A century coupled with a decade back the British Imperialist promulgated the blackest law in tribal areas of the subcontinent to gag the voice of freedom against the British Imperialism in the region.
The law imposed in the tribal areas was frontier crimes regulation (FCR), which deems collective- punishment allowable for a family, village or even a whole tribe for the crime of a single man.
It is obvious that for the British interests here in this region the freedom fighters, like Faqir Ipi of Waziristan, Ajab Khan Afridi and Multan Khan of Khyber Agency were the most dangerous men.
The entire British Army was hell-bent on their arrest and throttling the popular voice for freedom.
They imposed FCR; many freedom fighters were shot dead, many thrown into dungeons by plotting conspiracies against them, for here always has been an abundance of traitors like Meer Jaafar and Sheikh Pultoon.
His friends, who had earlier hatched a conspiracy with the Britishers against him, brought Multan Khan to Peshawar but the British soldiers could not arrest him alive and was shot dead.
As revenge his dead body was fettered and his grave enchained.
Recently his body was exhumed and handed over to his posteriors but no media organization gave coverage to this great hero of the subcontinent freedom movement. Why did British used this blackest law against the tribal is a question which is not that much nagging as why after independence the successor governments in Pakistan could not abrogate it?
Local political demagogues from FATA always have beguiled the tribal into casting votes for them but they never discussed the issue at parliament to destine their rustic subject of FATA with political freedom. On national level the much-awaited moment came at last when the prime minister of Pakistan, Yousuf Raza Gillani vowed that his government would abolish this inhuman law. Hearing this glad tiding most of the tribal, in particular who wish for a change in centuries-old eccentric tribalism, lauded his bold decision.
But he also could not budge a step or even an inch in abolishing this law and his declaration turned into mere lip service.
The British Raj is over now and so why this discriminatory law is still in use that has added much more to their sense of deprivation and social unrest.
Even now if it is abrogated and the tribal are given part in mainstream politics there would be no more Talibanization, anarchism and tumult in the area.
As it is, on the record, that such social plagues, have always been the harbingers of deprivation. So the tribal of course are going in Stone Age. If the establishment is sincere in curbing the current wave of social unrest and cataclysm then this is inevitable to revoke FCR and amend the tribal system.
Now they must not be scapegoat and called with these illusive titles as “the Gallant Pathans”, “Man of Hospitality” for it says almost nothing but sow a seed of monster in the Tribal psyche. Its time to keep them at the center of schemes, make them prosperous, not to alienate and deprive them, for if they are prosperous then beyond any doubt, Pakistan would be. The present-day-world where media rule, where there are civil societies, where masses are becoming aware of their rights, calls for the abolition of FCR, and the introduction of a lucrative system. That must be acceptable to the tribal of FATA. One is dazed to imagine the power of a political agent (the administrator of tribal agency).
This is noteworthy that the founder and first Governor General of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was not permitted by the Political Agent of Khyber Agency to visit Torkhum Border after the acquisition of Pakistan, then in such an area what would be the value of a common man. But he did go instead that and visited the border with out the permission of the uncrowned king of Khyber Agency. As absolute power makes absolute corruption so is the case of political administration in FATA. Then one can imagine the absolute power of a political agent. He had the authority not to allow a governor general into his area so how ruthlessly he might be using his power against a flock of his tribal who are totally unaware of their basic human rights.
On the other side of Torkhum border that Afghan Soldier was shot dead who shook hand with Jinnah for them Pakistan was a country still living under the bondage of British and Ali Jinnah a representative of a slave state. For me Jinnah was an emblem of political struggle and symbol of change. But the mishap indicates that the agents of staleness disdain any positive change.
Another tribal crossed the Torkhum border and kissed the land of Afghanistan, for him the land of Pakistan was still under the grip of servility.
Since then hundreds of changes have taken place across the globe but alas I don’t see any positive change in my beloved and native land.
In present day world, tribal are equally a part of the global village and must not be yoked under such a discriminatory law that is totally anti-Democratic and anti-Islamic.
Moreover if there is a smidgen of an inhuman deed so it comes under the assault of human rights organizations.
Pressmen also bring such plague spot under the beak of pen or eye of camera but up to the extent of dismay even a single journalist has not brought this issue under his pen or camera.
In a gossip with the political agent of Khyber, recently an English envoy sarcastically remarked at him that how much free and efficient nation you are, that still the administration has not unyoked the tribal of this draconian law, when he came to know that FCR is still in enforcement.
J-Spain in his travelogue “The Peshawar” also slaps at the inefficiency of the Legislature by writing that little has changed. Within a span of six years of crippled independence, the progressive poet and journalist Faiz Ahmed ‘Faiz’ wrote, in his poignant poem, “Subh-e-Azadi” (The Dawn of Independence): “This tainted light, this gloom-smothered dawn, is not the dawn we had hoped for… The dejected night still lies heavy upon us; the moment of liberation from bondage is yet to come…”
Faiz suffered for his candor, he lived behind the bars and he lived in exile but nothing could deter him of his struggle for freedom of speech and human rights.
Tough he was not a political leader but his candor stood him out in endowing his generation with a vision, a vision of democracy and progress after that his part of Pakistan (Lahore) groomed as the cultural citadel of Pakistan because of its open nature while contrary to it our part of Pakistan (FATA) went paralyzed and unnoticed.
His part of Pakistan has always produced rulers and lawmakers and my part of Pakistan, subjects, and a glut of ignorant. Now his Part of Pakistan can boast for all sorts of development and orgies and my part of Pakistan can boast for nothing but just for hollow traditionalism and an industry of Radicalism.
It is true that my part of the land also suffered the same afflictions for the acquisition of Pakistan as his part of the land.
It must hug peace and stability now in other words deteriorating FATA will yield such repercussions whereof there would be no escape.
What the country today is reaping in form of sectarianism, terrorism and other vicissitudes, are, all the outcome of this issue.
Now it is critically inescapable to introduce positives change and strive for a newer world that must be brimful of brotherhood and egalitarianism. For such a world we can dream in the words of Tennyson’s world-class famous poem “The Ulysses”, wherein he urges his friends thus:
“The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep sea moans round with many voices.
Come, my friends, Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”

The writer is a FATA-based freelance journalist.
He can be reached at rohail_journalist@hotmail.com

When it started using its senses and inner conscience, the age of cannibalism went out. In candling the path of humanity and endowing it with the sense of purity, equality and sympathy, religion also played a vital role. But in present-day-world where media and science rules, it is the use of religion (not religion itself) that is dragging the humanity back to the dark ages. That is all done for the great game of achieving economic ends.

For the economic ends and capitalist designs the dominant societies have started the use of value-laden language and the language of labeling. In this game the US has clinched the title of championship because its media is the ruling media.

It is a double-edged weapon, used on one hand for demonisng the downtrodden society as savage, uncivilised and terrorist, and on the other for raising the sense of jingoism–or in bitter words fascism among the members of the dominant society. This us-versus-them approach has spilled the blood of millions of millions people and divided the great humanity among the Blacks and Whites, the Occidentals and Orientals, the Christian and Jews, The Muslims and Hindus, the Jains and Buddhists and so on. In this division the religion played influential role in yore but in present it is the use of technology and economy that has brought fissures among the human communities.

With the means of communication no doubt the world entered into the age of globalisation. As the dominant nations are the owners of means of communication, so they used it skillfully in propaganda against anti-capitalist elements or the nations that are usually hapless. The use of propaganda in demonising the enemies has been a lethal and fatal weapon in every age. But the French Army under Napoleon used it for the first time used it very cunningly when it adopted the slogan, ” We–the French are fighting for the freedom of entire world.” King George (VIII) of England to this French military propaganda responded in such words, “some foreign forces are the enemies of our internal peace”. It was the first ever planned and deliberate attempt to mould public opinion for military adventurism.

During world war-2, Hitler of Germany also used propaganda against his enemies and called his nation as the first blood of the world. It was the difference of blood that compelled the Germans on the holocaust of the Jews.

German great propagandist and Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Paul Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany under Hitle, stressed the government should pay heed on propaganda so that it can win exertion on public opinion.

After world war-2, a great stress was given on propaganda in the US and Lord Harris was appointed the first Director of the US Institute for Propaganda Analysis. Since then the US has dominated the global political pulpit through the force of its propaganda. Though it is not a new phenomenon. For it has been used in almost all the human civilisations. But all the civilisations could not be embanked against the decline through the help of propaganda but contrary it led to the fall of those civilisations. And fell as steeply as a rolling rock crushing the followers of its own civilisation. Now the US has adopted the same path. It has initiated a great game of exploitation against the Muslims. It has so skillfully manipulated most of the people through the force of tools of communications that not only the westerners and the Americans but most of the Muslims believe that beard, toopi–a typical cap, waistcoat and traditional dress is the emblem of savagery, utter ignorance and denotes terrorism. The US must study the stories of the Roman Empire, the British Empire and so on. Where is their elegance and why did they hug the shores of decline and debacle.

When Roman Empire was in its heydays the Romans had at least 37 major military bases and other several hundreds erected around its dominions. It was all done in the same way as the present-day-world the US is doing. But now it is just a past history and a token for reckoning. When the British Empire reached its zenith it had more or less the same no of military bases across the world. The Muslims also witnessed its rise among the nations of the world and saw the downfall of its Caliphate. In India also it embraced the worse defeat at the hands of the British. And the same British Raj was destined with the drub through its former colony–the Egypt under the president Nasser Kamal. According to William Blum, who is a well-known author and critical writer says in one of his piece “the Suez fiasco not only destroyed Eden’s prime ministership, it also marked the end of British imperial ambitions”. All these civilisations considered themselves better than the others and widened the gulf between the human minds with the names of cast, tribe and nations approach. Don’t go so far back but just have a glance in the history of the USSR and its repressive policies.

The Soviet Union also bubbled and went out just in a span of 76-year. It invaded Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1989. At length its intervention in Afghanistan culminated at its fractures. And now the US has repeated the same blunder of attacking Afghanistan. And soon it will embrace the same fate as the then USSR had.

Though Russia the posterior of the then USSR once again is striving hard now to regain its past elegance but it is 2009 and the US has gored it to the extent that it will be hard enough to the role of the its predecessor.

The Nazi German and Napoleon France all rose to height but fall steeply and headlong. In all these vicissitudes the deviant and downtrodden societies have been exploited, blamed, tortured and considered inhuman through the hands of its’ own human species.

As the expansionist designs led to the fall of the former USSR now the US has started walking the same route.

The Pentagon has no less than 761 military bases and sites across this planet. But all this is a labyrinth of “us versus them” approach to keep its general masses in ignorance of its military adventurism and its capitalist imperial designs or global-policemanism. According to the Pentagon, it has even toady more than 123 bases only in Japan, at least 87 in South Korea and no less than 38 on the tiny island of Okinawa. The US defeat in Vietnam War in 1975 led to the loss of its huge military bases in South Vietnam. The war ended on the loss of three million Vietnamese and the US military adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan is still going on which has mowed down more than one million only in Iraq. It has stationed its military forces on the rich-oil-land of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Kosovo but under the garb of a Messiah and that too at the cost of their own expenses. The US has even today at least military bases in 130 different countries, which is a crystal clear proof of its quest for global hegemony. The war on terror is but a sub part of the Washington’s policy for global hegemony.

In this whole game of terror the US has excessively and successfully used the language of allegation. Especially the use of such language reached its high water mark after the incident of 9/11. Is it logical to call a handful of al-Qaeda, a major threat to the very existence and security of the US? The same US that is so arrogant on its military strength that has been thumping its chest for having the propensity to send its troops across the globe but to hear the words like, “they are out to crush us” of its mouth are more than ludicrous. That is the deadly lie of 21-century responsible for the loss and bloodshed of millions of Muslims around the globe.

The US has not waged war on terror but war for terror. The US under the rule of Mr. G.W Bush defaced America to the extent wherefrom it is difficult for her to make its way back. The persecutions it carried out on the detainees of the Gitmo are an inhuman smudge and a stigma on the forehead its so-called democratic face. The world including the US masses waited for the time to come and see the departure of this devilish man from the White House. It is the same house where the destiny of the small nations is written. After Iraq and Afghanistan now the destiny of FATA is underway.

The same FATA where you will see only the pale, wrinkled and poverty stricken faces of thousands of tribals. Where a single man has to feed 20-30 members of a family. Where there is no factory to work in. Does such a territory and its inhabitants are a major threat for the security and existence of the US–the world’s only superpower and rogue state? Surely no.