Peace Activists In Pakistan Walk Tightrope

by Muddassir Rizvi

The activist was one among more than 200 Pakistani peace campaigners who stood in a neat row along the busiest road in the capital's twin city Rawalpindi, to protest all forms of extremism and demand a negotiated settlement of the row between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Dec. 13 attack against the Parliament building in New Delhi.

Although local authorities approved the rally amid the military government's ban on all political gatherings, numerous police and plainclothes intelligence operatives watched the protesters.

While filming the rally, one intelligence operative shoved his camera into the faces of the silent protestors, a usual tactic used by Pakistani intelligence agencies to intimidate dissenting voices.

Another blew his cover and approached an activist holding a placard reading "Stop Intervention in Kashmir" -- the territory that India and Pakistan dispute and which is at the heart of the current tensions -- to ask his identity.

Amid a war-like situation along the borders with India, the peace movement here walks a tightrope in a country where the military does not like dissenters.

The peace activists are trying hard not to appear to be supporting New Delhi's position on terrorism in Kashmir -- which it blames for the December attack on its Parliament building -- and its link to the Pakistani intelligence agencies, particularly ISI.

"This is a difficult situation," said peace campaigner Kaneez Zehra. "We cannot denounce extremist groups in Pakistan without pointing at the forces that fostered and strengthened them," Zehra said, referring to decades of the Pakistani military's support for "jihadist" groups in Afghanistan.

These extremist groups include those that India says are behind the December attack. Since that time, New Delhi has been pressuring Islamabad to prove its resolve against terrorism by clamping down on Kashmir militant groups it says are backed by Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have also moved troops to their borders, causing worries of another military conflict between the two countries.

In recent days, the Pakistani government, in what it calls a crackdown against extremist organizations, has arrested several religious leaders.

These included the heads of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (Soldiers of God) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammad) -- the groups New Delhi accuses of being behind the Dec. 13 attack -- on charges of making provocative statements against the Pakistani military and opposing cooperation with the United States in the campaign against terror.

Amid this backdrop and to pre-empt any reaction by the military government, the peace activists are keeping clear of any controversy and taking neutral positions on the rising Indo-Pakistan tensions.

So while they oppose extremism in all forms and demand a ban on extremist forces, they at the same time blame India for giving rise to extremist attitudes through its actions in Kashmir.

"The ongoing human rights violations in Kashmir by the Indian military are giving rise to more frustrations and extremist rhetoric and response," read a statement issued by the Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC).

The coalition is the umbrella organization of smaller peace groups throughout the country that cropped up after India and Pakistan tested nuclear devices in 1998.

At the same time, the peace activists are trying to avoid direct confrontation with religious-political parties. To this end, the coalition draws a parallel between Kashmir and Palestine -- just as the religious parties do.

"The situation is similar in the occupied territories of Palestine, where Israeli troops are killing and intimidating innocent people. The state-level violence against oppressed people must be stopped at once," said the coalition statement that called for a negotiated resolution of the Kashmir issue.

"We demand that the Kashmir problem must be resolved in a peaceful manner and that any future dispensation in Kashmir include genuine Kashmiri representation," it added.

But some analysts say that the peace movement appears confused when it condemns extremism and then in the same breath justifies it as a logical result of Indian actions in Kashmir. They say that this is exactly how "jihadist" groups justify their actions.

"Groups like Lashkar and Jaish are an offshoot of the Afghan jihad and they have very little to do with oppression in Kashmir. Their extremist actions do not need to be justified as a result of Indian military's actions in Kashmir especially when a majority of their recruits are non-Kashmiris," said Najum Mushtaq, a political columnist for an Islamabad-based paper.

Activists, however, say they have their reason to be cautious in airing their peace calls. They have faced threats and even attacks by right-wingers and criticism from government agencies in the past for their opposition to Pakistan's nuclear plan.

The memory of the thrashing by religious groups of Prof. A.H. Nayyar, a long-time peace activist, at a press conference in Islamabad a couple of years ago is still fresh. The recent killing of the brother of the Pakistani interior minister by what the government says are extremist groups also gives activists reason to be guarded.

But some say there are plenty of Pakistanis who are tired of war talk.

"The Pakistani population is wholly against any violence and both governments are urged to resume dialogue at the earliest possible time to ensure that the situation does not spiral out of control," said Nayyar, a physicist and a key force behind the Islamabad chapter of the Pakistan Peace Coalition.

Nayyar calls upon the military government of President Pervez Musharraf to immediately ban all extremist groups, though he would not name names.

"These extremist groups have not only been creating problems with India but also within our society. We have suffered a lot because of them and the government has to take strict action against them," he said.

The Pakistan peace movement says that the proliferation of groups with extremist and violent ideologies is a danger to peace-loving people everywhere, and a real threat to people's security in India and Pakistan.

"These groups must be contained and disbanded immediately. There should be no compromise on this issue. No government should patronize such groups at the expense of innocent people," said a press statement by Islamabad's Citizen's Peace Committee.