Zarteef Khan Afridi – A common man
Most of the time, history is recorded and told from perspective of powerful and elite, we are told about princes, kings, generals, thinkers and the leaders, what is mostly ignored is those who were enslaved, plundered and lived under the king, those who cultivated lands to feed the kingdom and provided labor to build cities and castles, those who were in the front facing the brutal charge of the enemy, those who were pawns in hands of both their friends and foes, those who embraced ideologies and sacrificed and provided legitimacy and support to the leaders.
More tragically, it is not only the past but present as well which is skilfully distorted and divided to pick and offer the rest of world what is suitable to the presenter. To present current affairs it is responsibility of media to be fair, it comes to them to show rest of world what is happening to the people, if they miss and ignore then such people are missed and ignored as well, such people as those living in the small far reached remote areas of Pakistan, do we really know the people living in Thar or Thal or Tal, can we even differentiate between these names? We don’t know how people live there, what is life for them? how they earn their living? Do they have amenities of life available? What are the conditions there? Do they have law and order? Are they allowed to live as free people on their own will, and their rights protected? How their children are grown? No, we do not know much about them, because we are not being told and kept in dark. And when we are informed it is mostly not the whole truth but what is skilfully picked.
Zarteef Afridi was one such person amongst those unnamed, unknown, unheard people who are spending lives under a brutal, ruthless, unacknowledged, and illegitimate oppression. Most of us did not know him until news of his brutal murder has arrived, he is dead as we read that he was ready for it, he knew that he is a target and he will be eliminated by those whom he always challenged without fear. He was a school teacher, an electrician and a social worker, not a leader, neither an eminent personality such as a tribal chieftain of high family background, nor a high ranking official. He was mere nothing, just like his people, trapped in a war which is not theirs and deprived of their rights of citizenship. He took a bold step, he decided to stand and speak, and actively worked to create awareness against ills wills in society and customs. In that land where angels fear to trade, path chosen by Zarteef was undoubtedly risky and his courage and commitment remarkable and extraordinary.
Zarteef Khan Afridi has gone, but he has left a legacy, his ideals and his dreams are still alive, and so are the people who share those dreams. Battle is not lost, because that is the battle of common man and it is not late for us to stand with him. Zarteef is still waiting, to be appreciated and commended and his story told to the world; and his people are waiting too, to be given the future they deserve.
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Zarteef Afridi: Hero of Jamrud
By Salman Rashid
Published: December 9, 2011
The writer is author of Jhelum: City of the Vitasta (Sang-e-Meel, 2005) salman.rashid@tribune.com.pk
My friend Zarteef Afridi had known they would get him; only he did not know when. So many times he had made light of the terrorists. Always I had marvelled at his courage and equanimity in the face of a threat clear and present. Always he had vowed to continue his work.
Born in Jamrud, Zarteef was as red-blooded an Afridi as they could ever have made. But there was one essential difference between this good man and many others of his tribe: he stood for the liberation of the human soul through education and enlightenment. And for him, we were all human regardless of our gender, colour, tribe or creed.
Prevented by maternal pressure from going to Soviet Russia to study engineering in 1982, Zarteef became a school teacher. The jihad funded by the short-sighted West was in full flow and, from all across the province, impressionable young men headed out to Afghanistan either to die without a cause or be radically criminalised. Not one of the boys who passed under the tutelage of the idealist Zarteef, however, turned to that so-called holy war. From their mentor they had learned its reality. Many of his wards went on to acquire higher education.
If he had dreamed of an Afghanistan where Soviet-funded school would educate every single Afghan, the Soviet withdrawal and eventual collapse disillusioned him. In 1989, Zarteef joined the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) to become a vocal advocate for equal rights for minorities, women and children. His crusade from the HRCP platform single-handedly won the release of dozens of persons rotting in jail under the outdated Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).
The daytime teacher Zarteef, was now an activist afterhours. Going from hujra to hujra where men discussed the mujahideen crisis of Afghanistan, his harangues on the reality of the opportunists abusing religion to attain power did not win him any favour.
In 1996, Zarteef established his own NGO called Fata Education and Welfare Society. When one day in the future, FCR is abolished, some may still be around to remember the impassioned discussions led by Zarteef in the hujras and on street corners. Meanwhile, with the rise of obscurantism in Afghanistan, Zarteef foresaw the recidivism that was likely to grip his own country. He spearheaded a campaign to educate schoolteachers on the importance of secular education, as opposed to pure madrassa teaching. Zarteef Afridi was treading on treacherous ground now.
This fearless man only added to the growing opposition towards him by his public condemnation of the Pakhtun tradition of ‘vulver’ — the purchase of a bride. Zarteef was doing everything wrong. He now advocated the right of franchise for tribal women and ran an underground campaign for it. Trained as an electrician, he was frequently called into local homes to fix or install electrical fittings. There, alone with the women of the house, he lectured them on their rights and shamed them for their illiteracy.
In December 2009, it was not a stranger I was seeing for the first time. Zarteef Afridi was a friend I had somehow not known until then. His earnestness, equanimity, raw courage and commitment to the just and true cause of education and emancipation were remarkable. I cautioned him and he said, “They might kill me, but they will never be able to kill my work”.
We spoke regularly on the phone thereafter. He would never fail to renew his invitation for me to visit Jamrud and I always said I was a coward and would never come. Earlier this year, he called again. He had fled to Murree with his family for fear of his life. Jokingly he added that Murree was safe even for a coward. That was the last time I heard his voice.
On December 8, as he walked to his school, this good and decent man, who had never raised his voice in anger, was laid low by demons whose souls are dead. The hundreds, if not thousands, of young women and men who were touched by his passion are his legacy. His work will truly never die.
Rest in peace, Zarteef Afridi, dear friend.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2011.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/304186/zarteef-afridi-hero-of-jamrud/
HRCP condemns murder of its Khyber Agency coordinator
Published: December 8, 2011
Afridi who was killed on Thursday morning, had been working with the HRCP since 1991.
LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned the murder of its coordinator Zarteef Afridi in Khyber Agency, in a statement issued on Thursday.
Afridi who was killed on Thursday morning, had been working with the HRCP since 1991.
The rights body, while expressing grief over the ‘brutal killing’ of its coordinator, called upon the government to apprehend the culprits.
In the statement, the Commission condoled with Afridi’s family and called him a ‘tireless human rights defender’.
The news of Afridi’s death came hours before the HRCP’s press conference in Lahore, to launch the 2011 ‘Observatory’ annual report on the protection of human rights defenders.
The director of HRCP, IA Rahman said during the media briefing that Afridi had received several threats by terrorist groups but he continued his work to promote human rights in the conflict-ridden region.
Condemning the murder, Rahman added that people working for the promotion of human rights faced tremendous dangers particularly those working in the tribal areas.
The HRCP called upon the government to take steps for protecting the lives of the human rights activists.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/303517/hrcp-condemns-murder-of-its-khyber-agency-coordinator/
we are living in dark ages..whoever will stood for humanity will be eliminated….Afridi you will never Die in history.. coming generation remember you in there folk stories….
Thank you for introducing us to a common man with an uncommon courage. Such common people are the real heroes of nations. RIP Zarteef Khan Afridi! Your legacy will live on.