Back in the 60’s, no onein Pakistan really thought “Pakistan would split into two”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bangladesh.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and once again a chunk of Pakistan has left the fold. Back in the days, it used to take a formal declaration of independence and a lot of deaths – in today’s modern world it’s pretty much the same, except the declarations are on TV and the internet, and the deaths by decapitation and stoning.
The NWFP was never really part of Pakistan from the beginning, and despite official denials all around, for all practical purposes it’s definitely no longer part of Pakistan. It was never governed by Pakistani law anyways, and scraped by on age-old custom, bullets and tribal jirgas. Men were men, sheep were sheep and women and the government stayed far away, out of sight, and if they ever ventured to do anything were slapped back in to submission double quick.
This state of affairs continued for a while, but there is a limit to the amount of power a bunch of old man with Lee Enfield rifles and a few AK-47 rifles have, but even that was enough to scare off the Pakistan government. The Taliban saw the obvious power vacuum, and have stepped in wholeheartedly, singlehandedly vanquishing both the tribal system and the remaining vistages of the Pakistan govt.
The Taliban, empowered by the American stooge government over in Afghanistan, where Karzai famously controls only the 10 square yards around him where American security keeps out the rest of Afghanistan, has infiltrated the NWFP and the tribal areas, brainwashing many of the residents in the process to their cause. All that NATO and the American army have succeeded in doing so far is provide training to the Afghani/Pakistani Taliban, and built up a fearsome fighting force. The veterans left behind from decades of fighting against first the Soviets, and now the Americans are the best of the best, willing and able to take on all comers.
The Pakistan govt. has given carte blanche to the Pakistan Army to take on the Taliban, but the elephant in the room is that when the Soviet and now the American army failed – The Pakistan Army doesn’t stand a chance. The other elephant, of course, is that the Pakistan Army always has complete control of whatever they do – the govt. officially handing over carte Blanche was just a fig leaf.
The Pakistan army, in yet another display of the breath-taking staggeringly stupid decisions they are prone to make, supported the Taliban for years – because they thought the Taliban would help them in any war with India, or provide some mysteriously fig leaf which they called strategic depth, whatever that is. Once again they’ve been proven wrong – not just wrong, but egg on the face embarrassingly wrong, as they gear up to fight the very people they trained, including parts of the Pakistan Army and the ISI.
For years, the rest of the world (and many Pakistanis) told the Army that they were wrong, but they never listened. Now that their mistakes have come back to haunt them, they continue dilly dallying about. They continue buying useless submarines and fighter jets to fight 20th century wars while the 21st century Taliban army decimates them on the ground.
There are those who would deny this, but “at best they lie to themselves”:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27aamodt.html?em&ex=1214798400&en=55e3196d3a7018e0&ei=5087%0A, or they just lie, period.
There are many parts of Pakistan where you can’t visit anymore, not of fear, but because of certainty of a number of very bad things. In Peshawar, many Peshawaris are no longer welcome in their own cities. The “foreign press is just beginning to report on what is going on”:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/world/asia/28pstan.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all, and the first hand reports say worse is to follow. The local press says the whole “operation against the Taliban is a lie”:http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=15673, and first hand reports from the ground pretty much confirm that. The media “continues having severe doubts”:http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=15696 on the operation.
Traditionally, Peshawar was the most hospitable big city in Pakistan, where guests were treated like loyalty. Now, families living there for centuries tell their friends and family in other cities not to visit, and to prepare for their imminent arrival out of Peshawar.
Most countries don’t negotiate with terrorists. In the Pakistani twist to this internationally accepted strategy with dealing with terrorists, neither do we – we just give in to their demands. Even as the Army rolls in around Peshawar, the militants don’t seem too worried.
You have made a pertinent analysis of the situation. The tribal areas, NWFP and the Baluchistan were never amalgamated with the rest of the country. No leader in the history of Pakistan appealed to the people on the basis of a Pakistani nation. We always appealed on parochial grounds and hence we are reaping a bad harvest today.
There never was a Pakistani nation. Pakistan has always been a geographical entity. The question is can we save the situation today?
Its about time someone like the Taliban came in and sorted out the mess in Pakistan. It seems like only those living outside the country realise how bad a state Pakistan is in. We may not agree 100% with Taliban’s vision of Pakistan, but what have the governments given us over the last 60 years. The ball has started to roll, and there’s no stopping it, the Taliban will soon be in control of most of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then start making inroads into the ex-soviet states. May Allah give them strength, and guide them.
Unfortunate events are a freak of luck turning against you. This tide of Taliban does not fall in that category. The very nature of the government to allow its’ territory to be used by any militant outfit is unacceptable, and here the Pakistani government has decided that its’ citizens are the last priority, and is blatantly appeasing the militia that believes only in recruiting trigger happy soldiers.
Abductions for ransom (mostly to instigate fear, as the Taliban are not in dire need of cash support I guess) and the shear frequency states the attitude of the government (if the local is not there then the center/federal) towards the city of Peshawar and its’ tribal regions.
How can prosperity be realized in an area that cannot even afford the basic rights to the citizen. Taliban is using the Islamic sword and all want to somehow justify its use in the halal-ing of a commoner. A commoner in Pakistan wants exactly the same as a commoner in India or Afghanistan, security and better life for his/her near and dear. All see future in the eyes of their children.
Unfortunately when the criminals don the Taliban outfit, they don’t become saints (Taliban is not saint anyway), they just use the cover provided by it to carry on what they were afraid to do before. Now you can enter any part of the city, kill, mame, abduct anyone. If you need and explanation something anti-Islamic is stated against you and a public execution takes place.
The idea that Taliban will over take the entire country of Pakistan is really fascinating. Who will then fight for the rights of the citizen, protect its’ borders, educate the masses. But maybe the majority wants a Taliban rule, so there is acceptance of them even in the paramilitary forces. USA/NATO will have a really hard time negotiating with them. Maybe NATO some bomb has written Islamabad all over it?
it is very true tht we hve plunged into the worst situatin of our history…in our country the only institution which is strong is ARMY …as long as army backed govt. (though all of our govt. are army backed)is the usurper the things remain bad if not good and do not get worse….conditions go down n dwon in civil era bcos our civil institutions are not strong… we face civil dictatroship may it be in the form of socialist bhutto or musilm league’s nawaz sharif who tried to become AMEER-UL-MOMINEEN…and today we r facing another civli dictator….on the other side of norhtern poarts are burning under the hell fire on the name of islamn..the so called intelligence agencies’ backed mullahs are pulling country on the verge of destruction… political will is nowhere to be seen to save SWAT wher talibinzation is at its worst..political injustice is the epicenter of all the probs.. and as long as we hve fuedals(king makers) sitting in our decison making deptt.things would likely to be in status quo…so cut the roots of poltical injustice n get the transparent society.. every citizen should play its role…