Peshawer will not die

I was reviewing an article by Rahim-ullah-Yosuf published in “The News” a few days ago, in that article he gave reference of a folk song while describing the sentiments and devotion of people of Peshawar towards the city, it struck a chord of my association with it, i couldn’t agree more, Larsha Pekhawar ta” (Let’s go to Peshawar) , as I said, it’s a folk song, soothing, beautiful and alluring, describes and reflects the intensity of the romance Peshawar has to offer to his inhabitants and fans, well I am not native so had to add word “fan”, many of my Pushtoon friends here in Karachi are deep “sufferer” of this romance and I can’t blame them for this, having said that I didn’t get “infected” from them, source of my victimization to this romance is different, a Part of it is the history of Peshawar, which seemingly lived forever.

History of Peshawar tends to mark an immediate impact on the mind with beautiful artifacts, rich cultural heritage, monuments, these objects some time looks like a gateway, a portal into the past, consider a place like Bala-Hisar Fort, inviting one to look in to historic Khyber Valley- gateway that has seen, conquers, nomads and travelers passing through it. The history of the fort must surely to that of the city, but the early days have marked in mystery, standing in front of it one can tele-port himself into the past, it is tempting, however, to see this as the site of fortification sheltered by a moat that was visited and described by the Chinese travelers like Hsuan Tsang and later Ruder Kipling, presently Bala-Hisar fort houses headquarters of a prestigious Frontier Corps- the defenders of the mountains. It’s just a mere glimpse; a sneak into a single page of Peshawar’s glorious past, which is so very fascinating that one can’t resist against the temptation of having a deeper look, it drags him further into details, but when one tried to illustrate heritage of past, ghost of terrorism hauls him back into present.

Today Peshawar is bleeding, it’s grousing and suffering with pain and agony, hundreds of innocence have perished, red rain is seemingly inescapable, splashes of that rain is causing the blood stains on the beautiful face of Peshawar, I know its winter, but where is snow? Its Ash, and it’s everywhere, where are the kind clouds? Why Smoky fog is covering the sky? Fears and complains is surely not the solution, more lucid approach would be a glance based on factual details of entire depiction, well let me tell you it going to be difficult in the end. Background of recent wave of terrorist attacks is the Military operation in Waziristan, people in extent are quite rightly labeling these attacks as brutal reaction to the “mother of all battles”, a battle which we are apparently fighting for someone sitting just next in Afghanistan, and paying us to fight “our war”, TTP has absolutely no ethical, moral or legal justification for such hideous terrorism on the name of retribution and Jihad as both are entirely different entities, and they are mixing it up, so are we Taliban are absolutely wrong in their whole definition of operational activities inside Pakistan, but at the same time one also needs to sit down and think about the fact that, if this is our war then we have to prove it, we should not pretend that we are fighting it on our own in our interest, for our own sake and on the other hand take orders from state department and pentagon, one has to come forward and show to the world that we are fighting this war for our future. This is a whole different topic and one can afford to have different view-port for screening the scene and making his own opinion based on available facts in combination with evidence in hand and speculation based on that testimony about the whole scenario, so i would rather stay focused on what is happening in Peshawar and surroundings.

Apparently it’s quite hard to differentiate between the terrorist attacks as such acts are atrocious responses more out of desperation from a pitiless mentality when it observes itself suffering in danger of extinction, terrorist attacks all over the country and specially in Peshawar are fairly identical in more than one way, there is a firm believe among people of Pakistan that there are other foreign hands which are said to be involved in supporting and initiating these terrorist activities, so question is how one should separate them, how can a person differentiate between two attacks?, one being committed by interior hocks and those being facilitate and executed by the foreign assets directly? Well I have a very simple approach to judge and differentiate between the two, there are two different patterns in these attacks, Internal pawns mainly TTP and allies are targeting security personals, entities related to security establishment along with some symbolic international organizations in the country such as UN and related NGOs and after each attack they are likely to accept the responsibility with a shameful warning to add into the traumatic situation, while foreign element are busy using Iraqi model of car bombings and reported “suicide attacks” in markets and streets and other crowded public places, main reason of foreign involvement is much clearer that to provide further justifications for military operation, promoting people v/s military scenario, increase hate among the people of Pakistan, further division of an already alienated Pakistani society and add to the bloodshed, war hysteria and disorder in the present situation, in doing so drive people of Pakistan with the fear factor, dreadful example is latest series of blasts and terror attacks in Peshawar, Peshawar which has become center of all stake holders, black water is their so are various operatives related to other foreign agencies, recent bomb blast in Meena Bazar is said to be Indian gift as investigations and captured person pointed out in the early phase.

This quick succession of successful attacks in different places in same city shows an ability to “FINANCE”, plan and carry out strikes without being detected, with a certain precision in the planning, execution and an inexhaustible flow of suicide volunteers, caused by an uprising in the spirit of revenge and retribution fired with the strong perception based propaganda being used by Taliban that Pakistan army is fighting side by side with Americans and due to the belief local Taliban posseses that most Pakistanis supports military operation therefore they are rightly to be slain by the hands of real “Saliheen” (righteous), this perception is the most strong weapon of TTP, and because of this reality they have no shortage of “motivated” operatives who are willing to lay down their lives in the so-called “Marka-e-Khair-o-shur” (Battle of Good and evil), it’s really difficult to believe that these pawns are doing it on their own, if one consider amount of cash flow he can easily speculate real source of their “revenue” collection, Leaving a particular trail line to the real beneficiaries.

Normally after revisiting so much details and covering so many dynamic aspects of the matter, one is prone to think and focus of having an appropriate conclusion, today it’s really tricky to concentrate on the rational ending, today it’s different, there will be little historical analysis in conclusion, hardly any speculations, no tactical talks, in an attempt to winding things up I am looking forward for something which is more raw than anything I have stated above, it’s more of an intuition, a hunch, conclusion part is more like a sad notation on the situation, it becomes even more heartache because of the fact that it’s about one of the most inspirational cities of Pakistan, and therefore whole post was a different intent altogether, it was not about chronological and historical glory of past, but about the wounds of present. One should always be hopeful and optimistic with a decisive approach and calculated steps towards cogent resolution of the matter, it’s quite hard actually to boast these thoughts in such desperate times and while doing so one tends to fall apart, it’s not easy to stay committed for such tough asks against cruel realities and rogue surroundings buildup with unfriendly situational limits of increasing confusion, all these constantly varying parameters are creating a pale in the minds that things will not going to work in the favor, it’s more a fear of failure, which is haunting the spirits, to counter these scares and to support the will of getting rid of the chaos, a firm belief and faith is backing things up, a belief which has lesser circumstantial logic and even minor presence of shrewdness, but as I said it’s something termed as belief something which has to become part of the faith, something need to be borrowed from Peshawar, deeming hard and long about this unrefined unrest, which is yet another inspiration people of Peshawar have delivered to the nation, I finally able to came up with a conclusion, Peshawar is bravely standing tall against all the odds, spirit of Peshawar is spirit of Pakistan, Larsha Pekhawar ta..! yes …lets go to Peshawar because doesn’t matter how many more divides are to be created, doesn’t matter how long this bloody mayhem going to continue…..Pakistan will not fall…..Peshawar will not die.

(originally published on November 26 2009 @ http://www.pro-pakistan.com/2009/11/26/peshawar-will-not-die/ )

Advertisement