Waziristan Weeps

په ګران وزیرستان کی غیر اغیار نه منو

Post by Waziristan - The Lion's Den.

The song from the hills and mountains of Waziristan is fitting reminder that Waziristan whilst brave and tenacious, has been infiltrated and damaged by outsiders - jihadist militants, US drones, and Pakistani forces. And now the refugee crisis;  in Pakistan called, IDPs - Internally Displaced People, where even liberal Pakistanis have shut their doors on the human traffic that is the inevitable fallout from a military offensive (Operation Zarb-e-Azb). Déjà vu. We've seen this all before. The events today in Waziristan are not disimilar from the events four years ago: As If Hell Fell On Me.

Whilst the Pakistani establishment turns its offensive on Waziristan as a public reponse to this month's attack on Karachi Airport, there is an eerie reminder that we struggle to move forwards because we don't learn from the past. This is about Pashtuns caught in the middle of a bigger war, yet again. 

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.

Worn Down By Bloodshed

Some days, I am sadder than others. When, oh when, will this all end?

The number of people killed in militant attacks in Pakistan is fast approaching 600 in just three months.

At least 88 people have been killed by a suicide bomb attack at a volleyball court in the troubled north-west of Pakistan.

Militants have attacked both "hard" targets, including army or intelligence offices, and "soft" ones such as markets or the crowd that was hit in Friday's bombing.

The latest attack killed more people than any other since a bombing at a market in Peshawar left some 120 people dead on 28 October.

From the BBC.

Casualties of War

The human cost of war is the thing that most stirs me. Forget the political wranglings. Sure, I have deep seated beliefs and opinions about cause and responsibility, but the politics is neither here nor there when we consider the human fallout. People still need to live, they need to eat and they still need to provide for their families. My question is simple, who is responsibe to these peope?

"Who would ever want to leave their home willingly?" asks Wilayat Khan. "In the end we had two choices - flee or die."

We are sitting in the cramped three-room house he shares with his brother's family in the Pashtun-dominated neighbourhood of Sohrab Goth, on the outskirts of Karachi.

Mr Khan and his brother rented it after they fled their native South Waziristan. So far, it is thought nearly 15,000 people have fled to Karachi to escape fighting in South Waziristan.

Most settle on the outskirts and many find work as labourers, watchmen or in Karachi's Pashtun-dominated transport industry.

"For the time being, most of the families fleeing the conflict in the tribal regions cannot return home," says Ismail Mehsud, a young Pashtun politician in Pakistan's financial capital. "It's a vicious cycle - and the state appears unwilling to play its part," he says. "Just handing out blankets is not going to help. Increasingly, Pashtuns are being made to feel like second-class citizens."

Wilayat Khan agrees: "I thought all of Pakistan was our home. But more and more, I feel like a stranger in my own homeland."

Edited from this BBC report.

The picture is taken from a similar report from IRIN Asia and shows how IDPs like Alam and Farooq Khan are struggling to find work.

Waziristan: Pashtoon Country

With the US-backed Pakistan war on militancy now shifting attention to Waziristan, it seems ever more appropriate to mention this song here in this blog. I first heard this when Nazia Iqbal played this song to an enthusiastic Waziri crowd in Abu Dhabi in February this year. With a little digging around, I've come across an earlier popular Musharraf Bangash version of the song, Waziristan da Pukhtano Watan De. Dedicated to the ordinary folk.

Waziristan da Pukhtano Watan De
Waziristan is Pashtoon Country


Warra zwaanan ye de ghairat nishaani
Da nangyalo, da shah zulmo watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Da khpela khawre gadha girde manum
Kho da dukhman de para daal yaadegi
Pa Pukhtunkhwa ke na pa tola duniya
Da doyee kamal da doyee jalaal yaadeygi
Che sar tattee nakra zda pa umar
Da seekhaghal aw azmaro watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Da tor tor ghroona e gawa da ghairat
Da mohabbat pa ke chenee joregi
Monga bachi da daaghi kharri khawre
Zamonga dalta afsaani joregi
Da stergo tor de zre takor de zema
Da masomano gulalo watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Mong da Pukhto da shuja'at nishani
Monga majboor yu da Islam da laasa
Zamong pa zmaka ke owrruna bal de
Da khog Islam da inteqaam da laasa
Husn walarg wata pa khuley de warka
Da shno paslo, da sangaro watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Masoom aur mazey ehteram kawauma
Da lwarr tareekh ta salaam kawauma
Zamung watan de amanat zamunga
Za ye pa hara barkha paam kawuma
Pa ma shireen de pa ma gran alamma
Ka de azgho, ka de nizgho watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

Warra zwaanan ye de ghairat nishaani
Da nangyalo, da shah zulmo watan de
Qurban qurban me sar au maal sha warna
Waziristan da Pukhtano watan de

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