Call For An End To Drama Being Staged On Name Of Terrorism
Muhammad Khurshid
August 20, 2009
Both the United States and Pakistan administration can rightly be held responsible for killing of thousands of people. There is no denying the fact that both Pakistan and US administration have created Taliban and terrorists and then started killing of innocent people ruthlessly. The Voice For Peace, a representative organisation of the poor has demanded of the United Nations to conduct an inquiry into the incidents of innocent people deaths. It is astonishing that Pakistan first created Taliban and then got contract from the United States for their elimination.
According to a newspaper comment, the possibility that it may actually prove possible to rein in the Taliban is growing. The capture of Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the group and a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud raises hopes in this respect. Omar, detained in Mohmand Agency while on his way to South Waziristan where another attempt was to be made to nominate a successor to Baitullah, has reportedly confirmed the late leader of the TTP is indeed dead. The arrest of a key Taliban figure and his interrogation could help lead to others. Evidence is indeed already emerging that the Taliban have been quite badly damaged. However, there is still a great deal more that needs to be done. Leaders of the militant outfit in Swat remain free. They too need to be brought to justice. What is still more important is how this task is undertaken. The process of trial which should follow the arrests must be transparently and openly conducted. The crimes of the Taliban, their brutality and evil must be exposed before people. It is this that will finally demolish their image as men of God and prevent them from being converted into martyrs or heroes.
In the longer run the challenge must be to ensure others like them do not rise. In some of the seminaries and other training institutions based not only in tribal areas but also in our major cities, attempts continue to produce just such militants. The social injustice that we see everywhere aids such efforts. An important prong of the strategy must be to close down these centres and, perhaps most crucially of all, demonstrate to people that there are other alternatives and options available to them. That there is at least some awareness of this has been demonstrated by the speeches made by the prime minister and other government figures in Swat. For this they deserve credit. So too do the security forces who have played so key a role in altering the situation. The task for the military and the civilian set up is now to continue their joint effort and implement plans aimed at altering the nature of life in places that the Taliban had seized, so that, in the future, they cannot make a comeback initiating a new orgy of violence.
The End
According to a newspaper comment, the possibility that it may actually prove possible to rein in the Taliban is growing. The capture of Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the group and a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud raises hopes in this respect. Omar, detained in Mohmand Agency while on his way to South Waziristan where another attempt was to be made to nominate a successor to Baitullah, has reportedly confirmed the late leader of the TTP is indeed dead. The arrest of a key Taliban figure and his interrogation could help lead to others. Evidence is indeed already emerging that the Taliban have been quite badly damaged. However, there is still a great deal more that needs to be done. Leaders of the militant outfit in Swat remain free. They too need to be brought to justice. What is still more important is how this task is undertaken. The process of trial which should follow the arrests must be transparently and openly conducted. The crimes of the Taliban, their brutality and evil must be exposed before people. It is this that will finally demolish their image as men of God and prevent them from being converted into martyrs or heroes.
In the longer run the challenge must be to ensure others like them do not rise. In some of the seminaries and other training institutions based not only in tribal areas but also in our major cities, attempts continue to produce just such militants. The social injustice that we see everywhere aids such efforts. An important prong of the strategy must be to close down these centres and, perhaps most crucially of all, demonstrate to people that there are other alternatives and options available to them. That there is at least some awareness of this has been demonstrated by the speeches made by the prime minister and other government figures in Swat. For this they deserve credit. So too do the security forces who have played so key a role in altering the situation. The task for the military and the civilian set up is now to continue their joint effort and implement plans aimed at altering the nature of life in places that the Taliban had seized, so that, in the future, they cannot make a comeback initiating a new orgy of violence.
The End
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