The assassination of Arif Wazir: The fight will continue!
lis-isl.org
By Sher Wazir
On Friday 1 of May, Arif Wazir, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was shot three times by unknown assailants near his home in Wanna, Waziristan. He was seriously injured and taken to a local hospital.. He was then transferred to Dera Ismail Khan and then to Islamabad PIMS hospital for treatment.. Unfortunately, succumbed to his injuries the next day. Arif Wazir hails from the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe of Wana, Waziristan. He was the first cousin of Comrade Ali Wazir, the main leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, Marxist and Pakistani Member of Parliament.
According to the sources, Arif was the 18th member of his extended family to be killed by terrorists known locally as the "good Taliban." (how ordinary people refer to the taliban factions supported by the Pakistani state). In 2007, seven members of his family, including his father Saadullah Jan and uncle Mirza Alam (Ali Wazir's father) were killed in a clash with Taliban terrorists. In april 2017 was arrested after a demonstration he led against the unavailability of internet services in Wanna Waziristan.
When the PTM emerged in January 2018 against years of military operations and human rights violations in tribal areas, Arif gave him all his support. At a Wanna rally in March 2018, He said: “Pashtuns left their homes to allow the army to take action against the terrorists, but now they are treated as strangers at military checkpoints and are not even allowed to own houses and property”. He was later arrested under the Border Crimes Regulations (FCR) for organizing a demonstration. He 3 June 2018, pro-government Taliban groups attacked Ali Wazir, Arif Wazir and PTM supporters in Wanna. Arif Wazir and dozens of other PTM supporters were injured.
After the FATA merger (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) with the neighboring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, elections for the provincial assembly were announced. Arif Wazir also ran in the elections for the KP-114 district. Nevertheless, one month before the election, was arrested and was unable to campaign properly. He was later released on the order of the Pakistan Election Commission.. Despite such obstacles, meeting 10,272 votes against 11,114 of the PTI candidate, Naseerullah Wazir.
Since the appearance of the PTM, Arif Wazir has been regularly arrested and put behind bars, so much so that in the last two years he had spent 15 months of his life in different jails. He became one of the movement's most revered leaders, with Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Pashteen. The movement exposed the realities of the so-called military operations carried out in the FATA region.. It was revealed that the true purpose behind years of military operations was not to eliminate terrorists and Taliban, but to eliminate rogue Taliban factions and install “good” Taliban in their place, as Pakistan has a long history of cultivating militant groups for its strategic objectives. Thousands of innocent people were killed, displaced and their property looted and destroyed. People were constantly harassed and humiliated at security forces checkpoints. The “clear” areas (of “terrorists”) were handed over to pro-government Taliban militants who mercilessly attacked Ali Wazir and his comrades, and anyone who challenged his terrorist activities in the area.
The growth of the PTM is a manifestation of the deep national and ethnic deprivation and exploitation that prevails in Pakistan. Although the demands of this movement are limited to the release and appearance before the courts of "forcibly disappeared" people, compensation for destroyed property and an end to harassment and humiliation at checkpoints, the movement phenomenon went far beyond. The PTM has shaken large sections of Pashtun society, especially the youth.
The movement held massive demonstrations across the country that drew thousands of young people. Its shock wave went far beyond the traditional Pashtun enclaves and attracted other oppressed nationalities., working classes and young revolutionaries of other ethnicities and nationalities. The high commands of state power were terrified of the immensity of the movement. They resorted to all kinds of slander against him, from labeling them as agents hired by foreign powers to branding them as terrorist sympathizers. Despite all these maneuvers, the movement energized a considerable number of young people across the country.
But not all movements can continue for an indefinite period of time.. Without a clear and viable program, supporters and workers of the movement are disoriented. The movement begins to wane. The ruling classes retreat from the initial shock and strike back. Last year, an outstanding PTM leader, Arman Luni, was killed on Loralai, Balochistan during a fight with the local police. Both parliamentarians of the movement, Ali Wazir y Mohsin Dawar, were arrested on trumped-up terrorism charges and jailed for three months. In January of this year, movement leader Manzoor Pashteen was also arrested. And now the latest provocation is the assassination of Arif Wazir!! The assassination of Arif Wazir is a clear act of provocation by the ruling elite. They want to incite the Pashtun youth to acts of adventurism that would provide the rulers with a useful excuse to crush the movement physically and politically.. The direction of movement should not lose its cool. They have to tell their friends from their enemies.. They must know that their true friends are the oppressed classes of this earth and not the rulers of any country.. They have to trust in the revolutionary potential of the oppressed working masses. Only a collective movement of all the oppressed masses can put an end to this bloody carnage..
