PukhtunWomen

By Adil Zareef

SAMAR Minallah, the intrepid human rights activist and filmmaker, screened her recent documentary, ‘Hidden Colours: Tangible and Intangible Heritage of NWFP’ in Peshawar and Islamabad to rave reviews.

The documentary opens with a scenic Swat valley of bygone days — a clear rustling river amid a lush green landscape, the sound of the flute and rubab.

It shows images of Swat’s Buddhist sites, the second main Buddhist centre of learning after Pushkalavati (Charsadda).

Ironically, when this documentary was reviewed, the heartbreaking news of these protected Buddhist rock carvings being blown away by the insane Taliban (mimicking their equally deranged brethren who brazenly blew away the historic Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001) made headlines.

No doubt art imitates life — or it did previously as now it seems that all those breathtaking valleys of Swat, Chitral, Dir and many others shall, sooner than later, come under attack from the firebrand Islamic militants and the equally unsparing Pakistani security officials. If matters continue to worsen as rapidly as they are at present in these forsaken parts of our jinxed country, very soon these heritage sites and tranquil lifestyles the documentary has so painstakingly captured may turn into an inferno.

As the US-inspired and Saudi-funded jihad raged during the early 1980s, the holy warriors were feted in the corridors of western capitals. But most soothsayers and sages — foremost amongst them Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan on his way from the raging fires of Kabul to Peshawar — had declared: “This is not a jihad but a fisad and it will soon envelop the entire subcontinent and then the world.”

Many patriotic Pakistanis and their scheming sponsors in the western capitals sneered at the aging pacifist leader. Having drunk deep from the well of knowledge of non-violence during the Indian freedom movement, he knew well why the bloody scars of Partition would not heal even after several decades. The repeat of the same folly of pitting religion as a convenient tool for realpolitik sounded the death knell for nationalist voices.

The rest as we know is history. The Afghan war has been ‘declassified’ by western experts. Afghans and Pakistanis being their ideological (war) fodder is no longer a secret. What Pashtuns have lost during this protracted war is their rich traditions, values, culture and heritage.

Once again they are pitted against the ruthless, marauding Taliban on the one hand and the equally sinister market forces destroying their serene livelihoods on the other.

Pashtuns find themselves at the crossroads of history once again. Having suffered the aftermath of the so-called jihad, their pastures and green valleys denuded, their traditions disfigured and livelihoods overwhelmed by the Afghan refugees, just as they were trying to recover from the 20-year internecine bloodletting, 9/11 happened.

The tables have been turned on their fortunes. The military establishment has again trained its guns on their pristine valleys. Having shamelessly abetted, funded, trained, armed and provoked the most violent, ruthless ideological forces to sponsor their so-called ‘strategic depth’ nonsense, they have conveniently mended fences with their arch enemy (India) on the eastern front. There is an endless stream of Indian delegates and dignitaries partying in major Pakistani cities while the NWFP and Peshawar have been rewarded with being turned into the war frontline once again. This time they have been gifted a new surname: Al Qaeda.

Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, who threatened nationalist forces, their re-emergence in the tribal and settled districts of the NWFP threatens to pre-empt the development of a peaceful political process. The military, in the guise of ‘security’, will strengthen its tentacles. Political and economic reforms will take a backseat.

The hidden hands behind these ruthless religious forces can only be ignored by callous appeasers. Consolidating the political space conveniently given to them, unchecked during the four-year MMA government, these double-faced leaders have now turned a somersault to elect the “commando in chief” as president.

Now these same extremist forces have been given the mandate to broker ‘peace’ in these volatile regions. Appeasement and power politics will not deliver any long-time remedy. If peace and tranquillity have to be restored, the foreign sponsors of this/enlightened moderation regime should ensure that the engineered turmoil is rooted out once and for all.

During the spring of 2001, a remarkable protest was held against the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas on the premises of the Alliance Francaise in Peshawar. Michela Gall (Sandy Gall’s artist daughter) had painted a stunning 20-metre large canvas of the Bamiyan Buddha put up in the garden under bright spotlights. Many Afghan, Pakistani and expatriate activists pledged their support for the worthy cause.

Sadly, civil society is now a distant memory like all beautiful things in Peshawar. Gone are the days of art exhibitions, musical evenings, cultural events — even the luxury of visiting the British Council and the Alliance Francaise. Whom to turn to when the ‘upholders of freedom and democracy’ fail the test when it comes to Peshawar?

To sum up our shamelessly horrendous being, Quratul Ain Hyder’s beautiful piece from Chandni Begum comes to mind: ‘Main apne kal ke khwab ke tabeer kis se puchoon? Main ne khud ko Nooh ki kishti main dekha hai!’ (Can someone decipher my dream? Last night, I was sailing in Noah’s (sinking) ship.

Tailpiece: Only the other day, the organisers’ request to screen Samar Minallah’s documentary and to launch Fauzia Minallah’s ‘Glimpses of Islamabad’ was declined by the Alliance Francaise for ‘security reasons’. Nostalgically, QUH’s lament springs to mind: ‘Yahi bahar ke din the/ Yehi zamana tha/ Yehi jaga thi/ Is jah par ek ashiana tha/ Aye baghban tujhe kiya kiya nishan batlain?’ (Those springtime days are things of the past/ Oh! what ruins remain of my abode in the garden!)

The writer is general secretary of the Sarhad Conservation Network.

scn_pk@yahoo.com