Media Watchdog
Do you know about the people of Tirah valley?

Do you know about the people of Tirah valley?

An entire population has been displaced from Tirah - where is the media and where are the people of Pakistan?

Khushal Khan April 09, 2013

Have you ever heard of the valley of Tirah?

This is not some valley in distant country in a faraway continent; it is located in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), in the northwest of Pakistan.

Recently, Tirah has fallen into the hands of the Taliban after a fierce couple of months of fighting. The main battle for control of Tirah was between the Ansarul Islam (AI) and the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) backed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The news of this fight has been covered extensively by some of the leading daily newspapers of Pakistan, but unfortunately, the mainstream news channels of Pakistan have completely ignored it.

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, a civilian government has managed to complete its tenure of five years in power and now the process for the transition of power from one civilian government to the next is underway.

PHOTO: FILE

This is historic indeed and the entire country is gripped with election fever as the polls come closer, as announced, on May 11, 2013.

At the same time though, an entire population has been displaced from Tirah as the fight continues there and thousands of families are desperately seeking shelter at refugee camps setup for them by the political administration of Fata in the Orakzai and Kurram agencies. Help is being sought from the UNHCR by the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) and as recent reports suggest, the UNHCR has halted its efforts due to security concerns after an attack on the Jalozai Camp (Afghan Refugee Camp) in Nowshehra.

The Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fata secretariat, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and the President of Pakistan are directly responsible by law and as per the constitution of Pakistan for Fata, which includes Tirah, but none of these authorities seem to be concerned with whatever has been happening there and haven't really said anything or done anything substantial and concrete to help facilitate the displaced thousands at the very least.

PHOTO: IRIN

The fascination of our media channels with the upcoming elections is understandable and their relentless and continuous coverage of the various jalsas and other such events has its importance, but is it too much to ask of them to give some coverage to the people of Tirah, so that their voices can be heard too?

What is even more staggering is that many in the rest of Pakistan are not even aware of the ongoing war in Tirah and about its people and the kind of suffering that they have had to put up with. This is something that needs to change. And this is where our media can play an effective role.

We have seen the power of our media and especially the good it can do by covering incidents of terrorism. From the massacre in Quetta to the blasts in Karachi, from the attacks on minorities, to the cases of misuse of power by our representatives, whenever the media has given it some attention, the issues have been highlighted and public pressure has developed which in turn has led to some good being done.

There is a strong sentiment of neglect amongst the people of Fata in general and the people of Tirah in specific, given how their voices are not being heard and the fact that Pakistan does not seem to care much about them because of the areas that they belong to. This needs to change and they need to be shown that Pakistan does care about them just as it cares about its people in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Islamabad.

As mentioned earlier, some of the leading newspapers of Pakistan have been giving the entire situation adequate coverage on a daily basis, but the time has come for all of our media networks to do the same.

Who knows, it might just help in rattling the moral sensibilities of the authorities that are responsible for these people and they might just do the necessary. It is definitely worth a try!

Follow Khushal on Twitter @Khushal_Khattak

WRITTEN BY:
Khushal Khan A member of the Information and Communications Cell of the Awami National Party (ANP). He was previously associated as a Research Assistant with the Bacha Khan Research Center in Peshawar. He tweets @Khushal_Khattak

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (14)

US CENTCOM | 11 years ago | Reply All you have to do is look at the few images of Tirah valley, and it becomes evident that this valley is blessed with natural beauty. Unfortunately, its geographical location has encouraged these terrorist organizations to use it as a sanctuary. These terrorist organizations have been able to create a foothold and continue to terrorize the residents. This threat only continues to rise with general elections in sight. The Pakistani forces are well aware of this danger, and they’ve been going after the terrorists who threaten the safety of the residents. TTP have already issued several warnings to the residents and candidates in regards to the upcoming elections. They are trying to dictate the terms by spreading fear and panic among voters. We commend the Pakistani forces for going after the terrorists in the area. We are confident in their ability to counter the threat posed by these terrorist organizations. We are also confident that the residents would be able to live in peace without fear in the near future. We reiterate what George E. Little, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said not long ago: “We believe that the Pakistani government shares our view that terrorists threaten both countries, both Pakistan and the United States. Scores of Pakistanis have regrettably been killed by terrorists inside Pakistan. We, of course, have suffered losses as well, inside Pakistan and elsewhere, from al-Qaeda and from other terrorist groups operating along the Afghan-Pakistan border. So we have common cause with the Pakistanis. We're working closely with the Pakistanis on the counterterrorism issue, and we will continue to do so.” Ali Khan

Hussain Ali | 11 years ago | Reply I agree with the author that govt have been ignored Tirah, I have seen Tirah in pictures, its like a heaven on earth. But one should not relate all these wailing to govt but the people of Tirah are also involved equally in all these problems.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Stranger | 11 years ago | Reply Tough to imagine how this picturesque place must have been several decades back without the bloodshed and firings .

Insaan | 11 years ago | Reply Authos "none of these authorities seem to be concerned with whatever has been happening there" Quite possible authorities are using non-State actors to get the LAND.

A. Khan | 11 years ago | Reply @Proletarian: Press is supposed to be free but apparently not the comments section on Tribune. The moderator censors posts he/she does not like or that do not conform to their points of view, which is ridiculous. As long as the posts are not personally abusive, they should be allowed.

Haq | 11 years ago | Reply Media is more interested in building a case against drones and counterterrorism efforts in FATA, why would they want to call attention to having been dead wrong about the need of the hour in the region?

Asjad | 11 years ago | Reply @Proletarian stay safe brother :)

observer | 11 years ago | Reply In the Tirah Valley a battle is raising with the Ansarul Islam on one side and a combination of Lashkar e Islam, TTP, ASWJ/ LEJ on the other side. The Ansarul Islam is a Barelvi outfit, I need not explain the orientation of the other side. It seems all viewpoints which differ with TTP/ASWJ are being targetted. Be they Shias or Barelvis or anyone else.

The Only Normal Person Here. | 11 years ago | Reply That was one informative article.

Parvez | 11 years ago | Reply @Proletarian: Its difficult not to agree with what you say.

Proletarian | 11 years ago | Reply Why did you edit my comments admin? Is there something wrong in saying the the fall of Tirah shows how weak the army has become and how badly their previous policy of sponsoring militants has backfired? This entire country is decaying, do you think the army would somehow avoid the rot that it itself introduced into the country? Show some spine and allow this one

Proletarian | 11 years ago | Reply I think the military establishment has told the media to keep quiet about Tirah.

Kaleem | 11 years ago | Reply Cant agree more with you.

cautious | 11 years ago | Reply

Recently, Tirah has fallen into the hands of the Taliban after a fierce couple of months of fighting.

That implies that this area was under the govt's control until recently - I doubt that. It might be more accurate to say that the people of this area have become the victims of infighting between Taliban factions which has impacted the entire region. The recent decision by the Pakistan military to take action might have long term benefits - but that's questionable as it would require a significant deployment (which they haven't done) and the short term impact on the civilians may be just as bad as the Taliban infighting. Time for Pakistan to quit turning it's back on the tribal territories - time to take control of all of Pakistan and give all Pakistani's the same rights/privileges/responsibilities.

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ

Do you know about the people of Tirah valley?

FOLLOW US