Bashir Bilour: the lion slain

Bashir Bilour: the lion slain

By Dr Mohammad Taqi

December 23,2012

The Awami National Party (ANP) has lost one of its bravest leaders. Senior provincial minister of the Khyber-Pukhtunkha Bashir Ahmed Bilour was martyred this past weekend. One of his party colleagues and a fellow Peshawari said: the lion of Peshawar has been slain.

Bashir Ahmed was born on August 1, 1943 in the walled city of Peshawar in mohallah Hodah inside the old Ganj gate to Bilour Din sahib. He came from the prominent business and trader family of Peshawar called the Kalals. To my generation he was Bashir Lala, or the elder brother , but to his peers and most of the common Peshawaris he just remained Bashir jan - the dear Bashir. The bereaving Peshwaris are lamenting: Bashir jan tannay barri zidyadti keeti aiy - this is not fair Bashir jan!

My first recollection of the politician Bashir Lala is from a 1977 election poster, when I believe he was contesting a provincial assembly seat on the National Democratic Party (NDP)/Pakistan National Alliance candidate. The PNA ended up boycotting the provincial elections. But Bashir Lala and his older brothers Haji Ghulam Ahmed and Ilyas Ahmed, presently a federal minister and senator, respectively, had joined the National Awami Party (NAP) -and by extension the Pashtun nationalist movement- somewhere in the early 1970s. His younger brother Aziz Bilour remained in civil service and never did join politics though there came times that all four brothers were imprisoned by the government of the time for their political affiliation. The NAP was banned and disbanded but Bashir Lala and his family remained committed to Baacha Khan and Wali Khan's political thought. The ANP was formed in 1986 after the merger of the NDP, Mazdoor Kissan Party, Awami Tehrik and Pakistan National Party. Bashir Lala was to later become the provincial president of the ANP.

Today Bashir Lala is remembered for the five consecutive elections he won. I saw him at his finest after his first election and the first and only election defeat in 1988. He was as gracious in defeat as he was in his five wins. The ANP morale was down as it was routed in the 1988 polls in Peshwar valley. That is where the work horse Bashir Lala came into picture. He crisscrossed Peshawar alleys to reach out, support and encourage the party cadres.  If his oldest brother had the social suave to reach out to the Peshawar families it was Bashir Lala's political muscle that held together the ANP election machine in Peshawar from the non-party-based local bodies election of the 1980s to a thumping victory in the 1990 general elections. Peshawar city has traditionally been a stronghold of the assorted Muslim Leagues and then the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Having lost his first election to Syed Ayub Shah of the PPP,Bashir Lala was truly the architect of the Pashtun nationalists finally wrestling away Peshawar from the League and the PPP. While deeply inspired by Wali Khan he was an extremely effective traditional politician who understood the complexities of a large city and the problems of its people. He reached across language and sectarian barriers and stood up for his constituents regardless of the party affiliation. But he was one of the few leaders who were readily accessible to party workers whenever they needed him.

When the ANP secured a majority in the 2008 provincial elections he was one of the front runners for the chief ministership. Some Peshawaris complain that if he was not a Hindko speaker he may have secured the top slot. But Bashir Lala was not only above the parochial divisions and very secular in outlook personally but he was also a very pragmatic politician and not an ideologue in any sense. Not an ideologue till perhaps an ideology of hate befell his city and the province. He became ideologically committed to fight the obscurantists with whatever, whenever and wherever it took. If Mian Iftikhar Hussain is the face of the anti-Taliban ANP Bashir Lala was its soul. In a country bogged down by confusion over what to do about the Taliban menace his was a clear vision and message: fight and trounce them for their thought and savage means are incompatible with anything modern.

Lately we have heard the Pakistani security establishment ostensibly lamenting that the civilians do not show leadership against terrorism. Bashir Lala was a civilian politician who lead from the front knowing full well that it would cost him his life. He had told his wife, the daughter of the Peshawari steel magnate the late Gul Muhammad Khan, that if my dead body has wounds on the back, you must not see my face. But as we know he took the bomb shrapnel on the chest. His brothers, his wife and his two sons,Usman and Haroon, along with his compadres in the ANP are proud of Bashir Lala. To me this is nothing new. Whether it was the bombings in Peshawar in the 1980s or the siege of the city's Shia in 1992 Bashir Lala would always be on the frontline. He would barge in with true grit and not leave till the job was done. He always did his part as he has done this time. But can his resolve and example be followed?  He is the last fallen along a perilous path on which Salmaan Taseer and indeed Benazir Bhutto were slain but would certainly not be the last one. While continuing to play footsie with its jihadist proxies the security establishment is passing the hot potato of decision making to the civilians as their cower under fear and political expediency.

Gunter Grass had noted somewhere that it is a crime to hope when there are no reasons for hope. I am not about to commit that crime. I really do not know what the fates have in store for Peshawar but RIP Bashir Lala, you will forever in the hearts of the Peshawaris wherever we are.

(The writer can be reached at mazdaki@me.com. He tweets @mazdaki) 

- originally published in the Daily Times, Pakistan

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf: TTP's Sinn Féin

http://bit.ly/GA8R5m

COMMENT : Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf: the TTP’s Sinn Féin — Dr Mohammad Taqi

 The original proposal to talk directly to the TTP yet again — despite its past history of signing and flouting scores of talks and agreements — is getting nowhere due to the continued jihadist terrorism 

Peshawar — one of the oldest living cities on earth — is the heart of the Pashtun lands from Kandahar to Khyber and the Qissa Khwani bazar is the heart of this city. My hapless city was stabbed through its very heart when the jihadist terror struck again this past weekend, leaving at least 40 dead — 17 from one family — and scores maimed. Site of this bombing, apparently carried out through a remote-controlled device, is barely a mile from the All Saints Church where 100 Christians were martyred just days ago. It is but a few furlongs from where the lion of Peshawar, Bashir Ahmed Bilour, was slain in another bombing. The upright police officers Malik Sa’ad and Khan Raziq were martyred in a bombing not too far from this spot. Well, yet another sorrowful chapter has been added to the endless tale of blood and tears that the Qissa Khwani — the storytellers’ — bazar has been telling for years now. But as the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa bleeds and grieves, its ruling party the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has a different story to tell and a heinous theory to sell.

The PTI spokespersons claim that the recent string of terrorist atrocities has not been committed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). They blame unknown foreign elements for unleashing this dance of death on the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province to undermine the so-called peace talks that the PTI champions. They assert that there are ‘fake’ Taliban within the TTP who have been put up to this by the Afghan-US-Indo-Zionist combine. They even discard the vicious Mullah ‘FM Radio’ Fazlullah’s own admission that he ordered the hit against the martyred General Sanaullah Khan Niazi, claiming that Fazlullah is not ‘TTP proper’. PTI’s Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has blamed even the media for somehow triggering the bombings! Another absolutely rubbish idea peddled by the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa’s Information Minister Shah Farman is that the present mayhem in that province is somehow related to the bombings that took place there in the 1970s-80s and were blamed on the nationalist and communist governments of Afghanistan then. Never mind the political context then and now and that just the recent church bombing killed more people than all explosions of the 1970-80s put together.

Not to be outdone by his lieutenants, the PTI chief Imran Khan demanded the TTP be allowed to open its office in mainland Pakistan to conduct talks. Implied in this demand is some form of immunity for at least those TTP members who would run this shop. While some in the PTI disowned Mr Khan’s outrageous demand and comparison to the Afghan Taliban’s office in Qatar — note that it was not in Kabul or Kandahar — most of his party stood by him. The PTI’s vigorous defence of the brutal and criminal TTP, absolving it of any fault, makes the PTI look like the political face of the jihadist outfit and Mr Khan its opening batsman. The original proposal to talk directly to the TTP yet again — despite its past history of signing and flouting scores of talks and agreements — is getting nowhere due to the continued jihadist terrorism. The recent All Parties Conference (APC) declaration, which had disastrously elevated the TTP to the ‘stake holder’ level, is virtually dead now. It may be time for the Pakistani state to negotiate with the PTI not the TTP.

The PTI is particularly fond of citing the British handling of the IRA insurgency as a template for talks with the TTP. The fact is that British did not directly negotiate with the IRA but with its political wing Sinn Féin. While there is nothing common between the savages of TTP and a modern nationalist IRA, in Mr Khan and the PTI, Hakeemullah Mehsud may still have found his Sinn Féin. Let the PTI make clear the nuts and bolts of what it is demanding on behalf of the TTP. The PTI leaders are already putting up a grotesque defence of the TTP’s brutalities daily; let them now serve officially as the banned outfit’s emissaries and guarantors. It would also obviate the need for a TTP office.

The fact is that the PTI is providing the TTP prized ideological and political space as well as a tremendous amount of time to hone their machetes. Mr Khan and his confidants are actually mainstreaming a savage group that rejects the Pakistani state and its constitution and anything that is modern. Mark my words, the TTP is no Provisional IRA; it will eventually go after even Mr Khan when they have no use left for him. For now he is serving them well by muddying the waters enough to delay any operation against them. The TTP has no intention to enter a meaningful dialogue, not now, not ever. If the TTP were to accept Mr Nawaz Sharif’s naively stated conditions of dropping their guns and upholding the constitution before the talks, there would be no need for talks at all — as the TTP spokesman has already pointed out. But Mr Sharif seems quite content so long as the terrorist pyres burn down the Pashtun homes while the Punjab — his home province — is safe. Using the Pashtun lands as a buffer is neither new nor a foolproof policy and Mr Sharif will discover that soon — most likely in his present term.

Both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and PTI invoke their recent electoral mandate to deliver peace as the carte blanche to give the TTP whatever they wish. They cannot be more wrong. These parties won an election not a referendum to pawn away the Pashtun lands to whomever they wish. The APC declaration is at best a political statement, not a constitutional one. It is not worth the paper it is written on, no matter what Mr Khan says. The APC declaration’s only significance now is that Mr Khan is using it to delay or thwart any military action against the TTP. The TTP may have the guns but it is their political face — the PTI — that is holding the Pakistani state hostage. This paralysis of the state, however, is untenable and must be upended with a robust action against the terrorist TTP and its affiliates. The Pakistan army has said that it can inflict a befitting response on the terrorists. It is time perhaps to take the army up on its word. The venue to chalk out course of such action must be the parliament, where the TTP’s Sinn Féin is represented too, not another APC.

The writer can be reached at mazdaki@me.com and he tweets @mazdaki

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

وزیر چنیں  از  ن م راشد 

تو جب سات سو آٹھویں رات آئی
تو کہنے لگی شہرزاد
اے جواں بخت ایران میں ایک رہتا تھا نائی
وہ نائی تو تھا ہی
مگر اس کو بخشا تھا قدرت نے ایک اور نادر گراں تر ہنر بھی
کہ جب بھی
کسی مردِ دانا کا ذہن ذہنِ رسا زنگ آلود ہونے کو آتا
تو نائی کو جا کر دکھاتا
کہ نائی دماغوں کا مشہور ماہر تھا
وہ کاسہء سر سے انکو الگ کر کے
ان کی سب الائشیں پاک کر کے
پھر اپنی جگہ پر لگانے کے فن میں تھا کامل
خدا کا یہ کرنا ہوا کہ ایک دن اس کی دکان سے ایران کا ایک وزیر کہن سال گزرا
اس نے بھی چاہا
کہ وہ بھی ذرا اپنے الجھے ہوئے ذہن کی از سر نو صفائی کرا لے
کیا کاسہء سر کو نائی نے خالی
ابھی وہ اسے صاف کرنے لگا تھا
کہ ناگاہ آ کر کہا ایک خوجہ سرا نے
"میں بھیجا گیا ہوں جنابِ وزارت پناہ کو بلانے"
وہ اس پر سراسیمہ ہو کر جو اٹھا وزیر ایک دم
رہ گیا پاس دلاک کے مغز اسکا
وہ بے مغز سر لے کے دربار سلطاں میں پہنچا
مگر دوسرے روز
جو اس نے نائی سے تقاضا کیا تو وہ کہنے لگا "حیف!
کل شب پڑوسی کی بلی جناب وزارت پناہ کے دماغِ فلک تاز کو کھا گئی ہے!"
اور اب حکمَ سرکار ہو تو کسی اور حیوان کا مغز لے کر لگا دوں؟"
تو دلاک نے رکھ دیا دانیالِ زمانہ کے سر پر کسی بیل کا مغز لے کر
تو لوگوں نے دیکھا
جناب وزارت پناہ اب فراست میں
دانش میں
اور کاروبارِ وزارت میں
پہلے سے بھی چاک و چوبند تر ہو گئے ہیں

Zia-ul-Haq Obituary by Anatol Lieven

The not so vindictive Zia