Why have Malik Khan Marjan’s remarks provoked reactions? He said, “The central government of Pakistan should give the tribes a chance to resolve the problem [with Afghanistan].”
These are the words of a tribal elder from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa named Malik Khan Marjan, who, after the imposition of the state of emergency and governor’s rule there, is the deputy head of a government council, and these remarks, which have been widely shared on social media, have provoked various reactions.
Malik Khan Marjan has said in a video interview that the tribes have resolved this problem in the past as well and can resolve it now as well.
He has asked the central government of Pakistan, senior officials and politicians to provide an opportunity for “15-20 trusted tribal elders” to meet with the TTP, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group and the Taliban government officials in Afghanistan and, according to him, they will listen to “this important delegation.”
According to Malik Marjan, the tribal elders will spend a week in Afghanistan to listen to Afghanistan’s concerns and the problems existing on the Durand Line and find solutions for them.
He claimed and said, “In my opinion, the TTP, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group and the Afghan Taliban accept each other’s word among themselves; they accept it very sweetly and lovingly. Our effort will be that the Islamic Emirate joins us and we will convey the message of peace to both sides; then this war will end immediately,” but according to him, “until we have used the negotiation process, remember that the war will not end and will continue.”
But the position of the Taliban government in Afghanistan is that it has no control over the armed activities of the TTP or the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group in Pakistan, and in the past it has also rejected and called baseless the claims of Pakistani officials that these groups plan attacks there from Afghanistan. But it has not shown any fresh reaction to these remarks by Malik Khan Marjan.
Reactions to Malik Khan Marjan’s remarks. In the past too, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demands for talks and negotiations with the Taliban (TTP) have been raised.
But Malik Khan Marjan’s remarks emerge at a time when the central government there, on October 11th of the current month of October, declared a state of emergency, imposed governor’s rule or Governor Raj, and rendered the government led by Tehreek-e-Insaf powerless.
The current officials of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have accused the previous government of having a stance that was allegedly soft towards the Taliban (TTP) and other armed groups.
But Tehreek-e-Insaf officials say that the aim of the central government was only to overthrow their government. Malik Khan Marjan’s remarks have now been criticised for the same reason, that allegedly why he has shown a stance like the previous government.
After the video was published, the Information Adviser of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the leadership of the ruling Governor, Samar Haroon Bilour, has called these remarks the “personal opinion” of Malik Khan Marjan.
She wrote on her X-page, “It is not appropriate to exaggerate a member’s personal opinion in this way and make it more prominent than it should be. The policy of the Governor, his advisory council and the ARDC [government council of representatives of 12 districts] is completely clear. Our policy is shared, agreed upon and free from any ambiguity.”
The current government’s position is that it does not talk with armed groups in Pakistan, but has said that it will take firm steps against them.
Although it has not made it clear whether, like in the past, it will launch military operations there again or how. About four years ago in 2022, along with Pakistani government delegations, some tribal elders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had also attempted to talk and mediate with the Tehreek-e-Taliban.
At that time, the Taliban government in Afghanistan had accepted that it had paved the way for peace talks as a mediator between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the government of Pakistan, and had also arranged some meetings between the delegations of both sides.
At that same time, several Jirga of tribal elders had also gone from Peshawar to Kabul for the purpose of negotiations, of which Malik Khan Marjan says he was also a member and that their “request for a ceasefire” had been accepted.
The members of the Jirga had said that although pressure cannot be put on either the government of Pakistan or the TTP to accept their demands, they can only “plead and beseech” them to solve the problem through dialogue and stop the fighting.
Those efforts continued for several months, but later did not lead to any such result that would solve the problem between the government of Pakistan and the TTP.
Later, relations between Pakistan and the Taliban government also became strained and deteriorated, and have not yet returned to a normal state.
By- Laiba yousafzai
