-region. Pakistan’s military officials admit they faced stronger resistance in Bajaur than anywhere else since they started military operations against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in 2003.
Notwithstanding, Pakistan government claims having cleared Bajaur, all the leading Taliban leaders including Qari Ziaurahman and Faqir Mohammad continue roaming just 25-kms away in Kunar province across the Durand Line. There is lurking fear that they may stage a comeback in the region. Pakistan Army also believes that US drone strikes create a negative public opinion leading to swelling Taliban ranks. Also despite Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani’s orders to stop practice of punishing the whole family for the crimes of a single member, acts like alleged demolition of the house of Jammat-e-Islami’s provincial deputy head Haroon Rashid in which his mother and niece lost their lives, add to popular anger and fuels the cycle of revenge amongst Pashtuns, who have hardly paid any regard to the boundary drawn by British diplomat Mortimer Durand in 1893.
Back in Islamabad, Pakistani middle class has neurotically risen against extremists. So much so even religious parties tend to distance themselves, even calling Taliban and Al-Qaeda as ‘Khawarijs”, who rebelled against early Caliphates. During our 10-day stay 50 people were killed in bomb blasts, including the deadly attack in Peshawar on Jamat-e-Islami rally. Urban centres, even five star hotels like Pearl Continental in Lahore and Marriot in Islamabad look like fortresses.
Noted TV anchor Talat Hussain maintains the vulnerability of Pakistan was topmost in their minds and actions. “Now the Pakistanis are convinced they have crossed the Rubicon. They know they cannot do half-measures,” says senior journalist Ejaz Haider.
Initially, war fatigued local population in both Pakistan’s FATA and Afghanistan had welcomed Taliban wholeheartedly. They cracked down on corruption that had run rampant in the government for years. The new leaders also brought stability to Afghanistan and later in FATA, greatly reduced the infighting between warlords that had devastated the civilian population.
Writing in Foreign Affairs, Greg Burno maintains that even seven years after their ouster, the Taliban continues to provide a semblance of stability in regions where coalition and government officials have been unable to restore order and provide basic services. Kenneth Katzman, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs for the Congressional Research Service, said in July 2008 that intolerance for a sustained US troop presence is translating into “a little more permissiveness in some areas for the Taliban..”
But their rule was characterised by a strict form of so called Islamic law, requiring women to stay indoors, banning television, and jailing men whose beards were deemed too short. Barbers were asked to close down shops. In nearby Waziristan, Mahsoods, who are fierce fighters and Taliban supporters, have to go without circumcision for years now, a basic religious requirement, as they have pushed barbers from their areas long ago. They killed 200 ‘maliks’ and political agents. Former foreign secretary Tanveer Ahmed believes they were creeping to capture Karakuram highway connecting Pakistan with China. “That was rude awakening, Insurgents were rude to entire way of life. In Saydo Sharief, headquarters of Swat they had designated a Khooni chowk, to publicly hang people for misdemeanors or even for shaving beards,” he adds.
Is there any difference between Pakistan and Afghan Taliban? Safdar Sial of Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies maintains the most of the Pakistan Taliban leaders including Nek Mohammad, Abdullah Mehsud, Baitullah Mehsud, Maulvi Faqir, Gul Bahadur and Mullah Nazir had been affiliated with the Afghan Taliban even before 9/11 attacks in United States. “They share the same ethnic group, tribal background, opposition to any form of westernization or entertainment – they attack video shops, ban TV and music,” he says.
As Pakistan’s top military officials blame hostile intelligence agencies for compounding problems for them, experts in Islamabad believe it was not only their beta-noire India and Americans but Saudis and Iranians are also playing their ideological wars in the region including the nearby Balochistan province. To prove their claims Pakistani point out Brahm Dag Bugti, an anti-Pak tribal leader having taken refuge in Kabul and being patronised by Americans. But in the hinterland from Turbat to Quetta a young woman Karima Baloch has emerged as the Asiya Andrabi of Balochistan. Though, last year she was sentenced for three years, she has become face of-
