People’s army

Hundreds of people armed with axes, swords and slings have set out for Kunar from Kabul to defend Afghanistan’s border.
Since the start of the summer villages along the frontier have been pounded by Pakistani artillery.

Hundreds of people armed with axes, swords and slings have set out for Kunar from Kabul to defend Afghanistan’s border.
Since the start of the summer villages along the frontier have been pounded by Pakistani artillery. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working diplomatic channels to stop the bombing. But tired of waiting local people have started to enlist to defend their lands.
“The continuation of rocket firing across the Durand line would severely strain relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and should be stopped as soon as possible,” Janan Mosazai, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has said.
Abdul Tawab Ziwari from Kabul who has enlisted to defend his homeland, says he is ready to march to Kunar. “The government has been silent against the rocket firing,” he told Killid in an interview. “(It) has showed no reaction. We have to defend our homeland against Pakistan.”
Ziwari insists that he be quoted as saying, “Each part of Afghanistan belongs to us. We are going to Kunar to stop and condemn Pakistan artillery firings.” Moreover, “we are moving towards Kunar to show our sympathy for the families of those who have lost their lives (in the rocket attacks).”
Asked how they would fight a modern army with their primitive weapons, Zarwari recalled the battles with Soviet troops in the 1980s. “We were not equipped with modern weapons during the fighting with the Russians. We defended our homeland with axes, swords and ordinary guns. Now we will also stand up against Pakistan.”
Ayamudeen is one of the organisers of the march to Kunar. He says, “Today we have showed the Afghan nation is fearless and will take on anyone who kills our countrymen daily.”
Bismillah Sher, leader of the Wefaq Mili Party, told Killid that more people would join the march as it passed through other provinces on the way to Kunar.
Meanwhile, Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, the governor of Kunar, has called the movement in solidarity with the people of Kunar as “politically effective and useful”. He said, “Such types of movements would be politically effective and useful … We cannot fight the enemy with these weapons but the feeling of solidarity are precious for us.”
Can a people’s movement stop the bombs?
Political observers have different views. Dr Zakir Husain Ershad says that while it cannot solve the  dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it can put pressure on decision makers in the presidential palace, and force them to take decisions to defend the homeland.
“As much as the strength of this type of movement can increase it would be beneficial for Afghanistan. One of the positive sides is that Afghanistan would know that it has to define itself within a border. It would finally push the government to design policies that are for fixed frontiers.”
According to Dr Husain,”Unfortunately people who are living on the border have never defined their identity as confined within a border between two different countries.”
General Abdul Wahed Taqat, a military expert, thinks the people’s march on the border is positive. He describes the call for the defence of Kunar as the duty of all Afghans.
“Kunar is a door to Afghanistan. When the owner cannot safeguard the door, he can never protect his house,” he says.
The worst affected by the rocket attacks has been Dangam district of Kunar. On May 20, one civilian was killed, and at least 20 terrified families fled the area. Authorities have dismissed speculation that Pakistani forces are trying to redraw the border.  Pakistan began shelling the border in 2011.