Talibanisation of Khyber Agency

Talibanisation of Khyber Agency
By Imtiaz Gul July 03, 2008


Following the unleashing of military power on the militants in Khyber Agency on June 28, the government banned the Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) led by Mangal Bagh, Ansarul Islam (AI), headed by Mehbubul Haq and Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Analmunkir (Promotion of virtue and prevention of vice) led by Haji Naamdar.
Let us see what these organisations are their leaders are all about.
Talibanisation of this agency is relatively recent and also different from the evolution of these movements in other agencies.
Ideologically, almost all these groups are essentially Deobandi Sunnis, yet for various political reasons they have been at loggerheads, particularly Mufti Shakir and Pir Saifur Rehman since 2005.
In late 2003 a local cleric, Haji Naamdar launched the Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahianalmunkir (Promotion of virtue and prevention of vice - PVPV) and commissioned a fiery orator Mufti Muneer Shakir to “spread the word of God and also ensure justice to all”. Shakir’s oratory soon galvanised locals, the majority of whom have been wary of the draconian FCR laws which treat them as C-grade citizens. Socio-economic deprivations also played a vital role in catapulting PVPV into an acceptable organisation which was seen as delivering justice.
In late 2004, Haji Naamdar gradually went in the background, thereby pitching Shakir, who had meanwhile founded Lashkar-i- Islam, against Peer Saifur Rehman (Brelvi).
Ironically, at least two lethal radio stations – one run by the Lashkar-i-Islam and the other by Pir Saifur Rehman, who had migrated from Afghanistan to settle down in the Soordand area of the Bara Tehsil, Khyber Agency. Both began a vicious propaganda war against each other through make-shift FM stations, resulting in violent clashes in 2005 between their followers. These clashes then resulted in the creation of Lashkar-i-Islam. Saifur Rehman also followed suit and formally launched Ansarul Islam. March 2006 witnessed some bloody feuds between rival Taliban factions in the Khyber Agency. (More than two dozen deaths within two days in Khyber Agency – in an area that falls in FATA but is hardly about a dozen kilometres from places where the governor, the FC inspector-general, the political agent, and the army corps commander’s headquarters are located.
Both groups defied the writ of the government for a while until February 2006, when a tribal jirga ordered Pir Saifur Rehman to leave the area to ease tensions. The expulsion, however, helped little; rival FM stations continued to spit venom against each other. Also, both radical clerics made a mockery of the administration as well as of the tribal jirga, which had been asking them to shut down their radio stations, but both rivals held their ground.
Mufti Shakir had meanwhile set up his own Sharia court, which adjudicated all crimes according to his understanding and interpretation of the Sharia law – mostly the Taliban way.
In some areas of the Khyber Agency, Lashkar-i-Islam practically established a parallel government, launched the illegal FM radio station, and its armed vigilantes would punish anybody they considered in conflict with their agenda. In May 2007, for instance, LI activists demolished 10 houses after picking up all valuables from there. Local militia, media reports said, acted as silent spectators.
“Armed LI activists patrol government roads and have set up illegal check posts as well. They forced private and public girls’ schools to close down and occasionally also forcibly shut down boys schools and colleges.”
The Bara residents alleged that when the political authorities had ordered the FC to take action against the LI, the Mehsud Scouts had refused to carry out the orders, rendering the political authorities helpless before the FC. They also alleged that some members of the Khasadar force are aligned with the LI. “Peshawar is not immune to what is happening in Bara and repercussions will affect the city if the government doesn’t put an end to this parallel government,” they said.
Following external pressures, the authorities finally cracked down on the combatants, forcing Peer Saifur Rehman out of the tribal areas through a jirga. Saifur Rehman reportedly retreated into Punjab for shelter, while Mufti Shakir has been in jail since late 2007. (The political agent invoked the FCR 40 and consigned Shakir to indefinite detention).
Mangal Bagh Afridi replaced Shakir and continues to command authority and respect in the region. Concentrated in several pockets of the Khyber Agency, LI continues to oppose “un-Islamic” practices; no films, no video or music CDs are allowed for open sale in the markets. Criminals, if held, are punished, as did the Afghan Taliban under Mulla Omar.
The surge in religious on the one hand, and in crime on the other, prompted Haji Naamdar to revive his PVPV. Actually, the creation of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in December 2007, provided him with the trigger for getting active again (author’s interviews with senior intelligence officials responsible for FATA, May 2008)
Turning Point for Khyber Taliban
Until a suicide attack at Naamdar’s headquarters in Takya, Bara Town early May, 2008, which left around 20 people injured, and a few other incidents including the abduction of the Pakistani ambassador, and execution of several officials, the cleric had reportedly sheltered several TTP militants – both local and foreign – who had fled the military operation in South Waziristan in January.
As a result, a small group led by Baitullah Mehsud’s deputy, Hakeemullah Mehsud, also had emerged and started interfering in local matters like detention and execution of government officials.
But a day after the attack on him, Naamdar ordered Baitullah’s Taliban to leave the Khyber Agency.
“All militants belonging to Baitullah Mehsud’s group have been ordered to leave the Khyber Agency following the confirmation that the attack was ordered by Baitullah,” a close aide to Naamdar told reporters on May 3
Hakeemullah defended the attack by telling Naamdar that he had “documentary evidence that you (Naamdar) were a government puppet posing as a Mujahid”. Hakeemullah had offered as justification a photograph of Naamdar published in a Peshawar-based Urdu-language daily, showing him seated next to the Frontier Corps (FC) Colonel Mujahid Hussain.
Crime, corruption and conviction (religious) keep the agency on the boil, whereby the authorities are reaching out to Haji Naamdar to use him as a shield against the TTP threat that looms large all over FATA. The absence of any legal justice system and the abuse of the FCR have all combined to turn the Khyber Agency into an explosive powder keg.
Aversion to foreign troops and commitment to the cause of Afghan Taliban as well as ideological affinity with al-Qaeda serve as common denominators to the militant organisations in Khyber Agency, where, like other FATA agencies, the precarious law and order situation adds fuel to the ever-increasing craving for legal and socio-economic justice.
The nexus between the smuggler mafia and the administration is too often ignored and, or understated under the excuse of respecting local tribal customs and traditions. In the last few years, irrespective of claims made by the local community, the administration has refused to counter the increasing influence of local Taliban elements led by Haji Naamdar. For unexplained reasons, the administration also remained indifferent to violence between the groups led by Mufti Munir and Pir Saifur.
Profiles of Leaders
Mufti Munir Shakir, Kurram Agency, had founded Lashkar-i-Islam (LI). In late 2005, his strict Wahabist organisation, developed serious differences with the Brelvi Ansarul Islam of Pir Saifur Rehman. The differences between the two groups often get violent even to this date. Mufti Munir Shakir left Khyber Agency in the last week of February 2006 though, after a stern warning from the political administration was conveyed to him by a tribal jirga through grueling negotiations. He was arrested soon after he left Khyber by some intelligence agency and the political agent sentenced him to indefinite jail.
Mangal Bagh Afridi: Mangal Bagh Afridi became the successor to Mufti Munir Shakir to lead Lashkar-i-Islam (LI). He comes from a humble background. Afridi is also an ultra-conservative cleric considered close to the administration. He enjoys considerable support of people because of his daring, though religious, decrees against vagabonds. When the government fails, Afridi steps in to maintain law and order. In the process he has gained formidable clout among local tribes. That is why he at times comes across as “an independent and high-handed cleric”. This also causes ripples in his covert relations with the political administration every now and then.
For instance, in June 2006 LI ran into trouble with the administration after the political administration disagreed with the peace committees that Afridi set up for maintaining law and order in the area. The disagreement also led to tensions and resulted in the closure of local markets for a few weeks.
Afridi has been dispensing vigilante justice from time to time, and also administered public punishments to people he declared as criminals. Besides, his illegal FM radio station keeps delivering sermons and urging people to take to the right path i.e. join the LI for serving God and Islam.
In the absence of effective government control, Mangal Bagh Afridi has grown enormously in his strength. Some locals suggest that depending on the situation the government some times ignores Afridi’s militant activities, and indirectly supports him whenever state machinery is unable to fix a problem.
Under the leadership of Mangal Bagh Afridi, the LI has occasionally picked battles with some of the local sub-tribes. In April 2008, his men had a skirmish with powerful Kukikhel tribesmen of Jamrud because the Kukikhels wanted to indulge in some businesses which Mangal Bagh thought were un-Islamic.
In brazen disregard to the law, on March 3, 2008, LI militants attacked the Bara Sheikhan village in Peshawar district (not a tribal area) and killed 10 tribesmen and injured about a dozen over a religious issue. It is hard to deduce that he is sending men to fight for the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Some connection with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan cannot be ruled out though. According to one report, Taliban leaders from Afghanistan mediated a dispute between LI and their rivals Ansarul Islam (AI) in November 2007. Moreover, even if Mangal Bagh is not sending his men for fighting in Afghanistan, his state within the state does provide another safe haven for like-minded Taliban with whom he can always find mutually complementary interests and aspirations.
Pir Saifur Rehman: Pir Saifur Rehman (an Afghan who lived in Khyber Agency since 1977 to 2006) is the founder of the religious cum militant group Ansarul Islam (AI). Since late 2005, his group has been involved in hate-mongering over illegal FM radio stations and violent clashes with the rival Lashkar-i-Islam, founded by Mufti Munir Shakir.
He was forced to leave the tribal area after the political authorities of Khyber Agency detained about 40 of his supporters in the first week of February 2006. He was forced by the political administration over it because of his spread of hate through his illegal FM radio station against Mufti Munir Shakir, which had generated violence in the agency. Pir Saifur Rehman reportedly moved to central Punjab for shelter, where he might be staying at one of the Lashkar-i-Taiba or Jamaatudawa, a Wahabist outfit.
Haji Naamdar: Haji Naamdar, in his early 30s, had founded the Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anilmunkir (Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice). Inspired by the Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mulla Omar, Naamdar espouses enforcement of Islamic Sharia in Pakistan (just as Mulla Omar wants it for Afghanistan).
Although Naamdar launched his PVPV to cleanse the society of infidels and criminals, he, too, often talks of the “foreign occupation of Afghanistan”.
“Naamdar does nothing inside Pakistan and is interested only in Afghanistan. He runs his own prisons, and his utterances are treated as final, like that of Mulla Omar, the leader of the Taliban,” a senior government official said after a meeting with Naamdar in late April 2008.
Naamdar, opposes suicide attacks inside Pakistan, but justifies them as the “best weapon” against the enemy. “We have to finish our enemy in Afghanistan by any means and suicide bombing is the best weapon.”
Naamdar’s acknowledgement of the presence of Taliban militants and their ‘active participation’ in cross-border anti-US jihad underscored the fact that even Khyber Agency has begun providing militants for the cross-border anti-US activities.
A day after surviving the suicide attack Naamdar told media that he was helping to ‘detoxify’ militants staying with him through ‘Islamic classes’, that teach them that attacking Pakistani forces, people or state installations “is no jihad at all”, and that rather, by “doing so we are strengthening anti-Islamic forces”.
What, however, turned Naamdar into a half collaborator of the Pakistani authorities, were his criticism of attacks on Pakistani people – both civilians and government officials.
Why should Mujahideen target Pakistan when this country provides everything for jihad in Afghanistan,” Naamdar was quoted as saying.
“These [Mujahideen] leaders brainwash teenagers, telling them that each and every Pakistani is their enemy and his or her killing is justified. And it is also jihad that they should keep killing Pakistanis,” said Naamdar of militants targeting Pakistani forces.

Chasing 'A Boy Across The River'

Chasing 'A Boy Across The River'

Dr. Nafees Ur Rehman (@NafeesRehmanDr)

A tale of how a girl across the river became a boy and cheeks turned into bottoms like peach over a period of about 100 years. 

Last summer, I was reading the memoirs of Major Maurice Patrick O'Connor Tandy, who had worked for the British-Raj and was posted Assistant Commissioner Kohat through1940-41.  In this book THIM DAYS IS GONE, I came across a love-song Zakhmi Sandara which he says was being played endlessly on loud speakers in Peshawar. The alleged translation by the British, according to him, of a couplet of which go like this.  

There is a boy across the river with a bottom like a peach

But alas! I cannot swim

I was really surprised that such an explicit (rather obscene) song could have been played at Peshawar that too in public and on loud speakers. We know that in those times even loud-speaker was termed as a tool of devil and religious fanatics had issues fatwas against its usage. However, I kind of believed that this love-song might have existed owing to the deplorable practice of Shahid Bazi /Bacha Bazi in this part of the world.  I went on and posted this excerpt on Twitter. There Barmazid, a Pashtun history enthusiast and blogger responded to it saying that he had seen mention of this love-song in the works of the novelist John Master. John Master is the same novelist who invented the Execution By Golden Shower theory where he fancies that the tribal Pashtun women would kill captured British soldiers by urinating into their mouths. 

What I didn't know that William Dalrymple, a celebrated historian from Scotland based in India, had also mentioned this couplet in his book Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan on page 17. He had posted it on Twitter in 2013, as attached below. 

"There is a boy across the river with a bottom like a peach,
But alas! I cannot swim." Khushal Khan Khattack, c1700 [Return of a King p17]

— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) February 27, 2013

It strucked me when I saw that these couplets were attributed to Khushal Khan Khattak, a celebrated Pashto poet whose poetry was first translated into English in 1880s for that it talks of courage, bravery, character and love. Elphinstone remarks on Khushal Khan Khattak in his History of India as  "Khushhal Khan, the Khan of the Khataks, who was a voluminous author and has left several poems written at this time for the purpose of exciting the national enthusiasm of his countrymen. They are remarkable for their high and ardent tone, and for their spirit of patriotism and independence, so unlike the usual character of Asiatics."

د افغان په نـنګ می وتړله توره 

نـنګیالی د زمانی خوشال خټک یم

It is for the Afghan honour that my sword I have bound beside me, 

I Khushhal Khatak am the only proud Afghan of the day!

So it was troubling to accept that a chieftain of Khattaks, a warrior and poet could have written such obscene couplet. Upon inquiry of the source of this couplet, William Dalrymple pointed to Soldier Sahib by Charles Allen. However, there is no mention of the love-song, let alone any primitive source for this couplet. This left us confused.

The confusion, however, served as motivation to trace the origin or any earlier mentions of the couplet in Pashto and in the colonial literature. I came across multiple mentions of this love-song in the colonial-literature some calling it Zakhmi Sandara (Wounded Song), others Zakhmi Dil (Wounded  Heart) but, unfortunately, none in Pashto. Fortunately enough, it is now possible to solve the riddle of the love-song, from the colonial literature alone.

This love-song appears in the book On secret patrol in high Asia by Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker, published in 1922. I quote the lyrics and the musical tune from this book below.

Source: On Secret patrol in high Asia,Blacker, L.V.S, p-185, 1922.

There's a girl across the river,
And her cheeks are like a peach,
But, alas ! I cannot swim,
Though we all know what would happen
If a Pathan hove in sight,
And if he could only reach. 

So now we have part of the answer i.e, the original lyrics do not talk of boys neither of bottoms; but of girls and cheeks.  This also confirms that the later usage of the couplet was, surely, result of corruption or modification. Now read with me the following excerpt from The Pathan Borderland by James W. Spain, published under auspices of Near and Middle East Institute of Columbia University in 1965.

"Many of the songs and stories which are repeated in Pathan villages are reminiscent of the versatility of the folk literature of medieval Europe. One of the best known is the Kabuli love song, Zakhmi Dil, "Bleeding heart", which in altered cadence and with revised (and very obscene) words was a favorite marching tune among Pathan soldiers of the British [Raj]."

Based on the above excerpt, we can confidently say that the original lyrics were modified. I came across two other mentions that the British-Indian soldiers would march to this tune during World War I, which means that the original love-song was there before the World War I and the modifications to it took place either before or during the war period.


The last and important question is, when was the modified couplet attributed to Khushal Khan Khattak. As mentioned above, William Dalrymple has quoted Soldier Sahib by Charles Allen published 2000 as source of the couplet but as I have said earlier, the book does not mention it at all. However, Charles Allen had talks about it in one place in his earlier work Plain tales from the Raj: images of British India in the twentieth century published in 1986. He talks just in one place of the love-song as shown in the following excerpt.

But gives no detail of the poet. I have not [yet] found any mention of the original or of the modified lyrics that attributes it to Khushal Khan Khattak except that of William Dalrymple's. in Return of the King.
I can confidently say that it is because of the absence of any reference that when Barmazid asked him again the other day,  William Dalrymple tweeted that the attribution of the couplet to Khushal Khan Khattak is an error and, that this error will be corrected in the future editions of the book.

Yes, this seems to be an error and I need to correct it in future editions

— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) January 17, 2019

On a last note, I thank Barmazid for pointing out this error and for standing to correct it.  I also thank William Dalrymple for his friendly yet professional interaction with us on this topic and for having agreed to correct the error.

Lt. Colonel Rogan
[Extracted from Fifty years of Army music]  

Edit: According to Queen's Royal Surreys website[extracted Jan 20, 2019], it was Lieutenant Colonel J MacKenzie Rogan, an army musician, who composed music on Indian themes while at Calcutta in 1885. And it is believed that he was the first one who re-arranged the tune of the famous Zakhmi Dil song for Army Bands. 

Learning the static way

Learning the static way
Published The MEWS on Sunday Dec 2006
Third in the list of educational systems operating in Pakistan are madrassas -- once the original schools for Muslims

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

The education system in Pakistan caters to three different categories of students. One is for the English-speaking elite class comprising cadet colleges and well-known chains of schools and is almost entirely privately run. Then there are government schools in which charges are minimal but facilities and quality of teaching are poor. Third in the list are madrassas where stress is on religious education and schooling is more or less free.

It has been rightly said that Pakistan is producing three distinctpersonalities through its contrasting systems of education. There aren't many similarities among the graduates churned out by the public schools and cadet colleges, government educational institutions, and madrassas. Most of them would tend to have a different worldview after having studied in a particular environment. Those educated in government and religious schools would have more in common than those studying in the elitist educational institutions because they largely belong to the poor and lower middle classes. Though it is understandable to have different level of schools to cater to students belonging to various socio-economic groups, the implications for the future on account of such a non-uniform educational system are obvious.

Madrassas have been part of life in the Indo-Pak subcontinent, as well as in other Islamic countries. Indeed the madrassas were the original form of schooling for Muslims and were gradually replaced by the more secular and conventional schools over a period of time. While madrassas elsewhere in the Islamic world underwent a change in keeping with the trends of a modernising global environment, those in undivided India and in present-day Pakistan remained largely static. Efforts to effect changes in their curriculum and include modern sciences in the madrassa syllabus faltered because the Ulema running them were suspicious of those pushing for a change. Policy-makers and decision-takers were mostly from the secular establishment and, therefore, they were unable to create the right conditions to convince the clergy controlling the madrassa system that their intentions were sincere and well-meaning.

In the existing scenario, madrassas largely cater to two categories of people. Poor parents send their children to madrassas which offer free education, food and shelter because they cannot afford to educate their wards in conventional schools. Then there are the relatively wealthy families wishing to have one or two kids study religion full-time in a bid to seek Allah's blessings. Students receiving religious education part-time form a significant segment of the school-going children. Most Pakistani families make it a point to impart basic Quranic education to their children by sending them to mosques and homes or asking tutors to visit their residences.

Official figures show the number of madrassas, including both small and big, to be over 10,000. Among them are unregistered religious schools because government plans to register seminaries encountered opposition from the clergy. The seminaries mushroomed following the military takeover of the country by General Ziaul Haq primarily due to government backing and funding. Every clergyman worth his salt set up a madrassa and sustained it either with government funds or donations. Pakistanis are believed to be some of the biggest charity-givers in the Islamic world and most of their donations go to mosques and madrassas. In recent years, madrassas for girls have been set up rapidly and nowadays one often sees seminaries for male and female students existing close to each other under the same management.

Data collected by the security agencies in the NWFP sometime back showed that 1,761 madrassas, including 1,034 that were unregistered, with total enrolment of 223,900 were functioning in the province. The students included a large, unspecified number of Afghan refugees and another 64 from other countries. However, this was before the government banned foreigners from receiving madrassa education in Pakistan. The data gathered by the labour and industries department, NWFP, which is supposed to register madrassas, differed with that put together by the intelligence agencies. Its figures showed that the province had 1,823 madrassas, including 1,433 that were registered before registration of new seminaries was banned in 1994. When the ban was subsequently lifted, another 390 madrassas were registered. According to the security agencies' survey, 228,021 students had graduated from madrassas in the NWFP during the past 10 years. The number of madrassas graduates grew every year and it was 32,177 last year. The green and mountainous Swat district, the favourite destination of tourists, had more madrassas and students than other districts in the province.

Madrassa education has undergone little change over the years. With a few exceptions, most seminaries have stuck to the old syllabus and teaching methods. Government efforts to reform the system of education at the madrassas have been slow and ineffective. The Wifaqul Madaris, an independent, Ulema-run body that oversees madrassa education and conducts examinations, has resisted change suggested by outsiders. Maulana Hanif Jullundhari, one of its top functionaries, recently wrote a series of articles to show that madrassa students unlike their counterparts from conventional educational institutions never resorted to strikes and violence and refrained from teaching in examinations. He argued that the madrassas were performing a specific role by imparting quality religious education and should continue to do so in the same manner in which public schools and colleges were providing secular teaching.

Some clergymen are also fond of quoting Allama Iqbal, who while visiting Spain was saddened by the sight of the old Islamic cities and institutions that Muslim conquerors left behind after their defeat at the hands of Christians. The Allama is reported to have said that the madrassas should remain as they are so that children of poor Muslims continue to study there and become Mullas and Dervishes. "Otherwise, Indian Muslims would meet the same fate as the Muslims in Undulas (Spain) where the ruins of Grenada and Qurtaba and the relics of Al-Hamra are the only remaining signs of Islamic culture in a country ruled by Muslims for 800 long years," Allama Iqbal reportedly observed.

It is obvious that the clergymen see the madrassas as repositories of Islamic learning and fortresses of the religion. They believe the worldview the madrassas offer is aimed at defending the faith from onslaught by non-believers. Critics don't agree with this observation as they feel madrassa education doesn't fully equip the students to meet modern challenges. In their view, madrassas retard progress because there is no teaching of modern sciences or languages at the seminaries. There is also the feeling that madrassas promote religious sectarianism as the seminaries cater to particular schools of thought ranging from Deobandi to Barelvi and Ahle Hadith to Ahle Tashee (Shia). The religious divide inculcated in the minds of young and impressionable minds at the madrassas blocks integration and tolerance and causes strife.

There are bound to be problems in the education sector in Pakistan in future if we continue with the divergent educational systems. There would certainly be clash of ideas between those graduating from elitist educational institutions and the government and religious schools. One could only hope that it doesn't lead to violence.

QK Archives: Facts are sacred

Written by Dr Sher Zaman Taizi
Monday, 12 June 2006

There is a proverb in Pushto that "the lie destroys villages until the truth is revealed ". In the atomic era, this proverb also moved and expanded its sphere as "the lie destroys countries until the truth is revealed." Respectable Wali Khan dusted the truth when the lie first divided India, then bifurcated Pakistan, then put fire to Afghanistan and now working on destruction of Kashmir.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is painted as a preceptor of the two-nation theory. But Wali Khan mentions him to have said in a speech in Gurdaspur on January 27, 1884; "We (ie Hindus and Mohammadans) should try to become one heart and soul, and act in unison... Remember that the words Hindus and Mohammadans are only meant for religious distinctions - otherwise all persons whether Hindu or Mohammadan, even the Christians who reside in the country, are all in this particular respect belonging to one and the same nation. (A nation is Born by Syed Hassan Mahmood; p.339)" (p.123). Addressing the Indian association in Lahore in 1884, he said; "I heartily wished to serve my country and my nation faithfully. In the word nation I include both Hindus and Mohammadans, because that is the only meaning I can attach to it." He does not stop here, but goes to the extent to say; "These are the different grounds upon which I call both those races which inhabit India by one word i.e. Hindu; meaning to say that they are the inhabitants of Hindustan." (p.124)

Since we have entered the age of discretion, we have been listening to rhetoric that Iqbal saw a dream and Pakistan came into being. Now Wali Khan brought out those references that Iqbal himself was not in favour of Pakistan. He had rather committed to say:

Saaray jehaan say achchha Hindustan hamaaraa,
Ham bulbulayn hayn iskee, yeh gulistaan hamaaraa. (p.124)
(Better than the entire world is our India,
We are its nightingales, its our rose-garden.)
Mazhab nahin sikhaataa aapas mayn berr rakhnaa,
Hindi hayn, ham-watan hayn, Hindustan hamaaraa. (p.125)
(Religion does not teach mutual-distrust,
We are Indian, compatriot, India is ours.)
Dana-e-tasbeeh ba zannar kasheedan aamoz,
Gar nigah-e-too do been ast, ne-deedan aamoz. (p.125)
(String the beads of rosary in the scared threat,
If you see the two (apart), better to be blind.

But who is to be told, and who would believe in this truth which has been buried under the heaps of lies. Here the perennial flow of lies for the last half a century has washed and polished the minds to such an extent that they can not accept any other hue.

This is not a lie or two to be discussed and clarified. After the creation of Pakistan, when the time of distribution of spoils arrived, and those on-the-ground and underground Pakistanis came out to fall out among themselves, a continual and endless series of accusation and counter-accusation started. There may not be such a leader or a party in Pakistan which might have not been accused of treason. It looks as if the government is also in the hand of the traitors, the opposition is also traitor and the subject is also traitor. But the common enemy of all these traitors is one and the same - and that is Bacha Khan, and his Khudai Khidmatgar movement.

Whether it is an official traitor, or traitor in opposition, political traitor or religious traitor, they all sing in chorus the same lilt that:

Bacha Khan is ally of Hindus;
Bacha Khan didn't accept Pakistan.


This lilt had been composed and publicised by the British through their well-wishers. So, why their pet Khans, Maliks, Mullahs, Pirs and Qazi should forget it?

Bacha Khan was awakening the Pukhtun nation to get freedom of the British government and shake off these parasite demons from their shoulders. It happened that when the Pukhtun attained the sense of discretion, those Khans and their Mullahs were stunned and worried. The British government found a ready-made stock of people to counter the threat. The government encouraged them, put turbans on their heads, awarded robes of honour to them and gave them awards and titles. They were given authoritative posts to beat and bleed their own people. And those people received Pakistan in heritage from their masters. They received the record of the British government. So the traitor of the state, traitor of the crown, traitor of the people, ally of Hindus, saboteur and subversionist on the record of the British offices remained as such. Because, these people preached awakening, brotherhood and self-determination of the Pukhtuns, which irritated the rulers.

The piles of lies made the history of Pakistan - a new volume of the romances of the Arabian Nights (Alif-Lyla). This is the story of seven dervish, like this; One dervish presented the two-nation theory, the second saw a dream, the third selected a name for it, the fourth presented a resolution, and the fifth created Pakistan; the sixth terrified India with a towering fist and the seventh cut Pakistan into two. During this period the devil of martial law appeared which disqualified all political leaders and banned all political parties. When another demon of martial law entered the scene, Pakistan staggered and split in two parts; one fell there and the other fell here. Then the imp of civil martial law jumped in the arena and threw out the elected members from the assemblies. Then appeared the white-robed dervish with a wand of martial law to Islamise the state and the people. How and in what a circumstances this dervish disappeared is still a mystery. But as the assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan has become a mystery, the elimination of Zia-ul-Haq and his colleagues has also become a mystery. And when these mysteries are solved and the facts are known, the time would have elapsed.

In this Pakistan, many experiments have been conducted, such as one-party rule, democratic government, one-unit, basic democracy, roti-kapra-makan, Islamic socialism, Islamic government and so many others. These experiments are made at the cost of people. The ruling junta does not consider people and their welfare. The condition of people is going from bad to worst.

Let me mention one thing here. On March 30, 1940, a resolution was passed in the Minto Park, Lahore. Who presented this resolution, why it was done and how is matured? These questions have answered and discussed by Wali Khan in detail (p.217), which does not need repetition. The point is that the people came to know about that resolution when, as its consequence, Pakistan came into being. The distance between that resolution and Pakistan was seven years and a little less than five months, which was not known to any body within the limits of the existing area of Pakistan. And since the creation of Pakistan, there has never been a consensual interpretation of that resolution.

On the other hand, even before the creation of Pakistan, Pukhtuns had demanded the name of Pukhtunistan only for their identification. In 1948, Bacha Khan repeated that demand in the legislative assembly of Pakistan, as the representative of the Pukhtuns. Hundreds of meetings and demonstrations were held for the purpose, and hundreds of resolutions were passed. And then, how many resolutions were passed even by the provincial assembly for renaming of the province as Pukhtunkhwa? Every week, a resolution or two are passed for introduction of Pukhto as medium of education and official language of the province. But none of these resolutions has ever been given any heed!

There are too many things to be discussed. But every matter is so much complicated, that it could not be discussed separately. The time is fast. Those people who had followed Bacha Khan to sustain such hardship which would raise the hair on mere hearing, have almost left the world. The new generation would hardly believe in stories of their sufferings. These stories would also sound as stories of Alif Lyla. After all, why these people had sustained so much hardship, and what was the result? Because the youths of the new generation educated under the government policy have been indoctrinated that Pakistan has grown from the two-nation theory, it is interpretation of the dream of a poet, and has been made from one resolution.

There is everything in the textbooks of our schools and colleges but nothing of truth. There is no mention in these books of the heroic struggle and unbearable sufferings of the leaders and soldiers of the century-long movement of freedom. The text books of Pakistan do not teach history and geography of Pakistan. These books may introduce Ghalib and Sir Syed from India, Shakespeare from England and many other poets and writers from other countries but they don�t present the image of native poets and writers. The Pakhtun student may know any poet and writer in any corner of the world but has not information about Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba.

It is a charisma that this important aspect of the national history attracted attention of Khan Abdul Wali Khan who took all the trouble with sore eye and swollen heart and entered the horrifying darkness of papers to snatch some rays of truth out of them, and break the talisman built up by the 60-year long exercise of lies. Bacha Khan had stressed more on education along the struggle for freedom.

The title of the book shields its author from many-sided literary, academic and critical sallies. Wali Khan calls it an attempt in defence of Bacha Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar movement. So it is not a history, but analytical study of the events leading to the creation of Pakistan, and advocacy in the light of this process to defend the political career of Bacha Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar movement. On this account, it is strongly recommended that the new generation must read and understand it.

Discussion on events with personal approach and the original aim of the work ie defence of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement have resulted in repetition and literary hyperbole because the author himself has been a character of all these stories throughout his life. At some places, comments and footnotes are not relevant, and at some places sources of information are missing. After-all, it is not the work of a research scholar but of a political leader.

Bypassing the technical flaws and defects, the style shows that had Wali Khan not joined the politics he would have been a writer of high standard. But the Pukhtuns need leadership, too. So Wali Khan did not care for his own self and tried to serve the nation on both the fronts. At a very critical and sensitive juncture of history, he provided all-the-best leadership to his people, and then, with his three books, he was the only political writer among the Pukhtuns to rise and become a light-house for the Pukhtun historians.

Bacha Khan au Khudai Khidmatgar (in two volumes);
Khan Abdul Wali Khan;
Wali Bagh (Ashnaghar) Charsadda;
Vol-I; March, 1993; Pp. 566; Rs 200;
Vol-II; July, 1994; Pp. 622; Rs 200.
Vol-III; March 1998; PP: 744; Rs 250.

The writer is a research scholar and Pushto writer and poet, having 33 books of Pushto and English in credit.

Home: Dr. Sher Zaman Taizi, Usmanabad, Pabbi, District Nowshera, NWFP, PAKISTAN

Ashraf Maftoon: The father of romanticism in Pashto poetry

The father of romanticism in Pashto poetry
Written by Sher Alam Shinwari
Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Mohammed Ashraf Maftoon, the rebel poet, died in March 2004. I remember walking up to his residence on the airport road in Peshawar Cantonment when I found the poet in a vivacious mood. "It is by a stroke of good luck that today I feel so fresh and spirited that I am ready to answer your volley of questions," he remarked welcoming me.

Clean-shaven and well dressed, Ashraf Maftoon would most of the time remain at home and preferred not to attend any literary function or participate in any other literary activity for which he generally had a very good reason. He was one of those prolific university scholars who had brought about revolutionary changes in the form, diction, style and substance of Pushto literature. The other scholars with a similar role were Qalandar Moomand, Fazal Haq Shida, Ghani Khan, Samandar Khan Samandar, Syed Rasool Rasa, and Major Yunas Khalil. All were greatly influenced by western literature and philosophy. That was why they revolted against the traditional style of poetry in Pushto.

"I started composing poetry when I was admitted to the Islamia Collegiate School. In 1945, when I switched over to Islamia College, Peshawar, I had a collection of poetry prepared. The manuscript I handed over for publication to one of my friends. But he proved to be careless and lost it. In those days, I used to get my poems and write-ups published in Khyber, the literary magazine of the college. Sometimes I would recite my poetry to Syed Rasool Rasa, Samandar Khan and Yunas Khalil who very much appreciated it which was very encouraging for me."

Ashraf Maftoon's first poetry collection Da Shair Duniya was published in 1947. Due to its unconventional style, it created quite a stir among the budding Pakhtoon poets. Syed Rasool Rasa in his preface to Ashraf Maftoon's second poetry collection Da Zsuand Sandara (The Song of Life) wrote, "There is no doubt that Ashraf Maftoon is the father of romanticism in contemporary Pushto poetry. He has an indigenous way of thinking, a unique style of expression and never relies on borrowed ideas. He has blended his sublime imagination with his deep philosophic thoughts."

Ashraf Maftoon was born in 1922 in Rajjar Charsadda. He passed his matriculation from the Islamia Collegiate School and graduated from the Islamia College, Peshawar. He took admission in the University of Peshawar for a master's in philosophy but then left it half way due to some domestic problems.

"I served in Radio Pakistan Peshawar for 22 years but I resigned from there because of its slavish environment. For me it was a place where I could not revere my own national heroes in a befitting manner. I want freedom not only for the Pakhtoons but also for the Punjabis, Sindhis and Balochis.

"It is only poetry that consoles my restless soul and that is why I have secluded myself and taken refuge in perfect solitude," he said. The suicide of his only son Zarak in 1991 further made him live an isolated life. Maftoon criticized Iqbal and Faiz for using their poetic talent for the propagation of their own thoughts.

"It is not necessary for great poetry that it should take up only contemporary moral or social issues and should essentially follow the prevailing literary standards because great poetry stands the test of time and space. It transcends the geographical, racial and linguistic boundaries," Maftoon added. He preferred prose for teaching philosophy in fiction, which was a new technique he adopted in the twilight years of his life.

He published a collection of six radio dramas titled Haider in his lifetime. Being a humanist he believed strongly in human dignity and freedom of expression. He was a rebel to the core. Hedonism is a predominant factor in his poems. 'Zohra' is his ideal beloved who recurrently appears in his poetry. His love for wine and women, though, does not occupy the central place in his poetry. But he endows both of them with decency and decorum. His ghazals generally follow the traditional style in Pushto but his poems are distinct and unique in form and diction.

This makes Ashraf Maftoon distinct from his contemporaries. "The merit of poetic art is that it arouses the emotion of love, sharpens one's aesthetic sense, enriches one's ideal world, enlightens his thinking faculty through the power of reason," said Ashraf.

He wished somebody would translate into Pushto "The trial and death of Socrates". He drew great inspiration from Buddha and Abdul Ghafar (Bacha) Khan due to their humanistic feelings. His poetry collections Sreekey, Kawaakey, Lukharrey, Wagmey and Skundaarey have been well received by readers and critics of Pushto. The vacuum in Pushto literature created by Maftoon's death cannot be easily filled.

QK Archives: Riaz Tasneem

Riaz Tasneem: A poet of purpose, enlightened vision

Written by Sher Alam Shinwari
Saturday, 18 March 2006

PESHAWAR: A soft spoken and simple looking smart Karachi based Pashto poet with greenish eyes, Riaz Tasneem was a born on September 3, 1968 in Peshawar Riaz Tasneem did his SSC from Government High School Akhwarwaal in 1984 and qualified his Intermediate from Islamia College, Peshawar in 1986 and Graduation from Federal Urdu Arts College, Karachi in 1995. Riaz’s forefathers had moved from Mohmand Agency, village Zanawar Cheena to Peshawar while he made his way to Karachi to find a suitable job in 1989.
The inspiration for poetry came from Diwan-e- Abdur Rahman, which he used to pick up for his pleasure reading. When Riaz read was asked to contribute his poetic piece to the college’s celebrated literary Magazine ‘Khyber’, he too composed some verses, which were published later on. Khadim Hussian a close friend of Riaz further honed his talent and introduced him to the writings of great literary giants like Ahmed Faraz, Munir Niazi, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Hamza Baba, Qalandar Momand, Ghani Khan, Ajmal Khattak and Rahmat Shah Sail. He served as Sub -editor with daily Wahdat for a year. Aasi Ashnaghari took him to Qalandar Momand‘s literary session in 1988. (I have benefited a lot from Qalandar Momand. On my occasional visit to Peshawar I would never miss his literary session. He gave us in fact a deep critical sense,” Riaz fondly remembers while talking to the Statesman. In Karachi, Riaz was one among the Pashto writers to have founded a literary organization Jaras Adabi Jarga in 1990, which would hold critical literary session on monthly basis at its office in Bolten Market. Fahim Sarhadi Late, Bacha Khan Late, Qaiser Afridi and Tahir Afridi were the prominent writers who immensely contributed to Pashto literature in Karachi. “ The Pashto literary bodies in Karachi, previously were limited only to Mushairas, Jaras Adabi Jarga introduced the tradition of critical literary session. Tahir Afridi a renowned short story writer and one of the founders of Jaras Adabi Jarga, launched Jaras-e- Pakhto a popular literary magazine in 1999, I have worked with it as Sub -editor for a long time and also contributed my articles and poetic pieces,” says Riaz.

QK Archives: Hayat is dead

Hayat is dead
Published by The News on Sunday 2006 circa
The insistence of Hayatullah to disprove the official claims about the US missiles attack in Esorhi village in December was the beginning of the end for him

By Behroz Khan

The cold-blooded murder of journalist Hayatullah Khan Dawar in the restive North Waziristan Agency in mysterious circumstances sends a clear-cut message to all journalists working in tribal as well as settled areas -- there are limits they must abide by.

Hayatullah Khan, 30 and a father of four, was found dead in the mountains of Khaisur village, south of Mirali town, on June 16. He was shot several times in the head from behind while handcuffed and the intention behind this, experts believe, was to give the impression as if the journalist was killed while attempting to escape from captivity. Hayatullah Khan was kidnapped from the main Mirali-Bannu road on December 5 last year by a group of bearded men armed with Ak-47 assault rifles when he was on his way to cover a students' demonstration against the US missile attack in Esorhi village on December 1.

Earlier, reporting by Hayatullah about the same air strike had belied official claims that the house owned by Muhammad Siddiq was destroyed when explosives present there exploded, killing three alleged wanted al-Qaeda operatives too. President Pervez Musharraf claimed he was 500 per cent sure that al-Qaeda No-3, Hamza Rabia was among the dead.

Hayatullah, like a few others, did not agree and came up with photographs and facts that suggested the house may have been targeted with missiles from an unmanned US drone. His reports were critical of the political administration and the military operating in the region to hunt down al-Qaeda men and their local supporters. Hayatullah remained missing for six months and 10 days and was finally eliminated. In the interim, no militant or criminal group contacted his family either for ransom nor one claimed responsibility of his kidnapping.

"This is not Taliban-style because they dispose off cases of suspected informers and pro-government agents in a few days," says Ihsanullah Khan Dawar, younger brother of Hayatullah. Hayatullah's family holds agencies responsible for his captivity. Fellow journalists draw a comparison between the assassination of US journalist Daniel Pearl and the murder of Hayatullah, although the circumstances may have varied.

Ihsanullah says officials had assured his family that Hayatullah was being questioned and detained in the interest of the country. "'The day his name is cleared, he will be released'," Ihsanullah quoted one military officer as telling him. It was a major in the secret services who called up Ihsanullah to inform him about Hayat's death and where to find his body.

Hayatullah, according to his brother, was first threatened on November 17, prompting him to rush to Islamabad on November 21 to inform fellow journalist and close friend, Hamid Mir. He was offered three choices: leave the agency; stop reporting while staying at Mirali; or accept the position of a naib muharer (head clerk) in the political administration.

Two other journalists, Amir Nawab Wazir and Allah Noor Wazir, were gunned down and a third Anwar Shakir was critically injured in February 2005 in neighbouring South Waziristan Agency. The vehicle carrying them from Sra Rogha after attending the agreement signing ceremony between the military and a local Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud, was ambushed in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.

There was no probe and no one was brought to justice while journalists continued to be targeted. Their houses, offices and vehicles were hit, thus forcing the entire journalist fraternity to move out of the insecure tribal region and take refuge in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan. No journalist is based in South Waziristan today. While reporting about the situation in the tribal belt, a number of Peshawar-based journalists, including this reporter, have been threatened and subjected to the most abusive language on telephone by unidentified callers.

The mystery about Hayatullah's disappearance is compounded by statements and assurances made by officials to the family and journalists. Ihsanullah quotes Political Agent North Waziristan, Syed Zahirul Islam, as saying on May 15 that he was powerless to secure the release of Hayat.

Prior to that, the same official had informed Ihsanullah that his brother had been seen at Bagram Airbase and was in the custody of the US forces, a claim rejected by the Peshawar-based US Consul General, Michael Spangler during a luncheon hosted by him for the journalists on May 10 in Peshawar.

On December 24, in the presence of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the Governor House, Peshawar, then governor Khalilur Rehman categorically said: "He (Hayat) has not been kidnapped." Secretary to the governor told journalists that the more you demonstrate, the more you delay his release.

Hayatullah was arrested in Birmal area of Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province by US forces in 2001 and was detained at the Machadad Kot military base for a week, but was later allowed to go. "He was arrested on suspicion of being a spokesman for Mullah Omar," Ihsanullah said, adding that his brother was neither close to the Taliban nor has he worked against them.

Ihsanullah, who wishes to follow his brother into journalism, has been demanding an impartial inquiry into the murder. The federal government has set up a judicial inquiry commission headed by a judge of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Muhammad Raza Khan, to probe into the case and bring the facts behind the murder to the fore. The commission will look into allegations and the circumstances in which Hayat went.

Article 247 deals with the administration of the Tribal Areas and says that (1) subject to the Constitution, the executive authority of the federation shall extend to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and the executive authority of a province shall extend to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas therein. (2) The President may, from time to time, give directions to the Governor of a province relating to the whole or any part of a Tribal Area within the Province as he may deem necessary, And the Governor shall, in the exercise of function under this Article, comply with such directions.