Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Rubina Saigol
The writer is a researcher specialising in social development
While all forms of colonisation and occupation spell disaster for the way of life of the conquered, whose institutions and systems are demolished and replaced by new ones, the most recent colonisation of large parts of Pakistan by the Taliban is by far the most dangerous one, as it seeks to destroy the very basis on which the state and society rest.
The Taliban occupation resembles most other forms of colonial occupation in a number of ways, including: 1) Forcible control over territory and large swathes of the population; 2) use of violence and force to accomplish political aims; 3) imposition of a specific minority version of religion not accepted or followed by the majority; 4) induction of collaborators from among the local people to further their aims; 5) planned demolition of the political, economic and social systems of the defeated; 6) belief in the superiority of the values, practices and systems of the coloniser, coupled with complete disregard for the culture and ways of the vanquished.
1. Forcible control over territory and population: The Taliban established control over large parts of FATA, a territory which was never properly integrated into Pakistan. In the past few months, the Taliban have speedily acquired control over Swat, first through armed violence and finally legally and politically through the Nizam-e-Adl agreement signed by President Zardari on April 13 and supported by Pakistan's elected assembly. As Farrukh Saleem informs us, the Pakistani state has ceded another 5,337 square kilometres of Pakistan adding to the 14,850 square kilometres of Chitral and 5,280 square kilometres of Dir which were already under the control of Sufi Muhammad's Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi. According to Dr Saleem this constitutes around 16 percent of our landmass.
Ecstatic over their triumph in Swat the Taliban quickly moved on to Buner, Shangla and are said to be close to Mansehra and Haripur and about 60 miles from Islamabad. They have openly declared that they will impose their own brand of Shariat on the whole of Pakistan and ultimately the entire Muslim world. Such imperial fantasies of world conquest portend disaster not only for Pakistan but for the world beyond.
2. Use of Violence for political aims: Like many other marauding hordes in history, the Taliban have demonstrated their enormous propensity for violence, brutality and savagery. The reign of terror in Swat before it finally fell involved beheading, murder, public display of decapitated bodies, flogging of women and cold-blooded murder of men and women accused of "immoral" behaviour in the Taliban's distorted code of morality. Those killed, butchered and tortured had not violated any Pakistani law while the Taliban have committed capital crimes against Pakistan's law and Constitution.
3. Imposition of minority religion: Pakistan constitutes a plural and multiple society where different religious groups, sects and beliefs have co-existed for centuries. There are Deobandis and Barelvis, Shias and Sunnis and followers of Sufi saints like Bulleh Shah, Sultan Bahoo, Sachchal Sarmast, Rehman Baba, Ghulam Farid, Khushhal Khan Khattak, Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai and others. Additionally, Pakistan has a substantial population of Hindus in interior Sindh and Christians all over the country.
Pakistan is a multi-religious society where one single religion cannot be imposed on everyone. The Taliban represent a Wahhabi version of religion to which a tiny minority subscribes. Their notions of the universe represent a grotesque version of religion that carries no moral purpose other than its own imposition, and prohibits no crime, butchery or violence in single-minded pursuit of power, territory and control. Subsidised by the sale of poppy and the underground drug and arms trade, this version of "religion" makes a mockery of religion itself and reduces it to bloodshed, cruelty and barbarism. It is a version that has been rejected by mainstream religious leaders also.
4. Collaboration: Local and national administrations and political leaders of our country have become forced collaborators in the Taliban enterprise of destruction. The failure of our security forces to protect the country and its people has led to the capitulation by the National Assembly and the government to their illegal and unconstitutional demands. The fear generated by the no-holds-barred violence of the Taliban has led to the muting of any critique of their inhuman actions. The civilian government and legislators, dependent upon the police, administration and the army to protect civilians against the occupation of their country, had no choice but to relent when those responsible for protecting the country seemed to be retreating.
5. Demolition of political, economic and social systems: Like all colonisers, who entrench themselves in the society of the colonised and make sweeping changes in local systems and institutions, the Taliban have already threatened to destroy democracy which was only recently wrested from the hands of a dictator reluctant to relinquish control.
The Taliban have declared democracy, the judiciary and the Constitution as being western impositions to be removed by them once they gain power in Islamabad. They are not bothered by the obvious contradiction that they themselves are a product of the same western world that they so despise. Their version of religion comes from a westerly direction and is not an indigenous manifestation of the rich South Asian context.
Their own worldview comes from the west – from west Asia, to be more specific – and has no roots within the subcontinent which boasts syncretic versions of religion that are tolerant of difference and are peaceful in their actions. The Taliban threaten the essential multiplicity of South Asia and the traditional peaceful tolerance of its people by planning to transform the political, economic, social and cultural landscape of the country.
The worst sufferers of the Wahhabi imperialism that they represent will be women and the minorities, as is already evident. The Taliban's insecurities often tend to be focused on cultural and religious policing of the weaker sections of society. The prohibition of women's education and work – as well as of all music, art and higher culture – is as clear a sign of degradation as any and promises a world in which civilisation would become a thing of the past.
6. Belief in superiority: Like the former colonisers, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, the Taliban have a deeply embedded view of their own superiority. They believe that the cultural and social norms and values that they represent are better than those of most Pakistanis, and that it is the Bearded Man's Burden to correct the morals of society and inculcate higher values among the populace.
In spite of the fact that they kill, butcher, cut off limbs and heads with wild abandon and loot and plunder resources mercilessly (demonstrated by the takeover of the Emerald Mines), they project all their vices onto "the other." They accuse liberal and progressive people of lacking virtue, morality and piety. Yet, it is the Taliban who clearly lack any moral compass and have been reared on an ideology of hate, bloodshed and violence.
The onslaught of the Taliban must be resisted with all the resources at our disposal – administrative, political, military, intellectual and cultural. If we have to fight them, we must fight; if we have to dance and sing, we must dance and sing to challenge their Stone Age worldview and to assert our own humanity. It is no use blaming our civilian elected leaders for capitulating to the Taliban under pressure, as disappointing as that may be. The real issue is, why is a 600,000-strong army powerless against them? Why was the army not able to subdue an insurgency in Waziristan before the poison spread to the settled areas?
The Pakistani people give a huge chunk of their hard-earned resources to the army – the largest chunk after debt-servicing. All they want in return is protection, security and not abdication of responsibility. Why is a half-a-million-strong army ineffective against 5,000 marauders, criminals and thugs?
It has become our national pastime to blame only our elected governments when in reality they have no options and have been forced to accept Talibanisation of Swat due to the failures of others. If we do not fight back the Taliban today, we may not even live to regret it, for they will not spare our lives.
Email: rubinasaigol@hotmail.com
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