ISLAMABAD: Human rights activist Asma Jahangir on Monday proposed that a new political party consisting exclusively of ‘traitors’ should be launched, since it had become fashionable to brand political leaders “disloyal”, “rebellious” or “renegade” for expressing their independent opinions.

“Why is every civilian in the country always a traitor? Scores of civilians have also laid down their lives by becoming victims of terrorism,” Ms Jahangir asked, adding that earlier former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his daughter Benazir Bhutto and Khan Abdul Wali Khan were dubbed traitors, and now Mehmood Khan Achakzai had been bracketed in the same way.

She was talking to reporters outside the Supreme Court after attending a demonstration outside Parlia­ment House against the attack on the Civil Hospital in Quetta on Aug 8.

During a speech in the National Assembly on Aug 9, the PkMAP chief had called for intelligence agencies to be held accountable for their failure to protect the lives of innocent people in Quetta. His remarks had drawn widespread condemnation from pro-establishment circles, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also strongly reacted to Mr Achakzai’s statement.

Laments that Baloch still can’t vent their anger for fear of reprisals

Ms Jahangir stressed that if voices coming out of parliament were gagged, things could never proceed in the right direction. “Now, the list of traitors is so long that a new political party should be introduced in the country,” she said, adding that apart from Imran Khan, everybody in this country was a traitor.

‘‘We should remember that whatever Mahmood Khan Achakzai said was said inside parliament, which enjoys a certain protection. But soon after his speech, a vicious campaign was initiated against him for questioning the role of the security agencies,’’ she deplored.

Why is it that whenever a ‘traitor’ predicts that Pakistan will become isolated in the region because of its bad policies, it turns out to be true after a decade or so, she asked.

‘‘Whatever situation the nation is in, even if India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is active in Balochistan, it is because of our defective foreign policy,’’ she said, adding that the country should learn from its past.

Sharing her experiences during a recent visit to Quetta after the suicide attack, she said: “I was deeply hurt when lawyers told me that since I was from Punjab, I would be able to speak out. But they, who have sacrificed their children to terrorism, cannot even open their mouths.”

She acknowledged that the armed forces and intelligence personnel had also laid down their lives in the war against terrorism, but then so did the civilians. “When we salute and show respect for the armed forces, do we ever demand the same for civilian victims, who sometime are not even compensated for their loss.”

The civilians accepted military courts to try terrorists with a heavy heart and even swallowed the bitter pill of draconian laws to deal with the deteriorating security situation, she said.

The responsibility for wiping out terrorism rests with those who established ‘jihad’ as an industry in the country, Ms Jahangir said, adding that no one could oppose development in the country and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project which would definitely bring prosperity.

But by framing lawyers, farmers, teachers or students in phony cases, the National Action Plan against terrorism could not succeed, she feared.

Political issues should be settled politically, she said, adding that when irresponsible statements were issued by the security agencies, such as the implication that the Quetta blast was an attempt to sabotage the CPEC, it only emboldened the terrorists.

She admitted that it would be wrong to equate the situation in Balochistan with that of India-held Kashmir where a foreign occupying force was present, but this was not the case in Balochistan even though human rights violations were also being committed there.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2016