The contrast couldn’t be starker. At Davos, Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces [CDF] Field Marshal Asim Munir was savouring the pride of having been recognised by US President Donald Trump after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif indicated towards him during the Board of Peace signing ceremony being touted an initiative that would end the woes of Palestinians in Gaza. At the same time back home, the Pakistan army was subjecting the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s [KP] Tirah Valley to extreme privation by ordering them to vacate their homes during peak winter.
As per media reports, the Pakistan army had set January 25 as a deadline for the evacuation of Tirah and social media is flooded with live reports of this exodus and the heartrending accounts of the hapless evacuees. Quoting a “senior government official” speaking on condition of anonymity, Arab News has even provided details of one-time financial assistance and monthly stipend that each displaced family would be given by the government as well as compensation for houses that may get damaged during the ensuing fight with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] militants.
Needless to say, the Pakistan army’s ill-considered decision of forcing Tirah residents to leave their homes and hearths during harsh winters has drawn widespread criticism. In its report on this issue, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty has quoted Peshawar-based political analyst Riffatullah Orakzai saying that there have been 22 major military operations in North Western Pakistan and “in many cases, militants simply vacate an area before a military operation and return to the same area after the army departs.”
This issue generated a heated debate in the KP assembly. Disapproving of the decision of “vacating the whole of Tirah Valley in this freezing cold,” Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a Pashtun regionalist politician and chairman of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party asked the house, “Is it not terrorism to force people out of their homes?” imploring that “For God's sake, don't do this." Lawmakers also questioned the legality of Rawalpindi’s decision to displace residents of Tirah without having sought approval from the parliament as required by law. Though a valid observation, it unfortunately means nothing in Pakistan where the army is the law.
This isn’t the first time that Rawalpindi has displayed scant regards for the country’s legislature. Readers would recall that in 2014, the formal announcement of launching Zarb e Abz, a massive military operation against various militant groups was made by the Pakistan army and not Government of Pakistan. To cover its faux pas, Rawalpindi hurriedly issued a statement after the operation had commenced clarifying that this operation was launched “on the directions of the government.”
Who can ever forget how during the Dawn Leak crisis in 2017, a two-star General heading Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] cocked a snook at the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by tweeting that “Notification on Dawn Leak [issued by the Prime Minister’s Office] is incomplete and not in line with recommendations by the Inquiry Board.” Not only this, he even had the gall to add that “Notification is rejected.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s October 2021 disclosure that negotiations with TTP were underway came as a surprise to the law makers for two reasons. One, they had not been taken into confidence, and two, these talks were being conducted not by government officials or civilian negotiators but solely by the Pakistan army, and that too secretly. Taking a dig at Rawalpindi’s utter disregard for the country’s legislature, Pakistan Peoples’ Party Senator Raza Rabbani had lamented that the Parliament is “always taken as a rubber stamp.”
Returning to the present, one finds that the Pakistan army under Field Marshal Munir has become even more domineering, and the fact that the issue of Pakistan’s intention to join the Board of Peace wasn’t even discussed in the National Assembly prior to signing of the agreement is a case in point. It’s obvious that it was Field Marshal Munir who during his White House lunch with Trump had unilaterally agreed to toe Washington’s line on Gaza and knowing that it would invite flak, ensured that no discussion on this issue takes place in the National Assembly.
The humongous humanitarian crisis precipitated by the Pakistan army’s order to evacuate Tirah has received widespread disapproval and proved to be a big embarrassment for Rawalpindi. Yet, this is no cause for worry as the wily field marshal excels when it comes to passing the buck.
Hasn’t he deflected the Pakistan army’s abysmal failure to tackle militant groups by projecting them as proxies being sponsored by neighbouring countries? In fact, in an attempt to conceal shortcomings in his own leadership and defend his ill-conceived counter-militancy strategy, Field Marshal Munir hasn’t even spared the government as is evident from his "Till when will we [the armed forces] fill the gaps of governance with the blood of our martyrs," remark.
So, when Pakistan’s Information Ministry issued an outright denial stating that “The government has taken notice of misleading claims in circulation regarding alleged ‘depopulation’ from Tirah Valley on orders of the army,” it was obviously an attempt to disassociate the army from its complicity. Similarly, the claim that “These assertions are baseless, malicious and driven by ulterior motives aimed at creating alarm among the public, disinformation against security forces and furthering vested political interests,” is to portray the Army as a victim of ‘digital terrorism’.
And if Islamabad is indeed telling the truth, then why are the scores of distraught Tirah residents openly complaining of being forced out of their homes by the military? And what explains videos showing long rows of overloaded vehicles with civilians along with their personal belongings moving out of Tirah in a disorderly manner? Furthermore, if no evacuation of people from Tirah is being considered, then why has the civil administration [as per its own admission] earmarked funds for compensating people who leave?
The last time one heard a similar sounding announcement to play down the Pakistan army’s abject failure to perform its constitutional duties was in 2022 when ISPR issued a statement that "During the past few days, a misperception about the alleged presence of large number of proscribed organisation TTP’s armed members in Swat Valley has been created on social media." It further stated that “After confirmation on ground, these reports have been found to be grossly exaggerated and misleading.” Though its false assertion was exposed within just a matter of months, Rawalpindi remained unfazed.
Tirah has been “depopulated” a number of times in the past by the Pakistan army and there’s no doubt that the same is now being attempted once again. However, to escape public and political backlash, Rawalpindi is trying to portray the enforced exodus of Tirah residents as being voluntary.
Going by past experience, it’s absolutely clear that this extreme measure will not help the Pakistan army in decisively defeating TTP, because once Tirah is vacated, how can anyone expect that TTP militants would stay put there? Hence, Rawalpindi needs to seriously introspect on Senator Achakzai’s “Is it not terrorism to force people out of their homes” poser?

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