LAHORE: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s resolution condemning recent search operations meant to weed out terrorists and their facilitators but focused almost entirely on Afghan and Pakhtun communities in Punjab and other parts of the country has left the government scrambling to reject the label of ethnic profiling.

The KP Assembly unanimously adop­ted on Tuesday a resolution expressing annoyance and concern over the detention of Pakhtuns in Punjab, Kashmir and Sindh and demanded that the targeted action end as soon as possible.

The resolution came in the wake of search operations in Afghan and Pakh­tun localities by security agencies which have repeatedly claimed that they have proof that almost all culprits involved in the recent wave of terrorist attacks hailed from Afghanistan or from Pak­istan’s tribal agencies along the border.

CM announces joint committee to look into complaints of Pakhtun community

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has termed this ethnic profiling and warned that this would hurt the cause of Operation Raddul Fasaad, rather than aid it.

PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry told reporters that they would set up a complaint cell to provide legal and political aid to the victims, adding that his party opposed the policy of singling out Pakhtuns. He warned that this would sow seeds of hatred among various ethnicities and damage the objectives supposed to be achieved in the recently launched military operation.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party said that an anti-Pakhtun campaign was being launched in Punjab as the entire community had been labelled suspicious.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq went a step forward and announced that his party would convene a jirga in Lahore on March 3 to address the complaints and reservations of the Pakhtun community.

Sensing the repercussions of this outcry, the armed forces came to the fore to dispel the impression.

Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor told a TV channel that security agencies were conducting indiscriminate operations against terrorists across the country. He shared his fears that some enemies were behind the ‘conspiracy’ to create the impression that a certain community or a province was at the centre of the operations.

Fearing that this could also hurt their vote-bank, particularly in KP, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz swung into action.

Amir Muqam, adviser to the prime minister, dashed to Lahore on Tuesday, accompanied by local Pakhtun representatives, to meet Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. They later held two press conferences on the issue.

To allay their reservations, the chief minister announced forming a joint committee to look into the complaints of the Pakhtun community, with regard to operations in Punjab. He requested people to stop spreading hatred among various communities by creating the impression that a particular community was being targeted in the security agencies’ operations.

Speaking at a press conference with Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Mr Muqam criticised their political opponents, saying it was unbecoming of them to declare the search operations an act against a certain community. He said action against terrorists was under way across the country without discrimination on the basis of colour or race.

Admitting that search operations had caused innocent citizens much inconvenience, Mr Sanaullah said intelligence-based operations were a necessity and that terrorists could not be weeded out without these.

At another news conference in Shamnagar, one of Lahore’s Pakhtun-dominated localities, the PM’s adviser said security agencies must respect the dignity and respect of families during search operations.

He demanded that security personnel be accompanied by lady constables while entering homes and, where possible, a local representative in order to help avert misunderstanding(s) during the action. He also conceded to the residents’ demand that the person, whose biodata has been verified, should not be put through the same process repeatedly.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2017