Two-Muslim Theory: Part 1

Article originally by Tahir Mehdi appeared in the Dawn. Presented here in an adapted format. 

Introducing Bacha Khan

When someone says 'Muslims of Indo-Pak subcontinent' with reference to history, does this refer to one unanimous, monolithic block of people with no shades and diversity? The reality is divergent political interests and ambitions of Muslims throughout the subcontinents history before and beyond the period that ended on this day 65 years ago. A reintroduction to these groups and how the new state of Pakistan responded to their political aspirations might help us understand where we stand now.

Pre-partition Muslims can be classified in many ways beyond sectarian differences within Islam. The followers of one sect are not a completely homologous group either, as they may differ on other counts like economic class, cast, language, culture etc. These attributes have an impact on way people behave and act in spheres of economy, politics, culture and even faith. It's only natural to consider that all these factors make one what he or she is. Instead of labouring over an academically-sound definition of each, this post offers an example of one person from two of these two groups.

Abdul Ghaffar Khan was born in 1890 to rural middle-class Pakhtun parents of Utmanzai, a small town in the present day district of Charssadda. At the age of 20 he opened a school in his village. He had woken up to the fact that his people have no future if they don't educate themselves and their children. The tall, young man proved to be a zealous missionary. He would walk for miles from one village to the other with his simple message – educate yourself and abstain from violence. He was a devout Muslim, a five-timer namazi parhaizgar and would draw heavily from Islamic history and the Prophet's sayings to rally fellow Pakhtuns. People joined him in droves. 

His appeal matured into charisma and in his 30s, he founded a social reform movement named Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God). By now he was named Badshah Khan or Bacha Khan. The movemen gave its volunteers a uniform that was red and organised them on the pattern of a militia that was, in his words, armed "with the weapon of the Prophet – that is, patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it." It was only Bacha Khan who could unarm Pakhtuns who otherwise were considered quarrelsome and trigger-happy.

The Red Shirts, as the volunteers of the movement were known as, were against the British rule and demanded self government. For the British, the then province of NWFP had great strategic importance. It was a so-called buffer against the Afghan government that was not friendly with the Raj and also against the Russians whom the British dreaded as their rivals.

The Bolshevik revolution of Russia in 1917 was emerging as a huge challenge for Imperialism. It had a natural affinity with the nations oppressed by the British. The Russian revolution was colored red. The sight of a Red Shirt in the Peshawar valley gave the British a fright. At Qisa Khani Bazar in 1930, the frenzied British forces fired directly at a protest rally of unarmed Khudai Khidmatgars killing many hundreds. The movement and its committed cadre did not budge. They stood fast. Many estimate that at its peak there were as many as a hundred thousand Red Shirts.

When the British adopted a cautious policy of sharing power with local political forces and initiated limited franchise elections, the group allied with Indian National Congress. It contested successive elections, won majority and formed governments in the province. As the British hated them, they would conspire against the Red Shirts and jailed Bacha Khan frequently and for long periods but could not undo the politicisation of the Pakhtun middle class that he had initiated.

Pakhtun felt comfortable with Congress and that didn't bear out of some personal friendship between the top leaders. Congress accommodated politics of budding smaller sub-national groups, offered them space for growth and opportunity to integrate with others without giving much consideration to religion. On the other hand, Bacha Khan did not owe his 'fearlessness' vis a vis Hindus to Pakhtun chivalric traditions, instead he had earned this confidence through successive electoral victories. He had a large constituency where Muslims were in majority. There were Hindus too but Pakhtuns did not see Hindus as threat to their religion or politics.

Despite its vociferous campaign Muslim League could not ignite fears of Hindu domination in the support base of Bacha Khan. His comrades won the land mark elections of 1946 with a thumping majority. He opposed the Partition on the basis of religion, but it happened. His democratically elected government was dismissed 8 days after the independence, on 22 August, 1947 when Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the Governor General and Liaqat Ali Khan was the Prime Minister.

read more in the next posting

Malala Complex

As an educationalist, it is natural that I should support Malala Yousafzai's right to have an education. This is further reinforced by our common Pashtun heritage. She is also from Swat, so this resonates even deeper. I am genuinely proud to see her stand on a world platform - at the UN General Assembly in New York - and confidently address an international audience. My first reaction? Very impressed. She is one of us and her campaign is a morally justified one. She is a Pashtana. She is a Swati. She is still only young (having turned 16 on July 12th). She is a survivor of one of the most horrendous crimes to have occurred in recent times. She is truly inspirational when it comes to a positive Pashtun image on the international platform. I support this wholeheartedly. Malala is so right when she says: "One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education First."

Beyond this, however, it becomes more complex. The doctors and nurses who treated her, are not mentioned and Kainaat and Shazia, who were shot with her have not attracted the same media attention, whilst there are others who are leaching off the 'Malala effect'. The celebs gathering around her, are often simply promoting themselves. Madonna, stripped to her bare skin last year in one of her concerts in solidarity to the girl. The paradox? Malala, like most Pashtanas appears modestly dressed in public. Gordon Brown is not the only politician to have made mileage out of her tragedy. The contradiction? Four years ago, whilst still in Swat, she wanted to be a doctor, not a politician. Sure she was young and politics has a place in bringing about wider change, but it is now much more complex than a case of girl who single handedly took on the Taliban.

As a Pashtun, my first reaction is to want to protect her - not 'smother' her, as could happen in our male-dominated set-up. As an educationalist, I want to take her campaign and make it universal. As an individual, I want her to succeed and grew up to be a contributing member of society. As a political cynic, I wish the politics around her would go away, and this is where I see the difficulty in her campaign. The well-crafted speech that Malala delivered at the UN had many, many merits but the conservative reaction in Pakistan and Afghanistan continues to be part of the challenge. The Taliban still draws sympathy from those who have not benefited from the US presence in Afghanistan and the damaging ripple effect this creates in Pakistan.

They will see personalities - actors, singers, politicians, liberals etc. who will use their own Malala campaigns - as something very alien.  It serves to cloud the cause for universal education - and for the Yousafzai's delegitimizes their position and potentially damage the long-term good. Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala's father, was - in the end - forced to distance her from her own people and take his family out of Swat. They are now in the hands of outsiders; outsiders with their own agendas.

I hope I am wrong and that the education is not entirely lost to the politics because the cause remains noble. 

Read Malala's Speech in Full.

Pakistan: Vote for Change?

At the point of writing, there are few surprises following the election in Pakistan. The process has been marred by violence, and the sad deaths of dozens. There have been allegations of coercion, vote rigging and polling stations closing early or not allowing people to cast their vote. For Pakistan though, the election presents something of a democratic milestone. For the first time since the country was founded in 1947, the outgoing government was the first civilian government to have lasted its term without dismissal or a military coup. This is an achievement, no less, though even at this point, whilst some votes are being counted, the people seem to have made their choice. 

Out goes the PPP (Pakistan People's Party), and in comes the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz Sharif). This is the usual passing of the baton between the ruling parties. The dauphin, stealthily waiting in the wings was of course, Imran Khan, ex-cricketer and  leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (the Justice Party). His campaign trail invited the attention of the media and caught the attention of Pakistan's youth (46% of whom are aged between 18 and 29). In the Pashtun heartlands, in particular Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government led by the ANP (Awaami National Party) has been voted out and replaced by the Tehreek-e-Insaaf. Both Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan's assembly will be made up of a mix of parties, but in south, PKMAP (Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awaami Party) are set to take the larger portion of seats.

So what does this all mean? Well it means, that whilst this election was fought on the ticket of change, some things will remain remarkably the same. Nawaz Sharif is set to return as Prime Minister - despite being dismissed twice, jailed and exhiled, for, amongst other things, corruption and mismanagement. His clear rival, on the home patch was Imran Khan who at least at the urban youth level, had the potential to split the PML vote. This has largely not affected the result in the Punjab which has traditionally been safe PML territory. Sindhis in Pakistan will vote along tribal and ethnic lines and the MQM in Karachi will pick up the Urdu-speaking/Mohajir vote. In short, not much has changed.

The change of personnel, will be seen mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the nationalist ANP could not capture the mood of its traditional support base. That has gone to the Tehreek-e-Insaaf and really should be the talk of the election. The question is why and to understand what is deliverable. The ousted Awaami National Party claims the inheritence of Bacha Khan's legacy - nationalist, focussed on Pashtun issues, traditionally pro-Afghanistan and non-antagonistic towards India. The Tehreek-e-Insaaf is less clear about the latter issues, but has made a ticket of opposing one of the main issues of the present time - that of unmanned drones, said to target the militants along the Af-Pak border, but often making ordinary civilians the victims. This is one of the key points of appeal, and that of Imran Khan's rock-star-like persona which appeals to a young voting public, keen on change. Beyond this, it is difficult to determine what else seperates the PTI from PML. Ideologically there is considerable shared common ground and therefore arguably, despite the different guises and the recent banter between their respective leaderships, politically speaking they appear to offer more of the same. A key common ground between the PTI and the PML is their relationships with the ISI (Pakistan's notorious intellignce agency) and a conservative affliation with the Taliban.

The 2014 NATO/US withdrawal in Afghanistan is set to create a number of possible scenarios. One of those may be a resurgent Taliban. How, the new central power in Pakistan, and the new provincial power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's percieved appeasement of the Taliban plays out is yet to be seen. My vote, however, rests with the people. Pashtuns are a conservative folk - I live with that. But they are remarkably open, accomodating and egalitarian. Contrast this with the rest of Pakistan which voted largely on tribal, traditional or ethnic lines. It this Pashtun notion of fair play that has returned a PTI victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We're willing to give the promisers at PTI central, their chance. 

What I would like to see, is not just the stopping of drones, but genuine economic and social prosperity for the Pashtuns, lifting of educational standards and moves towards recognition of our history and language. Pashtuns have been used as cannon fodder in someone else's war for long enough. Outwardly, unless the PTI or PML can change the outlook of the army or the ISI, I am not sure how this can change for Pashtuns either in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Right now, we watch and wait to see what will follow.

The Tragedy of Malala

In this climate of agendas, I admit to some confusion about what I am being told and it is never always absolutely clear what is the truth; and what is blatant propaganda. Over the years, and particularly since I began this blog I have been offered many loose ends and have read way too many conflicting accounts to be sure all the time. This makes the events surrounding Malala Yousafzai's shooting all the more tragic. Primarily I pray for her speedy recovery and condemn the bigotry that led to her shooting. May Allah bring peace and justice to all those caught up in the ongoing war and the acts of terror in the Pakistan-Afghanistan belt. May people be afforded the right to go about their business according to their faith and conciousness free from the threat coercion or attack. Ameen. 

Part of me cannot escape noticing the ring of political and media exploitation surrounding Malala's life, or even the fact that the girls who were shot with her, Kainaat and Shazia, are all but forgotten. There is no doubt that these are remarkable individuals and I keep them all in my prayers. Out of the tragedy, I wish to see these girls strong in their resolve - to acquire the education that has been the cause of the controversy in Swat and to be part of that change that will allow them as Pashtun women to be the social equals that men and women in Bacha Khan's vision were meant to be.

This is an important parallel. Bacha Khan recognised the crucial need for education amongst the Pashtuns - for both men and women and Malala would embody that. She bravely stood up to intimidation when girls' schooling was banned in Swat and in doing so adopted a very political position. I offer this with a little caution however. To be political is one thing; to be caught up in someone else's politics is something else. Since the fall of the Taliban in Swat, Malala has been courted by the Pakistani and the world media with their varying views  - all wishing to push their own messages through her.

Note this quote from BBC World TV documentary about her made two years ago. She is twelve years old at the time.

Malala: “I want to ba a doctor but my father told me you have to be a politician. But I don’t like politics.”
Father: “My daughter can be better than a doctor.”

Malala's desire for an education was genuine and highly commendable; but she was thrust into the firing line by an ambitious father and an ambitious documentary maker apparently unconcerned by her direct statement that she was being manipulated against her will.

Having been shot, Malala has now been airlifted and is receiving world class treatment in Birmingham, England. I hope that she recovers and in the long term goes on to a happy and fulfilled life as a doctor. For most children caught in the 'War on Terror', however, the story is very different. The truth is that Malala is not getting this treatment because that is what is done for children attacked in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She is getting this treatment because she became, and remains, an exploited propaganda symbol. If people really cared about Pashtun children, Malala would not be a public figure in the way that she now is. Pashtun children would not have to 'fight' for their right to education and nor would they be filmed fighting for their lives in hospitals.  

Read this view for more thoughts on this story. 

Link: Swat Educational Society

Ten Years of Meltdown

Another bomb explosion in Peshawar yesterday claimed yet more lives. Like the explosion in the Khyber tribal district not long back, this happened whilst people waited for a bus. Sadly, this comes less than a week after sectarian violence in Parachinar and today gunmen stormed a police station, again in Peshawar, leading to yet more killing. I can't help but think that right now, it doesn't really matter any more what the faith denomination, ethnic background or political slant of an individual is, in Pakistan - something is seriously malfunctioning. Whilst ultimately violence is indiscriminate; Peshawar, Khyber, Swat, Parachinar, Waziristan, Bajaur and much more, is Pashtoon land and when we turn our violence upon each other, I feel hurt and confusion. At times it feels that we are going down like flies. And I continue to ask why.

Ahmed Rashid, writing for the BBC describes the past ten years perfectly when he says that Pakistan is in Meltdown.  He writes that ten years after becoming embroiled in the US "War on Terror", Pakistan, mired in scandal, may have to face some kind of unilateral US action. This has long been conjecture, but let's face it, when the US enters Pakistani airspace with its drones, this results in civilians being killed. The Raymond Davis shoot-out saw Pakistan bowing to US pressure - thus effectively creating an immunity for American intelligence to kill on Pakistani soil, seemingly without impunity and of course, most infamously Osama bin Laden was hunted down and killed in Abbotabad, whilst Pakistan was asleep. All of these represent US action against Pakistan, whether anyone cares to admit it or not.

But of Pakistan itself - why is it headed towards meltdown? I have a theory. Rather simplistically much of Pakistan's past, present and future woes stem from its schizophrenic relationship with India and how this is dealt with. And yes, there is mass poverty, economic ruin, natural disasters, ethnic unrest and wide-scale political corruption at home. Everything in Pakistan is negatively over politicised - the intelligence services, militant groups, the judiciary, redrawing of provincial boundaries, college campuses, religion, the media, municipality services, the ordinary man on the street and of course, the military. 

Notice there that even whilst discussing this, I didn't even get to politicians. They of course, knowingly sit there in Pakistan temporarily or in exile to escape criminal or corruption charges, watching as everything melts before them.

 

 Cartoon by Satish Acharya

The Story of Swat (1862-1969) Part 5

Final part of the series, documenting the history of Swat.

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The Story of Swat (1862-1969) Part 4

Part four of the series on the history of Swat. In this part we are introduced to the non-Muslim minorities who have made Swat their home.

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The Story of Swat (1862-1969) Part 3

Part three of the documentary on the history of Swat.

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The Story of Swat (1862-1969) Part 2

Part two of the documentary on the history of Swat.

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The Story of Swat (1862-1969) Part 1

First part of a Pashto language mini-series documenting the history of Swat. 

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Global War: Local Cause?

More than 100 dead; many more injured. 

There is a terrible inevitability about the twin bombings in Charsadda, yesterday morning. Little about it is different from previous bombings. There is the same vicious tactic of two devices - one designed to kill helpers moments after the first blast. There is the familiar target: recruits to the underpaid, under-equipped paramilitary frontier corps. There is a familiar culprit: the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed the attack.

The difference is that this strike comes after the death of Osama bin Laden. It is an attack, claimed in the name of al-Qaida, by Pakistanis on Pakistanis. I'm not the sympathiser, the analyst, nor the strategist here, but I do have a question.

Why?

Why is it that we live in a world where the region to which I owe my personal history continues to be caught up in a war without end? Why is it that Pakistan and the US continue with a delusional marriage that aggravates the suffering? Why is it that Pashtoons appear to be caught up in someone else's war? Why is it that Islam ("peace") has increasingly little to do with this? Why?

The story goes that Osama bin Laden is dead, killed in a secret raid that may/may not have had Pakistani involvement and one that continues to raise questions on the legitimacy - should the US have entered sovereign territory; should bin Laden have been captured and tried; what was the exact narrative of events? Many questions unanswered and perhaps for another time.

But for now I wish to understand the whys I raised earlier. Jason Burke, writes in The Guardian that Osama's "strategy, happily, was not always a successful one ... [many groups across the Middle East] ... rejected Bin Laden's advances, as did others throughout the Far East, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia."

Global War: Local Cause?

But of those that did sign up, there is a decidedly local dimension which appears first. The global brand of terrorism, such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban-Pakistan, who were responsible for an attempted bombing in New York last year have hitched their local cause to the broader one – against the "Crusader Zionist alliance" or their local hypocrite, infidel, apostate stooges (in this case the Pakistani government and military and all who work for them).

In his article, Burke makes the key point about the appeal for radical groups not being universal across the Muslim world, but points out that "the global language usually disguises local weakness. That of the Pakistani Taliban is that they are not a conservative traditional group battling to preserve age-old customs but a bunch of marginalised men from smaller tribes, without education, without positions in the social hierarchy and who would be nothing without the power of the gun."

... Above all, what the invocation of a dead Saudi-born terrorist's name is aimed at disguising is the truth about the various conflicts that have been conflated into the narrative, in Washington as much as in compounds in Abbottabad, of one single civilisational clash.

In fact, there is no single conflict, simply a nasty mesh of individual wars, most of which pitch countryman against countryman, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Pakistan."

Pakhtoon Schools Project

The Yorkshire and Lancashire textile and steel mills of the 1950s and 1960s saw a wave of immigration from the then newly independent Pakistan and India - lands once occupied by the British Empire. Those who lived through this time tell their own tales of racism, building cultural bridges, acceptance and an emerging post-war British identity. These were not easy times and the experiences have left their mark, but the story of Ramon Mohamed's father goes back further, to the small village of Toru near Mardan, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.

Pakhtoon Schools Project

Ramon's journey to find his roots has been chronicled on his website and his travels across Pakistan and Afghanistan have inspired in him a desire to fulfill a personal mission - that is to build a school overlooking his father's grave not far from the grounds of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan. Ramon has gained some publicity for raising awareness and the opportunity to work with Sheffield University who are supporting his efforts.

In a joined up world, people cross paths and here too, minds meet. Ramon's journey of discovery through life brought him to the UAE  a couple of weeks back when I hosted him. I was very fortunate to learn more about the man and his remarkable vision in our conversations together.

Ramon and I share some key commonality - both of us draw from our combined Pashtoon and Yorkshire influences, both of us are primary educationalists and both of us have a passion for the development of educational opportunities in the Pashtoon belt. We share the ideal of a peaceful, progressive people, literate in world-affairs, technology and Pashto language.

It would be right to consider Ramon Jan a friend. He is already a commentator on this blog and this photograph from a posting I made on a BBC news report about the destruction of schools in Afghanistan is one that comes from Ramon Jan himself whilst observing open-air schools in Nangarhar. All our journeys continue in whichever direction Allah has prescribed for us, but I hope to use this space periodically to share thoughts and update on the progress of the school projects.

For readers and visitors to this blog, do follow the link here to learn more.

A Conversation Between Two Great Men

When I reflect on the continuing turmoil that surrounds the lands of my people, I think of how far we have strayed from Bacha Khan's vision. I take comfort, however, in these words here - the possibility - the hope and the belief of who we are. Here's an excerpt of a conversation between Mahatma Gandhi and Bacha Khan, two incredibly great men:

BACHA KHAN: Gandhiji, you have been preaching non violence in India for a long time now, but I started teaching the Pathans non-violence only a short time ago. Yet, in comparison, the Pathans seem to have grasped the idea of non-violence much quicker and much better than the Indians. Just think how much violence there was in India during the war in 1942. Yet in the North West Province, in spite of all the cruelty and the oppression the British inflicted upon them, not one Pathan resorted to violence, though they too possess the instruments of violence. How do you explain that?

GANDHIJI: Non-violence is not for cowards. It is for the brave and the courageous. And the Pathans are more brave and courageous than the Hindus. That is the reason why the Pathans were able to remain non-violent.

Read more.

The PashTones!

We live in a world full of cultural crossroads. The PashTones represent an adaptation of Pashto folk songs in American folk/acoustic styles. On their website, the PashTones write that they wish "to expand current modes of engagement and exchange between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the West by opening into the register of poetry and music." It is always a positive step when people take a genuine interest.

The after-effects of last year's floods in Pakistan still continue to affect millions. 20 million people are still in need of urgent assistance in the affected areas.  An estimated 1.9 million homes were damaged or destroyed in the tragedy, and efforts are still needed to help rebuild lives. All proceeds from this album sales will go toward Oxfam's flood relief efforts in Pakistan. 

 

 

Enjoy the three track sampler.
Follow the PashTones further on Facebook.

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Catastrophe

'It's a catastrophe... and that's no overstatement',
Adam Mynott, BBC

The worst floods in Pakistan's history have hit at least 14 million people, the government relief agency says. According to Gen Nadeem Ahmed, of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), that figure only covers Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and Punjab provinces. The full figure is likely to be much higher, with at least half a million evacuated in Sindh.

"We have an atom bomb, but we have no helicopters and boats for rescue, no machinery to clear the roads and build temporary bridges quickly. We are just not geared to enable people in a crisis,"

Mohammad Haroon, Lawyer, Nowshera, BBC

This poem in the video was penned by the honourable Feroz Afridi and is recited here by a friend.

Flood Story 2

Gul Hassan, 70, is no stranger to adversity. Back in the 1980s, fighting in his native Afghanistan forced him to flee along with his family to neighbouring Pakistan, where he started a new life in the refugee settlement of Hajizai, located on a riverbank in the northwestern part of the country.

But over the past week, the most severe flooding in over 70 years inundated his old home and forced him to flee for a second time. For six days, he and his sons have been living in the open on the pavement of a roadway, while his wife and daughters are sleeping with friends.

"It was midnight, when the water levels suddenly began to rise," says Hassan. His remaining belongings, those the family had managed to carry with them, lay heaped under plastic sheeting on the pavement. "There have been floods in the past too," he continues, but these were the worst in living memory. "This was devastating".

Flood waters are still flowing through the nearby settlement and it is raining again. Relief organizations are struggling to reach victims in areas that have been cut off by the flooding as roads and scores of bridges have been washed away whilst on a nearby bridge, a crowd of children has gathered to watch as the dark brown waters begin to rise again.

Hassan is one of the more than 1.5 million people displaced by the worst floods Pakistan has seen in a generation. Included in that number are some 700,000 people like Hassan, who have already been dispaced by conflicts-in Afghanistan or in Pakistan itself-and who therefore find themselves homeless for a second time. His family is among some 10,000 Afghan families living in four refugee villages destroyed by the flood waters.

UNHCR
(adapted from this report by Rabia Ali, Peshawar, August 2010)

Flood Story 1

We never thought the waters would rise so high. I was away at my aunt's house in the Nowshera Cantonment area. When the waters overflowed the river, I got worried.

My relatives said to wait until the tide ebbs, but it kept rising, and soon it was clear that my part of the city had drowned.

My mother died. She was old and diabetic and couldn't climb to the third floor of the house to avoid drowning.

My younger brother, who is only 12, tried to drag her up. She was washed away. We haven't found her body. My brother is traumatised.

My relatives said to wait until the tide ebbs, but it kept rising, and soon it was clear that my part of the city had drowned.

My mother died. She was old and diabetic and couldn't climb to the third floor of the house to avoid drowning.

My younger brother, who is only 12, tried to drag her up. She was washed away. We haven't found her body. My brother is traumatised.

Alamzeb, Nowshera
BBC, August 2010

A Journey Through Devastation

Two thousand dead and a further 2.5 million people affected. Villages have been swept away and as many as 27 thousand people could be stranded and food is running out.

A relief worker for Save the Children blogs from Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.
Images from Getty Images.

Deluge

The monsoon floods in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and surrounding areas are a reminder of the helplessness of the ordinary folk and the suffering they continue to endure.

I have family affected by the rising waters, the panic and the scramble for safety. Latest reports say that 400,000 are already displaced in the biggest floods in the area since 1929.

Retribution? Wrath? I don't know. We have suffered greatly - may Allah keep us all in care. It is our duty to step in now and after the waters reside to help rebuild.

pictures taken from the BBC/Associated Press

As If Hell Fell On Me

The Taleban came here and settled here. Now they have a dispute with the government, and the government started taking actions against them. If we stand with the government the Taleban will hit us. If we stand with the Taleban the government will target us. If we don't stand with any of them, you can see how bad our situation is.

Four million people live under the grip of Taleban rule in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and the FATA regions of Pakistan, 1 million are displaced and ordinary people are caught right in the middle. The 130-page Amnesty report, As if Hell Fell on Me, was based on nearly 300 interviews with residents of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the surrounding area. It tells the narrative of the suffering of the people.The government tells a story of success in its combat with the militants. Five million people, and probably a good few more, tell a different story.

Consider this comment by Amnesty International. It sums it up for me:

Most discussions of the conflict ignore the fact that northwest Pakistan is heavily populated and that the majority of people who live in FATA and other areas of northwest Pakistan do not support or take part in violence and are going about the business of trying to farm, raise livestock, weave fabrics, transport goods, raise families, and build, repair, or teach. The well-being of these civilians is rarely mentioned in media reports or policy pronouncements by Taleban or US, Pakistani, or Afghan officials and there are few signs that leaders on either side of the conflict factor civilians into their policies or strategic analyses.

The photograph of the old lady from Waziristan reminds me of a great-aunt of mine who was displaced in the Swat exodus last year. That single tear just breaks the heart.