Pakhtun diaspora: irresponsible and insensitive — by Farhat Taj
Rich Arabs in the Middle East are ‘earning’ a place in paradise in the life hereafter through never ending generous donations to the Taliban and the madrassas producing foot soldiers and a jihadi mindset on the Pakhtun land. They do not even care to consider that their ‘pursuit’ of a place in paradise is causing so much death and destruction
This column is about the lack of action of the Pakhtun diaspora on its most important role in the cultural, economic, social and political survival of their ethnic brothers and sisters in their native land. I am referring to generous donations that the Pakhtun diasporic communities in North America, Europe and the Middle East can and should contribute to counter the Taliban and Talibanisation in the Pakhtunkhwa province and FATA. This is the most vital role that the diaspora must play in the war on terror on the Pakhtun land, but so far it has badly failed to deliver in this regard.
I travelled across the Pakhtunkhwa province and in FATA to meet the leaders and members of anti-Taliban peace committees and lashkars (volunteer armies) formed by the peace committee to protect their villages against the Taliban onslaught. All the peace committees and lashkar members complained of acute shortage of financial resources in their anti-Taliban resistance. In most cases, the peace committees and lashkars are helping themselves, i.e. the local people are putting whatever meagre financial resources they might have to finance their resistance. There is simply no one to financially support their resistance, including, of course, the government of Pakistan.
Haji Malik, the assassinated leader of the anti-Taliban lashkar in Adezai in rural Peshawar, told me (when I met him before his targeted killing) that he had spent his lifelong savings, Rs 200,000, on an anti-Taliban lashkar. He informed me that he made that money in his property dealing business. He said that he now kept requesting his friends, relatives and fellow villagers to keep supporting the lashkar with whatever they could. Haji Malik first gave his lifelong savings and then his life in the anti-Taliban resistance. This is the situation of almost all anti-Taliban peace committees and lashkars all over Pakhtunkhwa province and FATA. Several lashkar leaders informed me that many members of their lashkars have lost lives in armed clashes with the Taliban and there is just no one to take care of their families. For the government of Pakistan, they complained, these widows and orphans just do not exist. Nobody else from outside their villages comes forward to help either. I also met several family members of the martyred lashkar people. Many, if not most of them, need immediate and sustainable financial help for expenditure related to subsistence, utility bills, children’s education and healthcare of ailing relatives, especially children and the elderly.
Media, state institutions and school curricula in Pakistan have constructed a discourse of violence, religiosity and cultural rigidity around the Pakhtun culture for the state’s jihadi pursuit in line with foreign policy objectives. The construction now misleads people all over the world about the Pakhtun culture and people. The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA) is the first Pakhtun think tank that has taken upon itself the responsibility to challenge the fabricated notions about the Pakhtun culture. The diasporic communities have recognised the work of AIRRA through e-mails of appreciation, but AIRRA’s work is greatly hampered by financial constraints. It is under-staffed and lacks even basic resources. A small core group of researchers and activists run this think tank on a voluntary basis. This means the time they should be giving to their families or career promotion is given to AIRRA.
More than once the authorities cut off the electricity supply to AIRRA due to non-payment of the utility bills. AIRRA’s core group members keep this think tank going through small but regular financial contributions. These members also have families to maintain. Above all, they are not rich people and like ordinary Pakistanis struggle with the ever rising inflation in Pakistan. These members will continue to support AIRRA as much as they can, but I wish to remind the Pakhtun diasporic communities that this is not how institutions are established, especially an institution that challenges the stereotypes and fabrications accepted as reality by people around the world. Thus there must be sustainable financial support to keep such institutions working towards a greater cause.
The Bacha Khan Education Foundation (BKEF) is another such venture that has embarked upon educating the next generation of the Pakhtuns on progressive lines, besides carrying out projects in culture revival and youth development. Though the diaspora was quite prompt in responding to its needs, the BKEF still needs substantial financial resources to expand its operations vertically and horizontally.
On the other hand, the forces of darkness that are hell bent on the destruction of the Pakhtun culture have overflowing financial resources. Rich Arabs in the Middle East are ‘earning’ a place in paradise in the life hereafter through never ending generous donations to the Taliban and the madrassas producing foot soldiers and a jihadi mindset on the Pakhtun land. They do not even care to consider that their ‘pursuit’ of a place in paradise is causing so much death and destruction. Intelligence agencies are also financing the activities of the religious forces. In this situation, where should AIRRA, BKEF and the anti-Taliban lashkars go for financial help? Should they expect Allah to send them money from the skies? Only the diasporic communities are in a position to help. Unfortunately, the diasporic communities have failed to show considerable performance in this regard.
The Pakhtun diasporic communities are engaged in discussions over what is happening in the war on terror. They offer suggestions and solutions on how the Pakhtun should deal with the situation. I do not wish to question their right to freedom of expression, but I would like to remind them that the most important help they could offer is through financial contributions to the lashkars, BKEF and AIRRA. They do not need advice and suggestions; they are on the ground facing the dangerous situation every moment of their lives. They know better than the diasporic communities how to deal with the situation.
There are individual Pakhtuns abroad who do send donations, but this is just not enough. The financial help must not be a one-off. AIRRA, BKEF and the anti-Taliban lashkars need constant, consistent and sustainable supply of financial resources. The Pakhtun diasporic communities are in a good position to provide this. I would request every affluent Pakhtun abroad to donate at least $ 10 per month to support the anti-Taliban lashkars, the widows and orphans of the lashkars’ shuhada (martyrs), AIRRA and BKEF. This small amount would not make any difference to the affluent Pakhtuns abroad, but it will definitely make a big difference in the performance of the receivers and bring some normalcy in the lives of the lashkars’ widows and orphans.
This war against Talibanisation and the Taliban is an all-out war. It has to be fought on three most important fronts: one, on the mountains, in the deserts, forests, fields and streets — the lashkars are doing it; two, on an ideological front, both AIRRA and BKEF are doing that; and three, on the financial front. This front is defenceless up until now and massively affecting the efforts of the other two fronts. The affluent diaspora must take care of that front. It is their responsibility and they must not run away from it.
The anti-Taliban lashkars, BKEF and AIRRA will continue their resistance against the Taliban and Talibanisation even if the sustainable financial contributions never come from the diaspora. But if they lose, if the forces of darkness ever succeed in eliminating the Pakhtun culture with the 7th century Arab tribal culture, future historians will also hold the inaction of the diaspora responsible for the cultural catastrophe. Many lashkar people and the core members of AIRRA hold even today the diaspora responsible for making their struggle difficult through their lack of financial support.
I would also request the non-Pakhtun fellow Pakistanis to support the anti-Taliban struggle of the Pakhtun with generous donations in their own self-interest, if not for moral reasons. The non-Pakhtun cultures will be next in line for elimination if the international forces of jihad manage to annihilate the Pakhtun culture.
The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. She can be reached at [email protected]
Rallying the diaspora —Dr Mohammad Taqi
Painting the current war as just the Pashtuns’ war might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It compartmentalises and isolates the Pashtuns even from their direct neighbours in Peshawar, Kohat and DI Khan. It is our war — of the Pashtuns, Hindko and Farsi speakers of Peshawar, Hazara-wals, Chitralis, the Shiite of Kurram and Barelvis of Swat. It is as much a Punjabi, Baloch or a Sindhi war
One freezing night in January 1948, a woman landed in New York on a campaign to raise funds for the state of Israel and its armed forces. She had no winter clothing on, carried only a handbag and a single ten-dollar bill in her pocket. When asked by the customs official how she planned to manage here in the US, she replied: “I have family here!”
When Golda Meir left the US, she had collected $ 50 million — twice her original target, ten times the demand of their resistance officials and three times the Saudi oil revenues for 1947. The diaspora had delivered — but only when rallied by a determined leadership.
The overseas Pakistanis have pumped in about $ 40 billion over the last nine years into the Pakistani economy — three times more per annum than what the Kerry Lugar Law will ever deliver.
Unlike the Kerry Lugar Law, however, no strings are attached to these remittances because the intended beneficiaries are families, friends and communities back home or, as the Americans would say, our loved ones.
The Pakistani expatriates have also remained attuned to the natural and man-made disasters in Pakistan. Whether it was the 2005 earthquake, the 2007 Balochistan floods or the displaced persons of Malakand, the overseas Pakistanis have opened their hearts and wallets upon the motherland’s call. Many came in physically to assist and others contributed financially and materially.
From immediate relief and rescue missions in Balakot to rebuilding and supporting the war-ravished Khpal Kor Foundation orphanage in Mingora, Swat, the overseas Pakistanis have always risen to the occasion.
Individuals have contributed privately and through various charitable organisations. Established groups such as the Association of Pakistani-descent Physicians of North America (APPNA) and Khyber Medical College Alumni Association of North America (KMCAANA) partnered with the Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, in running medical camps for the Malakand IDPs in Swabi, Mardan and Charsadda. APPNA and its affiliates and the KMCAANA are in the process of donating advance trauma life-support equipped ambulances to the NWFP as we speak.
The overseas Pakistanis have been trying to raise awareness in the US and Western capitals about the war in Pak-Afghan region and especially the Pashtun lands. Seminars, lobbying, op-ed writing and blogging have been deployed to flay naked the hideous face of the Taliban monster. When the Swat Shariah deal was being imposed on the Pashtuns under the guise of a triumph of diplomacy and jirga, these Pakistani voices unmasked it as the state’s capitulation to the Taliban fascism and helped build consensus for the army action there.
The question then is whether all of this is sufficient? And the answer is a resounding no! No metrics are yet available to measure how much contribution to Pakistan is enough contribution.
This brings me to an article ‘Pakhtun diaspora: irresponsible and insensitive’ (Daily Times, January 9, 2010) by Ms Farhat Taj, my colleague at the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA), in which she has shown her irritation with the expatriate Pakistanis for their indifference to the plight of the Pashtuns.
While I must first take a bow to Ms Taj for the brave and stellar work she has been doing, I differ with the observations in her article. The agreements first, though.
AIRRA is indeed doing a wonderful job of raising awareness within and outside Pakistan about the existential threat to the region. It deserves all we can do to keep it afloat. I join Ms Taj in calling upon all who care to donate generously to AIRRA.
The Baacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation (BKTEF) is another entity that was mentioned as worthy of support, in the said article. This entity came to fore around 2007 as a grantee of the Open Society Institute (OSI), run by the billionaire George Soros (Soros Foundations Network Report 2007, page 152) and has previously solicited donations in the US under the OSI’s US tax identification number. The officials at the OSI confirmed the 2007 grantee status but were unable to provide a statement on the current status of the collaboration and funding.
Like all non-profit organisations in the US, if BKTFE were to present its case in an open and transparent manner and list its achievements of the last several years, the Pakistani-Americans would certainly help. Greg Mortenson of the Central Asia Institute is a frequent visitor to the Pakistani-American community events and his great work has earned loyal supporters for his schools in Pakistan.
Ms Taj has taken an exception to the comments and views expressed by the overseas Pakistanis — the Pashtun diaspora in her words — about the conduct of war in Pakistan.
Firstly, painting the current war as just the Pashtuns’ war might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It compartmentalises and isolates the Pashtuns even from their direct neighbours in Peshawar, Kohat and DI Khan. It is our war — of the Pashtuns, Hindko and Farsi speakers of Peshawar, Hazara-wals, Chitralis, the Shiite of Kurram and Barelvis of Swat. It is as much a Punjabi, Baloch or a Sindhi war.
It is indeed not for the diaspora to decide how the native Pakistanis conduct the current war. As Golda Meir said to an American audience, “It is not to you, to decide whether we shall continue our struggle or not. We shall fight and never hang out a white flag before the Mufti of Jerusalem. But you can decide one thing — whether the victory will be ours or the Mufti’s.” And it is perhaps the latter aspect that Ms Taj has pitched to the overseas Pakistanis — to help arm the tribal militias (lashkars). Her contention being that if the petro-dollars from Arabs can oil the Taliban fighting machine, why the Pashtun diaspora cannot do the same in response.
Asking the diaspora as a whole to become part of this is a slippery slope. It is a political decision and must come from the political leadership, not individuals.
The history of Pak-Afghan region tells us that outsourcing war to irregulars is a dangerous proposition that has contributed to the warlordism rampant in the region. The factions and militias created by the local, regional and global powers have been a recipe for the fragmentation of Afghanistan.
The experiment of relying on tribal militias was conducted by the PDPA in Afghanistan and unfortunately it was at the hand of one such militia that one of the bravest souls in modern Pashtun history, Dr Najibullah, was arrested, leading ultimately to his martyrdom.
If the Pakistani and especially the Pashtun leaders feel that the institutions responsible for prosecuting the war against the Taliban-al Qaeda are not living up to expectations, they must say so — and say it loud and clear. Their muffled voices heard outside Pakistan depict a Don Quixote swaggering against the imaginary windmills of India, Israel and indeed Kabul. In the best case scenario they are sleeping on the job and in the worst, are MIA.
The massive support that the lawyers got from the diaspora was owed in large part to the clarity of their leaders’ message. It was enunciated well and repeated constantly and consistently. Even when some in the diaspora disagreed with their tactics, they continued to support the cause.
There is no substitute for an astute, resolute and visible political leadership when nations and nationalities are in mortal danger. The policy institutes and think tanks are duty-bound to make the leaders aware of their responsibilities. It is unfair to criticise a diaspora that is under a fog of confusion.
Whereas the Dubai crash has destroyed the livelihoods of the diaspora there and while those in Europe and the US are scrambling to keep jobs or make house and car payments, there is absolutely no doubt that they did and will respond to the motherland’s call. We may not be able to match the petro-dollars but as Baacha Khan said, whether it is a sumptuous meal or dry crumbs, we will share it together.
Are the native leaders ready to rally the diaspora? They have got family here!
The writer practices and teaches Medicine at the University of Florida .He contributes to the think tanks http://www.politact.com and AIRRA. He can be reached at [email protected]
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\17\story_17-1-2010_pg3_4
A judgemental opinion and some other issues —Farhat Taj
It is ridiculous to compare the foreign-assisted war militias in Afghanistan with the anti-Taliban lashkars in FATA and NWFP. Pakistani lashkars are not supported by any foreign powers. The proof is that they have far inferior weapons than the Taliban and suffer from lack of finances
This is in response to Dr Mohammad Taqi’s rejoinder ‘Rallying the diaspora’ (Daily Times, January 17, 2010) to my piece ‘Pakhtun diaspora: irresponsible and insensitive’ (Daily Times, January 9, 2010). I welcome his response to my article, particularly his call to support Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy (AIRRA). Now I will address some of his comments with all due respect.
I never said that the war on terror is only the Pakhtuns’ war. I have repeatedly raised two points. One, the Pakhtun have been forced into the forefront of the war. The fellow non-Pakhtun Pakistanis must support them for their own (non-Pakhtuns’) self-interest. They (non-Pakhtun Pakistanis) will be next in the line of fire if the Taliban and al Qaeda defeat those on the frontline.
Two, the only thing that I have been specifically requesting the Pakhtuns is to stand up for what they are in terms of culture and history. I ask this because in the context of the war on terror, no other culture has been so much ‘orientalised’ than the Pakhtun. Take any research report or book. What one frequently finds is nothing but stereotypes, fabrications, lies, and all this presented as facts of the Pakhtun culture and history. For example, the Pakhtun gave refuge to al Qaeda terrorists under the code of Pakhtunwali; the tribal people in FATA hate to integrate in a modern state structure; Talibanisation is indigenous Pakhtun class war; Taliban are Pakhtun nationalists; the tribesmen (not Taliban) are attacking state institutions and innocent civilians all across Pakistan because they (the tribesmen) hate the US and so on. Whose responsibility is it to challenge all these hilarious fabrications? I am afraid the situation will continue to be so unless the Pakhtun themselves challenge all this.
Dr Mohammad Taqi writes that the Shias of Kurram are the ‘direct neighbours’ of the Pakhtun. I assume this is a typing mistake. Because I understand that the author would know that the Shias of Kurram are an integral part of the Pakhtun ethnicity, culture and history and not ‘direct neighbours’. Similarly, many Pakhtuns are Barelvi.
There are many people in Pakistan, including some prominent civil society activists, who object to the idea of making armed lashkars against the Taliban. Their basic argument is that because they (the lashkars in Afghanistan) turned into warlords, therefore the lashkars in FATA and NWFP will also produce warlords. This reasoning contradicts history, and is a judgmental opinion in violation of human rights. I say this on the basis of information I collected through in-depth interviews with the villagers and some of the lashkar leaders for my forthcoming book Taliban and Anti-Taliban.
The formation of anti-Taliban lashkars is an exercise in self-defence, hence a basic human right. What should the citizens do when their state is unable or unwilling to protect their lives and their leaders are too compromised to take a clear stance? Should they keep requesting the state to protect them and the leaders to give up compromises? In the meanwhile, should they leave themselves exposed to serious dangers or take whatever life-protecting measures may be possible? Much of the upper-middle class — detractors of the anti-Taliban lashkars — always go for the second option, particularly outside the NWFP and FATA. They hire private security guards to protect their families. What should the poor villagers, often living under the poverty line, in FATA and NWFP do? They neither have the means to hire private security guards nor the possibility of moving to the safety of foreign lands. They will naturally look into their tradition to deal with the situation, which in this case is building of lashkars. I attempted to explain in my column ‘Tormenting of the tribes’ (Daily Times, December 26, 2009) that tribal lashkars never became a security problem for the local Pakhtun or the wider society in Pakistan. The lashkar leaders whom I interviewed told me repeatedly this is not the life they wish for and that they were forced by the circumstances to raise anti-Taliban lashkars. They said they would be the happiest men the day the state provided security to their villages and thus lashkars will cease to exist. In this context, I understand that the people who keep their lives well protected through private security guards have no moral standing to question the formation of lashkars.
Moreover, world history shows that the working class people took up weapons in self-defence without producing warlords. If the working class militias in self-defence had led to warlordism, Europe and the US today would have been under the rule of warlords. As late as the 1930s, the workers at General Motors for instance defended themselves with grenades and guns when they occupied some plants in Flint. Italians, French, Norwegians, Dutch and all others occupied by Nazi Germany, built militias to resist fascism. German workers themselves organised militias to fight Nazi brutalities. Likewise, in Italy and Spain, two other countries that had passed into the hands of fascism, workers built militias in self-defence. Above all, lashkars are no novelty in FATA. For centuries, we have a tradition of lashkars, not warlords.
It is ridiculous to compare the foreign-assisted war militia in Afghanistan with the anti-Taliban lashkars in FATA and NWFP. Warlords in Afghanistan were not a product of lashkars but CIA-ISI manipulation to defeat the Soviets back in the 1980s. These warlords were encouraged to fund their jihad with drug peddling. The illiterate Pakhtun villagers never had the sophistication to develop the technology of heroin-making. They were given the technology to ‘self-finance’ warlordism through drug money. Pakistani lashkars are not supported by any foreign powers. The proof is that they have far inferior weapons than the Taliban and suffer from lack of finances. The mainstream media in Pakistan ignores them and they are clearly an anomaly in the state’s scheme of strategic depth in Afghanistan. On top of that, powerful individuals with access to public fora continue to tarnish their image with twisted arguments.
Even if there is a remote possibility that some lashkar leaders in FATA or NWFP would end up as warlords, given the fact that so many regional and global powers are eyeing the area, should we allow the Taliban to keep slaughtering the tribal people lest this remote possibility should come true? The detractors must come out with the alternatives in terms of security of the villagers. Giving up the idea of lashkars is not an option at all from the perspective of the villagers, who daily face the threats of kidnapping for ransom and killing by the Taliban.
In my view, it would be appropriate to make workable plans in consultation with the lashkars that would minimise the possibility of warlordism and maximise the capacity of the lashkars for protection of life. But for that to happen, some people will have to come out of the safety of foreign lands and private security guards and reach out to the lashkar villages. Is there anyone to do so among the protected ones? The lashkar people, at least those whom I interviewed, are willing to cooperate with any fellow Pakistani to facilitate their local anti-Taliban resistance within the contours of the law till the time the state effectively provides security. It was in this context that I requested the diaspora to help. It is not about just donating money. It is about making plans for a transparent use of the donations. Some may say this is too much to expect from the diaspora. If so, I would request them to refrain from tarnishing the reputation of the lashkars through judgemental opinions. If you cannot facilitate their harsh struggle, please do not make it even harsher through one-sided assumptions.
The writer is a research fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Research, University of Oslo, and a member of Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy. She can be reached at [email protected]
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\23\story_23-1-2010_pg3_5
Grievances
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Zubair Torwali
The Pashtun living on either side of the Durand Line are bearing the brunt of both terrorism and counter-terrorism. They have suffered because of the “jihad” against the former USSR. They have suffered also because they fulfil a government’s need for “strategic depth.” Now it is mostly the so-called war on terror. In this violent game the major players never bothered about the people whom they used in the furtherance of their regional agendas. What happened in the region, and what is happening in it now, is the result of the sharply conflicting agendas of the major players in the game.
In this mess the neighbours of the Pashtun region between the Oxus and the Indus are as responsible as the big powers for the sufferings of the people of the region. Pakistan, India, Iran, China — as well as Saudi Arabia, Russia and the US — all have long-term strategic agendas in the region, which are pursued at the cost of the Pashtun people.
But the most astonishing and regrettable aspect of this game is that these regional and global players have never regarded the Pashtun people of the region as the ultimate victims of the violence they have unleashed and are furthering.
The Pashtun see the policy of “strategic depth” as representing a deep grave for the Pashtun people. They believe that what is happening in the region since the withdrawal of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the late eighties ultimately has its roots in this strategic depth concept. First, the mujaheedin against the Soviet Union were sacrificed as pawns for strategic depth. When this failed to achieve the objective, the Taliban were installed in Afghanistan. The Taliban brought peace in Afghanistan, but that of the graveyard, by the use of brutal force against those who did not support their medieval version of Islam.
Initially, the US was happy with what was going on in Afghanistan, but after the international community expressed concerns over the threat the Taliban posed to civilisation, and particularly after the Sept 11 attacks, things took a turn and at this point began the second phase of the virtual genocide against the Pashtun people. After the United States’ direct intervention in Afghanistan, the pursuit of strategic depth carried the war over to the eastern side of the Durand Line, right into the settled areas of the Pashtun population in Pakistani territory.
The Pashtun intelligentsia is resentful of the mainstream media of Pakistan. In spite of the brutality the Taliban inflicted upon women and children, the general public and the security forces, there are still elements in the media who support the militants and their version of “jihad.” Besides, the media provides more space to the proponents of strategic depth and to anti-Pashtun elements. People who advocate the waging of jihad on neighbouring countries are given wider space on television, and this serves to brainwash the youth into indulging in hatred and destruction.
The talk shows, which have an increasing potential of moulding viewers’ opinion, do not give space to the Pashtun intelligentsia. These shows often invite “analysts” who even do not know the geography of FATA and NWFP. The Pashtun intelligentsia considers this selective and exclusive approach of the mainstream media a threat to the national integrity of Pakistan. These concerns and grievances are not baseless. Pakistani decision-makers, the media and civil society need to listen to the Pashtun, as should the international community.
The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: ztorwali@gmail .com
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=223551