American war into ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ with tremendous consequences to Pakistan. It took advantage of Zia’s sectarian leanings and put Pakistan on the road to political and religious vulnerability. It was then, when Parachinar was caught in the middle of sectarian strife. Iranian clergy started supporting the Shias in Parachinar through prominent local Syeds, and the Saudi Wahabis pumped money to the local Sunni Mullahs. Sunnis fought Afghan war to please Saudis and Shias safeguarded Iranian interests. Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan; American won the ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ and left the spoils in the hands of fanatics. The spill over was bound to effect Parachinar. And it did in a big way. The beautiful town has never since returned to its previous grace. The time rolled on.

The strong corporations in America required an enemy to replace the dismembered Soviets. They found one in the garb of ‘terrorism’ creeping out of Afghanistan. It was moulded in the same outfit as their Jihadi friends in the not so distant past. Now, they needed the change of guards in Afghanistan to target it. They got lucky; the history favoured them twice; once when Musharaf sacked a democratic government in Pakistan; again, when the Towers were brought down by the terrorists. The White House didn’t need much persuasion to seek help from ‘moderate’ Musharaf who made a U-turn in Afghan policy. With change of policy the enemies changed. Now, the Americans were not fighting the communists; they were fighting the terrorists who happened to be Muslims; and Musharaf was not fighting the infidels, he was fighting the same Muslims. In this way, the moderate Musharaf surpassed those barriers which even zealous Zia dared to tread, exposing Pakistan to massive internal turmoil. Today, Parachinar is burning in a fire lit by fanatic Zia and spread by moderate Musharaf; a fire which is different from the one seen in rest of the tribal area. It is not linked to sentiments against Pakistan army or even America. It is based on emotions against Taliban.

Majority in upper Kurrum are Shia and they despise Taliban. Taliban in return, reciprocate their sentiments by sending decapitated bodies of Shias captured during their journeys to Peshawar. The Internet is full of grotesque footages. The Shia-dominated upper Kurrum is sealed by the surrounding Sunni-belt having a strong influence of Taliban. In the middle of it, Parachinar is in virtual siege with no food items, no daily commodities and no medicines. In desperation, the Shias are turning to Afghan government for help after seeing apparent apathy from Pakistan. This is a bizarre situation, the like of which was once historically seen in early 20th century, when a Shia Turi tribal Chief, Noor Khan (alias Dur Khan) sought British help when he found Shias under siege in identical circumstance. Today they are asking Afghan government to help them against the Taliban. In the middle of this bizarre turn around, the poor people of Parachinar from both sects are slaughtered like animals in sectarian hate and others like Sarwan Ali are killing themselves for reasons other than that hate. This is Parachinar burning in a fire not lit by the locals but by those whose political and religious interests lay outside Pakistan.

Written by 

Dr Ghayur Ayub