National Democratic Movement member and office bearer Atiqur Rehman has been assassinated in North Waziristan, the movement and local police said on Saturday.
He was gunned down by unidentified assailants on Friday and his funeral was held in his ancestral village on Saturday which was attended by senior leaders of the NDM and party office-bearers along with throngs of locals.
Local police say they are still investigating the incident, whether the attack was motivated for his political beliefs or over personal enmity.
The NDM - a political platform for ending terrorism, extremism, militant violence and targeting of Pashtuns - has condemned the "targeted Killing" of one of its members and office-bearers in North Waziristan.
https://twitter.com/NDM_Official/status/1677720854195732481
Atiqur Rehman is described as the NDM's president for his native Tappi village in North Waziristan, and has been active with the NDM since its inception.
Atiqur Rehman is described as "a strong voice for peace and education in North Waziristan".
By profession, Rehman was an employee of the North Waziristan Tribal District Education Department in basic pay scale (BPS) grade 15, and assigned to a government public school in Amir Khatim Kot.
https://twitter.com/NDM_Official/status/1677677329362075650
A powderkeg
The North Waziristan tribal district is considered the 'hotbed' of militancy in Pakistan, as the area was the headquarters for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and is home to the Mehsud and Wazir tribes, among others, who reside on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistan is also facing an uptick in terrorist incidents and militancy since the Fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban in August 2021, as violent non-state actors are finding it easy to regroup and plan attacks while residing under the Taliban regime.
The district is heavily militarised and there are numerous security checkpoints, but assassinations of political workers have become a frequent occurrence. "Taliban terrorists threaten and target local leaders who speak for peace and who question the anti-Pashtun Taliban project," a local political leader told The Friday Times.
The NDM blamed "known unknowns", a thinly veiled allusion to militants, for the targeting of their workers. A statement from the party lamented that their workers had been targeted and martyred for years.
Condemnations beyond North Waziristan
Former senator Afrasiab Khattak said that the failure of the security agencies in mitigating this new wave of fear and terror sweeping the tribal belt will definitely add to the unrest and anxiety among the local Pashtun population.
"How can developmental work, education or normal life continue in such precarious law and order situation?" he asked. "The growing activities of terrorists can be ntraced back to the flawed Afghan policy of the security state. This suicidal policy must change," Khattak demanded.
NDM leader and former national assembly member Bushra Gohar asked why were Taliban terrorists brought back and resettled in tribal areas.
"Why has no legal action been taken against the generals who have publicly accepted to facilitating the return of the terrorists?"
She alleged that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been "handed over to the Taliban terrorists for the new regional proxy war".
Terrorists enjoy impunity and freedom to terrorise locals, Gohar added.
"When I visited North Waziristan I was confronted by questions about the return of the terrorists," Bushra Gohar told The Friday Times (TFT). "Locals, especially women, expressed concerns about a new cycle of terrorism, military operations, deaths & displacement," she said.
Bushra Gohar made reference to huge public protests locally against the target killings and "the state's good Taliban bad Taliban policy, but they’re muted by mainstream media".
She is concerned that federal and provincial governments have failed to protect lives and livelihoods in North Waziristan district.
"Even the District Commissioner and Police are powerless," she states, adding that "this should be a wake-up call for the Prime Minister, Parliament and mainstream political leaders, but they lack the courage to question security failures, complicity".
Bushra Gohar said she demands justice for Atiqur Rehman as well as an independent inquiry into what she calls a "series of targeted killings" in North Waziristan.
Condolence messages and condemnations of the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan's tribal districts continued to pour on social media as of the filing of this report.
https://twitter.com/mjdawar/status/1677709105698598912
https://twitter.com/NDM_Official/status/1677623690740260864
https://twitter.com/HamzaDawar0/status/1677616932973846528
https://twitter.com/Khushal_Khattak/status/1677623346786365440
https://twitter.com/iamatif_orakzai/status/1677644341379207168
He was gunned down by unidentified assailants on Friday and his funeral was held in his ancestral village on Saturday which was attended by senior leaders of the NDM and party office-bearers along with throngs of locals.
Local police say they are still investigating the incident, whether the attack was motivated for his political beliefs or over personal enmity.
The NDM - a political platform for ending terrorism, extremism, militant violence and targeting of Pashtuns - has condemned the "targeted Killing" of one of its members and office-bearers in North Waziristan.
https://twitter.com/NDM_Official/status/1677720854195732481
Atiqur Rehman is described as the NDM's president for his native Tappi village in North Waziristan, and has been active with the NDM since its inception.
Atiqur Rehman is described as "a strong voice for peace and education in North Waziristan".
By profession, Rehman was an employee of the North Waziristan Tribal District Education Department in basic pay scale (BPS) grade 15, and assigned to a government public school in Amir Khatim Kot.
https://twitter.com/NDM_Official/status/1677677329362075650
A powderkeg
The North Waziristan tribal district is considered the 'hotbed' of militancy in Pakistan, as the area was the headquarters for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and is home to the Mehsud and Wazir tribes, among others, who reside on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistan is also facing an uptick in terrorist incidents and militancy since the Fall of Kabul to the Afghan Taliban in August 2021, as violent non-state actors are finding it easy to regroup and plan attacks while residing under the Taliban regime.
The district is heavily militarised and there are numerous security checkpoints, but assassinations of political workers have become a frequent occurrence. "Taliban terrorists threaten and target local leaders who speak for peace and who question the anti-Pashtun Taliban project," a local political leader told The Friday Times.
The NDM blamed "known unknowns", a thinly veiled allusion to militants, for the targeting of their workers. A statement from the party lamented that their workers had been targeted and martyred for years.
Condemnations beyond North Waziristan
Former senator Afrasiab Khattak said that the failure of the security agencies in mitigating this new wave of fear and terror sweeping the tribal belt will definitely add to the unrest and anxiety among the local Pashtun population.
"How can developmental work, education or normal life continue in such precarious law and order situation?" he asked. "The growing activities of terrorists can be ntraced back to the flawed Afghan policy of the security state. This suicidal policy must change," Khattak demanded.
NDM leader and former national assembly member Bushra Gohar asked why were Taliban terrorists brought back and resettled in tribal areas.
"Why has no legal action been taken against the generals who have publicly accepted to facilitating the return of the terrorists?"
She alleged that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been "handed over to the Taliban terrorists for the new regional proxy war".
Terrorists enjoy impunity and freedom to terrorise locals, Gohar added.
"When I visited North Waziristan I was confronted by questions about the return of the terrorists," Bushra Gohar told The Friday Times (TFT). "Locals, especially women, expressed concerns about a new cycle of terrorism, military operations, deaths & displacement," she said.
Bushra Gohar made reference to huge public protests locally against the target killings and "the state's good Taliban bad Taliban policy, but they’re muted by mainstream media".
She is concerned that federal and provincial governments have failed to protect lives and livelihoods in North Waziristan district.
"Even the District Commissioner and Police are powerless," she states, adding that "this should be a wake-up call for the Prime Minister, Parliament and mainstream political leaders, but they lack the courage to question security failures, complicity".
Bushra Gohar said she demands justice for Atiqur Rehman as well as an independent inquiry into what she calls a "series of targeted killings" in North Waziristan.
Condolence messages and condemnations of the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan's tribal districts continued to pour on social media as of the filing of this report.
https://twitter.com/mjdawar/status/1677709105698598912
https://twitter.com/NDM_Official/status/1677623690740260864
https://twitter.com/HamzaDawar0/status/1677616932973846528
https://twitter.com/Khushal_Khattak/status/1677623346786365440
https://twitter.com/iamatif_orakzai/status/1677644341379207168