A Closer Look At Bajaur Aman Pasoon: When Demands For Peace Hide A Crisis Of Credibility – OpEd
In recent weeks, Bajaur has once again found itself at the center of tribal mobilization, with slogans for peace, calls for justice, and large gatherings under the banner of “Aman Pasoon.” On the surface, such movements may seem rooted in legitimate concerns: the rise in target killings, community fear, and anger over a perceived lack of state presence in maintaining law and order. But when examined more carefully, against facts, past behavior, and regional context, this campaign reveals more than it admits.
It is not just a peace movement. It is a politicized platform that distorts facts, exploits tragedies, undermines institutions, and carefully aligns with a broader network of anti-state agitators who’ve long sought to poison the tribal mindset against the Pakistani state.
The tragedy of Maulana Khan Zeb’s assassination was real and deserves justice. The state’s responsibility is to investigate, prosecute, and prevent. But for some organizers of Aman Pasoon, it was not a time to grieve. It was an opportunity. Before investigations even began, statements emerged blaming the military, calling the constitution suspended, and demanding weapons in the hands of civilians in the name of self-defense.
This is not civil protest. It is a blueprint for parallel rule, one that mixes half-truths, aggressive threats, and tribal symbolism to push a dangerous message: the state cannot be trusted, and the tribes must govern themselves by force if needed.
The issue is not that locals demand security. Every Pakistani has that right. The issue is that the organizers of such movements are not merely locals. Many of them are serial agitators, previously aligned with platforms like PTM, those who repeatedly exploit grievances, romanticize rebellion, and reject any form of engagement with the state unless it serves their political relevance.
Let’s take the core claims made at Aman Pasoon at face value.
They say military operations are conducted without consultation. The truth is, no military operation has taken place in Bajaur in 2024–2025 that displaces civilians or imposes curfews. What is happening are intelligence-based operations, launched in response to threats from TTP-affiliated remnants that target the very communities now claiming to resist both militants and military alike. The contradiction is obvious: the movement blames the state for not protecting them while simultaneously rejecting the tools of security.
They say CCTV footage from recent incidents was removed at someone’s behest. No proof is offered. No context is provided. This is not oversight, it is the calculated spread of distrust and conspiracy, deliberately feeding an anti-state narrative.
They demand that all martyrs since 2005 be compensated under Islamic law, yet no such demand is made to the TTP who killed those people, or to the foreign networks who funded the war. The blame is always singular, and always the same: the state.
Even more alarming are the threats issued openly, that if demands are not met, tribal mines will be shut down, roads blocked, and people will arm themselves. That extrajudicial killings will be supported and FIRs resisted. This is not grassroots frustration. It is institutional defiance.
It is here that the fingerprints of a familiar ideology appear, one that thrives on presenting the state as a permanent enemy of the Pashtun, whitewashing militant violence as reactionary, and glorifying public defiance of law. In short, the very ideology pushed by PTM and its sympathizers, rebranded now under local jirgas and Pasoon marches.
But people are not fools. In Bajaur, as in Waziristan and Dir, families know who rebuilt schools, who reconnected electricity, who brought NADRA mobile vans and polio workers under security protection. It wasn’t the ones waving white flags and microphones. It was the same state they now accuse of genocide.
The truth is this: Pakistan’s tribal areas were abandoned for decades, but they are not abandoned today. Yes, governance is slow. Yes, criminals exploit gaps. But the solution is not to return to tribal militias, to public threats, to road blockades and shouting matches outside governor houses. That is not justice. That is performative chaos, and the only ones who benefit from that are those who never wanted these areas to be part of Pakistan in the first place.
Those who claim to speak for the people must act with responsibility, not rebellion. They must channel pain into constructive dialogue, not destructive boycotts. If Bajaur Aman Pasoon really seeks peace, it must begin by rejecting the war narrative it carries so proudly, and stop turning every death into a slogan.
Pakistan does not fear accountability. It demands it. But those who call for justice must also abide by its rules, not rewrite them. Otherwise, they do not speak for Bajaur. They speak only for themselves, and those watching from across the border, smiling.
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