Have you ever met someone from the tribal areas of Pakistan? I am sure most of us haven’t, isn’t it ironic that we talk about tribal areas in Pakistan all time, blame them for being backward and fundamentalists for promoting extremism without actually having to know them. I don’t know about you guys but I used to be like this until I met T.
T was one the journalist who was part of the USA-Pakistan Journalism Exchange Program with me. He works for development of radio station and belongs to Khyber agency of FATA region in Pakistan. He is light skinned and tall guy who looks nothing like a typical image I had of tribal people in Pakistan. He would crack jokes and make us laugh all the time. T can converse very well in English, not only that I found him to be one of the most confident and relevant journalists amongst all of us.
Even though he had some annoying habits such as always coming late and questioning waitress about why isn’t Pepsi common in America like it is in Pakistan, but for most of it T opened my eyes about “Tribal Pakistan”.
At one of the de-briefing at Department of State T told everybody that he has pictures of people getting beheaded for only offering cup of tea or glass of water to FC. He further said that Drone Attacks take place in his areas and kill innocent people as Taliban would come to any house and ask for food and tea, locals can’t dare to refuse Taliban as they are strong.
T said he was happy that Bin Laden was not found in tribal area because for years his people were blamed for sheltering terrorism but the truth was something else. T claimed that tribals are not the only ones responsible for the present state we are in. T further added that tribals are not embraced in Pakistan; they are looked down upon and disgraced as fundamentalists.
T said “Nobody really cares about tribal Pakistan”
I wouldn’t talk for anybody but myself and I agree with T. Thanks for changing my perception 🙂
madihaqureshi 
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