Parachinar: The Real Picture

Earthly Paradise ( Parachinar, Kurram Agency ) has been burning for the last 3 Years in the fire of Terrorism.




Life is totally paralyzed, Prices of commodities have sky-rocketed, Poverty has made the Life of Public hell, Hospitals are lacking in medicines and Health Care facilities.



All roads leading out of the area are blocked & Communication with the rest of Pakistan and the World is broken.



People are confronted with eternal socio-economic and security problems. The entire area is confronted with aggressive sentiments of Extremism; Revenge, Rebellion and Sectarianism.



Such Chronic Situation always causes revolutions inside a Country that can shake even stable countries.Nine years " War against Terrorism neither could abate the tense atmosphere of FATA nor have any big wigs of Terrorists been caught so far.



People there are unable to cope with this situation any more.



As a result the geographically very important Frontier Region that has always been a Shelter to the security of Pakistan is at great geographical risk.



People ask me, “Is there no issue other than issue of Parachinar that you are writing persistently over it?”



My eyes get wet, head bows and lips whisper.



“What now can I write while all my pains, wounds, troubles and grievances are infinite?



My motherland Parachinar is facing these circumstances for decades and nothing has been that could guarantee its sturdiness.



How can I conceal my sighs while my Hometown is in permanent war involving Sectarianism and Terrorism?



My alma mater, the hospitals where my illnesses were cured, the school where I studied, the roads on which I have travelled, the springs from where I quenched my thirst with clean healthy water, the rivers in which I swam and caught fishes, the valley where I heard melodies of birds, the hills and the meadows where my cattle grazed, and everything there that nurtured my childhood and youth, everything that was exquisiteness was my area, now is bruised and stained with the blood of innocent people.



How can I breathe peacefully ???????????????????????????



I have not asked for anything more than rescue of human’s life, peace and tranquility in FATA and the fundamental rights which human beings are enjoying in civilized democratic societies.



This is what is happening in my hometown and in each town of FATA.



The People of Tribal Areas will never pardon Gen Zia-ul-Haq who rendered their serene area into a breeding ground of terrorism turning into armed combats and mercilessslaughtering of humans. Prior to him people in FATA were living with their precious culture and friendly traditions, strange as they maybe. They had great enthusiasm for advancement and modernization. But the military dictator planted hatred in their hearts by setting up terrorist camps there in the name of so-called jihad or holy war.



How powerful terrorists have become in the area of Charpi Morr, Totkasa, Sada—-a tehsil of the lower part of Kurram Agency and in the tehsil of Hango are, can be simply gauged from the tragedy that took place on Saturday, 14th May, 2010, when 64 people travelling in ten vehicles were easily kidnapped by them.



Neither law enforcement agencies nor Pakistani police could recover them while the local Jirga after dialogue with miscreants, managed to get them released from their brutal hands. Some escaped from their clutches.
Not for first time while time and again men, women and children from Parachinar are attacked, kidnapped and tortured. In the past whenever these terrorists kidnapped the people, they tortured them very ruthlessly by cutting their noses, ears, limbs, feet leading to beheading them and then either threw them into the open fields or sent the dead bodies to their hometowns.
A group of miscreants nowadays is found involved in human trade. They kidnap the people from tribal areas and even from Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat, Mardan and other settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for ransom. When the people of Parachinar receive the mutilated dead bodies of their near and dear ones they become aggressive and violent. Consequently, the area comes under continuous war of sectarianism. Clashes between Toori tribe and Taliban so far have brought great harm with thousands of casualties with an irreparable damage to the basic infrastructure of earthly heaven, Parachinar.
 Roads are blocked for the people of Parachinar for the last three years and whenever it opens some calamity takes place.



The Toori tribe of Parachinar diplomatically has repeatedly raised the issue before government but so far nothing has been done.



While talking to a public protest in the capital, organized by students from Parachinar on Eid-ul-Fitr, Interior Minister Rehman Malik pledged that within fifteen days Thal-Parachinar Road would not only be opened but also made secure for the people of Parachinar. However, despite a lapse of nine months neither the road has opened nor security provided to the people of Parachinar. It seems that present government is least interested in the issue of Parachinar while Z A Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had greatly loved the area and its people.



They both had personally visited Parachinar as PMs of Pakistan and had done a lot for the progress and stability of the area.



Today, whatever Parachinar has, even though very little, is only because of the efforts of PPP’s assassinated leaders.



Shaheed Muhttarma Benazir Bhutto had promised the people of Parachinar before her martyrdom that after coming into power she would again make Parachinar a heaven but the present government in two years has done nothing so far to fulfill Benazir’s promises. Apart from this, ANP’s interests are restricted to the few districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa i.e. Charsada, Mardan and a few others. They are doing nothing for the remaining districts of the province as well as have no concept for the well-being of FATA. The issue of terrorism is getting worst day by day with no possibility of light at the end of the tunnel.



The story of Faisal Shehzad, who was arrested from “Times Square” in New York, refreshed the US antagonistic feelings towards FATA though neither Faisal Shehzad belongs to any region of FATA nor every tribesman has such negative ambitions.



The government must take immediate action for the rescue of Parachinar otherwise the area is at the edge of geographical risk. Fierce measures similar to the action Pakistan Army had taken in Swat and is still taking in other tribal areas against terrorists need to be taken against miscreants around the Thal-Peshawar road.



Pakistan Army is always buoy up, highly valued and cherished by the people of Parachinar and is always greeted warmly in the valley for the peace process and protection of surrounded border. People from FATA had fought every war of Pakistan shoulder by shoulder to Pakistan Army and these are not tribesmen fighting against Pakistan Army, launching attacks and killing innocent public but miscreants and terrorists.