Taliban Times – 1: Talibanization in Action

Posted on April 22, 2009
Filed Under >Adil Najam, Law & Justice, Politics, Society
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Adil Najam

The Taliban onslaught against Pakistan continues relentlessly. The feeling of a polity unraveling before our eyes deepens.

Analyses boggle the mind because just keeping up with the news is hard enough. So, here are excerpts from just a few of recent news reports that are worth a read.

Buner falls into the hands of Swat Taliban
(Dawn, April 23, 2009)

Taliban militants from Swat took control of Buner on Tuesday and started patrolling bazaars, villages and towns in the district. The militants, who had sneaked into Gokand valley of Buner on April 4, were reported to have been on a looting spree for the past five days. They have robbed government and NGO offices of vehicles, computers, printers, generators, edible oil containers, and food and nutrition packets.

The Taliban have extended their control to almost all tehsils of the district and law-enforcement personnel remained confined to police stations and camps. The Taliban, equipped with advanced weapons, were reported to be advancing towards border areas of Swabi, Malakand and Mardan, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti.

The militants have started digging trenches and setting up bunkers on heights in strategic towns of Gadezi, Salarzai, Osherai and other tehsils. After occupying the Buner district and setting up their headquarters in the bungalow of businessman Syed Ahmed Khan (alias Fateh Khan) in Sultanwas, the militants started patrolling the streets and roads with no signs of law-enforcement personnel. Led by Fateh Mohammad, the militants were asking local people, particularly youngsters, to join them in their campaign to enforce Sharia. They have established checkposts on roads and are searching all passing vehicles. They have virtually established their writ in Buner region, once a stronghold of the Awami National Party.

A Taliban commander said they would set up strict Islamic sharia courts in Buner as they have already done in Swat, but would not interfere with police work. ‘The Taliban who have arrived from Swat have increased patrolling, banned music in public transport and rampaged (through the) offices of NGOs and taken their vehicles,’ local government official Rashid Khan said. ‘We will soon establish our radio station. Our Qazis (Islamic judges) will also start holding courts in Buner soon,’ Taliban commander Mohammad Khalil told AFP. ‘People in their dozens have come to invite us’ to extend sharia. ‘The Taliban will leave Buner after enforcement of Islamic justice system,’ he said.

However, several residents said they felt ‘scared’ and planned to leave the Buner area, fearing similar violence to that in Swat. On Tuesday, armed groups entered the Rural Health Centre at Jure in Salarzai area and took away a Land-Cruiser being used by the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI), Buner. On April 17, they raided a basic health unit in tehsil Chamla and looted 480 cans of edible oil. They took away from the house of a lady health visitor a large number of food and nutrition packets supplied by USAID and sewing machines from an Action Aid-sponsored vocational centre in the Korea village of tehsil Chamla. On April 18, they looted a huge quantity of medicine from a health facility at the Afghan refugee camp in Koga in the same tehsil and 640 cans of edible oil from a godown of the World Food Programme in Nawagai.




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Buner judges stop presiding over courts
(The News, April 23, 2009)

Providing credence to the apprehensions of some political parties and civil society organisations, the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) on Wednesday said that Ulema would be the Qazis (judges) of the Darul Qaza and only they would have administrative control over the Malakand judiciary. Meanwhile, Sufi Muhammad told a delegation that those who called the Supreme Court and high courts “Sharai” were rebels against Islam. The organisation categorically said they would not accept superior courts’ judges as Qazis of the Darul Qaza. Interestingly, the TNSM has recommended the names of three Ulema to the government for Qazis of the Darul Qaza…

The TNSM spokesman, while claiming not to have gone through the copy of The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation (NAR) yet, said they would not accept the Darul-Darul Qaza, but the Darul Qaza would be the final court… Amir Izzat said that all candidates for the posts of Qazis would be interviewed, appointed or rejected by Maulana Sufi Muhammad. “Sufi Muhammad will determine their Sharai knowledge and if he finds any candidate below the standard, he will not be appointed,” he said. Regarding the transfer of Qazis, he said once a Qazi was appointed in Malakand division, he could not be transferred outside the division. He added that transfer of judge from the rest of Pakistan to the Malakand division would also not be accepted.

It was learnt that judges in the Taliban-controlled Buner district stopped working and shifted the official record. Apparently, the decision was taken after growing control and strength of Taliban in the district. The judges were asked by PHC, it was learnt, not to attend the courts till May 2.

Sufi might have been a little ‘Kafir’ too: Munawar
(The News, April 23, 2009)

Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hassan has said that Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad had once contested elections of local councillor and won it and therefore might have been a little ‘Kafir’ (infidel) too. Talking to newsmen in Lahore after meeting a delegation of Khaksar Tehrik led by Hameeduddin Al-Mashriqi, he said that the 1973 Constitution was a consensus document having the support of all ulema of the country. Therefore, Sufi Muhammad should consult the ulema and elders before passing edicts.

Swat Taliban promote ‘love marriages’
(The News, April 19, 2009)

The Taliban of Swat have set up a bureau named ‘Shuba-e-Aroosat’ for arranging love marriages of couples who are denied the marriage of choice by their families for one reason or the other, reports BBC Urdu Service. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the marriage bureau headed by Taliban Commander Abu Ammad arranged 11 ‘love marriages’ in the last nine days while 300 girls and boys are waiting for their turn. “The love marriage aspirants contact the bureau on a fixed telephone number. The Taliban collect their particulars and then contact their familites to arrange these choice marriages,” he said, adding that Islam allows every adult to get marry according to his/her own choice. He said, “Most of the girls, or their families, who contacted us wish to marry ‘militant’ Taliban.” Analysts say the Taliban are paving the way for themselves to marry the girls of their choice. It is really strange that they flog the couples on one hand for moving together while on the other hand allow young couples to marry according to their choice. Also the question arises how is it possible for a boy or girl to propose while they have not seen each other, reports BBC Urdu Service.

90 responses to “Taliban Times – 1: Talibanization in Action”

  1. Calculating_Misfit says:

    @Zechetti

    “This video you provided is by a well known propaganda channel Sky News owned by the international media jew Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News in America – also known as Faux News due to its blatant pro neo-con propaganda.”

    So the answer is to label anything against your views as “propoganda”? At best you can disagree with the reporter’s analysis, the Talib video, however, is pretty telling on its own. That the Taliban chop off the heads of many police officers doing their duty is no secret. Neither is blowing away a guy “accused” of stealing.

    If you want some “unbiased” source of the taliban’s brutality here is one (ironically the same source and reporter as your own):

    http://tinyurl.com/cqvzdf

    “The video I showed is a whole lot more realistic. Locals, including tribal elders, welcoming the implementation of Sharia Law. I once again invite you to think again: how else can the Taliban be so successful, except that the people support what they do against the corrupt establishment and status quo?”

    I am sure after watching police officers get beheaded, their politicians assassinated, and their daughters flogged these poor people will say anything to please the Taliban. Those who resist or speak out against the Taliban are killed or must flee.

    http://tinyurl.com/d5e856

    The Talibs are successful despite resistance by the locals because the Pakistani government fails to back them.

    “Militant training camps are springing up across the valley’s thickly forested mountainsides,” the WSJ reported, and are being filled with recruits, some who feel coerced to join. “Residents said many young men are joining the militants to ensure the safety of their families, who they hope will be left in peace if one of their own is fighting the government.”

    http://tinyurl.com/clrtaz

  2. Sridhar says:

    Does anybody at all believe that the deal with the Taliban in Swat happened without the full blessing and wholehearted support of the Army? Does anybody at all believe that the civilian leadership has any independence of action on security policy? It seems funny that some people are placing faith in the army, when it is quite obvious that the current policy of giving free rein to the Taliban in some areas is actually the army’s policy, or at least has full concurrence of the army.

    Now why would the army want to give free rein to the Taliban? The answer lies in looking at why the army was unable to effectively fight the Taliban in the first place. The Taliban in recent times have done large scale recruitment of retired army personnel. Further, if I know this right, the army foot soldiers largely come from some parts of Punjab and the NWFP. If an army has a significant proportion of people from the very region it is deployed, it is quite plausible that these soldiers would rather desert the army than fight their own tribes, clansmen and in some cases, their own brothers. This would worry any general in the Pakistan army. The option of using the Punjabi units in the army is also not a feasible one – as it has the potential of causing an internal civil war in the army.

    What is the solution in a situation like this? The only option in my view is
    1. In the short run, limit the spread of the Taliban to their traditional strongholds, not allowing them to spread to settled areas.
    2. In the long run, train a local force that is well equipped and that is ideologically oriented towards fighting against the Taliban.

    The latter is hard due to the strong tribal ties in the region. But there is really no alternative. It appears as if Kayani, who is reputed to be a smart and committed officer, is probably trying this very strategy.

  3. Zecchetti says:

    @ Calculated Misfit.

    This video you provided is by a well known propaganda channel Sky News owned by the international media jew Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News in America – also known as Faux News due to its blatant pro neo-con propaganda.

    The video I showed is a whole lot more realistic. Locals, including tribal elders, welcoming the implementation of Sharia Law. I once again invite you to think again: how else can the Taliban be so successful, except that the people support what they do against the corrupt establishment and status quo?

  4. Calculating_Misfit says:

    @ Zechetti

    “They are recieving overwhelming support even in Buner. Think about it, how else can they be so successful?”

    They receive support because they brutally butcher all those that oppose them (e.g. beheading police, assassinating politicians, flogging girls, bombing schools, and bombing police stations). In that kind of situation people will not disagree openly with the Talibs because they live in absolute fear.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm8A2q2m-tg

    http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009 4\22\story_22-4-2009_pg1_1

    Why you root for a bunch of barbarian mountain men is beyond me.

  5. Zecchetti says:

    This short video coverage by Al Jazeera dispels a LOT of propaganda. Whoever says the Taleban are a foreign force need a reality check.

    http://tinyurl.com/dygtg8

    They are recieving overwhelming support even in Buner. Think about it, how else can they be so successful?

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