Adil Najam
This photograph was published in Daily Times, January 12, 2009. The caption read:
“Women are not allowed in the market,” reads a banner displayed at the entrance of a market in Mingora. Taliban have banned the entry of women in markets and ordered the killing of women who violate the ban. Most shop owners have sold or shut down their businesses because of falling sales following the restriction.
What would have made this tragic depiction comical had the context been different is that from the picture this is clearly a textile and cloth market – the type of market where, in Pakistan, you would expect most customers to be women!
I do not live in Pakistan so do not pretend to completely know the nature of the problem of militancy in SWAT but understand enough from following the course of the Taliban over the years to comment that most posts here are only partly right.
@ Amir:
I agree with your statement that “for an evil ideology that is a mix of wrong Islamic interpretations, tribal law and ignorance, and which imposes itself by violence” describes the Taliban.
The solution for this will certainly require military means in the short run so that the citizen are not terrorised by a group of marauders but the long term solution can not be a piece meal fight against one group or the other.
In the long run,
1. Evil ideology and wrong interpretation can only be countered by better ideology and right interpretation ie; long term people, state and NGO investment of time and money in a more humanistic education.
2. Pakistan has to decide to become a strong state, in order to protect its citizens internally and carry out a foreign policy externally. A strong state has to have a 100% monopoly on all means of violence; which means the complete end of tolerating armed groups for strategic or any other purposes within its borders.
3. Define its vision as a society clearly. If the citizens of the country truely feel women should have equal rights, then it has to say that clearly and unambiguosly. It can not and should not tolerate apologist for male chauvinism in the name of tradition or religion.
4. Pakistani state has to create a public opinion by vigorous means in all strata of society.
Remember, the Taliban can carry out a guerrilla warfare only if it can hide in a sympathetic population. Unless the society can peal off its support in the general population all over the state of Pakistan, the military alone will never be able to defeat it.
Looking from the outside, I believe this is truely a battle for the soul of Pakistan and the battlefield is the hearts and minds of all the people within Pakistan both in and out of the tribal areas.
The outcome of this battle will determine which Pakistan will finally emerge; that visioned by MA Jinnah or that by Mullah Omar.
One thing is for sure. It is not the job of the army alone.
If Jinnah’s vision the has to win then all parts of Pakistani society, its media, its students, its lawyers its politicians and all its decent folks have to come out in his favor and fight this battle.
Remember; All it takes for evil to win is for the good people to do nothing
@Faraz
When we talk about Taliban, there are no genuine grievances or root causes to speak of, except for an evil ideology that is a mix of wrong Islamic interpretations, tribal law and ignorance, and which imposes itself by violence.
The Bajaur operation may have displaced many people, but the responsibility for it lies entirely with the Taliban, who turned Bajaur into a battleground without the permission of the tribes. The Taliban are entrenched, ruthless and heavily armed, one has to conduct military operations with full firepower. Once the Taliban are eliminated from an area, then normal life can slowly resume. There is no such thing as “co-existence” with extremists.
@atheist
“Someone wrote in Pakistan
Ideally I’d say there’s a time for reasoning & there’s a time for action & we’re long past reasoning with these folks. But rationally speaking I think a military action will not elimiate the cause a certain fraction of people turn militants. I think the reason these people turn so is the marked difference in levels of Pakistani society. We have an upper class with power to do as they please, their own social setup, money etc. Now, for a low class average Joe, the easiest way to get power, money & authority above the law is to make their own heaven & within that boundary, rule by force. The solution is to make these people more accessible to upper levels of society… by educating them, providing employment & timely justice. But since all our governments fail in doing so & since we haven’t ever had a permanent people welfare policy in place that wudn’t be scrapped by the next government, this job falls more on NGOs & people themselves to start sustainable education & awareness campaigns.
I haven’t seen any mention of the little girl living in SWAT province, who has been keeping an on-line diary about the threat to her schooling, using a pen name for safety reasons.
If anyone is interested its here: Gul Makai