ISLAMABAD – RESTORING complete peace in warzones is a lengthy process andit order. On Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, although ceasefire agreement hasbeen signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia but still life is not normal inaffected areas. Similarly, in FATA Pak Army has restored peace aftermultiple military operations and day-to-day life is coming back and thingsare getting better. But things are not totally better in FATA.
As I have mentioned in the beginning that restoring complete peace is alengthy process but it becomes lengthier when a country shares the porousborder with a neighbouring state where, there is no state authority at all.Same thing, Pakistan is facing in its tribal areas. Peace has restored inthe area but some terrorists come and try to sabotage peace in FATA andreturn back to Afghanistan.
It is said that “good fences make good neighbours”. And it is really truein the case of Pak-Afghan border management. Management of Pak-AfghanBorder is the dire need of time for long lasting peace not only in FATA butalso in the whole country. And it is highly encouraging that our stateinstitutions have cognition of this very issue. Where war and conflictdemolishes infrastructure and socio-economic life, there it has certainimpact on the human minds.
Conflicts make humans fretful and increase frustration in the behaviors ofwarzone’s inhabitants. In FATA, there was decade long turmoil and becauseof that turmoil people of FATA left their homes. When the peace hasrestored they came back but there were many check posts has beenestablished for their safety and security.
If one conducts an analysis of Pashtoon Tahfuz Movement commonly known asPTM then it becomes evident that PTM was basically a student movementspearheaded by its leader Manzoor Pashteen back in 2014.
From its inception till the assassination of Naqeebullah Mehsud PTMremained a negligible political movement and could not attract the masses.It is necessary to probe that which factors acted as a catalyst for PTM tomobilize a considerable number of people and attract national as well asinternational attention.
The timeline and chronological proximity of PTM’s rise is very interestingyet dangerous. 2018 is the year in which General Elections are scheduled tobe held in Pakistan. There are a few regional parties in Pakistan whichgather vote and appeal the sentiments of specific ethnic and linguisticcommunities living in Pakistan. Awami National Party (ANP) claims to be thesole representative of the Pashtoons is being at the forefront of thismovement.
Historically, ANP gathered popular vote on ethno-linguistic lines and inthe previous General Elections of 2013, it was rejected by the people ofKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
ANP was successful in changing the name of North-Western Frontier Province(NWFP) to KP in the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution for oneparticular reason to remain relevant in the politics of KP and moreimportantly Pashtoon politics. The demands of PTM and more specificallyManzoor Pashteen can be considered by the government and other stateinstitutions but it is evident that these demands are going to increaseonce the previous ones are fulfilled.
It is the habit of political leaders that they just don’t stop demandingsince it is a tactic used by them to keep the people motivated andmobilized. It is a historical fact that Afghanistan was the one that raisedthe slogan of Pakhtoonistan and mobilized the predecessor of ANP i.e.National Awami Party (NAP) to support the unification of Pakhtoons underthe flag of Afghanistan.
Similarly, Indian meddling in Pakistan’s internal affairs is not somethingof a new phenomenon. There are chances that these tactics to hurt Pakistanare part of a grand strategy of great powers and regional powers.
One thing is to be noted that why many political parties of Pakistan aresupporting PTM’s stance. Likewise, the mainstream academia and scholars arealso promoting PTM. It is feared that these people might get momentum dueto the involvement of different strata of society. It is quite necessary topersuade PTM leadership to refrain from anti-Pakistan and anti-stateslogans. The time has come to calm down PTM using political, economic andsocial means.BY: Sahibzada M Saeed— The writer is IR analyst based in Islamabad.