Tanks guarding a ‘jhuggi’

Monday, May 04, 2009

The people of this country have been made fools for 60 years in the name of ‘national security’. With every new “Ghauri and Ghaznavi” launched, chants of Allah-o-Akbar were raised and we were told that we were safe. With each ugly replica of “Chaghi Hills” and these missiles installed on the road crossings we were assured that we had arrived on the world nuclear scene. So what if East Pakistan was gone but Kashmir would be ours one day, we were told. When independent analysts cried hoarse saying that governments and the state needed to do something to improve the quality of the human capital and divert resources from weapons and defence, they were labelled as traitors. And look where we are now.
The situation of Pakistan seems like that of a ‘jhuggi’ with 170 million hungry, illiterate and impoverished souls living inside it waiting for a miracle to happen. Outside there are tanks installed with nuclear bombs and missiles for the safety of the jhuggi-walahs. The ‘security guards’ who protect these jhuggi-dwellers are all well-fed and live in modern homes.
How many times have we — and the rest of the world — been assured by our political and military leadership that our nuclear assets ‘are safe”? Yes, they are safe, but what about the people, what about the nation itself — are they safe? It’s time to ask such questions and it’s time to raise our voices. Heads must roll, starting with a debate on holding those accountable who created these monsters in the name of national security.

Zarqa Javed
Islamabad

Women and the Taliban

Monday, May 04, 2009

I am quite outraged by Danielle Ali Riaz’s letter on April 30. She seems to be ignorant of our rich heritage and culture. And here I would like to emphasise ‘our’ as this is the nation our forefathers sacrificed their lives for — so that our rights could be safeguarded. This includes our right to live according to our wishes and not to be forced to live in any particular way.
This is the land of Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah, Shahbaz Qalandar, Sultan Bahu, Rehman Baba and many other Sufi saints; it is the land of poets and writers like Faiz, Muneer Niazi and Saadat Hassan Manto among many others. This is also the land of painters like Ustad Allah Bakhsh, Gulgee and Saadequain. And it is the soil which gave birth to musicians like Mehdi Hassan, Amanat Ali Khan, Noor Jehan, Abida Parveen and Reshma. We will fight till our last breath to save this unique and rich culture and heritage. We cannot abandon our Heers, Sohnis and Marvis at the mercy of the Taliban. So I would suggest that instead of asking us to leave, it is she and her Taliban who should be the ones to leave our Quaid’s country because our forefathers spilled their blood for us and not for the Taliban. We are no doubt Muslims but we are also the daughters and sons of this soil and want to see it progress and prosper, not mutilated by anyone.

Mishal Tariq
Kinnaird College,
Lahore

*****

This is in response to a letter by Danielle Ali Riaz on April 30. I was taken aback by her opinion on the Taliban and their treatment of women. I am a Muslim, I cover my head and wear an abaya as well but that is because I want to. I am not undermining the importance of hijab in any sense but the fact that the Taliban force women with a stick to cover is absolutely wrong. Since when did force become the primary tactic to spread Islam?
For women to go out alone in a safe environment is not wrong, in fact it seems it would become unsafe for even men along with women to step out of their houses if the Taliban were to come into power. It seems that all that the Taliban want is for women to be locked in their houses and wear a head-to-toe veil. May I ask is that the only thing the Holy Prophet (PBUH) preached? Weren’t other things like patience, forgiveness and having a good temperament also stressed upon?

Maryam Yasmin Hussain
Islamabad

*****

In response to Danielle Ali Riaz’s letter (April 30) I would like to clarify that since Pakistan has already suffered the ordeal of so-called ‘Islamisation’ under the rule of Ziaul Haq (1977-1988), and is still trying to come to terms with the after-effects it is hardly surprising that there should be abundant anti-Taliban sentiment. The Taliban are not as just as Mrs Riaz naively assumes them to be.
Is it fair to impose one’s own views on the entire population? And what about the non-Muslims? Should they be forced to follow Islamic law too? Yes, the girls in Swat may have returned to school, yet they do so in constant fear of their lives. Additionally, it is extremely unfair to set migration to other countries as the price for freedom of expression.

Farah Tiwana
Karachi

‘Marriage’ bureau

Monday, May 04, 2009

The Taliban have established a ‘Shoba-e-Aroos’ (wedlock department) in Charbagh in Swat which conducts what basically amounts to forced marriages of girls with the Taliban. The head of Shoba-e-Aroos gives a three-day notice to parents of the girl and they are essentially to bring her for the ‘marriage’ or face dire consequences. Also, your readers may not know this but most suicide bombers are children or boys who are taken from families where parents are usually unwilling to part with them and this is done through coercion.
The Taliban have not defaced Islam, they have also destroyed Pakhtun culture which is known for being hospitable and respectful. But the Taliban have demolished this concept. They deceive, cheat and betray – contrary to the Islamic code of ethics. In the name of talks they hold hostage government officials, police and FC personnel and demand ransom like thugs and kidnappers. They raid mazars of pirs, have desecrated Rehman Baba and Khush-hal Khan Khattak’s tombs and killed spiritual leaders – basically for the sake of looting money from their abodes.

Eschmall Sardar
Peshawar

Who’s funding them?

Monday, May 04, 2009

I have a couple of simple and straightforward questions: who is funding the Taliban and who is providing them with weapons? The candidates would be either our own government and army or some foreign government and its army. So could the government and the military kindly clarify this? How can they get their weapons and arms and other essential items of daily living such as food and petrol with such apparent ease?

Ali A Khan
Karachi

Justice for all

Monday, May 04, 2009

It has been said that the qazis will do justice in swift and just manner. I want to see whether these qazis will also give verdicts against the Taliban militants who were involved in beheading people, suicide bombing, killing innocent men, women and children, giving refuge to foreign militants, kidnapping, flogging women publicly, sectarian killings, burning barber and CD shops and in general harassing ordinary people.

Dr Fareeha Khanum
Mardan

Taliban and women

Saturday, May 02, 2009

I have noticed that Muslim converts are invariably the most devout, often to the point of unreasonableness. It is such people who believe that reason is the greatest enemy that faith has. So, I read with amusement mixed with pity the letter written in defence of the Taliban by Danielle Ali Riaz.
This letter is full of a lot of false and misleading statements such as that girls have returned to school in Swat. Only a very small number have. One would however, like to know why the Taliban were destroying girls’ schools by the dozens in the first place? Women are still not being allowed to shop or to go out of the house in Swat without a mehram. This maybe Ms Danielle’s view of Sharia but the 160 million ‘non-Taliban’ Muslims of Pakistan do not subscribe to this way of life. Ms Danielle’s mother-in-law, she claims, has never been seen outside her home alone, but that venerable old lady is by no means the role model for the millions and millions of females all over Pakistan who are working and shopping, or studying or just managing their households.
The people of Swat had voted for the secular ANP in the last elections. But the Taliban browbeat the ANP by killing hundreds of its members and the party eventually capitulated and forced even the federal government to sign the surrender document. But outside the boundaries of surrendered Swat and especially outside the reach of the Taliban, few Muslim women are willing to adopt the soul crushing lifestyle being imposed out of the barrel of a Kalashnikov.
Ms Riaz’s last paragraph says: “let us get this straight – we are a Muslim country”. Certainly there is no disagreement on that, we are very much a Muslim country, but except for your beloved Taliban and other such brain-washed barbarians and their fellow-travellers, the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis reject the cruel, medieval, narrow ideology that these relics of the past want to impose by force on the state created by the liberal and broadminded Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The Quaid’s vision was the direct opposite of the Taliban vision and subsequently also the Pakistani nation has always chosen moderates as against the mullahs, whenever they have had the chance to vote freely. Live and let live, Ms Riaz, and we can all be happy.

Zafarullah Poshni
Karachi

*****

I fully endorse the views of Danielle Ali Riaz. It is indeed very sad to note that because of the few misguided idiots in our country, the whole Sharia is being targeted as if it is at fault. I know dozens of devoted Pakistani men and women who try to adhere to the norms of Sharia and at the same time are a source of inspiration and guidance for those around them.

Dr Farooq Azam Rathore
Rawalpindi

*****

If one needs an example of how our nation’s psyche is subtly allowing extremism to flourish in ideological terms, we only need to read Danielle Ali Riaz’s letter (April 30) titled “Impact of Sharia on women”. While claiming to be an ‘extraordinarily independent person’ who opposes terrorism, Ms Riaz goes on to lay down her rule of law, including the much-disputable issue of the necessity of a male companion for any movement outdoors. I should clarify that much as I oppose Ms Riaz’s concept of Pakistan, I do not outright condemn it, and would definitely never ask her to shut up and get out of the country for thinking and acting the way she does. However, she is very comfortable with marginalising the population and getting rid of them to ‘go to live in England or the US etc’.
What she is unwilling to accept is that there can be (and are) other Pakistanis who completely disagree with her, and (dare I say it?) some who would even argue that many values of the west are better than our own. Are they not Pakistani? Such definitions are limited, to say the least — and at their very worst, they give cover and create grey areas where radical extremism can grow. My mother does not cover her head, would prefer not to cover her head and she is a Muslim. If the Taliban were to lash her for coming out in public as she has always done in this country, what would Ms Riaz’s stance be then? Uncomfortably quiet? We as a nation need to be more aware of what our words are actually conveying, and more importantly, we should no longer be afraid of voicing our differences. Better late than never.

Jahanzaib Haque
Karachi

*****

I found the tone used by Danielle Ali Riaz in her letter quite troubling because it seemed as if the letter-writer was speaking from a position of assumed superiority and hence contempt for others who did not agree with her views. That was also evident in her suggestion that those who do not like to live according to her views should move to the west.

Raziq Hussain
Wah

Life under the Taliban

Friday, May 01, 2009

This is in response to Danielle Ali Riaz's letter printed on April 30. I was both shocked and amused as to how with her limited knowledge of our culture and past, Mrs Riaz has jumped to her conclusions. Let me take you 20-30 years back when the Taliban were created. I was a young girl at that time. For us it was hard to even go to a bazaar without being pinched at the back, elbowed at the front, hearing lewd remarks and that too when we were fully covered with our head and face in chadars. This was the level of decency and education of our general illiterate public.
I would like Mrs Riaz to know that I have friends who have suffered from the so-called Islamic laws of the Taliban. Women were forced to stay indoors no matter what happened to them and men were forced to grow beards. Barber shops were burned if they shaved clients. One of my friend's aunts was stoned to death along with her unborn child, her husband and a doctor as she needed a c-section and she had gone to a male doctor because no female doctors were allowed to work.
Dear Mrs Riaz, at least in the last decade Pakistan has been progressing in the sense that if a woman goes to a bazaar in one of the major cities she will not be harassed. This can all change if the Taliban come and the issue will not be one related to purdah but oppression. Women in Pakistan in general dress modestly and will continue to do so. As for other freedoms which women take for granted, consider me driving my car -- which I often do because I have to run errands when my husband is away. What will happen to women like me when the Taliban are in power given that they won't allow women to even leave their homes?
Also, I wonder how Mrs Riaz can say that the Taliban haven't strayed from Islam given that they have killed people for not following their edicts. I think when the Taliban come, people like her will be the first to complain because their freedoms will be curtailed and they will not be able to go out of their homes to do something as essential and necessary as picking up one's child from his or her school.
I am a Muslim woman, I cover myself up, I dress modestly, I don't commit any cardinal sins and I want my rights, to go out to work, to enjoy myself, to drive, to progress in the world and no one can deny me my rights or force me to be imprisoned in the confines of my four walls! I want Islam to thrive in our country but I totally reject the version that the Taliban want to force on all of us.

Amna Ahmad
Lahore

*****

I was quite disturbed to read a rather odd letter by Danielle Ali Riaz (April 30). She says she is an 'independent' woman who had a love marriage with a man of a different religion, converted to another faith and migrated to a foreign country. How many women under the Taliban and their version of Sharia will have that independence? She cannot see the Taliban's hand in suicide bombings, terrorism and fanaticism. She says girls have gone back to school in Swat. Really? Why were they stopped in the first place?
She asks how hard it is to wear an all-covering veil. Very, very hard with a knife to the throat, a gun to the head and a whip to the back! She says her mother-in-law has never gone out alone. Is that a good thing? I am a 54-year-old mother of two sons and a daughter. My sons and husband are busy people and would be extremely irritated to accompany me to the dhobi, tailor, dyer, the bank, groceries etc. She has the nerve to tell us Pakistani women to go live in the US or England! She wants the Taliban to first take over the country and if they 'stray outside the true religious Sharia' (whatever that is) then we should protest!
Madame Danielle, you are totally confused, irrational, absurd and illogical in your thinking. Why don't you go live in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan? We do not want your advice on how to live, what to wear, whom to go out with and at what time!

Sarah Amjad
Islamabad

Rumouristan

Friday, May 01, 2009

The other day a minor girl was killed by a stray bullet fired into the air by the friends of a bridegroom who was on his way to do what most healthy men want to do all the time but can't. Immediately the rumours started. "She was a teenager wearing a sleeveless dress," said a burqa-clad woman to my wife. "It's the Taliban for sure," was the opinion of a nervous shopkeeper who sells videos. "Next thing you know, they'll burn my shop." An hour later, a shop caught fire in Landhi. "It was the Taliban who did it, the shop was selling DVDs, newspapers and magazines!" shrieked a caller.

After another hour had passed, the number of shops were rumoured to be ten, all supposedly damaged by bearded men heavily armed with Kalashnikovs. Things have got so bad that I get nervous whenever I see someone who looks like he's just come from Waziristan or Swat.

Like the hundreds of girls in Karachi who (according to rumours) have been told to cover themselves up in thick black burqas if they want to stay alive. The fact is, most of these rumours have been concocted perhaps by the fundamentalists themselves, but after hearing them many times, people think these stories are true. Pakistan's enemies must be laughing their heads off.

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi

TerYour own people...ror in Buner

Friday, May 01, 2009

There is a prevailing dread among many people that history is repeating itself. We have seen two years of operations ending in peace deals and the people affected have blamed the army for leaving in the middle of operations and the government for ignoring the atrocities of the Taliban. The public and the media have recognised the threat that the Taliban pose to all of Pakistan and there has been a positive reaction this time, but in the past, both have been quite pro-Taliban. Now again there are calls to 'stop killing our own people', faint but carrying the threat of magnification by those buzzards of Pakistani society, the ignorant commoner and the political opportunist. It is time Pakistanis set their priorities right. It is time to recognise your own people.
Your own people are the soldiers who have died for you, not those who have killed them. Your own people are the men who have fought for your country, not those who have slaughtered them like animals and left them for dogs to feed on. Your own people are the policemen still reporting to duty, not those who behead them in the name of your religion. Your own people are those who support your government, not those who execute them for it. Your own people are the ones who take up arms to defend their families, not the ones who hoard weapons to destroy them. Your own people are those whose faith lies in their hearts, and not in their beards. Your own people are those who work to earn their living, not the ones who live to steal the earnings of others. Your own people are those who are the first on the scene to help when a bomb goes off, not the ones who detonate the bomb. Your own people are the ones who serve your religion inviting by their example, not the ones who have scarred it to the point of repulsiveness by theirs. Your own people are those being dug out of their graves, not the ones digging them out. Your own people are those whose dead bodies are slung on poles in market places, not the ones responsible for hanging them there. Your own people are the ones who embrace death to protect you, not the ones who kill themselves while attacking you. Your own people are the believers who enter the mosque to worship Allah, not the kuffaar who enter the house of Allah to massacre those believers. Your own people are those who have lost facilities of medicine and education, not the ones who are the cause of this deprivation.
Your own people are the ones who have worked for years to pull you towards 21st century advancement, not the ones who threaten to take you back to the Stone Age. Your own people are the ones who will suffer deformities for the rest of their lives, not the ones who deny them the few drops that could ensure perfect health. Your own people are those who are being lashed, not the ones who wield the whip. Your own people are the ones oppressed, not the ones who subjugate them. Your own people are the ones that have always cultivated peace in your country, not the ones who bring strife from across the border. Your own people are those who want the democracy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in Medina, not those who crave the dictatorship of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Your own people are those who are trying to bring you awareness of the menace that looms just beyond vision, not the ones trying to lull you into a false feeling of security. Your own people are the ones who are being intimidated, not the ones terrorising them.
It is time to distinguish your well wishers from the power-crazed enemy that has despoiled your religion and tarnished your identity the world over. There is no justification for suicide attacks and militancy. We must not accept punishment for the 'injustice', real or imaginary, of other countries. Those who have a bone to pick with America must pick it with America, not Pakistan. There is no remedy for a malignant tumour but to remove it before it reaches vital organs. It can never be 'contained' in one part of the body forever. Either we operate now, or risk lessening or worse, losing completely our chances of survival.

Noor Khan
Islamabad

Go where?

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The DG ISPR and the interior minister on April 28 said that the Taliban would be forced to withdraw from Dir and Buner and go elsewhere. Is that enough? Where will the Taliban go from these places? The 19-month-long military operation did not succeed in capturing or killing Fazlullah, Muslim Khan and others whose men have killed 2,000 innocent people. The armed forces only claimed that the Taliban were being forced to withdraw and we observed that this policy resulted in spreading the writ of the Taliban in surrounding areas. Now it is high time that the security forces should immediately arrest Fazlullah, Muslim Khan and all other killers of innocent people.
They should seize the FM radio channels and give a message to all other militants. This should be the first step in the ongoing operation. If it is not done, we shall believe that there is something wrong at the bottom. Withdrawal of the Taliban is meaningless unless their leaders are arrested and tried for their crimes. Otherwise, all that will happen is that they will move from one place to another.

Bashir Hussain Azad
Chitral

No Taliban in Chitral, please

Thursday, April 30, 2009

For the past one month the people of Swat and other adjoining areas were looking for the betterment of the situation in Swat. But alas after a period of almost one month nothing has happened. Sufi Mohammad's sole gift has been to enable the Taliban of Swat to advance into Buner, Shangla and Dir. Given the prevailing situation, people of Chitral like me are living in the fear that after a few months these Taliban will also enter the peaceful and beautiful area of Chitral. Surely, the government will have realised that the deal is bringing anything but peace to the region.

Rahim Aman Shah
Islamabad

Open letter to President Zardari

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We the citizens of Pakistan are angry and dismayed at the abject capitulation of the state of Pakistan before the Taliban insurgents in Swat. With one stroke of the pen, you and parliament have signed away any real prospects of a stable, tolerant and progressive Pakistan as envisioned by its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Leaving aside the merits or demerits of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, we believe that any agreement signed at the point of a gun can never lead to a lasting and just peace. It has now become clear how naive the government has been in thinking that the Taliban could be contained in Swat. Since you signed the regulation, the Taliban have stated that that they don't intend to lay down their arms, have called into question the legitimacy of parliament and the Supreme Court, and declared the intent to impose their own brand of violent and brutal Sharia not only in the rest of Pakistan but across the world! This is proof positive that the real aim of the Taliban is to seize power through brutal force and intimidation. We reject the argument that the Pakistan army did not fight a counter insurgency because it did not want to kill its own people. We realise that the dark clouds of obscurantism hanging over our country are the direct result of a 'jihadi' mindset within sections of the civil and military establishment, which has for decades fostered and pandered to religious zealots and regressive forces in the country.
None of the above, however, absolves you and the government from mobilising the state machinery and the people of Pakistan against the existential threat facing us; the 'buck stops with you, Mr President!' It is incumbent upon you to compel the army to come to the aid of a constitutionally elected government and enforce the writ of the state in Swat and other troubled regions of Pakistan.
The failure of the government to evolve a counter-narrative to the Taliban propaganda is dereliction of the highest order. The government must immediately devise and implement a strategy for countering the insidious propaganda by and in support of the Taliban, which fills newspaper columns and airwaves. Peace, Mr President, cannot come by ceding territorial control to armed insurgents or by agreeing to their illegitimate demands, as has been done in Swat. Countries that have faced violent insurgencies in the past – Colombia, Egypt or Algeria – did not succeed in their wars by negotiating from a position of weakness, or by burying their heads in the sand. These countries employed all means, including the use of force, to fight those who sought to seize power and territory through violent means. Mr President, we too must fight the Taliban, who have chosen to fight against the state and who routinely terrorise and kill innocent Pakistanis. It is incumbent upon you to mobilise the nation against the scourge of the Taliban before it is too late. History and the people of this country will never forgive you if you fail to show leadership now.

Concerned citizens of Pakistan

Rise up against the Taliban

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We need to stop blaming the US drone attacks for the Taliban's rapid advances in Pakistan. We have a habit of blaming all the ills in our society on others, starting with the ever-green whipping boys the Jews, Americans and Indians -- who are blamed for just about everything that goes wrong in Pakistan. What we need to do is to look in the mirror and place responsibility where due. What is happening in Pakistan right now is our collective fault and cannot be blamed simply by saying that it is a reaction to the drone attacks. The question is simple enough: will the Taliban lay down their arms and stop advancing if the US drone attacks are stopped? The answer clearly is that they will do no such thing because what they are after is power.
As for the Americans, they have their own national interest in mind, not ours -- and the harsh truth is that there is nothing wrong with that. If we have less corruption and are able to provide the masses with a good system of justice and governance, the breeding ground for extremism and the Taliban will be eliminated. Pakistanis – wake up! Look in the mirror and change.

A Rauf
Islamabad

*****
It is very easy to sit in a well-guarded home and issue statements against the Taliban -- this is precisely what our prime minister seems to be doing on a daily basis. The Taliban, by their actions, have shown quite clearly that they care two hoots for written agreements. It is indeed shameful to see that our rulers are just fiddling while the country burns.
Surely, statements alone -- however well-intentioned and strong they may be -- cannot stop the Taliban from advancing. We spend so much of our budget on the military and what do we get in return? With so much heavy spending, our army should be well-equipped to clip the wings of the Taliban -- and I can only wonder what is taking it so long to take on the Taliban.

Badar Ul Islam
Peshawar

*****
It has become evident that our nation has realised the threat the Taliban pose to our identity and to our home, Pakistan. When the people support a cause, nothing can come in their way. When they stood behind the restoration of the deposed judges, the judges were restored. It is time to teach these cowards a lesson who have not only distorted the meaning of our religion but are now trying to impose their own rule over our motherland. By usurping the rights of women, terming democracy and parliament un-Islamic, destroying schools and displaying their barbaric acts with great pride, I thank the Taliban, for having awakened Pakistanis and making them see the reality. We have had enough, we must rise against them for if we stand up, they will have no haven or shelter. United we stand, divided we fall. It's time for us to shun all differences, become united and save Pakistan.

Hafsa Khawaja
Lahore

*****
I believe that the nation should stand firm in giving support to the latest military action in Dir given that so much is at stake. Statements like the one published in newspapers on April 27 by the leader of a local religious group in Buner where he says that he does not want the government to send the army in because that would create a Swat-like situation are quite baffling. These mullahs will be the death of Pakistan if not confronted. Buner as we all know fell without putting any fight whatsoever, and there is no way that the people of Buner will stand up to the Taliban, at least without the government's help. The same people who were involved in the lawyers' movement should now protest against the Taliban and send them a message that the people will not tolerate them trying to take control of the country or any of its regions.

Harris Durrani
Toronto

*****
We are a strange nation. When the Lal Masjid operation was not taking place, people urged the government to launch an operation against illegal activities of the Ghazi brothers. But soon after the operation ended, people started calling the army murderers of innocent children and women. Now Swat is facing the same situation. Some fanatics have taken the beautiful valley under siege by giving it an Islamic name of NAR and once again people of Pakistan are demanding the same action from our government and army, but what is the guarantee that history will not repeat itself? Recently the JUI-F took out a rally against an undergoing operation in Dir.

Khadeejah Usman
Islamabad

*****
It will be too late by the time we realise what the Taliban stand for. There shouldn't be any doubt now that their demand of Sharia is only a garb for their motive to have complete control over the land, destroy state's writ and our way of life. By the time we build a consensus on how to deal with them, they will be firmly in our midst. As to their religious and other senses, make no mistake, they are barbarians. Reasoning has no place in their lives because they move by instincts. Their main target besides security apparatus is society's middle class. It is paramount that we understand the threat and resolve to face it. Rehman Malik was right in saying 'either fight them out or hand over the state to them'.

Muhammad Daud
Rawalpindi

*****

Despite its many problems, Pakistan has managed to reach a position where its citizens can enjoy the fruits of technology and the safe umbrella of nuclear arms. Did we build our home to this level so that we can be the silent onlookers as we are taken aback to the Dark Ages? We have to save our home. The Taliban can't claim the ownership of Pakistan; we, the peace-loving Pakistanis, are the real owners of Pakistan. We can't tolerate any thieves taking charge of our plots, our cars, or even our mobile phones; then how are we tolerating these hooligans taking control of our motherland?
There is an immense need to stand united; but for that we need a platform. We need to stand united with our army; and the responsibility to provide us this platform lies on the shoulders of our leaders. I don't know how to operate a gun; in fact I have never touched one; but still I feel all geared up to fight back and contribute my bit in getting my country free from the shackles of insurgent militants. I would prefer to die while fighting back or at least while raising my voice. I am sure most Pakistanis think this way. They need to come together and make themselves heard.

Shanza Khan
Islamabad

Talibanistan

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

If the government of Pakistan is still all-powerful in Swat, then why hasn't a single murderer been punished even though Muslim Khan gloatingly accepted responsibility for slaughtering Pakistani soldiers and policemen on TV and even said the Taliban recited the Kalima over them while slaughtering them? Instead, in a one-sided keeping with a peace deal broken blatantly by the Taliban time and again, our government has released the few Taliban who were arrested. If the sovereignty of Pakistan still prevails in Swat, then how can the militants restrict army movement or demand their removal? The Pakistan army is not camped in India, surely they have every right to be sent and go anywhere in Pakistan. Then why has a border been drawn in Swat and no-go areas established for the army by the Taliban? Recently four soldiers were captured in Khwazakhela on suspicion of spying for the government. Who gave them that authority and what is being done about it?
According to the Taliban, the property of most of the landlords in Swat is 'privatised and now belongs to the government of Swat'. Since the government of Pakistan maintains there is no parallel government in Swat, is it the federal or the provincial government that our property now belongs to? You might say the people of Swat wanted the NAR. It is not easy to remain seated in your shop when armed murderers tell you to go to a rally. You are not given a choice when you are ordered to stage a protest, because your home is not the sanctuary it used to be and you know the army, the police and the government won't step in to protect you when the people of Pakistan are being plunged into further denial by their own government.

Peace deals are an annual event in Swat. Every winter when leaves are shed, cover is poor and the Taliban scattered or diminished in numbers, they become amenable to peace. Come summer they are replenished with men freshly recruited during the winter, more sons from more families in Swat, resulting in greater support and more places of sanctuary. Their fighters are released by the government; the army is withdrawn and consequently must fight all over again for areas they controlled last season. This time, the 'peace deal' has allowed the Taliban to advance to Buner, Shangla, and Dir lower and upper, with stirrings in Nowshera and Mardan. They are also recruiting men from those districts, locals who cannot be sent back to Swat.

We are Muslims but we do not want the Taliban's version of Sharia, the one that allows the murder of Muslims and innocent human beings, theft of their property and oppression of the worst kind. During the crusades, Muslims wore crosses around their necks in order to escape persecution at the hands of Christians. Now, Muslims wear beards in order to escape persecution at the hands of creatures who call themselves Muslim. This is happening in a state within a state; it used to be called Swat. Now, its whispered name is Talibanistan, and its new ruler is an illiterate cart-driver who has brought the Pakistan government to heel and cowed our mighty army.

Noor Khan
From Swat (and currently in Islamabad)

*****

I am totally unable to understand two things out of this whole situation of Talibanisation. One, when will the army play its role? The army chief has made a bold and blunt statement but when will this be backed up with equally bold and blunt action against the Taliban? Second, a leader in Swat, who seems to have a large local following said in public that he does not accept the constitution or the judiciary or even parliament. This is another way of saying that he does not even accept the existence of Pakistan. Why does not the Chief Justice of Pakistan ask him to appear in court? What are we waiting for?

Uzair Alvi
Islamabad

*****

Every second Pakistani I meet in Malaysia is from Buner. Most of them sell carpets, dresses, home decorations and electronic appliances. Their job is not easy — because they have to sell door-to-door. It seems many families in Buner have at least one member working in Malaysia. All of them are fearful of the Taliban's takeover of their district — and most, if not all, also say that they don't understand why the army is not there to fight the Taliban. The sad and unfortunate thing is that we are not even fighting the Taliban.

An ashamed Punjabi
Kedah, Malaysia

*****

General Musharraf was doing the right thing by starting a military operation in FATA and Swat two years back. He had succeeded in dismantling their infrastructure and forced them out of Swat but unfortunately all political parties along with the media made such a hue and cry that everything had to be stopped. The army had succeeded in driving out the militants from most of Swat, until the ANP government agreed to a dialogue. During this time, they re-entered Swat and consolidated themselves and killed all those who had supported the army. The consequence of that was that the indigenous population became thoroughly afraid and the situation became much like that of a few men keeping a much larger group of people hostage — with the government giving in, perhaps out of the safety of the people of Swat.
Now the Taliban stand exposed to people of Pakistan — I have not met a single person who supports these monsters. Everyone in the country wants swift, speedy and transparent judiciary but they don't want the Taliban to be given a district under this pretext. They also want the government and the military to take decisive action against the Taliban.

Ijaz Ahmad
Karachi

*****

I feel no shame in admitting that I was among the ignorant who actually thought that 'Nizam-e-Adl' would bring hope to the Swatis. To me, a student safely residing in Lahore, the 'truce' between the government and the Taliban put an end to the ongoing civil war. It halted the wastage of our own resources against our own people, the destruction of one of the best tourist destinations of the world. I saw no harm in the establishment of a 'legislative system' that mirrored the consent of the people abiding there. For me, Nizam-e-Adl was a cloud named peace and amnesty with a silver lining. It signalled the rebuilding of the ruins. It meant the saving of innocent lives that were caught up in between the two forces, the saving of defence inventory, the revival of tourism. It signalled hope for all.
Little had I known that what I had thought to be a solution would take shape of Talibanisation, which reminds me of Afghanistan. It is now that I give a second thought to the reports of a girl's flogging which was not a media hoax after all. I think of the eradication of girls' schools, women health centres. The Taliban are an ominous force vowing to put an end to the women education and development and forcibly drive us back to the medieval times. I am insecure in my own city. There is a dread, a terror of someone shutting down my institution, or worse blowing it up. Every little news of the success of the Taliban mounts this trepidation. What would our fate be? Will Pakistan become another Afghanistan?

Nadia Rauf
Kinnaird College,
Lahore

*****

I am crying while I am writing this. What is going to happen to Pakistan? These Taliban are not Muslims. They are not even Pakistanis. They are animals because humans don't behave the way they do. Why are our government and army not fighting them? Why are they letting them advance and take over country's territory everyday?

Nabiha Khattak
Islamabad

*****

We do not need American threats to take us back to the Stone Age as we are doing this ourselves by legalising Nizam-e-Adl and will soon see the result on women's rights and women's education. Men will also have to fall in line with the non-appealable decisions given by the Qazi courts.

Khurram Muzaffar
Rawalpindi

*****

When parts of Pakistan are falling to the 'hirsute brigade', the leadership from Punjab remains silent. They must remember that historically the storm that gathers at Hindukush reaches the gates of Delhi!

Pir M Shah

Monsters in our midst

Sunday, April 26, 2009

I would like to express my deepest sympathies and condolence with the people of Pakistan and swat in particular on the sad demise of our parliament which passed away the day Nizam-e-Adl was passed without any strong objection or even an argument. It was shameless to see our National Assembly succumbing to the Taliban. If the National Assembly is there just to toe the line of the presidency then I think there is no need to put a burden on our national exchequer by having this mammoth assembly and paying these spineless members a hefty amount of perks and privileges for just sitting idle in the assembly. We should get rid of this parliamentary system if they ask us the people of Pakistan that if you have any other option let us know; if that is to be done by the people themselves then again there is no need for you people to claim yourself as the representative of the people of Pakistan.
It is a disgrace for our country to have such sort of coward members sitting in the assembly and deciding our fate and future. It was sad or rather hilarious to see the opposition leader of the assembly rather taking a stand against the Taliban was seen taking a stand against the US – sir, that is not the time for you to go on your usual anti-American rant and Musharraf-bashing; that is the time to hear the plea and cry of the people of Swat.
The main justification of the ANP, and now parliament, is that this was the demand of the people of Swat. However, the comments I read in your newspaper everyday from the citizens of Swat clearly tell us all they demand. They want the protection of the state, which both the provincial and federal governments have surrendered shamelessly to the TNSM and the Swat Taliban.
The question which needs to be addressed right away is why the state failed in carrying out its primary responsibility and why the army failed to counter the Taliban in Swat. This collective failure and collective surrender is because parliament is sitting idle, ignoring the grave, serious threat to our national security. The army comes up with the justification that we are not trained to fight a counterinsurgency and if that argument is indeed accepted then why doesn't the government ask the army to train its soldiers in counterinsurgency operations? Surely, that is the biggest need for the country, not training in conventional warfare.
Postscript: to the Taliban: Jinnah's Pakistan is lost forever, but the people of Pakistan will not and cannot be silenced by your gun and will not be petrified by your arms, we will fight till our last drop of blood.

Ezzam Ali Khan
Rawalpindi

*****

In each one of us 170 million Pakistanis lives the ideology upon which the sovereign state of Pakistan was created and upon which it breathes. That ideology dies each time the Pakistani Taliban snatch away from us the right to the Pakistan of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Each time one of us submits to these criminals, each time one of us surrenders the Pakistan ideology to these barbarians, each time these thugs take from us the right to good education and to our children, each time they drive or threaten to drive a single one of us in any part of the once-free Pakistan from his home, that each time, Pakistan's ideology bleeds to death. If not checked by military means, the Taliban will turn Pakistan into one whole ruin; none of us will ever live a life of freedom again.
If the army can't or won't do the job, by God we can do it ourselves and reclaim for us the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam for the second time that the 70 per cent silent Pakistanis are watching burn right now.

Fahd Hassan
Karachi

*****

Sufi Mohammad has that all Pakistani courts are 'un-Islamic'. The silence from the lawyers' community over this is amazing and has raised many questions. They launched a full-fledged campaign and held many protests when a few judges of Supreme Court were removed. They were ready to lay down their lives for their cause. However the complete cessation of courts' proceedings in Swat and now in Buner because of Taliban threats have yet to get any united response from the lawyers.

Ali Ammar
Karachi

*****

It was a sad spectacle when most of television channels were finding one excuse or the other to question the authenticity of the video clip of the flogging of an innocent Swati girl. These channels didn't touch the content of the video and were asking people who are known to be Taliban sympathisers loaded questions such as: "do you think this video has been uploaded to disrupt the peace process in Swat?" I would request the electronic media not to support these monsters in any manner.

Ahsan Javed
Attock

*****

I am living a life of fear. The Taliban are spreading their tentacles and they have to be stopped -- they want to take us back to the Dark Ages. They need to be stopped.

Somayya Athar
Peshawar

*****

I would like to ask the judiciary why it is not taking suo motu notice of the Nizam-e-Adl regulation. How can there be two systems of law in one country?

Anam Gill
Lahore

No more 'Islamisation', please

Sunday, April 26, 2009

I fail to understand how Qazi Hussain Ahmed justifies that Islamisation of Pakistan is the 'cure of all evils' (April 20). It should be pointed out that Sufi Mohammad and his followers believe that Nizam-e-Adl is 'Islamic' but in fact it's a slap on the faces of women and minorities, two groups always protected under Islam. My question to Qazi sahib is: whose version of Islam are we going to follow? And which version of Islam will cure all our evils?

Radia Mohyuddin
Peshawar

Source

O politicians and generals, wake up!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

The storm of Talibanisation, like an unstoppable twister, is on the rampage. The civil administration, local police, law-enforcement apparatus and district courts have been dismantled and replaced by gun-toting murderers. The semi-literate and bigoted mullahs are in-charge of the areas under their control. The writ of the government is nowhere to be seen.
Yet our president, the incompetent federal government and the passive military leadership continue to make statements such as "terrorism will be wiped out", that the "government will not allow the creation of a state within a state", or that the "armed forces are prepared and ready to defend the country" even as the terrorists and Al Qaeda proxies sweep across the country with complete immunity and impunity taking town after town under their control. It is all talk and no action from all of our inept leadership, civilian and military alike, without exception. To put it quite bluntly, this rhetoric from our incompetent leadership is bull crap.
When they hear such empty and meaningless statements from our leaders, the likes of Baitullah Mehsud, Fazalullah, Mullah Omar, Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden must be laughing their heads off. The current PPP-led government is afflicted with utter confusion, lethargy, incompetence and inaction and the intellectually bankrupt administration does not know what to do and how to tackle the rampaging Taliban. For the past over 60 years, the armed forces have been consuming the biggest chunk of the national budget, but not once have they given a reasonable level of confidence to the nation that the defence of the country was in safe hands. The nation has always been left to lick the wounds and fend for itself after every military defeat.
Perhaps it is time for us to seriously consider 'out-sourcing' the defence of the country to other groups who would be willing to take on these terrorists. The silence of the Taliban apologists, the likes of Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, people like Hamid Mir, Ehteshamul Haq and the holier-than-thou Ansar Abbasi, who is perhaps vying for the post of the Taliban's foreign minister, is both appalling. These individuals always talk of the drone attacks but utter a word against attacks on the civilian population by the Taliban murderers.

M S Hasan
Karachi

*****

I am shocked to see that these Taliban with beards and turbans say that democracy is un-Islamic. Our Prophet (PBUH) consulted his companions at the time of the Battle of Uhad and went against his own will to honour the opinion of majority (which was to fight outside Madina). At the time of Battle of the Trench, it was one of the companions who gave the idea of building trenches -- i.e. it was a fruit of consultation. The Rightly Guided Caliphs established the Majlis-e-Shura. I ask the Taliban that if this is not democracy then what is. Our Prophet (PBUH) did not make such laws and say such things -- so who are the Taliban to make such laws and call themselves Islamic?

Hamood Mazhar
Faisalabad

*****

A headline in your newspaper on April 23 said "Taliban cannot cross Margala hills: DC". Really, Mr Deputy Commissioner? Wow! That's a revelation. I feel much safer now that I've been told that the militants won't be stopped until they reach the Margalla hills. What's that you say? You detect a hint of sarcasm? Oh yes that, well you see, last time I checked the map, and it was very recently mind you, the Margalla Hills were not located somewhere in far away China, but in fact are in full view of my home in Islamabad (yes that's the capital city of Pakistan just in case you aren't aware) and that of every home in the twin cities, and also a place where many like me go for rest and relaxation and are proud to call a part of this city and country.
So you understand if I, like the many millions of others (I'm sure) am not merely satisfied or heartened by your assertion that the Taliban will just be allowed up to the Margalla Hills, and nowhere nearer. I'm hoping you have a small foot, Mr Deputy Commissioner, because if it's even a bit large, you might have trouble fitting it into your mouth, which you will need to do after this statement. Good Day.

Muhammad Bin Naveed
Islamabad

*****
I fail to understand why our army cannot deal with the Taliban? What has the army been doing for the past 61 years -- getting the biggest chunk of the budget and now what are we -- Pakistanis -- getting out of it?

Somayya Athar
Peshawar

*****

Are we waiting for miscreants to take over Pakistan? Why our leaders are so calm? Is this a gimmick to receive more foreign aid and send a message to America? If it is, then that's very dangerous. And if India and Russia are creating problems in Balochistan, what is our leadership doing sitting in Islamabad/Rawalpindi? I request them not to demoralise the public but take appropriate measures to correct the situation immediately.

Moazzam
Wah Cantt

*****

In all the debate and discussion, and the considerable heart-wrenching, on the advancing Taliban, no one has asked what I think is a very important question. Who is supplying the Taliban and financing them? If we get the answer to this question, then maybe we could cut off their supplies and their source -- surely one would think that the government and the military establishment would know the answer to this very important and pressing question.

Aliuddin Ahmed
Karachi

*****

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry when I see statements by our rulers like the one given by the prime minister that the government will not allow a state within a state or parallel courts to be set up. What is he talking about? Can he not see that there is already a state within a state -- and it is growing with each passing day? The people are now fed up with your shallow statements. If concrete measures are not taken and that too on a war footing then I am afraid the dream of the Taliban is going to materialise.

Zia ul Hassan
Islamabad

*****

Pakistan is a country with a population that is almost 98 per cent Muslim and has an agreed-upon constitution which cannot have anything contrary to the Holy Quran or Sunnah. With these institutions in place, any effort to further 'Islamise' the country and that too by barbaric force is nothing but a pretext to seize power -- and this has been rightly hinted in your editorial "The final fall?" of April 24.
The fact of the matter is that Talibanisation in any garb will result in balkanisation of Jinnah's Pakistan.

Humayun Bashir
Riyadh

Long march against the Taliban?

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Reading the articles by Zafar Hilaly, Ikram Sehgal, Ayaz Amir, Shafqat Mahmood and others I realise that I am not wrong to panic and worry over the future of my country. They have written eloquently and far better than I could about our dire situation and the need to finally wake up. Even Hilary Clinton is asking why there isn't a greater outrage from the Pakistanis. Sufi Mohammad's speech and acts have left no doubts about the Taliban's intentions, but we refuse to budge and unite as a nation!
The fundamental reason is that in our heart of hearts we like the utopian idea of the Taliban arriving and providing 'true' Islam and a cure for all ills. Men do not dislike the vision of having total command over females and even females are saying that the girls of today are "out of control" and do not obey their fathers, mothers or mothers-in-law and it will be good to have them checked and put in place. Our educated as well as uneducated populace does not realise that the invasion will be such that our homes will be invaded and taken possession of. Our land and cattle will be theirs, they will own all our natural resources and all our industry. Our sons will be forced to join the barbaric hordes of the Taliban, or beheaded on the pretext of having committed a misdeed, our daughters will be raped. We will be cut off from the rest of the world without any internet, phones, media or written material. Life as we know it now will end.
The crucial and most important role can only be played by the media. Why are they not showing documentaries of what the Taliban rule will actually be like? Why do they hesitate to educate people about the menace that is approaching? The Taliban will curtail rights of men even more than of women. The best way is to make attention-grabbing visuals and show these on entertainment channels instead of cooking shows. The majority does not watch their boring talk shows. Those of us who are in a panic see no direction or leadership under which to unite. We discuss the situation endlessly and lose sleep over it but have no common forum to unite under. What should we do to protest? Where should we go? Where is the long march against the Taliban?

Irum Ahmad
Lahore

Swat, Buner – what next?

Friday, April 24, 2009

Recently, a female MNA of the ANP came on TV and defended the Nizam-e-Adl regulation in Swat. In doing so, she made a promise that her party would work for the protection of women's rights, especially in Swat, and that female members of the ANP would soon visit the area for this purpose. My question to the MNA is that how does she expect to go to Taliban-controlled Swat without a mehram male relative because if she goes otherwise she risks being flogged in public -- like that 17-year-old girl was -- complete with a crowd of pious onlookers.
Also, the MNA should know that her education makes her a virtual untouchable in today's Swat -- that she won't be allowed to meet anyone because the Taliban may think that she will pollute the local women. Also, if the ANP delegation includes any women who are working, they better think twice before visiting Swat because in their worldview a woman who works is immoral, and we all know what they do to such women -- they behead them, or like Shabana, they shoot them.
If any of the above should happen, the TTP will refute it completely, while Ansar Abassi will advise us to look the other way and pretend that it didn't happen -- of course, for the sake of peace. Also, they say charity begins at home and since the ANP MNA feels that this regulation is the best thing for us Swati women, starting now, she should tear up her CNIC, renounce her right to vote, refuse medical attention for her daughters, sisters and herself, reject polio drops for the children of her family and sequester herself at home for the rest of her life.

Noor Khan
Islamabad

*****

It saddens me when people call the Taliban 'beasts'. If they are beasts or worse than beasts, then why did our army not get rid of them? If they are criminals, why did the ANP government sign an accord with them? If they are really renegades, then why did the National Assembly endorse the Nizam-e-Adl regulation?

Najeebullah
Swat

*****

Against a backdrop of bombs, dismembered limbs, shrapnel and weeping families, the leadership of Pakistan is silent. The corridors of power in Pakistan are deserted and abandoned. The people of Pakistan have been left to fend for themselves, protect their lives against the barbarism of the Taliban who are hell-bent on expanding their scope of power and imposing their perverted view of Sharia, or Muslim law, across the nation.
The Nizam-e-Adl regulation that was passed unanimously with the able assistance of the PPP, the PML-N, the PML-Q, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the ANP has failed to deliver any justice or respite to the people of Swat. Why, or rather how, could our leaders believe that the passage of this Nizam-e-Adl would stop the Taliban in their tracks? Did they really believe that its passage would cause the Taliban to disarm? What fool's paradise are they living in? The people of Pakistan demand an explanation for why they are not being protected against these marauders, these terrorists. But no one is talking… where does it all end? Who will end it? Who is responsible for ending it? Where are the Pakistani leaders? More importantly, who is leading Pakistan?
Even as the Taliban were establishing their authority in Buner, both the president and the prime minister were proclaiming that the Nizam-e-Adl would be restricted to the Swat Valley and the Taliban would not be allowed to move beyond this region. The twice deposed former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, finally broke his vow of silence and condemned the Taliban's takeover of Buner after sitting silently all this time. Why couldn't, or rather why didn't, he speak up earlier and urge action? Why did Sharif allow his supporters in the National Assembly to support the so-called 'peace agreement'?
Where are those protectors, those "mard-e-momin" who were so eloquently leading the charge to restore justice for all citizens of Pakistan? Where is the justice in all this violence? Of what use is the judiciary if there is no one to enforce the laws.
As a citizen of Pakistan, I and others demand to know why the leaders who were elected to safeguard our interests are sitting quietly. Why is the military not taking action against these terrorists? In the past, the military has been brought in to quash the first sign of unrest among the citizenry. But now the military also sits and waits… silently… for whom we do not know.
Newspapers in America and the UK have accused the people of Pakistan of being in denial about the threat posed by the Taliban. They are dead wrong. The people of Pakistan are living through this ordeal. They want an end to it and they are grasping at any straw of hope that they can get.

Amena Saiyid
New York

*****

Every time a corps commanders' or formation commanders' conference is held, the ISPR issues a press release which tells us of the 'readiness' of the military leadership to fight all challenges to the country. May I ask what is the military doing right now? Why is it allowing the Taliban to advance and bring more and more areas of the country under their influence? Under what law or provision of the constitution is this being allowed to happen in Buner for instance?
How can the world's sixth largest army not defeat a few thousand armed men? By the look of things, it seems that Pakistan is a ship just about to sink any time, but we are still being told that the military is 'ready to meet any challenge'. Please stop playing such cruel jokes on us -- kindly wake up and save your own country before these monsters devour everything.

A M
Islamabad

*****

Has anyone in the government pondered over the consequences of handing over of Kohistan district to the Taliban in the name of Nizam-e-Adl? Have the great politicians and generals of this country given a thought to the fact that Karakoram Highway is the only highway that connects the strategic Northern Areas to the rest of the country perennially? And this strategically important highway passes through a greater part of Kohistan region, a region that will soon turn into a Taliban territory?
Have the great minds of this government mulled over the future of trade and commerce between China and Pakistan, that is mostly conducted through the Karakoram Highway, especially now when the Chinese are already working on the expansion of the Karakoram Highway to facilitate the movement of goods between the port of Gwadar and China? And that these trucks laden with goods will have to pass through, the soon to be infested with militants, Kohistan territory? And have the rocket scientists of this government conveniently forgotten about Bhasha dam that is soon going to be constructed, and is right round the corner from the district of Kohistan? Is this parliament seriously thinking?

Wajahat Malik
Islamabad

*****

Pakistan is a conglomerate of many martial races: chivalry and gallantry is an inherent trait of its people. The nation has acknowledged the services of its gallant citizens by awarding them Nishan-e-Haider, Nishan-e-Shujaat, Tamgha-e-Shujaat and Tamgha-e-Jurat, to name some of the national awards. To be fair to those who display supreme form of cowardice especially while discharging duties in the service of the nation, their demeanour must be applauded and acknowledged by conferring upon them a "Cowardice Award". These awardees should also be entitled to a multi-coloured set of bangles which they could wear on national days.
To start with, the most deserving awardees are the members of the National Assembly who were present in the premises when the Speaker tabled the bill, Nizam-i-Adl in Swat, for discussion and processing. Just before the gathering of the assembly members in Islamabad a spokesman of the Swat Taliban, who had authored the regulation, had announced a warning that any assembly member opposing the bill could face death. Thus the members, including most vocal ladies, under the death threat, did not utter a word for or against the bill. Nonetheless, there were a few exceptions that missed the Cowardice Award and the multi-coloured bangles. These were the lone member from Chakwal, Ayaz Mir, and the legislators representing the MQM.
The government can notify the names of the awardees immediately to satisfy the eager 16 crore electorates: the Cowardice Award can be conferred on them later on the Independence Day, August 14, 2009.

Ms Hussan Parri
Matta, Swat

*****
This is in response to a news report in your paper titled "11 children die in Kurram for lack of medicines" (April 21). I think our leadership should be ashamed of this, as they should be of ceding Swat to the Taliban. I say this because they know it is bad for Swat and for the whole country but for the sake of so-called peace -- which means to keep their own seats -- they, and the military, have allowed the Taliban control of a major district of the country. Alas they have forgotten about the misery of the public. Why cannot the government and the military do anything to open the roads leading to Parachinar?

Mohamad Khan
Peshawar

*****
I find it very strange that the PML-N endorsed the peace deal with the Taliban, because just recently it led a historic long march which restored the judiciary -- the same judiciary which has now been declared haram by the Taliban. I just hope that the political parties are taking this matter seriously because these decisions might decide the fate of our nation.

Yasir Amanat
Islamabad

*****

As a taxpayer whose taxes go to finance our military, I would like the army chief to please tell us citizens why the armed forces are not taking on the Taliban? Surely, the threat to the country is not -- for the time being at least -- coming from India but from the Taliban and their spreading tentacles. I would also like to say that if the army chooses not to fight these monsters then they should kindly give us the weapons (which are financed by our taxes, mind you) and we will fight them ourselves.

Fahd Hassan
Karachi

Whipped -- II

Friday, April 24, 2009

Life after the peace deal was okay -- till April 19's speech by Sufi Mohammad in Mingora. It seems that again some tussle may happen between the Taliban and the army. On April 22 the Taliban and a group of students from Government Jahanzeb College had blocked the road in front of the session courts in Mingora. The Taliban were demanding that judges be removed and the students were demanding a university.
I am from Kabal -- and every day I see armed Taliban move around freely. At the time of prayer, if they see anyone in his shop or walking about, they whip him with a stick.

A resident
Kabal, Swat