Seek resignation of K-P governor for failing to address their needs. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/FILE
Condemning the use of force to disperse protesters demonstrating against the alleged killing of 18 tribesmen by security forces in Khyber Agency earlier this week, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday said military operations in the tribal areas had only added to the woes of tribesmen.
In a news conference held at the Peshawar Press Club, PML-N leader from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Haji Zahir Shah demanded the provincial government to announce monetary compensation for families of Khyber Agency displaced as a result of military operations.
Calling for the safe repatriation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their hometowns, Shah also urged the administration to take steps to resume economic activities by lifting the curfew in the restive agency.
“Instead of bringing normalcy, military operations and curfews have further worsened the situation in Khyber Agency. We will not tolerate the genocide of innocent tribal people. It must be stopped.”
Flanked by tribal elders and other party leaders, Shah accused the government of “minting dollars on the blood of tribal people.”
“The major issues of unemployment, law and order and price hikes still remain unresolved in the country,” he said.
Referring to the protesters who brought 15 bodies of those killed in Bara to the sit-in outside the Governor House on Wednesday, Shah said: “It was immoral to use force against the peaceful demonstrators.”
The police had resorted to baton charge and tear gas to disperse participants of the sit-in late Wednesday night after they demanded an immediate end to military operations in their area. Shah demanded the resignation of the K-P governor for failing to address the prevailing situation.
In a separate news conference, also held at the Peshawar Press Club, PTI’s Fata chapter demanded an end to military operations in the tribal areas.
“Tribesmen are not terrorists, but patriotic and honest citizens of this state. They play an important role in protecting the border regions,” said PTI’s chief organiser in Fata, Dr Mohammad Bashir.
Dr Bashir said locals had been deprived of basic education, health and other facilities. He, too, added the K-P governor should resign.
“If the United States wants to hold talks with the Taliban, why can’t Pakistan’s government use similar means to restore peace in the region, particularly Fata?” he questioned.
Dr Bashir alleged that funds meant for development in the region were being embezzled and demanded donors to keep a check on misappropriation of funds.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2013.
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@Tufan Agha The protest was not against KP govt. It was against Pakistani security forces, to get the country to notice what is happening inside Bara and that the so-called active courts should provide them justice. People in FATA are not providing any sanctuary to militants. You are ignoring reams of evidence regarding how militants were shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan and provided shelter here. Forgetting the Haqqani network, Quetta Shura and avoiding the pointed questions about Osama's presence in Abbottabad? I have been to a pro-govt Taliban camp in Waziristan and seen how they train peacefully under the care of security forces. As for TTP rogues, the same people were not touched when they were becoming a threat. Read the history of conflict in Swat and Bajaur to know. It was around 2007 when Pakistani Taliban were declared rogues and military operations were started. The whole thing was still a farce until the Swat operation when the Army realized it was losing its very grip on the area. So forces that were once friends became enemies. The tribes do not have a say in any of this. For God's sake, they did not even get a right to vote until 1997. As for the FATA people following the constitution, do you even know the law in place in FATA? The Frontiers Crimes Regulation has a certain clause called collective responsibility for which the tribes are punished for any negative event that happens in their areas. So this makes it a double-freaking-whammy: The state facilitating militant presence in the first few years of war and then in the latter the state holding the tribes responsible for the very presence of those militants. Why was this done you must ask. Because of a certain design called control over Afghanistan. How else could Pakistan provide forces to fight NATO if there were no militant factories here in FATA but then the US had to be shown Pakistan was fighting terrorism hence the military operations. Think about why main leaders in the Taliban are killed in drone strikes, not in mly operations. I hope this has shown a ray of light on the ignorance you 'harbor'.
@Tufan Agha: I am from the same region it is 100 % true when the people of Bajauar agency once decided to end militancy than there is complete peace in the region,
FATA is administered by the Federation and not Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. Their protest against KP government and their demand for compensation is illegal and incorrect. As people in FATA had been providing safe sanctuary to international terrorists, so such occurences can take place. People of FATA should follow the constitution of Pakistan, should not harbor criminals, terrorists and ant state foreign agents. The operations being carried out in FATA is a compulsion. COLLATERAL DAMAGE IS PART OF SUCH OPERATIONS.