Raza Khan’s disappearance, like that of Zeenat Shehzadi earlier, is part of a new phase of such illegal abductions in Pakistan, violating due process and rule of law. Targeting young people from ordinary backgrounds, without social capital or networks, signals the miltablishment’s growing desperation to control the narrative on the military, religion and India, I argue in this opinion piece for the Washington Post: In Pakistan, promoting peace with India can be bad for your health — and freedom (Dec. 22, 2017; updated text below). Since then, a journalist covering this issue narrowly escaped an abduction attempt in Islamabad, and another journalist was picked up and beaten in Karachi, then released.
Zeenat Shehzadi styled herself as a lawyer and journalist. She captioned this photo as “Quaid, and Quaid ki beti” (Quaid, and Quaid’s daughter). Photo: Facebook
I first heard of Raza Mahmood Khan when he went missing on Dec. 2. He has not been heard from since.
His case has many similarities to that of Zeenat Shahzadi, who disappeared in August 2015. Her recovery in October this year was cause for jubilation — but not for long. She has yet to be brought before a judge or get her statement recorded. Authorities are tight-lipped about her whereabouts, and frightened family members will only say she is being treated at a medical facility.
Their apparent crimes? Working for improved relations with India. There is a political consensus in Pakistan for this goal that many political and social activists, writers, journalists, artists, and others openly support.
What makes Khan and Shahzadi vulnerable is that they do not operate from positions of privilege or as part of larger networks.
Both were picked up in bustling Lahore, capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. Khan was taken from his rented room, Shahzadi from a bus stop. Both from humble, rural backgrounds, they were the first in their families to attend college. Although active on social media, their posts were innocuous. But their views of India — which they saw not as an enemy but as a neighbor with fellow humans and similar problems — ran contrary to Pakistan’s dominant ideological-security narrative.
These young people with no social capital or strong support systems apparently pose a bigger security threat than the organizations that openly support militants, have a huge online presence and go door to door handing out periodicals advocating and glorifying violent jihad against India.
Pakistan is fighting the Taliban on the western border militarily and conducting ideological warfare through slick music videos, feature films and armies of social media trolls.
January, 2017: Demonstration in Peshawar calling for the recovery of the missing activists and rule of law. Photo from an activist.
Social media, providing a digital window to the outside world and a platform for wider viewership, is, in fact, a new battleground. In January, five social media activists went missing. Released after a few weeks, three fled abroad and have spoken of the torture they endured. Their accounts give rise to fears for Khan’s life. A fourth, still in Pakistan, has maintained silence, which is the pattern for other recovered missing persons. The fifth remains missing.
Pakistan’s security establishment says its military tactics are succeeding. But the gains are short-term. Along the line, casualties of war include due process and rule of law, with killings and enforced disappearances on the rise.
The state must charge, try and prosecute criminal actions, regardless of who is behind them or whom they target.
What religious militants, nationalists and peace activists have in common is that they challenge — although from different perspectives and through different means — Pakistan’s dominant ideological-security state narrative.
Shahzadi and Khan symbolize how peace has been mainstreamed beyond intellectual circles. One major factor behind this phenomenon is the 2010 launch of Aman Ki Asha (“Hope for Peace”), a platform for people-to-people dialogue started by Pakistan’s largest media group and its Indian counterpart. (I work editorially with Aman Ki Asha.)
http://www.fb.com/peace — screenshot, Dec. 26, 2017
Another factor is the rise of social media. Access to other perspectives and to different versions of history and politics builds bridges — even with “the enemy.” The number of new friendships formed daily on Facebookbetween India and Pakistan averages more than 2.5 million.
All this has a ripple effect. Social media users are more connected and visible. And this makes them more vulnerable.
When she went missing, Shahzadi had been working on the case of a young Indian, Hamid Ansari, who went missing in Pakistan in November 2012. Obtaining power of attorney from Ansari’s mother in Mumbai, she pursued the case with Pakistan’s judicial Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. Her efforts led to the commission’s unprecedented inclusion of an Indian national, Ansari, on its roster.
Pakistan denied any knowledge of Ansari’s whereabouts until January 2016. Security agencies finally admitted he was in their custody, and they produced him before a military court that sentenced him to three years in prison for espionage.
The commission is hearing the cases of more than 1,400 missing persons, mostly from the restive province of Balochistan. Baloch students have recently even gone missing from Karachi University. Ironic that Khan and Shahzadi, who spoke up for missing people, have been disappeared.
The security state has long targeted progressive Pakistani politicians, poets, journalists and activists. Twin accusations of blasphemy and treason have become an additional silencing tool; both can spark lone-wolf attacks, such as those that killed Punjab governor Salman Taseerand young social entrepreneur Sabeen Mahmud. The mob lynching of journalism student Mashal Khan at a university campus is part of the same pattern.
What’s new is the targeting of peace activists from ordinary backgrounds. The phenomenon signals a growing desperation to control the narrative on the military, religion and India.
This is not just about Raza Khan. It is also about reclaiming spaces for a more pluralistic, inclusive discourse of peace. The story reverberates beyond Pakistan to other areas where such tactics are used to silence dissent.
Missing activist Raza Khan’s friends started a Find Raza Facebook page. A twitter campaign uses the hashtags #FindRaza and #BringBackRaza.
Some relevant material below.
Tweet from Karachi-based journalist Umair Solangi, Dec. 19; translation: “There was a knock on the door. Outside were 15–20 Falah-e-Insaniyat (Serving Humanity) volunteers, going door to door distributing newspapers and magazines. They gave me a newspaper too”. Translation for highlighted headline: “Laskhar-e-Tayyaba attack on Indian army kills several Indian soldiers; 3 holy warriors martyred”
Former IG Police and head of anti-terrorism Tariq Khosa points to the “dark forces” behind disappearances like this one: A prison of our own making, Dawn.com, Dec. 23.
A close friend of Raza Khan writes about the kind of person he is. From all accounts, this is a man who should be getting recognition and awards for his selfless dedication and hard work, not detained and tortured (which is almost certainly what’s happening to him) — A prisoner of conscience, TNS, Dec. 23.
Brilliant piece pulling together a lot of connected strands: The unbearable cost of advocating peace — Raza Rumi in Daily Times, Dec 23
p.s. There’s clearly a lot of paranoia afoot. Pakistan shut down 27 NGOs in what activists see as widening crackdown — part of a periodic crackdown on NGOs. Many newspapers carried an abridged version; this is the complete report from Reuters. Ahmed Rashid explains why this move will strengthen extremist groups.
Not all bad news — lots more people speaking out, despite the dangers. And not that I support censorship but this guy really took the cake for false allegations of blasphemy and inciting violence — Pakistani Anchor Barred From Appearing on TV for Inciting Hatred — good report in VOA.
p.p. s. Speaking of paranoia, this piece by Gul Bukhari hits the spot: The insidious propaganda, 21 Jan. 2018.
(ENDS)
Filed under: 'War on terror', democratic political process, Freedom of expression, journalism, Pakistan-India, Peace | Tagged: #BringBackRaza, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, Activism, enforced disappearances, Fawad Hasan, India, journalist attacked, missing persons, Pakistan, Raza Khan, Taha Siddiqui |
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