The News, Mumtaz Alvi, Sunday, September 27, 2009
Militancy will surely return to Swat with vengeance if the government fails to give the locals cheaper and speedy justice, cautioned the son of Wali of Swat, Adnan Aurangzeb, here on Saturday.
His father Miangul Aurangzeb, who served both the NWFP and Balochistan as governor, also agrees with his son not to go back to Swat because of uncertainty. This religious and conservative district was a princely state till its merger with Pakistan in 1969.
Follow up:
Adnan, who was the runner up in the last year’s general election as an independent candidate by bagging over 19,000 votes, whereas the Awami National Party’s Muzaffarul Mulk had returned by securing 21,000 plus votes from NA-29, along with his father and other family members continues to live in Islamabad.
“How can we return to the region — our family ran the affairs of the state very successfully for 70 years and served it for more than 140 years — when the militants are striking at will,” Adnan told The News, when asked why they were hesitant to go back to Swat after the majority had already returned.
He referred to Saturday’s blasts at Bannu and Peshawar. “If the governments in the Centre and in the NWFP talk of restoration of peace and defeating the extremists, then how such tragedies are taking place and who is resorting to these,” he questioned.
In reply to a question, he said the fundamental issue of the people of Swat and even Malakand division was provision of speedy justice and apparently, the government had not been able to deliver on this sensitive front.
Adnan alleged that the government had not been able to diagnose the ‘ailment’, which had gripped the district for years and it was the denial of justice to the aggrieved parties.
He complained that the stakeholders were never consulted or even taken into confidence on the measures being taken after the military operation was almost halted in Swat.
“I have no qualm in saying that our family knows the people and area, but astonishingly, the rulers ignored us completely while finding a cure to Swat’s problems,” he complained. He claimed that his family had taken part in elections as many as 16 times.
When asked why he was apprehensive about the restoration of lasting peace in Malakand, particularly Swat, Adnan contended, “You could achieve a limited objective by the use of gun, but it could not be the only factor in achieving real peace.
“Had weapons been solution to the problem and a guarantor of peace and security, Afghanistan should have long ago achieved it. Some 70,000 foreign troops are deployed in the neighbouring country, and they fear Taliban could recapture Afghanistan,” he maintained.
About the Malakand rehabilitation and development package, he said apparently only the bureaucracy was behind its preparation and showed a copy of it to this correspondent and opined that it would not serve the purpose at all and warned many people could again look towards the militant leadership for resolution of their problems.
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