In a recent statement, the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) claimed that the resources of Pashtun lands were part of Pakistan’s “dowry.” This remark has sparked outrage among the Pashtun community, as it is a dismissive and colonial attitude towards their rightful ownership. Pashtun activists have voiced strong opposition, asserting that their resources belong to them by ancestral right and divine provision—not as assets to be commandeered by the Punjabi Pak military elite.
The Pakistan Army has long been involved in oppressive treatment of Pashtuns, using heavy-handed tactics that disproportionately harm civilians. The Army’s brutal shelling operations in Pashtun territories routinely kill innocents, including children, destroy livestock, and damage livelihoods. Despite claims of targeting terrorists, these actions have only harmed unarmed civilians, children and their source of livelihood – livestocks.
The Army’s oppressive tactics underscore a broader pattern of using ethnic minorities, especially Pashtuns, as pawns in its military operations while subjecting them to systemic discrimination, ethnic profiling, and economic exploitation.
For decades, the Pakistan Army has monopolized resources from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, diverting wealth and opportunity away from local populations. This concentration of power and resources has left ethnic groups like the Pashtuns marginalized, deprived of their fair share, and silenced whenever they attempt to claim their rights.
Seventy-five years after Pakistan’s creation, Pashtun communities are now more vocal than ever, demanding authority over their land and resources. They insist their heritage and livelihoods are not for sale to enrich a military establishment that continues to sideline their rights.