Jan Achakzai

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ar&nid=1131 Media bias against Pakhtuns Jan Assakzai The media coverage of unfortunate attacks on Ahmedi minority mosques on May 29, portrayed Pakhtun community in a negative light. Some media outlets quoted the Law Minister Rana Sanaullah that a "Teenage Pakhtun" has been arrested using a common identifier "Pakhtun" for a suspect. Using common identifier for these militants will only reinforce the negative image of the whole community in the county. It creates mis-perception if Pakhtuns are equivalent to terrorism. I received several emails complaining the same. However, if you are concerned, and would want to express your complain in a democratic and peaceful manner, I thought I might be able to help. In other words, if you are one of those concerned Pakhtuns, a concerned pro-Pakhtun or ordinary concerned citizen and believe that media's hate speech could spark reprisal attacks and discrimination agai...

The Frontier Post Jan Assakzai A new phenomenon of anti-Pakhtun speech - a form of oral and written communication - has come to fore in Pakistan. This could be in words or in deeds. The elements of media particularly electronic media often allow hate speeches against Pakhtun community in their talk shows adding a sense of fear of reprisal and discrimination towards Pakhtuns . It can be attributed to many factors: (1) Militancy in Pakhtun areas has created a sense in other parts of Pakistan as if Pakhtuns are equivalent to terrorism. (2) The mainstream media’s slanted coverage of anti-Pakhtun feeling on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issue portrayed Pakhtuns less patriotic than Hazarawals in the eyes of many non-Pakhtuns. (3) MQM’s media campaign against Tilibanisation and land mafia in Karachi and its drive to remove Pakhtuns from the city, has cast Pakhtuns as next to evil force in the vocabulary of many non-Pakhtuns. (4) Killing of Punjabis in Balochistan by Baloch militants, has created ...

The Frontier Post The annihilation of largely Pakhtun lives in Karachi's targeted killings shocked and pained many across the Pakhtun community. Others wondered how such an incident could happen in Pakistan. But in the midst of all this emotion, many also are criticising the media's coverage of the incident as intensely prejudicial against Pakhtun community.  Much criticism has come from those Pakhtuns and others who believe the recent news coverage promoted stereotypes that are endemic of a broader mis-perception of the Pakhtun community in Pakistan. "If a Pakhtun is involved in some crime, then the word 'Pakhtun/Pathan becomes the common identifier of that person," said Aslam Khattak, a second-year computer science student.  "They are calling the ones in custody now 'Pakhtun terrorists.' Initially, various media speculated that those responsible for the targeted killings were Pakhtuns, some put the blame on Hazarawals perhaps spurred by the ...

The clock is ticking in Karachi for the rulers to heed to the warning shots and go beyond the situational rhetorics.  By Jan Assakzai  ( The Frontier Post May 25, 2010) At least 30 people have lost their lives in targeted killings in Karachi who were largely from Pakhtun community . This time again MQM is being blamed for ethnic killings. If the past is any stander to go by, MQM has a history of involvement in killing of dissidents and other ethnic groups particularly Pakhtuns. The organisation was accused in the political violence of 1990 and and incidents of May 12 and April 9, 2008 in Karachi. In mid 1980s, the organisation was associated with extortion, gun smuggling and South African crime networks. MQM has a record of bullying media and intimidation of journalists. A specter that haunts the organisation even today. In one of the most flagrant cases, in 1990 MQM leader Altaf Hussain publicly threatened the editor of the monthly NEWSLINE magazine after he p...

The Statesman Jan Assakzai North Waziristan has become a focal point for the US and Washington would like to see Pakistan’s army take out the militants as soon as possible. After behind-the-scene high level talks with Washington, Islamabad has principally agreed to launch operation but on its time of choosing. However, Islamabad is facing a dilemma: on one hand, it needs to deflect the US pressure by launching operation in North Waziristan, on the other hand, it wants to promote its geo-political interest in Afghanistan by keeping the militant infrastructure in North Waziristan and other parts of FATA. Pakistan ’s attitude towards militancy is largely informed by its strategic policy on Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a geo political arena for regional powers including Pakistan. Islamabad in order to have a leverage in Afghanistan, needs Afghan Taliban so it is backing its proxy elements within Afghan Taliban and has tolerated them operationally to be in the border region. After Sept 11, ...

The Frontier Post By Jan Assakzai The main stream media of Pakistan assumes that Pakhtuns are opposed to drone attacks.This assumption is over simplistic: it assumes that Pakhtun public opinion is monolithic but it is NOT. Starting from Tribal areas of FATA, we do not exactly know what the people think of drone attacks. There are no political parties that can reflect the opinion of their support base. It has been cut off from the rest of the country and perhaps the least accessible area in the world at this moment. Any survey regarding people's opinion is inaccurate. People are scarred and under constant threat of militants. FATA is the de facto Al Qaeda headquarter and haven for Afghan, Pakistani- Pakhtun and Punjabi alike- militants. One can only imagine what life is under the hand of non state actors. The so-called surveys in settled areas like Swat do not reflect the streams of residents' opinion either. Because people in these areas are also fearful to e...

Why Peace for Pakhtuns Now? By Jan Assakzai The situation in Pakhtun areas of Pakistan has quite alarmed many Pakhtun residents in the West. As a reflection of the growing anxiety, a new forum called Peace for Pakhtuns Now (PPN) has been launched in UK. The forum wants a new Pakhtun European voice heard on Pakhtun issues in Pakistan and supports the Pakhtun community-who are the victims of militancy and terrorism. While PPN is a Diaspora Pakhtun movement, working primarily amongst the Pakistani public and concerned citizens of the world, it will also engage in dialogue and joint activities with Pakistan’s political leaders, media person, and civil society to help bring bear public pressure on militants end bombing campaign, and on the Pakistani government to do more for Paktuns’ peace. The forum was started by a small group of Pakhtun Diaspora activists associated with different walks of life. Their decision was informed by the fact that it is commonly believed i...

VIEW:  Talibanisation creeping into Balochistan Balochistan is already brewing with Baloch insurgency and sectarian violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives so far. Talibanisation of Balochistan will simply stretch the army to its limit Talibanisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA seems to have penetrated further south in its neighbouring region of Balochistan. Its manifestation came from the recently written letters by Taliban to several girls’ schools in the provincial capital, Quetta. The letters warned teachers and administrators of dire consequences if they failed to observe purdah in schools and did not remove Western-style clothes. Taliban militancy is likely to thrive in Balochistan because of its geography, demography, and the crisis of governance. Balochistan’s northern areas, including capital Quetta, is predominately inhabited by Pakhtuns. The capital Quetta and adjacent districts are known for a conservative mixture of religion and tribalism in their loca...

(The Frontier Post, May 18) By Jan Assakzai Though Punjabi Taliban have not taken over cities or captured any area as yet, they operate from Madrasas and    compounds. According to media reports, police recently have traced a spate of armed robberies and kidnappings of minority religious sect-the Ahmedis-in Faisalabad to members of Jamaat ud Dawa, the group previously known as Lashkar-e-Taiba that was blamed for the devastating 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, India. Three Ahmedis were also shot dead, in what was likely to be the work of the same group. P unjab has never needed PML N Leader Nawas Sharif more — the "maverick" version of years gone by, that is. The man w ho stood up to a mighty dictator: Gen Pervez Musharraf. The man who understood, through hard way, the inherent evil of imposing dictates by these military   dictators upon the people. The Nawas Sharif who stood up to strident voices, understanding that a country’s judiciary must never be b...

Thursday, May 13, 2010 Jan Assakzai                             (Courtesy The News) The more important thing at this point is not whether Pakistan`s tribal region is linked with the failed terrorist plot in New York, but whether their should be speedy reforms in FATA to prevent its causing the next 9/11. Some people in Pakistan might think that if the economic and security situation improved and peace returned to the country, there would be no necessity to deal with the crisis facing the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. But that is not so, because the situation remains potentially explosive in the tribal regions because of the anachronistic Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Because of this, time is not on Pakistan`s side. The ideal of a peaceful, democratic Pakistan, at ease with its minorities as well as with its neighbours and the rest of the world, will not be achieved if nothing is done, and quickly, to so...

By Jan Assakzai  (courtesy The News) A disturbing fallout of Baloch militants' estrangement is going to be mass migration from Balochistan of Punjabi- and Urdu-speaking people, who mostly live in Quetta. The professional entrepreneurial middle class composed of the non-indigenous communities in the province has been an asset to Pakhtuns and Balochs for a number of decades. Balochistan is home to roughly half-a-million ethnic Punjabis, or nearly three percent of its population, and to an even smaller percentage of Urdu-speakers. Nearly half the population of Balochistan is Pakhtun. Many locals treat Urdu-speaking residents as Punjabis, a fact which makes Urdu-speakers victims of targeted killings as well. If the wave of targeted killings led to mass migration of the affected communities, the already deprived province could not fill the gap left by them. There was a time when locals were not prepared to take manual jobs, like those of hairdressers and tailors. The gap was fil...