Malgaro, before I say anything, let me be clear. I have the utmost respect for Bacha Khan, his struggle, his sacrifices and his objectives. With that being said, agreeing with someone's objectives does NOT mean agreeing with their methodology. A man can have the best intentions at heart and still pursue a strategy that ends up achieving the very opposite of what he intended.

For decades, Bacha Khan's pacifist, Gandhian philosophy has helped cement this belief within Pashtun nationalism that somehow, by peacefully working within the Pakistani political establishment, we will eventually achieve Pashtun nationhood and free ourselves from the remnants of British colonial rule

But the irony is that this very same political thinking is exactly what benefits the Pakistani establishment. You can be as anti-Establishment as you want, give a thousand speeches, organise a thousand hunger strikes outside Pindi and condemn the Generals day and night. But if the establishment knows it can simply ignore you, repress you whenever it wants and carry on as usual, then WHY on earth would it ever feel compelled to concede to your demands?

And this is what I think so many Pashtun nationalists, including those in PTM, fail to understand, It doesn't matter how fiercely you oppose the establishment or how anti-Pakistan your rhetoric becomes. What matters is what your opposition actually COSTS the establishment.If ignoring your demands carries no serious political consequences, then what's stopping them from ignoring you for another 50 years?

The reality is that any national struggle that cannot turn popular grievances into actual political leverage eventually becomes little more than a PERMANENT opposition movement. One that the establishment can repress when it wants, accommodate when it suits its interests i.e having people's grievances channelled through peaceful movements like PTM, and simply ignore the rest of the time

REMEMBER, the Pakistani establishment doesn't need Pashtun Nationalists to SUPPORT it, It only needs their OPPOSITION to remain something it can live with i.e ANP, PTM etc