Two faces of Pakhtun Land

 Hayatabad and Landi Kotal - Worlds apart

Tarique Khan Javed

President, Overseas Pakistani Investors Forum

Dated: 29^th March 2012

Hayatabad one face of the Pakhtun Land:

Hayatabad, one of the suburbs of Peshawar, is so beautiful, that I had a strong urge to buy a property there and settle down.  At the foot of large mountain it is a Modern Real Estate development, comparable to any high standard development, anywhere in the World. It has very broad roads, Parks, Shopping Area, Mosques. Naturally green locality has been decorated with artistically designed landscaping. Flowers of many kinds grow naturally here; on top of it rows and rows of flower bed have been planted. Number of streams passes the development giving a very pleasant view and freshness to the atmosphere.

Residents, all well dressed and fashionable, have given lot of attention in making their houses impressive. Houses big and small are decorated delicately. Making the entire development a master piece. Special attention has been placed on landscaping inside and outside the houses. Tall pillars and extending upper ceiling covering the veranda and parking space, seems to be the choice of most owners of larger plots.

Ladies without Burqa, just being modest with their shalwar kamiz and Doppata are common sight. They are seen traveling alone to schools and shopping malls. This is one picture of Pakhtun Land.

Elaqa Ghair- another face of Pakhtun Land:

Next to Hayatabad is the Industrial Area of Peshawar, having good number of simple processing industries like Paint, Steel re-rolling mills, Plastic extrusion Plants etc. Its attached market known as the “Karkhano Bazaar” is the end of Peshawar. Beyond that it is all Elaqa Ghair of Khyber Agency, till you reach Afghan Border at Thorkham some 80 km away.

A life less, brown, barren land escape greets you as you enter Elaqa Ghair. Its lawlessness is signified by the large ill legal markets which start at the entrance. These markets sell all kind of things smuggled from Afghanistan, where maximum import tariff is 5 pc. The market shamelessly sells imported and Pakistani Alcohol, Opium, Heroin and Chars without any constrain. They even have Bars in the Area.

Jamrud and Khyber Gate:
Next came the famed Jumrud Town with its Khyber Gate. From this point the bad quality and dusty road starts to clime. The winding road full of traffic, passes besides small villages-which all look the same. They all have stone and mud houses. They all have one colour - Brown. No tree or greenery can be seen anywhere. The river far below was all dry and groups of young girls could be seen carrying water buckets on their head, doing a balancing act. I saw few schools, but number of Madarsas could be seen.

The road till Thorkham is in very bad shape. The thousand of trucks using this vital pass to reach Afghanistan; have to bear heavy losses negotiating this poor quality road, even by Pakistani standards.

Ali Mosque- the narrowest point :

From Jumrud to Ali Mosque the climb is very difficult and trucks struggle to reach the top at very slow speed. The road to Landi Kotal passes over large mountain barriers and is very inefficient means of transport. While passing this terrible road, I recalled my travel through similar mountain pass of BARA between KOHAT and PASHWAR, with its very long tunnel and excellent roads. Why such road and tunnels can be built on this much more commercially important International road?

Thorkham-the loose border:
Journey upto Thorkham was equally painful. On reaching Thorkham one is confronted by chaos and mis management all around. Lines of miles long trucks cuing to reach the border can be seen. At the border itself people were crossing International border on foot without any organized checks. Local militias check ID randomly and let people pass after exchange of some money. I could not see proper Passport Control or FIA Office. The traffic jam near the border meant cars and buses passing had to wait for hours.

The trucks going from Pakistan carried all kind of Agri goods like meat, vegetables etc. while most trucks coming from Afghanistan carried bags of Coal and scrape steel.

A co passenger in the car in which brought me back to Peshawar was a young UZBUK with no documents and managed to reach Hayatabad without any problem. A smart looking police man stopped him on the bridge leading to Peshawar. He reacted violently when the Driver tried to bribe him with Rs 100. However Rs 500 was enough to make him forget his duty and let the young man reach Peshawar.

Illegal activities and Islamic parties:

Most cars and other vehicles used within the Agency are reportedly stolen cars.

Jamaat e Islami appeared to the party of choice of the Area as I did not see any other party flag. It is funny that an Area with influence of a Religious party has so many activities going on which are completely banned in Islam. Open selling of alcohol, NASWAR, Chars, driving stolen cars and wide spread homo sexuality is not objected by such parties in order not to loose support. In South Waziristan I observed the same thing, where JUI is the only party.

Marginalized tribes:

If given a choice which person will choose Landi Kotal over Hayatabad?
Why some one will prefer to live in Khyber or Waziristan? I bet no one will!

Than the question is how did some 6 million Pakistani end up being struck in FATA?

The answer lies in the fact that only weaker, less organized tribes were pushed into such wilderness. The stronger, better organized tribes like Yusufzia, Mohammadzia took away all the good lands and sealed the Area. Tribes like Afridi, Shinwaries, Mahsud, Wazirs were confined to the respective barren mountain tracks with little water and agricultural land. They were kept illiterate and backward by design. They were not given jobs in Security forces by citing their rebellious behavior. They were portrayed as unreliable servants, compulsive thieves, murderers etc. Without modern Education it was easy for parties like JUI and JI or the Mullah Class in general to get a foothold in the Area and establish Taliban style governments. They use the Agency power to discourage dissent and force people to live as per their dictate and not demand any change. All this has perpetuated backwardness in the Area upto now.

Modern State’s responsibility:

Pakistan a Modern State, a Nuclear power having sixth largest Army in the World, set to emerge as a significant Economic power also can not afford to continue the status quo in FATA. The poor, simple, malnutrition, ill educated people of FATA need to be rescued and helped. They need to be brought in the main stream of Pakistan. The Agencies should be abolished and each Agency may be given the status of a District of KP. Political parties should enter the Area and educate people and give them choices, they never had.

Our forces are already in these Areas and thus eliminating the remaining War Lords should not be impossible. These War Lords are the only beneficiaries of the Status Quo. While every common resident of these areas, is a looser. Religious class and Parties support the War Lords by preaching that Status Qua is good and thus should not be disturbed. Parties like ANP are not allowed in; as they will bring BAACH KHAN's message of Education for all, including Women. PPP is feared for its socialistic and secular policies and image of Benazir which inspires Women of Pakistan to demand equal rights. The set back in Tank where Mr. Kundi of PPP, defeated Mullana Fazul Rahman of JUI has sent a clear message to these parties that Younger generation will choice parties like PPP and ANP over them if given a choice. Thus they are trying their best to keep these parties out of their FORTE, as long as they can. Their repeated call for stopping Military action and withdrawal of troops from FATA, is meant to maintain the Status quo. However this would not be fair for the common residents of the AREA as well as the thousands of our soldiers, who have died since 2004 trying to enter the AREA. Now that we have captured all strategic high points and entry and exit points, we should not be naive and pull back. We should stay put and eliminate militants and absorb the entire AREA into Pakistan proper. FC laws should end along with Political Agents and each Agency converted to a District of KP. Leaving the poor residents of FATA at the mercy of local and foreign War Lords is an unacceptable option and should not be considered. The mistake made in 1947 should be corrected now.

Let us work to make Landi Kotal a Hayatabad of future.

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