An ominous cloud is looming over Pakistan, and most of it is its own doing.
Besides its economic predicament, Pakistan has a great crisis to deal with –
the probable Balkanisation of the country. The leaders may continue to live
in whatever delusion makes them happy, but the reality is that the
alienation and Human Rights violations (HR) of citizens of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have driven them to terrorise and threaten
Pakistan.
Some of the uprisings consist of the people who were directly affected by
Pakistan’s atrocities in the past, and the others belong to the Pakistan
Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Together they are
creating a national uprising against the Pakistani state, a deadly trailer of
which we already witnessed – the Peshawar Mosque blast and the Karachi
police station attack.
Pakistan is failing because it is complacent, overconfident, delusional, and
downright monstrous. It has relegated the interests of a huge chunk of
vulnerable populations to the back burner because it found greater
enjoyment in keeping them under its thumb through disgusting means.
Pashtun and Baloch rebel groups have suffered the carnage of the Army
for more than seven decades.
Activists have been abducted, horribly mutilated, and murdered. The Pak
Army and the government come up with the oddest justifications for their
doings; like charging these activists for being members of outlawed groups,
committing anti-state activities, and defaming state institutions and the
Pakistan Army. Forced disappearance and detentions are common.
Idris Khattak, an HR activist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), was
mysteriously detained by security agencies for more than six months.
Khattak was charged under the 1923 Official Secrets Act, resulting in
lengthy imprisonment or even death.
In June 2022, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), chief Manzoor
Ahmed Pashteen was detained when he was going to address a sit-in and
Jani Khel Tribe Jirga in the Bannu district of KPK.
Ethnic minorities who need the most protection are at the bottom of the
hierarchy. They face issues both within the community and the regime. Last
year in May, two Sikh youths, Ranjeet Singh and Saljeet Singh, were
brutally murdered in a gun attack in Peshawar. If minorities belong to a
lower financial rank in society, the treatment towards them is worse than
death.
These cases go unheard because the journalists are threatened and
attacked for speaking the truth. Pakistan has never given its citizens a free
press. Intelligence agencies fear that their dirty laundry will be aired
globally. Over a dozen harassed journalists in KPK have fled from the
province in recent years fearing for their lives. Some journalists have been
in hiding since 2017.
The killing of journalists in the province started mainly in 2004 when
Pakistani forces began the military offensive against the militants in
Waziristan and the journalists were on the receiving end in the war against
terror. Many have been killed documenting important back-door
agreements between the militants, Army, and politicians.
Gender-based and sexual crimes against women and children are
widespread. Last year 95 cases of honor killings were reported and sexual
crimes also reached an all-time high with a total of 91 sexual assault cases,
out of which 52 were against minor boys, 28 against minor girls, and 10
against women and transgender people. The activists who stand up against
them, trying to bring women justice face the same consequences.
More than 37 percent of girls are married before they turn 18. The province
also has one of the highest rates of female genital mutilation in Pakistan.
News of incest and trafficking of children and women is veiled due to the
social stigma attached to them because ultimately the victim is blamed.
A US Congressman and a member of the ruling Democratic party stated
last week that the IMF wants to see a stable Pakistan that followed the rule
of law and that the growing extremism, intolerance, and HR violations in the
country are condemned by Americans who value democracy and freedom
of dialogue.
KPK has a long list of problems – terrorism and insurgency, illiteracy and
malnutrition, poverty, etc. but the government chooses to ignore all that
leaving the people violated and bereft of hope. The government would
rather deploy 1,500 armed soldiers to protect Chinese nationals employed
in different projects than address genuine issues of the KPK and the
reason behind their agitation. Pakistan would rather ask the US to provide
modern equipment to the KPK Police than treat the citizens fairly.