Jani Khel Incident

 Jani Khel Incident and the plight of oppressed

Credits: Reuters

25^th March 2021

Location: Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa City Bannu Town Jani Khel

4 coffins laying on the land. The land, which gave them nothing. Not even basic human rights. Drops of rain pouring from the sky. People have staged a sit-in in the hope of getting justice. This hope of theirs has probably reached a new low, even if it hasn’t completely vanished. The hope of getting justice. The hope of an end to good and bad Taliban. The hope of putting our own house in order. The hope when people from depressed classes are given their due rights. The hope when all classes of the society can live equally without any discrimination. Or the hope that they can just live.

On 20^th March, mutilated dead bodies of 4 Pakhtun minors were found in Jani Khel Bannu. One butchered, the other one shot dead, while the other two were stoned to death. Their ages 13 to 17. Their mistake, none on the ground (but maybe they belong to an area where human blood has gotten so cheap that nobody in the country cares for them). According to their family, they left to hunt prey, little did they know that they would fall prey to someone. And 27 days later, their dead bodies would be discovered by a kennel of dogs. After this discovery, Jani Khel qoum decided to stage a sit-in unless and until their demands are met. Their demands included action against an official in whose jurisdiction the incident took place, an end to terrorism mainly through a ban on display of arms and announcement of Shuhada package for the families of deceased. The government only accepted their last demand. Due to which they decided to move towards Islamabad to record their protest. And guess what the government did? Instead of limiting the pain of the grieved, they made sure to add to it by blocking roads on their way, using tear gas, shelling, and beating them through sticks. (Keep in mind that this violated Article 15 of the constitution: Freedom to move)

While on the other side of the country, a parade was held. A parade to show the world that we are the best. Check one-two. We are the best. Milli naghmas. Goosebumps. About a billion rupees spent well. Little did we think about our brothers from The Eastern Belt who were butchered mercilessly. Who are protesting and the state has turned a deaf ear. And what to say of our Prime Minister, the man who  once used to give examples of Riyasat-e-Madina doesn’t even know about the murder of these people or maybe he doesn’t want to know. On 23rd March, he tweeted about the vision of Hazrat Muhammad   (P-B-U-H); but alas he forgot to fulfil his duties as the head of the government and what to say of any action he didn't even issue a statement condemning these heinous acts, not even a mere tweet. The media, which he claims is freer than the UK's, is silent. On the other hand, the state machinery which comes under his leadership arrested PTM Chief Manzoor Pashteen and MNA Mohsin Dawar, the people who were leading the protests. It is interesting over here that Mohsin Dawar is a member of the standing committee on human rights. If he can't get his due rights, I don't know who else will? But in the end, the government did what they should have done before, i.e accepted their demands so no sit-in would have taken place. The agreement includes:

1.       The government would take action against all terror groups in the area and take into custody all legal arms.

2.      The due process of law against the people of Jani Khel who are in the custody of law enforcement agencies be speeded up and completed in 3 months.

3.      The matter be investigated purely on merit and culprits will be made to face the brunt of the law.

4.      Jani Khel Qoum wants to meet high officials to discuss their problems. Necessary actions be taken to arrange this meeting.

5.       Shuhada package be given to the families of deceased.

 

This incident has raised so many questions. Why is the state failing to protect its citizens despite claiming time and again that it has won the war on terror? How are such nefarious crimes possible in a heavily militarized zone? Why did it take 5 days for the CM to take notice? Why is the media completely silent on this? Or has the price of Pashtun blood fallen so low that nobody cares about them? Or are they second class citizens? Or after some years someone will just call the loss of these lives collateral damage in an international show? And at the end most importantly who is to be blamed for this?

But the message is clear, we don’t care about you. You can die, you can be butchered, you can rot in hell or even worse than that, we simply don’t care.

Image Credits: Reuters