“Charta Day Da Qaam Da Zrha Darmaan Charta Day
Sar Che Tray Na Zaar Kri Hagha Zwan Charta Day
Staso Janazo Kay Qatl-i-Aam Osho Kana?
Jabar Mo Pa Deen Dunya Da Qaam
Osho Kana?
Taso Ehtejaaj Oko?
Na
Walay?
Taso Kay Pakhto Charta Imaan Charta day”

(Who will bring solace to the aching heart of the people (Pakhtuns)
Do we have young-blood to sacrifice anything to save it (the people)
I ask you a question, weren’t your funerals blown up?
Was it not desecration of the people’s spiritual and physical existence?
Did you protest?
No.
Why?
Just because you have lost faith and the Pakhtun values)

PESHAWAR: “No”, as the audience grasped the meaning of verses instead of getting offended they shout out loud their failure for not speaking up when their lives were ravaged and rights were trampled.

It was almost a year ago that famous Pashto poet Prof Abaseen Yousafzai, teaching at Islamia College University, was reciting a poem entitled ‘Ehtejaaj” (protest) to a gathering in Swat when the valley was still healing from the ravages of conflict. The people, who were speechless in the beginning, were applauding as the poem left a lasting effect on them to speak up for their rights.

“I was surprised that I was cursing them for being cowards and not raising their voice for their rights and they agreed with me. “No” they said in unison accepting their fault,” recalls Prof Abaseen, who smiled with contentment when asked whether the recent protests in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had answered his “Paighor”-- a Pakhtun’s way of taunting someone to force him to restore his honour.

“Yes, it is an apt answer. I strongly believe one should protest when one’s rights are violated but it should be peaceful,” says the professor, whose poem “Ehtejaaj” repeatedly resounds with question “Taso Ehtejaaj Oko? Na. (Did you protest? No) and then the poem progresses with examples of those Pakhtun spiritual, political and clan leaders, who struggled in their own way in their times when they were pushed to the wall and there was no other option left but to protest as their very existence was threatened. He says that once again for more than a decade Pakhtuns were suffering due to conflict but no one raised voice against it.

“Pakhtuns never started a war. History tells us they fought only to defend themselves. However, in this age of technology and development ways of protest have changed. Now pen is a powerful tool. No one including Pakhtuns wants war,” says Prof Abaseen, who mentions how the Khudai Khidmatgar -- a non-violence movement spearheaded by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan lovingly known as Bacha Khan -- is alive and known till today and is reflective of peace-loving Pakhtun trait that has prevailed.

Prof Abaseen says he wrote the poem to create awareness among Pakhtuns about their rights as they were passing through hard times.

From attacks on houses, hujras, funerals and then disrespectful treatment of people on security checkposts to ridiculing Pakhtuns in a poetry session telecast by a national TV channel -- all forced the people to protest this treatment. He says it was natural that seeing death and displacement should have forced people to protest and demand the state for their protection and rights. He adds that a movement to demand civil rights and protection was a natural result.

It is not only Prof Abaseen but the social media handles of many academics, professionals and poets show them supporting a movement that has sprung as a consequence of militancy and military operations that violated the rights of people especially those living in tribal areas but Prof Hussain Shaheed Suhorwardi, coordinating a Fata research cell at University of Peshawar, is of the opinion that demands of the people heading the movement are genuine but the manner should be peaceful.

“It looked like a movement for civil rights in the start. Its spirit was non-political but some slogans raised later were political in nature and changed the entire meaning of the movement,” he says.

He even predicts a head-on collision with the state and some restrictions if the same manner is continued in near future but in the same breath he admits that demands or the agenda of the movement is genuine as there is no denying the fact that in the past tribal areas were criminally neglected and it was all outcome of this treatment.

From the poem “Ehtejaaj” written by a refined professor poet to a recent one entitled “Da Sanga Azaadi Da” (what kind of freedom it is?) written by a young poet from tribal areas, there was a message for people to demand their basic rights ensured in Constitution of Pakistan. Whether the state would listen to these spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings? All are waiting.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2018