PAK ARMY USING CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST PASHTUNS

The Pakistan military has been using its ‘war on terror’ to bombard its restive regions that are seeking independence. Pashtuns are demanding a free Pashtunistan. Pak senators question protection given to Masood Azhar

For Jamshed ( name changed) and his family members, Waziristan is their home that ceased to be their safe haven. After developing severe blisters on their skin, Jamshed, along with his family members, fled to Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as IDPs (Internally Displaced People). It was only when the doctors in Bannu examined the raw wounds and blisters that they realised that these had been caused by chemical weapons used by the Pakistan army on the civilian population of Waziristan.

According to the sources who provided the photographs of Jamshed’s family members to this newspaper, the Pakistan army is indiscriminately using chemical weapons in Waziristan and in certain areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, both areas dominated by Pashtuns— apart from Balochistan. Until recently, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa acted as a rescue point for IDPs escaping the Pakistan army’s so-called war on terror in Waziristan and surrounding areas. The Pak military has been using the “war on terror” to bombard its restive regions that are seeking independence from Pakistan. Pakhtuns— more commonly known as Pashtuns—have been demanding a free Pashtunistan, which would primarily comprise FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to activists, this region has become increas- ingly restive as Pakistan has made it its military backyard. In Balochistan, Baloch activists too have alleged that the Pakistan army has been poisoning their water supply and using poison gas on the civilian population.

A source close to Jamshed’s family said, “Pakistani aircraft use chemical weapons and cause all the suffering you see in the photographs. When Waziristan is bombed, people go to Khost, Paktia and Paktika in neighbouring Afghanistan, while some other people get internally displaced to different districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Karak. They are not allowed by the Pakistan army and the government to live with their relatives in Panjab. The Pakistan army even threatens the people who accommodate IDPs in their houses in Peshawar and other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.” Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Karak are remoter than the easily accessible Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the different districts of Panjab.

Jamshed’s family fell victim to Pakistan’s chemical weapons around February last year. “There were other victims as well. But Jamshed’s family managed to flee Waziristan and reach adjacent Bannu as IDPs. When doctors in Bannu understood the situation, the information reached the local social media where people started a fundraising campaign for Jamshed’s family. But since the medium of communication was Pashto, the cam- Pakistani senators have objected to the continued protection being given by the Pakistani state to Jaishe-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, the prime accused in the attacks on India’s Parliament and the Pathankot base of the Indian Army, even though China has been repeatedly protecting and supporting the terrorist mastermind on international fora on Pakistan’s behest,

In the first week of January, the Pakistan Senate Committee on Human Rights criticised the Nawaz Sharif led government for “letting banned militants’ organization operate” in Pakistan.

The 13-member committee, which has members