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Taliban Writ Expands in Pakistan

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A War on Pakistan's Schoolgirls

By Yasmeen Hassan
Monday, January 26, 2009; A11

I have such fond childhood memories of summer holidays in the Swat Valley in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, a place well known among Pakistanis for its breathtaking views, cool summer climate and lush fruit orchards. But today the Swat Valley is experiencing heartbreaking pressures, as the Taliban strike with disconcerting regularity and, among other atrocities, impose a ban on the education of girls.

Even before this ban was put in place on Jan. 15, more than 100 schools for girls in Swat, as well as more than 150 such schools in the greater Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), had been shut down, many after being bombed or torched, leaving approximately 100,000 girls out of school. Radio announcements warned girls that they could be attacked with acid if they dared to attend school, and teachers have been threatened and killed. Last Monday, five more Swat Valley schools were bombed.

The attacks and threats have not been confined to schoolgirls. Women and girls have been ordered to wear full veils. Directives have been issued requiring that women be accompanied by male family members in public places and forbidding women from carrying compulsory government identification cards displaying their photographs. About a dozen women have been shot for "immoral activities," including Bakht Zeba, a 45-year-old social worker committed to advancing girls' education. The area seems to be in competition with Afghanistan over which will establish the worst record on women's rights.

The Pakistani and Afghan governments have responded similarly to the Taliban's penchant for terrorizing the population. A few months ago, Afghanistan sought to enter into negotiations with the Taliban, a precondition of which would be the imposition of sharia (Islamic law). While those talks have not yet gone forward, Pakistan seems to be on the brink of accepting enforcement of sharia in the FATA territories. Reports indicate that more than 70 Taliban courts already operate in the Swat Valley, a first step toward implementation of the Taliban's interpretation of sharia. That the government is open to negotiating on this issue shows that it has no regard for what such a move would mean for Pakistani women.

The lives of Afghan women and girls remain precarious. Schoolgirls continue to be attacked. Women in public office are threatened or killed. Malalai Joya, a female political leader who has been wrongly suspended from parliament, has been forced into hiding because of threats against her. Only a few months ago, Malalai Kakar, Afghanistan's most senior female police officer, was shot dead.
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This is incredible.
 
Schools for Muslims being bombed? Civilians being killed? Wow, there must be riots in the streets of Europe and San Francisco over this... oh, wait, there's no Jews involved.

nvm
 
Man, if they could have moved the first letter of the name of that valley one further along in the alphapbet, this OP would have been a rip roaringly funny start to an outlandish thread.

Sigh.

Them Pakistanis just aren't any fun these days ... and the Taliban? Buncha freakin' killjoys. Their goats are too good for 'em ...
 
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Well, with no more ancient statues of Buddha to blow up they had to do something...
 
BTW, great job of enforcing law and order, Pakistan. You are doing a good as job of controlling Islamic extremists in Western Pakistan as you are in Eastern Pakistan,where you are so good at keeping them from sneaking into India...
 
Pakistan is engaging in a policy of appeasement that is certain to fail.

I can only hope they have the sense to destroy their nukes before the extremists take control of the rest of the country.
 
WildCat said:
Schools for Muslims being bombed? Civilians being killed? Wow, there must be riots in the streets of Europe and San Francisco over this... oh, wait, there's no Jews involved.

nvm
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WildCat, as somebody I respect, I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep making these blanket statements about Europe as a whole. Are you planning to organise a protest outside the Pakastani embassy in response to this article? If not, why not?
 
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Undesired Walrus said:
WildCat, as somebody I respect, I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep making these blanket statements about Europe as a whole. Are you planning to organise a protest outside the Pakastani embassy in response to this article? If not, why not?
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Why do you think there are no protests in Europe over this? Or San Francisco? Or LA?

The Taliban have killed more Muslims than Israel has this year.
 
WildCat said:
Pakistan is engaging in a policy of appeasement that is certain to fail.
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Hasn't so far. In fact it has been a fairly sucessful policy for over a century. Regardless of who claimed nominal control over the area the deal has always been that you mostly left the locals alone and they didn't kill you. You cut deals with the tribal leaders and they didn't attack you too often if you wanted to move stuff through the area. Given what it would cost to do anything else an agreement most people seemed to accept. It has started to break down somewhat because the locals have got fed up with their tribal leaders and want to start electing people. But the people elected are not for the most part more problematical than the old tribal leaders.

I can only hope they have the sense to destroy their nukes before the extremists take control of the rest of the country.
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Unlikely. Remeber there are other ethnic groups in play. None of them like the pashtun. In adition you have the urban pakistanis who tend to oppose extemism regardless of tribal group.
 
WildCat said:
Why do you think there are no protests in Europe over this? Or San Francisco? Or LA?

The Taliban have killed more Muslims than Israel has this year.
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Because both the US and most larger european countries are already actively at war with the taliban so there is little to protest over. If a wide and interesting selection of militry kit isn't working there is little reason to think that protests will.
 
Pakistan has signed a peace deal with a Taleban group that will lead to the enforcement of the Islamic Sharia law in the restive Swat valley.

Regional officials urged the Taleban, who agreed a 10-day truce on Sunday, to lay down their arms permanently.
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:dl:

After giving in to their demands, they "urge" them to "lay down their arms permanently."

Not sure whether to laugh or cry. :cry1
 
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geni said:
Because both the US and most larger european countries are already actively at war with the taliban so there is little to protest over. If a wide and interesting selection of militry kit isn't working there is little reason to think that protests will.
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So why no protests over Darfur also? How about the wars during the breakup of Yugoslavia? What about the Syrian shelling of Hama, why no protests then? Did the Iran-Iraq war cause mass demonstrations in the streets of London or Paris?

Israel is a special case, isn't it?
 
geni said:
Hasn't so far. In fact it has been a fairly sucessful policy for over a century. Regardless of who claimed nominal control over the area the deal has always been that you mostly left the locals alone and they didn't kill you. You cut deals with the tribal leaders and they didn't attack you too often if you wanted to move stuff through the area. Given what it would cost to do anything else an agreement most people seemed to accept. It has started to break down somewhat because the locals have got fed up with their tribal leaders and want to start electing people. But the people elected are not for the most part more problematical than the old tribal leaders.
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Swat was never a tribal area beyond Pakistan's control - until recently. How is this a "fairly successful" strategy?

Unlikely. Remeber there are other ethnic groups in play. None of them like the pashtun. In adition you have the urban pakistanis who tend to oppose extemism regardless of tribal group.
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If none of them like the Pashtun why not cut them loose? Let them have full independence, which opens up the military options once they do the things they like to do.
 
WildCat said:
Pakistan is engaging in a policy of appeasement that is certain to fail.

I can only hope they have the sense to destroy their nukes before the extremists take control of the rest of the country.
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Somehow I don't think India is gonna standby idly if that happens...
 
WildCat said:
Swat was never a tribal area beyond Pakistan's control - until recently. How is this a "fairly successful" strategy?


If none of them like the Pashtun why not cut them loose? Let them have full independence, which opens up the military options once they do the things they like to do.
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God, Rudyard Kipling would feel right at home in this mess.
 
I'm currently reading a book called God's Terrorists which outlines how this entire mess actually started, a good 200 years ago. It's quite depressing and alarming.
 
WildCat said:
Swat was never a tribal area beyond Pakistan's control - until recently. How is this a "fairly successful" strategy?
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It worked better for the british empire than the alturnatives.

If none of them like the Pashtun why not cut them loose? Let them have full independence, which opens up the military options once they do the things they like to do.
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Because then the baluch will likely start looking for independce as well and before you know where you are Pakistan has broken into at least 4 bits.
 
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