Though public protests against lack civic facilities, scarcity of essential goods, rising unemployment and inflation are commonplace in Pakistan, but what spurred widespread agitations in the Dir, Waziristan and Swat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP] in August 2022 wasn’t due to any of these reasons. The locals had taken to the streets with an unusual complaint that the government and army weren’t doing anything to curb the growing presence of armed fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] terrorist group.
Unchecked influx of TTP fighters assumed such gargantuan proportions that it even came up for discussion in the National Assembly and Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was forced to acknowledge the significant presence of TTP fighters in KP. Since this restive province has been the traditional stronghold of this terrorist group, public resentment against TTP was indeed a blessing in disguise for the Pakistan army as it created ideal conditions for launching a concerted operation against TTP and decimating this terrorist group.
However, despite abundant physical evidence that buttressed this dangerous development, Rawalpindi thought otherwise. Director General [DG] of Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor not only dismissed reports of TTP presence in KP as “a misperception” created on social media, but even went on to add that “After confirmation on ground, these reports have be found as grossly exaggerated and misleading.” In short, Rawalpindi held that while the law makers and locals were wrong, it was the Pakistan army that was [like it always claims] right!
And in an obvious attempt to downplay the facts readily available in public domain, DGISPR admitted that “presence of a small number of armed men on a few mountain tops between Swat and Dir has been observed, located far away from the population.” What the Pakistan army didn’t care to explain was why were armed men allowed to settle down on “a few mountain tops” in the first place? Some say that the army had taken it for granted that as these armed people were “located far away from populated areas,” they were no threat to locals.
Isn’t it surprising that even though the Pakistani Defence Minister called influx of TTP terrorists into KP a “national issue,” the army took no cognisance of his genuine concern. So it’s no big surprise that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan [HRCP] pulled up Rawalpindi for shamefully abdicating its constitutional responsibilities by maintaining that “Swat’s residents are right to hold the security forces responsible for failing to enforce the writ of the state.”
But the real reason for Rawalpindi’s unpardonable apathy lay elsewhere-the Pakistan army had been holding Afghanistan Taliban brokered clandestine peace talks with TTP which for inexplicable reasons details of these negotiations weren’t shared with the senators. Hence it did not want to upset the dialogue process and invite public criticism for 'sleeping with the enemy'. In fact, as early as June 2022, when Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed raised this issue in National Assembly, Pakistan Muslim League [Nawaz] Senator Irfanul Haq passed the buck by saying that these talks had not been initiated during its term, adding that “We were also unaware who is holding these talks and where they are taking place.”
How could the Pakistan army sit down to cut a peace deal with TTP, the terrorist group that carried out the dastardly 2014 Army Public School Peshawar attack in which nearly 150 innocent students and staff members were brutally murdered and has the blood of hundreds of soldiers and civilians on its hands? While Rawalpindi may claim that it was holding talks with TTP on directions of the Imran Khan run government, but even an amateur Pakistan watcher will agree that in Pakistan while the legislature proposes it’s the army that ultimately disposes. Hence, these talks could have never taken place had Rawalpindi decided against it.
By agreeing to a unilateral ceasefire declared by TTP and the making the highly unreasonable concession of allowing its cadres to surreptitiously establish themselves in KP alongwith unconditional release of more than a hundred convicted TTP fighters, Rawalpindi only ended up give this terrorist group the much need time and space it required to regroup and refit. However, such is its fear amongst the people that no one has demanded an explanation for its irresponsible actions.
The rest is history.
In its endeavour to defeat TTP the Pakistan army may have pulled out all the stops but while doing so it has demonstrated scant concern for the Pashtun majority population of KP, and the recent missile attack by the Pakistan Air Force [PAF] on Tara Valley’s Matre Dara village in KP that left at least 30 civilians, including women and children dead and several others injured is just one example. Media reports claim that using Chinese made JF 17 fighter jets, PAF struck the village with at least six LS-6 precision guided munitions [PGM] of Chinese origin.
How could those who approved this air strike go so wrong? Was the intelligence that TTP was using the houses targeted inaccurate? Did this happen due to the unreliability of Chinese fighter jets and/or munitions- the JF 17 fighter jet navigational systems going awry or the LS-6 PGM malfunctioning and missing the target? Or was it a cavalier decision triggered by inherent apathy towards the Pashtun people?
When viewed in the broader context, the last probability appears to be the most likely as the Punjabi dominant Pakistan army’s hatred for Pashtuns is no secret.
Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement [PTM] is a peaceful community movement pursuing reasonable objectives like accountability for wanton violence against its people by the authorities, information on Pashtuns forcibly disappeared by security forces, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, clearance of landmines laid by the Pakistan army in Waziristan that were for killing/maiming locals and recognition of Pashtuns as equal citizens of the country.
Yet, during a media interaction session six years ago, DGISPR in an act unbecoming of a two star army General unashamedly spewed venom against PTM and also issued threats. A sample of some of his prejudiced utterances:
“How much money did you get from NDS [National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s erstwhile intelligence agency] to keep your protest running?”
“How much money did RAW [Research and Analysis Wing, India’s intelligence agency] give you for your first sit-in in Islamabad?”
“Nobody can fight the state. We care about the people you’re trying to instigate, otherwise it is not difficult to deal with you.”
“Why does TTP speak in favour of PTM? Why is your narrative similar?”
“Whatever liberties you could take, you have taken.”
Their [PTM leadership’s] time is up!
The DGISPR’s “time is up” warning to PTM was no idle threat. Less than a month later, in what is came to be known as the infamous ‘Kharqamar incident’, Pakistan army soldiers fired indiscriminately at PTM protesters who were demanding release of innocent civilians rounded up after a terrorist attack near the Khraqamar check post, killing at least 13 and injuring more than 25 others. Two PTM leaders were imprisoned for allegedly inciting the protesters but were inexplicably released four months later without being charged.
Rawalpindi maintained that the army personnel acted in self defence after the protesters had fired at them killing one soldier and injuring a few others. But by preventing the HRCP team from visiting the incident site or questioning witnesses, it became evident that the army was trying to conceal the truth. With the government subsequently withdrawing this case without assigning any reasons for denying justice to a soldier who was allegedly killed and others injured by PTM protesters, this apprehension has acquired undeniable credibility.
The Pashtuns are indeed an unfortunate lot treated as children of a lesser God. When they protested against the influx of TTP fighters in several districts of KP, the Pakistan army blames them of using social media to spread “misperception.” When they protest peacefully against enforced disappearances and institutionalised marginalisation, they are accused of working at the behest of New Delhi. When they protest against a large-scale anti-terrorist operation in KP solely because it would displace thousands of locals and cause extensive ‘collateral damage’ to civilian life and property as had happened in the past, they were branded as TTP proxies. [As per an August 2025 media report, more than 55,000 people or roughly 20,000 families have already fled their homes in KP].

 And now even though Pashtuns in KP are mercilessly being pounded by missiles and exterminated in the Pakistan army's war against TTP, the war is simultaneously being waged against the innocent Pashtun people. Innocent civilians losing their lives and limbs due to such irresponsible behaviour don’t seem to worry Rawalpindi, because for ISPR to portray a mangled corpse of an innocent Pashtun as the mortal remains of some fictitious “high profile” TTP terrorist commander like Aman Gul and Masood Khan, is no big deal !

Email:-----------------------------------:nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com