Govt-run FM radios in FATA may go off air

Fata's FM stations

Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 15 Oct, 2009 (Dawn)

Given that the army is poised to take its operation against the militants into Fata, the value of such public-domain, state-run radio stations cannot be overestimated. –AP/ File photo

Three government-run FM radio stations in Fata are reportedly on the verge of closure due to sparse funding. This is disturbing, for it would leave an information vacuum to be filled by non-state, extremist elements. The three stations, in the Jamrud tehsil of the Khyber Agency and the Miramshah and Razmak areas of the North Waziristan Agency, were set up between 2004 and 2006 by the Fata Civil Secretariat. The intention was to counter dangerous propaganda being spread by militant organisations — this was the period when Maulana Fazlullah was using an illegal FM channel to spread his hate-steeped ideology. This was also the period when Taliban-led militants were consolidating their forces for an offensive against state institutions, which they subsequently launched.

The stations continued to operate despite constant threats levelled by militant organisations. Their listeners were, in fact, demanding an increase in broadcast hours. The stations now face closure because of the non-payment of salaries and additional monthly expenses. The bottleneck appears to lie in the Fata Civil Secretariat’s media cell which is reluctant to or cannot release the funds — even though the NWFP governor had ordered the setting up of a full-fledged Fata media directorate. The radio stations constitute a conduit through which the state can regain ideological legitimacy and undermine militant activities.

The causes for the shortage of funds need to be identified and bottlenecks cleared. Reportedly, some international donors have expressed interest in providing funds and equipment to these radio stations. Such options must be explored. Given that the army is poised to take its operation against the militants into Fata, the value of such public-domain, state-run radio stations cannot be overestimated. The state cannot afford to lose its active link with thousands of citizens and a significant method of challenging those who threaten the country’s cultural space.

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Taliban blow up Ex-Minister's house in Swat

Ex-Minister Ameer Muqam’s house blown up

April 01, 2009

PESHAWAR: Armed Taliban blown up house of Ex-Federal Minister Ameer Muqam.

Earlier, gunmen seized the house of Ameer Muqam in Bahrain, which was later blown up with explosives.

According to sources, Ameer Muqam and his family members were not present in the house when gunmen stormed the house, however, two servants of Ameer Muqam were forced to flee from the scene by armed men.

Ameer Muqam said it was a group of 60 to 70 local Taliban. He said restoration of peace in Swat seems difficult as gunmen are now started grabbing houses. Ex minister said he will discuss the issue with local administration.


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Taliban in Swat: Crippled and blind

Crippled and blind

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 The media should have been reporting – and celebrating – the eradication of polio from Pakistan years ago. We were almost polio-free as recently as three years ago, whereas today this dreadful and entirely preventable disease is spreading fast. It has just got a major boost in its bid to blight the lives of our children courtesy of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which on Sunday ordered all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to immediately leave the Swat valley, including those agencies working on polio eradication. The TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said, “They come and tell us how to make lavatories in mosques and houses. I’m sure we can do it ourselves. There is no need for foreigners to tell us this.” When asked why the TTP was against polio vaccination, Khan said, “The TTP is against polio vaccination because it causes infertility” – thereby reiterating the old and entirely-without-foundation myth in the Muslim world that polio vaccination is some sort of vast western conspiracy to emasculate and impoverish Muslim nations. He concluded by saying that he was against any operation run by NGOs and that the polio vaccine was imported and therefore could not be trusted. Membership of the comity of nations brings with it certain responsibilities. If we consider a nation as an individual, and that individual has a nasty communicable disease, we would not associate with them and would not appreciate attempts by our neighbour to infect us. This is precisely what happened in Nigeria in 2004. The Muslim northern states of Nigeria refused to participate in polio eradication programmes for the same reason that Muslim Khan is refusing to allow EPI teams into Swat. A rapid and catastrophic consequence was that polio quickly broke out, herd immunity in Nigeria was lost and neighbouring states were quickly infected. Benin, Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, all polio free, were placed at risk and then quickly infected. They ‘caught’ polio from Nigeria because parts of that country refused to get themselves vaccinated. It took years and millions of dollars to bring the outbreak under control again. We now run the risk of doing precisely the same as Nigeria did to its neighbours. A viral reservoir will be quickly built up in Swat; herd immunity is probably already lost, and given the mobility of populations in that area the almost inevitable result is that the virus will find a ready means of travelling across borders, both national and provincial. The blindness of the likes of Muslim Khan is going to needlessly cripple the lives of many.

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Talat Masood: Revisiting the Swat deal with the Taliban

Revisiting the Swat deal

Monday, March 23, 2009 Talat Masood The Swat peace agreement, signed between the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) and the ANP-led government of the NWFP, seems to be running in serious difficulties. Broadly, the agreement aims at imposing Sharia law in Swat and Malakand division. Regrettably, the agreement was signed from a position of weakness. The army was hesitant to undertake another major counter-insurgency operation in Swat, when two earlier ones had failed to dislodge the militants from their hideouts. Moreover, the ANP having given a commitment that it would seek a negotiated settlement, and the army not in favour of a military operation, preferred a negotiated settlement. The government and militant leader Sufi Mohammed offer different interpretations to the agreement, and differences have surfaced on the question of the formation of the courts. Sufi Mohammed, who refuses to accept the present panel of judges for presiding over Qazi courts, has announced the formation of Qazi courts, appointed his nominees as Qazis and is establishing appellate courts. In reality, the Taliban are aiming to transform the entire legal and administrative system and are not prepared to integrate the Sharia in the existing judicial and bureaucratic structure. The TNSM in all probability will apply a harsher code of conduct. During the Wali’s times the ruler was in full control of the state and it was his appointed courts that were functioning. And the state’s administration was the implementing authority. Mullah Fazalullah is now calling the shots and the state has buckled in. The Taliban of Swat have tasted power and will not be content with the adoption of Sharia. Mullah Fazalullah and his father-in-law of Sufi Mohammed practically rule Swat. The civil administration cannot go against their wishes and even the army at places has to move with their concurrence. No NGO’s are allowed to function without their approval. The close linkage between Mullah Fazalullah and Baithullah Mehsud is another source of serious concern. Lack of clarity in policy formulation, poor coordination and weak resolve on the part of the provincial and federal governments and ambivalent attitude of the army in fighting counter-insurgency operations has emboldened the Taliban. It is evident that the army that has proven itself in conventional wars has been less than effective while fighting insurgents in FATA and Swat. This phenomenon is not peculiar to Pakistan. Great Britain had won World War 1 with its allies but was forced to negotiate a treaty with IRA leaders. The clamour for Sharia and the support of Sufi Mohammad and Mullah Fazalullah is essentially a demand for justice and good governance that the people have been denied. The fairness and quick implementation of justice was the key to its acceptability. Whether the same standard of fairness and quick disposal of justice prevalent in the 1960’s will be maintained by the newly appointed Sharia courts is questionable. People are also deeply worried about their personal security. Many people in Swat have been compelled to provide at least one member of the family to the TNSM. In the current circumstances, when the government’s writ is virtually absent, ordinary people consider associating with Taliban a means of providing security to themselves and their families. In this way they associate with the system where maximum power resides. If the Sharia demand increases in the entire NWFP and is ultimately adopted then there would be two legal systems in Pakistan. Sharia operating in the west and the Pakistan penal code in the east! It is possible that in future militant groups in Punjab may make similar demands in their area of influence. On the other hand, if the government is able to use the peace deal to get a foothold in Swat and establish its writ by placing a strong administrative structure that can provide a reasonable level of governance then it could be justified. But the converse seems to be happening. Mullah Fazalullah by putting Sufi Mohammed in front has very cleverly outsmarted both the ANP government and the military and consolidated the Taliban position. The growing demands of Sufi Mohammed on the government are a clear indication of their motives. (The News) The writer is a retired lieutenant-general. Email: talat@comsats.net.pk

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Swat - Dispatches: Pakistan's Taliban Generation

A TV documentary worth watching.

Dispatches: Pakistan's Taliban Generation (Channel 4). By Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

http://www.channel4.com/video/brandless-catchup.jsp?vodBrand=dispatches-pakistans-taliban-generation

It was horrifying to say the least. It seems that brute force alone can't eliminate these throat-slitting animals. It is an ideology and not restricted to any particular area anymore.

Although the leaders/preachers of the Taliban and other extremist jihadi cum sectarian organizations need to be target killed, there is still room to de-radicalize the young kids they are recruiting.

We also need to identify why there are so many vulnerable children out there who can be a target for these radicals? Lack of education and opportunities strikes your mind straight away; and the buck ultimately stops with the sincerity of the civil and military leadership in Pakistan.

....

Pakistan's Taliban Generation

Exclusive

Thursday 12 March 2009

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Three hours' drive north of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, the flat highway gives way to the windy roads that weave through the Hindu Kush mountains. At the mouth of the Swat valley lies the town of Qambar. A desolate unmanned police station is the only sign that the government's writ was once established here.

Further down the road, a middle school for girls is reduced to rubble. There, I meet two nine-year-olds, Ruksar and Zarlash, who want to tell me what happened.

'It's completely unfair, our school was destroyed,' says Zarlash, who believes that she may never fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor.

Both girls lie awake at night listening to mortars fly overhead. Since the Taliban started patrolling their neighborhood, the girls have been forbidden by their parents from going out. They feel trapped.

'The Taliban walk around with their faces covered. They terrorise the neighborhoods and force us to wear burqas. We are so afraid,' says Ruksar.

Their father Fazal, an English teacher, is worried about their future. 'All of the girls in the region are having great injustices done to them. They had big dreams, their education was a beacon of light, now that light is being snatched from them.'

Fazal's savings are running out because the college he taught at has been closed for months. 'You'll find thousands of children in this region who cannot continue their education and will continue to sit at home, unaware of what's happening in the world around them,' he tells me.

The valley of Swat in the north of Pakistan was once home to the country's only ski resort. When the Taliban arrived in 2007, they destroyed it. It was seen as a sign of Pakistan's 'western' past; a place where men and women interacted with each other. That was the first step of their brutal campaign.

Swat, once considered the Switzerland of the East, where Pakistanis spent idyllic summers and winters, is being slowly and systematically destroyed.

In the past two years, the Taliban have blown up over 200 girls' schools, beheaded 50 government officials, bombed countless police checkpoints, executed women they deemed immoral, publicly lashed those who disobeyed them and cut up the bodies of people they thought were spies, leaving them in the centre of the valley for the residents to see.

By some estimates, the Taliban control more than 70 per cent of the valley. When the Pakistani army began its campaign against the militants in the lawless tribal areas near the Afghan border, many of the militants fled to other areas within the country. Some arrived in Swat and were given refuge by extremist preachers who encouraged the militants to implement their fundamentalist ideology.

Now by some estimates there are as many as 4000 well armed Taliban fighters operating in the valley. What is most frightening about this development is that Swat is not part of Pakistan's tribal areas, long considered out of the grasp of the government; it is very much part of Pakistan proper.

Four Pakistani army brigades, up to 16,000 soldiers, are deployed in this 200 mile long valley. They are not enough to stop the Taliban. Over 1500 people have been killed here and almost 400,000 have fled their homes in the last 18 months. The army is fighting an enemy that blends in with the locals during the day and attacks at night.

Three weeks after I left, the Pakistani government signed a peace deal with the Taliban. Shariah law now prevails over the valley. Women are forbidden from working, girls colleges are still closed and - more importantly - the Taliban now have a new safe haven from where they can strike into the heart of Pakistan.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/pakistans-taliban-generation

...

Review in The Guardian

By Sam Wollaston

It's not fair. In this country most kids would love their schools to be reduced to piles of rubble by bad men with big guns and big beards. But it never happens. Whereas in northern Pakistan it happens all the time, and the kids are really cross about it. Well, the girls are, but then it's their schools that are being destroyed. "Education is like a ray of light, and I want that light," says one little girl, taking the reporter Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy round the remains of her school in Dispatches: Pakistan's Taliban Generation (Channel 4). Imagine someone in year seven saying that here. You'd be more likely to get something along the lines of: "Education? Yeah, wha'ever."

The Taliban are pulling down the girls' schools because, they say, that's what God wants. God doesn't like rays of light apparently, so he's turning them off all over the north of the country. The Taliban don't mind the boys going to school, but what they really like is for them to go to their own special Taliban schools. Double indoctrination followed by hatred-incitation and, after lunch, a practical lesson in suicide bombing. It's giving me an idea for a new reality show: Taliban Boot Camp ... no, maybe not.

It's miserable for everyone. The Taliban put the fear of God into the people who don't back them. They live in constant terror, for their freedom and their lives. The Pakistani army gets jittery and flattens entire towns. People move into refugee camps and the world forgets about them. And unmanned US planes fly bravely overhead dropping Hellfire missiles. Some hit people who are Taliban; others hit people who aren't, but are then - if they survive - much more likely to become Taliban.

And the kids get mixed up in it all. In one refugee camp, two boys, best mates, have split loyalties. One says he will join the army, the other the Taliban, and though they are friends today and hold hands walking around the camp, they say they will kill each other if needs be. It puts the Arsenal-Tottenham divisions at my school into perspective.

In a hospital in Peshawar, a 10-year-old girl embroiders something and tells how her entire family was wiped out in a mortar attack. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up. They're on a higher level, these Pakistani girls, though I do like her reason for wanting to join the medical profession. "So I can give injections to people."

I don't know what Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy wanted to be when she was a 10-year-old girl growing up in Karachi, but she ended up as a journalist, and bloody good at it she is too. It's shocking really, that someone who sits on a sofa and watches telly for a living is also allowed to call himself a journalist, while she's out there telling it like it is.

It's very dangerous for her, as the Taliban aren't big fans of reporters, and have been known to kidnap and kill them - because that's what God wants, obviously. He also approves of kids getting involved, according to a Taliban leader and executioner interviewed by Obaid-Chinoy in Karachi. "God is happy when children go and fight," he tells her.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/17/last-nights-tv-dispatches

To learn more about the context and the current situation in Swat, you may like to read the following articles:

http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/search/label/Swat

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A crash course for FM radio jamming for our engineers in Pakistan Army and ISI...

Jamming: a primer

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 Chris Cork Much has been talked but little actually done in the matter of jamming the so-called "Mullah Radio" that has done much to inflame the situation in Swat. The government appears to take the position that this is an immensely complex and expensive task, requires vast resources and the import of foreign equipment – most of which is not necessarily the case. Few will have little idea of what "jamming" actually entails – or even what it is. Radio jamming is the generally deliberate transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications or the radio channel by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio; which is defined as the ratio of a signal power to the noise power corrupting the signal. Signals can be unintentionally jammed or interfered with by another broadcaster transmitting on the same frequency without first checking that the channel is in use; alternatively, the signal can be disrupted by the switching on of something like a cable TV plant. The plant radiates a signal which, for instance, could interfere with the emergency frequency used by aircraft. None of this is "new knowledge" and has been around almost as long as radio itself. (Marconi is generally credited with the invention of radio in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th.) Intentional communications jamming is usually aimed at an adversary's radio signals to disrupt control of their equipment and communication/information systems during a battle. A transmitter, tuned to the same frequency as the opponent's receiving equipment, and with the same type of modulation, can, with enough power, override any signal at the receiver. There is a range of ways in which this can be done. The most common types of this form of signal jamming are random noise (sometimes called "white" noise), random pulse, stepped tones, warbler, tone, rotary, pulse, spark, recorded sounds, gulls (as in the sound of the common seagull, which is a disconcerting "squawk") and sweep-through. These are all forms of noise designed to overlay broadcast and render it unintelligible, and they can be divided into two groups – obvious and subtle. Obvious jamming is easy to detect because it can be heard on the receiving equipment. It usually is some type of noise such as stepped tones (bagpipes, for instance, an instrument played in Scotland with a penetrating "drone"), random-keyed code, pulses, music (often distorted), erratically warbling tones, highly distorted speech, random noise (hiss or "white noise") and recorded sounds. Various combinations of these methods may be used, often accompanied by a regular Morse-code identification signal to enable individual transmitters to be identified in order to assess their effectiveness. For example, China, which has used jamming extensively, and still does, plays a loop of traditional Chinese music while it is jamming channels. The purpose of this type of jamming is to block the reception of transmitted signals and to cause a nuisance to the receiving operator. Subtle jamming is jamming during which no sound is heard on the receiving equipment. The radio does not receive incoming signals, yet everything seems superficially normal to the operator. These are often technical attacks on modern equipment, such as "squelch capture." Thanks to the FM capture effect, Frequency Modulated broadcasts may be jammed, unnoticed, by a simple unmodulated carrier – something that would present little or no difficulty to the communications wing of our armed forces were they to be directed to locate and interdict transmissions from "Mullah Radio." (Location will not be a problem either – simple signal triangulation will suffice.) Screwing up the oppositions comms (radio-geek-speak for "communications") has been something in the military manifest for many years. During World War II ground radio operators would attempt to mislead pilots by false instructions in their own language, in what was more precisely a "spoofing attack" than jamming. Jamming of foreign radio broadcast stations has also often been used in wartime (and during periods of tense international relations) to prevent or deter citizens from listening to broadcasts from enemy countries. However, such jamming is usually of limited effectiveness because the affected stations usually change frequencies, put on additional frequencies and/or increase transmission power. A more sophisticated form of jamming is used to limit access to the Internet by totalitarian regimes – China and Saudi Arabia, for example, both of which severely limit Net access. Pakistan has the capacity to do this also, but it has been used infrequently. Netizens are usually able to find a way around Net jamming by using proxy servers. Jihadi groups make extensive use of the Internet to propagate their message. The increased use of Net-based comms systems like Messenger and Skype present other challenges to the jammer; with Skype giving particular difficulties as it uses an encryption system whose key it refuses to release. In occupied Europe during WW2 the Nazis attempted to jam broadcasts to the continent from the BBC and other allied stations. Post-war and into the Cold War Soviet jamming of some Western broadcasters led to a "power race" in which broadcasters and jammers alike repeatedly increased their transmission power, utilised highly directional antennas and added extra frequencies to the already heavily overcrowded shortwave bands, to such an extent that many broadcasters not directly targeted by the jammers (including pro-Soviet stations) suffered from the rising levels of noise and interference. Radio Free Europe and its sister service Radio Liberty were the main target of Soviet jammers, followed by Voice of America and the BBC World Service. The BBC World Service is still jammed in China from time-to-time. Against this background of nigh-on a century of interruptive activity of radio signals, both shortwave and FM, we may be able to see that our own inability to shut down or disrupt Mullah Radio is not a failure of technology on our part, nor is it something beyond our technological reach. Indeed, were we to be really serious about shutting down Mullah Radio it would be a simple matter at field-level to locate the signal source and then vector an appropriately armed aircraft and blow the thing – and its operators – to kingdom-come. It is doubtful that the operators are yet so sophisticated that they can auto-shift frequencies to confuse any jammer, their on-air timings are not difficult to determine and the equipment they use is not so portable as to be something they can backpack from location to location. Simply put, they are the proverbial sitting ducks. The failure is not military or technological – it is political. It is a failure that stretches far back into the Musharraf years and is probably linked to the fallacious notion of "strategic depth" that still in part informs military and political thinking. Today we are seeing a shift in the political winds as the new American crew breezes through our part of the world. President Zardari has spoken clearly and forcefully in the last few days of the threat presented to us by the Taliban. Their power and reach are both extended and consolidated by the use of radio and other media, and the State has been either absent, slow or simply negligent in terms of understanding the threat presented by Mullah-radio. We can and should switch off their mouthpiece. Jamming would be the humane way of accomplishing that – starting tomorrow. (The News) The writer is a British social worker settled in Pakistan. Email: manticore73@gmail.com

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Jane's Swat holiday - By Masood Hasan

Jane's Swat holiday

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Masood Hasan

(Jane and Harry, two American tourists, decided to take a holiday in Swat recently. Their reasons were simple. Harry has been a member of the AA and not made much progress. Jane heard that Swat was not another spa but an entire spa state – what state it was in she had some idea but discovered more later. The lure of adventure and Harry's going dry were too tempting, plus the personal appeal of the bearded Minister for Information, the formidable Maulana Ataur Rehman, who was Pakistan's new tourism wonder. This is one of the conversations she had with her mom back home.)

Jane: Mom you won't believe this, but here we are in Swat somewhere in Pakistan's north. I thought it was the good old SWAT team we have in the US but honestly these guys are really cool. Well, more of that later. Harry is bearing up well. He has had a few hallucinations thinking about Jack Daniels and swore he saw a floating tumbler till it exploded a little distance away and turned out to be a grenade. Ok, mom; don't go off the deep end. This is a real adventure and we are in the thick of it all.

Mom: Well, the Jack Daniels bit is cheerful news, but what do you mean – in the THICK of it? Do be careful and don't do anything foolish. You know how I worry about you.

Jane: Mom, I can't tell you what this place is like. Harry is growing a beard because they took all his shaving gear while they were body-searching him – went on for a long., long time, the body search, till I actually thought the guys were kind of looking funny at Harry – well I should have waited because my body search went on for even longer. I was hoping they would have women doing it but apparently they have all been shot.

Mom: Shot? You mean shot to pieces?

Jane: 'You could say that, I guess. We were then asked to get rid of our western clothes and I am now swathed in about a 100-yard coarse cloth that has no end or beginning, it seems. It's kind of cool. Harry is looking funny without his Bermudas and has this long 10-yard bale of cotton with a string. He is learning to do number one, sitting and using stones instead of Kleenex. For a guy who hasn't had a drop he is depressingly cheerful. Did I tell you I have a shuttlecock?'

Mom: No sweets, you didn't. What in heaven's name is that? Is it a new game called Stones?

Jane: You could call it that. Oh, mom, the shuttlecock is another long sort of a drape, so I look like a mummy out of a Cairo museum. This covers me from head to toe and there is, like, a four-inch latticed window through which I can see the world but the world can't see me. Houdini lives, get it?

Mom: Well to be honest, I can't. Are you sure you can breathe?

Jane: Well, breathing is hardly my problem. I have never carried so much baggage but seems the boys here are not willing to let me wear anything other than this. Otherwise it's the chop. By the way, when they were er…body-searching me, I could swear that I saw the local commander who must be 80 years old – straight out of the Old Testament, running off with what looked like my swim suit. But I am not sure. However, later that night I found it missing. Must be in Kabul by now. The swimsuit I mean.

Mom: Well, I must say all this sounds rather bizarre.

Jane: Well, don't jump to any wild conclusions, because if you do it will simply not measure up to what this place is like. This is real action and it's live.

Mom: Hold on buttons – I am sitting down with my decaf and cinnamon roll. There's only so much I can take. What in sweet Jesus's name is real and live?

Jane: Mom, avoid the name. These guys are a bit edgy about J. OK? You know what I mean. OK? When we got here we found out that there is a war going on. There are the Taliban but no one knows who they are, where they have come from and what are they doing here other than -- er, killing whatever moves. Then there is the Army, who have been here forever and keep winning, except they keep losing. Get it?

Mom: No, but go on, I got my mug and I am in Milwaukee and I guess the Tallyhoos or Yahoos are not gonna make it here.

Jane: The other thing is the whole country is looking for an FM station but can't seem to find it. The President. The PM. Everybody. Isn't that weird?

Mom: But buttons, we got thousands of them here. What's so difficult about finding one? Why do they want to find it? Has somebody stolen theirs?

Jane: There's a firebrand preacher here who is using the FM to play mind games on everyone who gets infected with his message. For months and months he has been preaching violence, civil war, murder, rape, looting – even driving on the right side. You name it.

Mom: Is he the king? If not, why don't they nab him and put him away?

Jane: He apparently has a following and he is armed to the teeth.

Mom: Well, how many teeth has he got?

Jane: I'd say plenty. Anyway, no one can touch him, so he goes about dynamiting schools and er -- bumping off kids, especially girls.

Mom: Well, I think you better haul ass and get out of this place.

Jane: Well, mom, Harry is doing well here. He has made friends with the locals and they are showing him how to dynamite a school. Oh, by the way, did I tell you they drive on the right side here? Just like we do. Isn't that truly amazing?'

Mom: Well, sure it is, but I don't like this schools and girls thing you so casually mention.

Jane: It's like this, mom. These guys think educating women does no good and women should only produce children, cook, clean, provide all services readily without any fuss, have no opinions, should never be seen or heard and remain in the background in a shroud.

Mom: What do they do for fire? Rub stones?

Jane: Possibly, mom. This is a very strange place. I have seen no women so far. Only men, and, by Jove, they look like they mean business.

Mom: What was that loud noise, Jane? Honey you ok?

Jane: That was a big artillery gun that went off fired by the Army, except they fired it in the other direction from where the AK-47s were firing.

Mom: Artillery? AK-47s? Are you fibbing, Jane?

Jane: No mom, I told you this is an action-packed non-stop thriller. Tomorrow we are going on our first excursion…I mean, execution.

Mom: Oh goody. Where are you going? Some ruins?

Jane: Well all of Swat is one huge ruin. Seems they have no shortage of dynamite. We haven't seen any building standing. The local boys said they don't want buildings because you never can tell what's going on inside. Anyway, we are told that it is a public beheading of four men.

Mom: Jane, stop playing the fool with me. Why are you making all this up?

Jane: I swear, mom, I am not. I tell you this is like no other place. This is virtual reality a hundred times over.

Mom: Well, honey I don't know what to say. I am happy for Harry, but this is hair-raising stuff.

Jane: Look, mom, don't bring hair into this. These guys are not too tickled by it and -- listen, my cell is going weak, so I have to charge it but, mom, there is no electricity. Did I tell you there is no gas, power, water here? And no roads.

Mom: Jane I think you better get back home. Leave Harry if you have to. I am calling our Congressman.

Jane: Mom, chill out…hello…h e l l o…. mom? (The News)


The writer is a Lahore-based columnist. Email: masoodhasan66@gmail.com
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So, Pakistan Army/ISI does not have technology to jam an illegal FM radio station in Swat?

BBC Urdu dot com:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/02/090210_swat_fm_radio_sz.shtml

A relevant comment:


Ghost Of TK said:

The mystery of illegal FM transmitters in FATA.

I wonder how “Pak” Fauj will react once the “Islamic Emirate of Seraikistan” starts its FM transmissions from Jhang or some other city like that? Will we still hear the same excuses? “Oh ji jammer ni mil raa ji” “oh ji oh ho gaya ji” “Oh ji aay ho gaya ji!” …. fvcking faggots!

Also, the backbone of this “taliban” sh!t is made up of disaffected seraiki youth. This is what you get when you ignore legitimage development and educational concernes of portions of society. They strike back with a vengeance your incompetent a$$ just can’t find the time to cope with!

What a waste of a nation!
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Why then has the great ISI, the Mother of All Agencies, not been able to find Mullah Radio’s radio station? writes Kamran Shafi

Swat, one more time
By Kamran Shafi
Tuesday, 10 Feb, 2009 | 02:14 PM PST |


....And now for the feedback on last week’s piece in which I had suggested a huge caravan made up of all the political parties: leaders, workers and us, the common, lay people of Pakistan, to go into Swat carrying food and clothing for the poor who had been displaced in their thousands by the firing (I did not say, ‘fighting’, everybody kindly note!) between the so-called security agencies and the extremists.
I have never had as many emails in response to an article. Most of them have been complimentary; two were hate-mail, calling me a kafir; and the usual, in which one is abused personally and viciously whenever one questions the army and/or the ISI for inefficiency and ineptness and duplicity. There were also some which asked in what proportion the political parties should be expected to participate.

In response, I can only thank those who support the idea and request them to please raise awareness among the people in general, and among their contacts within the political parties on a very urgent basis; bless those that call me a kafir and hope that their tribes increase; and last but not least, ask those who use personal abuse rather than reason to make a point, that they say what they say in open letters to the editor rather than in restricted emails. As to the proportion of the numbers of political party workers, I would suggest 100 for every MNA.

Zahid Zaman, a course-mate who reads books and whose counsel I respect, suggested to me after reading my piece on the Swat caravan that I should propose that the provincial government of the NWFP, or whichever name you wish to call it, move to Swat for as long as it takes to bring peace to the area.What a great idea! Why didn’t I think of it, I said to myself?! That was just the thing the provincial government should do — move lock, stock and barrel: all the ministries, babus, naib qasids and all; the police hierarchy, you name it, to Saidu Sharif. There to stay until the Mullah Radios and their murderous and barbaric ilk are chased from their redoubts — probably comfortable, luxuriously heated houses in the heart of Mingora — and until the people of that poor but bounteous land are enabled to get on with their lives as they have done for millennia.

Yes, that is exactly what Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti should do, and take his top adviser, his Dad Azam Hoti with him to guide him, and advise him on how to sort out the Swat imbroglio. Just that one move should send the shivers up the establishment’s spine like nobody’s business! Just watch them find Mullah Radio’s FM station then.

Which reminds me: the ‘rocket science’ of triangulation, or to put it another, more modern way, ‘trilateration’ is, as I suggested last week, as old as the Swat hills. Why then has the great ISI, the Mother of All Agencies, not been able to find Mullah Radio’s radio station? When will this great charade end, please, sirs?

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke should be in the Land of the Pure by the time you read this. Might one ask him one more time to route any/all enquiries he might have on the quite frightening and completely out of control situation in Swat/Fata to the civilian government and to no other agency?

This is imperative, ambassador; to give the elected government the confidence it so badly needs in staring down the men on horseback (well, actually sickly donkeys, if you ask me) who were so strongly and so foolishly supported by the previous US administration. You must remember, ambassador, that the United States made itself so many enemies only because it was perceived to be close to the dictatorship of the army rather than to the people of Pakistan.

Also, it is a great idea to tie US aid to specific aims and objectives, and to route it ALL through the civilian federal government, leaving it to the government to determine how much goes into which sector: education, health, infrastructure development, defence, war on terror, whatever.

To my own government I say: since you have stuffed the idea that this ‘war on terror is our war’ down our throats so hard, repeating the mantra ad nauseam and so often, it is time you stopped begging the Americans for every little expense incurred on it. Such as diesel fuel! Ask for night vision devices, for helicopters, for equipment to detect incoming FM signals for that matter (!), but do please stop asking for diesel money! We must have some self-respect if it is indeed ‘our’ war.
So then, who will the United Nations 'fact-finding' mission to investigate Benazir Bhutto’s cruel murder first interrogate? Surely Asif Ali Zardari, president of the Citadel of Islam, for saying out loud that he knows exactly who the killers are!
Joke, joke!! While this is a joke, could a head of state of any other country in the whole wide world say he knew the killers of a person, any person, without being pounced upon by crime investigation agencies of the state itself?

Can you imagine President Barack Obama saying any such thing without the D.C. police knocking on the door of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and asking questions? Leave America aside, can anyone imagine the Indian president, or the prime minister, saying such a thing and the local police and the CBI not asking them to explain themselves?
We are a very unique country indeed. Ambassador Holbrooke has his job cut out for him.

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk (Dawn)
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Taliban high court extending writ to Dir - Thank you Taliban + ISI

Taliban high court extending writ to Dir

Sunday, February 08, 2009
By Ikram Hoti

CHAKDARA: The Taliban have set up their high court in Kabal Tehsil of Swat, which is fast extending its writ to this town and other parts of Dir district with people taking their litigations to the THC (Taliban High Court) for settlement under the “Islamic Shariah”.

Shuttling between Kabal and Malakand while staying for a couple of nights at Chakdara, this correspondent spoke to a number of local people in Malakand, Thana, Kabal, Warsak, Batkhela and Shergarh about the THC, which has generated a lot of enthusiasm.

Groups of people secretly visit Khalil Mulla, a Taliban leader and FM 91 radio sermon speaker, whose actual name is Mohammad Alam Binori (from Binori village in Swat). This Taliban stalwart issues decrees on radio under Islamic edicts that are mostly translated into “Shariah punishments” and “Jihad activities”.

Listening to his sermons, groups of 15-20 suicidal terrorists assemble at Pyochaar, where they are asked to line up for “the next mission”. When asked who would go for the next ‘Fidaaey’ attack or suicide attack, all of them come forward chanting Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great). The organiser writes their names on separate pieces of paper for a ‘Fidaeey draw’, and the one thus selected is congratulated by others.

This is every day routine for the Pyochaar residents and while all this goes on, there is no police or Army contingent around. Then these Taliban fire into the air jubilantly, and the selected boy is taken to the Taliban local headquarters where he is given the task.

“I wonder why Pyochaar has been left at the mercy of these people by the Army, though they attack the houses of people who listen regularly to Mullah Khalil’s sermons on FM-91,” said a resident who planned to leave the area along with his family and visited a notable in Mardan last week for help in renting a house for the family.

His friend (names are dangerous to mention) told The News that scores of people were lashed publicly in Pyochaar and Mingora daily for alleged crimes. The THC issues convictions from dawn to dusk, and its ‘speedy justice’ is becoming popular with the local people. But the business is badly hurt, as most of the convictions are issued on crimes related to trade on credit and profit. The practice is mostly interpreted by the THC as “usury”, which is prohibited in the Islamic law, say the Taliban.

“Look at these boys,” said an elder of the area. “Not long ago they were supposed to live on village leftovers. They were treated as low-character boys here, but now they are running their high courts.”

He was referring to the Pakhtun tradition of regarding the Mullah and the Talib as mosque-creatures, who were always looked down upon for their unproductive social character and for indulging in immoral activities.

Another elder said, “These boys force people to listen to the FM-91, and when the military people find some one doing so, they launch attack on his house. We are hostage to both sides; we are caught in the crossfire, and there is no escape. The military people tell us to leave the villages as they plan more attacks on terrorists. The Taliban warn us against leaving the villages. They issue warnings that if we leave, they would attack us on our way out. Mullah Khalil even begs to the people not to leave. He tells them that they are fighting for them and Islam. If you leave the villages our cause would be defeated.” They also behead people who defy the Taliban or leave the villages. The headless bodies are found every day on the Zeba (previously Green) Chowk. (The News).
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Swat: Taliban terrorists warn lawyers and judges to stop attending the regular courts or risk death.

General Kayani, what is stopping you to arrest Fazullah, your comrade in arms?


Madness in the mountains
Friday, February 06, 2009

The militants who control most of Swat have gone mad. They have now threatened to kill lawyers and judges, as they represent a system that they oppose. Instead of the Constitution and code of law, they wish to impose their own version of Shariah law. What kind of order this would bring can be judged from the evil that seems to be a militant hallmark, unmistakable even when an attempt is made to disguise it behind a thin veneer of false morality. It is this morality that Maulana Fazlullah and his men resort to when they make their threats over the illegal FM radio they continue to run. The latest such threat has been made to the lawyers, with the Swat Bar Association warning all of its 300 members to stop attending the regular courts or risk death. And such threats must be taken seriously given by the brutal manner in which the militants have conducted themselves in the valley. In fact, in the same report which spoke of the threat to the legal community of Swat, was a sorry tale, given by a person none other than the region’s police chief, of how the militants had recently gang-raped and killed four women in Kabal – and a total of nine in all in recent weeks.

Out of fear caused by this terror, leaders of the legal community in Swat have suggested enforcing Sharia. This would be a folly. In the past too deals with militants or attempts to appease them have led nowhere. It is time now to stop them in their tracks. The men of Maulana Fazlullah have run amuck. There can be no doubt about this. It is absurd that some in high places continue to defend them. Force is needed to halt them before they inflict still greater damage. The stories emerging from Swat speak of terrorized people who feel helpless in the face of the brutality unleashed on them. These people live with militants who do not hesitate to kill, to maim, to beat or to ridicule. Business and indeed life itself in that once peaceful valley amidst tall mountains has been paralyzed. The military needs to immediately deliver on its promise to act decisively in Swat. There is so far little evidence that its operation is succeeding. The government’s job is to ensure this happens. Allowing the situation that now exists in Swat to continue, while ministers sit and twiddle their thumbs or make meaningless statements in Islamabad, would be nothing less than a crime against humanity. Every effort must be made to liberate Swat and to place Maulana Fazlullah behind bars to answer for the many crimes he is guilty of before still more mayhem takes hold in a part of the country where the state has completely relinquished its writ.
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Swat: Interview with Afzal Khan Lala - by Rahimullah Yusufzai

"They need support…"

-- Mohammad Afzal Khan, ANP leader and the hero of Swat



By Rahimullah Yusufzai

The 82-year old Mohammad Afzal Khan has emerged as a hero in Swat and beyond, to those who oppose the Taliban ideology. At a time when almost every politician and landlord, known as Khans, has moved out (of Swat) to escape harm at the hands of the militants, Afzal Khan has refused to leave his village, Bara Drushkhela, located in the Taliban stronghold of Matta. He has politely declined requests from relatives, his political colleagues from the Awami National Party (ANP) and well wishers to abandon Swat.

The militants have attacked his house a few times. He was injured in a roadside ambush in which his two bodyguards were killed and his nephew and Matta tehsil Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan were wounded. His two other nephews were killed in another attack by militants, who have repeatedly threatened to eliminate Afzal Khan.

The News on Sunday: President Asif Ali Zardari recently phoned you and praised your courage while the Army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, arranged for you to be flown in a military helicopter to the Frontier Constabulary centre at Kanju in Swat for a meeting. What transpired in the President's phone call and your meeting with Kayani? Do you think the military's new operations in Swat are more focused and targeted?

Mohammad Afzal Khan: The President offered support in the battle against militants. General Kayani invited me for a meeting to offer consolation and backing and discuss the Swat situation. It was my first meeting with the General and I found him a sober, sincere and determined man. For the first time in the last two years of military operations in Swat have I found the security forces to be on the offensive. In the past, the Taliban were on the offensive and the troops were on the defensive. The three military strikes in Manglawar, Ningolai, Charbagh and Matta in which the army claimed to have killed several militants were focused and intense.

TNS: You have been seeking support of the government and the forces to arm the people and raise village militias to defend their villages against the Taliban. Do you think the authorities would now accept your proposal? Will this initiative succeed or trigger further clashes between the militants and villagers?

MAK: I made this proposal about 10 months ago but nobody in the government responded positively. My plea is that the people of Swat are mostly unarmed and are, therefore, at the mercy of the militants. Besides, the Swatis have lived under authoritarian rulers in the past and become somewhat subdued. The fear of the Taliban who terrorise the population through beheadings and target killings has snuffed the life out of our people. They need support so that their spirit could be revived. Moreover, the army cannot guard every village and street after having carried out military action and defeated the militants. In the absence of an effective police force and lack of the civil armed forces, the local people would be required to defend their towns and villagers and keep the Taliban at bay. For this purpose, the government must arm and equip them to fight the militants.

TNS: Many people in Swat and outside the valley were critical of the military until now for not doing enough to defeat the Taliban. What do you think was lacking in the military operation against the militants?

MAK: Once an army officer reportedly said that the military should not take sides in the conflict in Swat. I wondered why such a statement was made. The military has to take sides as the government writ has been challenged by a group of militants who want to set up a parallel administration and impose their will on the people. They are using heavy arms and strongarm methods to extend their writ at a time when the law-enforcement agencies in Swat are paralysed and the civil armed forces are nowhere to be seen. It is a battle between the state and the Taliban. The state in such circumstances must stand with those people who are refusing to bow before Taliban and offering sacrifices while resisting the militants. The military is now changing its tactics and is ready to fight back and stand with the people who are willing to die fighting the Taliban.

TNS: Your name tops the list of the 47 men wanted by the Taliban in Swat. You have been ordered to appear before their Shariat courts. Comment.

MAK: I have done nothing wrong and am at a loss to understand why am I being targeted. I am also very religious. And so is my family. However, we don't accept the Taliban interpretation of Islam.

TNS: Why did your party leaders not consult you before inking a peace deal with Taliban in Swat? Is Asfandyar Wali Khan or NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti in touch with you now on the issue?

MAK: The peace accord was signed in a hurry and the ANP leadership and the provincial government agreed to certain measures that were beyond its powers. Military officials have been complaining that the peace accord emboldened the militants and gave them time to regroup for fighting fresh battles. The peace agreement was doomed when the Taliban started destroying schools and their spokesman, Muslim Khan, claimed responsibility for these attacks. Strangely, the provincial government was defending the agreement and claiming that the militants weren't involved in the attacks on schools. However, I don't want to create difficulties for ANP. In any case, one political party cannot resolve the entire problem. I don't complain that Asfandyar Wali hasn't phoned me because he has been ill. As for the chief minister, I was told he called but was unable to locate me. (The News on Sunday)
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Swat: the other view; a tale of how 'those in power' facilitated Taliban in spreading their tentacles in the peacefull valley of Swat....

Swat: the other view

By Syed Irfan Ashraf

THE ongoing insurgency in Swat has spawned a heated debate in the media. For some it is a class war between the landless and the land-owning elite.

Others believe it to be a global jihadist agenda spearheaded by rigid Al Qaeda-led Wahabi elements. Here it is important to add personal journalistic observations to help understand another dimension to the story of Swat where negligence on the part of state institutions, parochial political interests and the naiveté of the rural folk have given birth to a militant culture that thrives on vandalism, brutality and anarchy.

In June 2007, while in Swat, it was suggested that I interview Maulana Fazlullah because of his increasing popularity. But at that time many considered him to be just another black-turbaned cleric riding on horseback to preach Stone Age values. In fact, the firebrand Fazlullah was getting as popular as US radio priest Father Coughlin who shot to fame in the early 1930s. Locally known as ‘Redoo Mullah’ (Maulana Radio) at that time, Fazlullah spat fire and venom on the state’s policies, condemning every liberal institution. His campaign for establishing a madressah in Swat was at its peak. Naïve women generously donated jewellery and equally naïve men their hard cash, not knowing how dearly they would pay for their endeavours in the days to come.

Visiting Swat again in early July, I found some 40 cleric-owned FM channels working in a radius of between 10 to 40 kilometres. Maulana Fazlullah was on top of his game. His expert oratory skills made him the most popular radio cleric. One wondered how a local mullah and school and madressah dropout used the same propaganda techniques that were developed in 1818 after extensive research by the Creel Committee members in the US and used to lethal effect by the Allied forces against Germany. Youngsters sat outside their roadside houses enjoying his state-bashing sermons.

It was disturbing to note that the state authorities let this mess go unchecked. Even more bizarre was the absence of any liberal source of entertainment to offset the ongoing propaganda. This was partly explained when a local tailor Iqbal Ali told me about the FM device he had purchased for entertainment. Predictably, Iqbal started receiving threatening calls. Unexpectedly, some officials politely advised him to withdraw in favour of the clerics. Similarly, an Afghan cleric had also launched an FM station in the vicinity of Tehsil Matta and used to broadcast sermons against Fazlullah. His pupil later revealed that in the last call he received from his teacher, the latter was desperately crying for help, following which he disappeared.

At that time, everything in Swat revolved around Fazlullah. It seemed that strong forces were imposing a militant mindset on the people of Swat, going about this job in an organised fashion. In this strategy, the MMA provincial government could not escape blame for offering Swat on a platter to the militants.

One by one anti-Fazlullah officials were replaced by more docile ones. The then district coordination officer had the reputation of being an ‘official Talib’. One MMA minister from Swat said, “Fazlullah is doing exactly what we want but cannot do.” Besides MMA, a federal minister and Musharraf aide sent rice-filled degs to Imam Dheri where Fazlullah was based. Similarly, local influential figures also tried to woo Fazlullah by sending material for the construction of his seminary.

This approach disillusioned Swat’s liberal circles who got the impression that all developments in Swat were part of a larger game plan and the northwestern terrains of Gut and Peuchar were the epicentre of the militants’ network. Conspiracy theories have it that Sufi Mohammad-led Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi activists have been living in this terrain since 1995 when they were flushed out from Swat. One TNSM leader accepted that the area had been used for jihadi activities and ‘mujahideen’ in the past lived in the Osheri Dara near Peuchar. They declared Peuchar a paradise for militants. Denizens of Peuchar also feared that their area is important because of its strategic depth and access to Afghanistan via the inaccessible thick-forested mountains bordering the Kunar province of Afghanistan.

Today, it is not unusual to find militants concentrated in the valleys carrying out successful raids in downtown Swat and also providing support to Baitullah-led Taliban in Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies via Lower Dir. However, it is hard to believe that state intelligence agencies were unable to understand the networking of the militants in Peuchar, something the common people feared much before the military operation.

To record Fazlullah’s first-ever, on-camera interview, I reached Imam Dheri on July 6, 2007. In the presence of his shura member Muslim Khan, I found Fazlullah unfolding his vision for Swat. It was hard to accept it then, but now like other Swatis I believe him. To my question about the future of Swat, he replied, “I see that whatever the [Musharraf] government is doing in Swat is utter failure. It is possible that these policies might lead to his downfall soon. This does not mean the end of a government and the start of another one but this would be the end of the state itself.” He added, “If force is used against us, then this time the case will be different from Jamia Hafsa. There were children locked inside the four walls there, but we have trained people — and mountains also. We surely will be a hard nut for the state to crack.”

Fazlullah did not stop here. He warned the high-ups, “Once I am killed, or disappear or run away from here it will be hard to control the situation.” When Fazlullah was threatening the state and government, his words were full of conviction as if they were part of a written script.

A leaf from the life history of Miangul Jehanzeb recorded by Fredrik Barth in his book The Last Wali of Swat is relevant even today. The book quotes Miangul Jehanzeb as saying: “My father (Abdul Wadood alias Baacha sahib) always used to tell me that a pir (religious leader) and a ruler cannot last together. So one, and one only, should be the ruler. And if you [Miangul Jehanzeb] are the ruler, you have to limit the influence of the pir and if you cannot remove his influence, you can at least remove him. When he created the state, he chased out all those pirs who used to exercise political influence over the people.” (Dawn).

....



Nazir Naji

How do ISI officials view the Shariat peace deal in Swat and other aspects of the Talibanisation....

Swat — towards a Wahhabi state?

Swat and the Mullah Military Alliance: Two pictures and a column - Abbas Ather

Swat: the other view; a tale of how 'those in power' facilitated Taliban in spreading their tentacles in the peacefull valley of Swat....

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Swat: An analysis by Muhammad Amir Khakwani,

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Al Jazeera report on Swat: 2 Febaruary 2009

AlJazeera English


The Swat Valley is an area few journalists are able to operate in and it appears that despite the presence of thousands of extra Pakistani troops the Taliban remain firmly in control. Policemen have been beheaded in the streets, men have been lashed and dozens schools have been burnt down under the Taliban justice and their version of Sharia law. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder travelled to the Swat Valley from where he sent this exclusive report.


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A Swati journalist writes an open lettter / appeal to Mullah Fazlullah

The writ of the state? ISI-Taliban Alliance? No Comments...




http://www.dailyazadiswat.com/news/details.php?news_id=2855&sessionid=ea09ef65e331ebc4a3215fc75f76eeab

Also, you may wish to read the following op-ed describing how ISI/Pakistan Army allowed Mullah Fazlullah to regroup and train his Talibans in the Peochar region.



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Taliban establish a new FM radio station in the Upper Dir area. Well done, ISI-Jihadi Alliance....

On 19 June 2008, The News reported that:

Emboldened by their unchallenged activities in the troubled Swat valley, Maulana Fazlullah-led militants (Taliban) have started extending their sphere of influence and activities....

Turning to the upper parts of Swat, the militants marched on Madyan. The valley’s Walibagh, the house of late Khan Abdul Wali Khan in Chakri where he would stay during summers, was blown up on Friday to punish the Awami National Party for the Swat operation.

The militants commander for Lower and Upper Dir, Hafizullah, is closely associated with the Swat militants.

Shangla is a district, which was overrun by the militants in 2007 and certain towns were occupied. Though their influence has tapered off, it has not completely ended in Shangla. The militants are attempting to get hold of all neighbouring districts-Buner, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Shangla and Malakand Agency. Before it is too late, the government needs to act to secure these districts from falling to Taliban.

(http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=157932)

On 2 February 2009:

BBC Urdu dot com reports that:

Taliban have successfully established a new FM radio station in the Upper Dir area. This group, headed by a terrorist "Amir Khattab" is closely associated with Mullah Fazlullah. This group is supported by Nuristani Afghan who migrated to the Doug Darrah area from Afghanistan.

Read the BBC report here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/02/090202_dir_fm.shtml

Hmm....let us see what do agents of ISI and Taliban cook in that area in the coming days. Good luck and good bye to the local population. Your fellow Pakistanis are too busy mourning Kashmir and Gaza....
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Dealing with Swat: General Kayani's assurance, too little, too late?

Dealing with Swat
Friday, January 30, 2009

The COAS has said that the militant menace in Swat will indeed be overcome. Visiting Swat, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani pledged to take measures to restore the writ of the state. Ahead of his arrival in Mingora, the military spokesman stated that 'decisive' action against militants had been planned. All this makes one wonder that why did it take so long for the government to order such action given that a sense of drift had set in the valley for quite some time and dozens of residents had been brutally killed by the militants. The background to the current militancy is that Operation Rah-e-Haq was initiated against the extremists in the valley towards the end of 2007 and was wrapped up in mid-January with the military and the government claiming success. Soon after this, the ANP assumed office in Peshawar, and one of their key electoral planks was to talk peace with Swat's militants. However, this otherwise sensible approach was not responded in kind by the Swat Taliban who in fact began targeting the local ANP leadership soon after the party took the reins of the NWFP government.

But it has almost been a year since that happened and one needs to wonder what took the government [read military] this long to order a fresh operation against the militants especially since with each passing day they only consolidated their grip over the valley – and in fact by the end of 2008 it was widely believed that much of Swat was under the control of Fazlullah and his men. While President Zardari has now been asserting that matters will be brought under control, we can only wonder why this wisdom did not dawn earlier. After all the attacks on schools in Swat, the action against those opposing the Taliban and the expanding control of the militants were hardly a secret. The dangers posed have been highlighted by the burning of a school in Bajaur. Quite evidently, the 'inspiration', if it can be called that, has come from events in Swat. The militant onslaught there must be stopped before the same kind of mayhem is created in other areas of the country.

It is of course better to act late, rather than to fail to do so at all. In this respect, the military's declaration of a new resolve is welcome. On the other hand, there should also be some analysis of what went wrong before. For some time, the ANP has been expressing concern about the state of the operation in Swat. Perhaps if their warnings and their pleas for tougher action had been taken heed of, we would not have faced the crisis we face today. There is a dimension to this which reaches beyond the borders of Swat or even Pakistan. Over the last decade, the image of Pakistan as a safe, civilized country has tumbled dramatically. It is now ranked as one of the most dangerous places on earth. This has affected investment, tourism and a great deal else. Our decision makers must remember that as the horrific tales from Swat make their way into the international media, Pakistan's standing will continue to fall further. This must not be allowed to happen. The military and the government must work together to prove that the suggestions that they have colluded with militants in Swat are entirely untrue. This they can best do by stamping out militancy in the area, apprehending key leaders and restoring to the blood-stained valley the peace its people so desperately seek. (The News)
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Swat: Some excerpts from Mullah Fazlullah's Taliban FM Radio (Shariat Channel)

The following are a few excerpts from Mullah Fazlullah's FM Radio in Swat, which he has been successfully operating, first under the auspices of the MMA Government in the NWFP and now with the (unholy) blessings of the Pakistan Amry (ISI):

1. Kafir means Kafir Police, Kafir Fauj.

2. Momin means Momin Taliban

3. Wazir-e-Azam is Kharr-e-Azam, Wazir-e-Aala is Kharr-e-Aala

4. Appreciation of the 'beautiful' scenes of slaughtering of the kuffar

5. Good news: So many soldiers killed in India, Mubarak (congratulations); so many Shia killed in D.I. Khan, Mubarak.

6. Announcement of the future line of action and Fatwas, including hit list and prohibition of girls education.

Report by BBC Urdu dot com, Abdul Haye Kakar

سوات: طالبان کا پیغام ہواکےدوش پر

عبدالحئی کاکڑ بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، پشاور

	مولانا فضل اللہ روپوش مگر ان کا ایف ایم چینل اپنا کام کر رہا ہے

سوات کے طالبان ایک محتاط اندازے کے مطابق نہ صرف اسّی فیصد علاقے پر قابض ہوچکے ہیں بلکہ ایف ایم چینل کی صورت میں اب ان کی اجارہ داری ہوا کی لہروں پر بھی قائم ہوچکی ہے۔

اگرچہ سوات میں دو سال قبل ایک درجن سے زائد غیر قانونی ایف چینل چل رہے تھے اب صرف ایک ہی چینل کی نشریات سنائی دیتی ہیں۔ یہ چینل ’مولانا فضل اللہ ایف ایم چینل‘ کہلاتا ہے۔

سوات کی شدت پسندی کو اگر ’غیر قانونی ایف چینل کی شدت پسندی‘ کہا جائے تو بیجا نہ ہوگا۔ کیونکہ اس چینل نے دو ہزار چھ میں اپنے قیام کے بعد صرف دو سال کے مختصر عرصے میں ایک باقاعدہ مسلح گروپ کی تشکیل میں مدد دی۔

ابتدا میں مولانا فضل اللہ نے لوگوں کا دل جیتنے کے لیے درسِ قرآن، دینی مسائل پر لوگوں کے سوالوں کے جواب اور سماجی کاموں میں ایک دوسرے کی مدد کرنے پر زور دیا۔ پھر رفتہ رفتہ ان نشریات پر ’جہاد‘ کی افادیت کا رنگ غالب آنے لگا۔ اس تبدیلی نے جوانوں کی ایک کھیپ تیار کی، لوگوں کے چندوں سے تقریباً تین کروڑ روپے کی لاگت سے امام ڈھیرئی مرکز کی تعمیر کاکام شروع ہوا جس میں مقامی لوگوں نے بلا معاوضہ کام کیا۔

سکیورٹی فورسز اور طالبان کے درمیان لڑائی کے آغاز کے بعد مولانا فضل اللہ پس منظر میں چلے گئے اور ایف چینل پر تقریر کی ذمہ داری مولانا شاہ دوران نے سنبھال لی ہے۔

مولانا شاہ دوران نرم لہجے مگر طنز و مزاح سے بھر پور انداز میں طالبان کی جانب سے احکامات پیش کرتے ہیں۔ ان کے ایک سامع نے بتایا کہ مولانا شاہ دوران نے سیاسی لیڈروں اور اعلی عہدوں کی پیروڈی بنارکھی ہے جیسےزرادری کو غداری، گیلانی کو گیلنے، وزیراعظم کو خ۔۔۔ اعظم اور وزیر اعلی کو خ۔۔۔ اعلی پکارتے ہیں۔

	مولانا فضل اللہ نے اپنے ایف ایم چینل کے ذریعے علاقے کے نوجوانوں کو متاثر کیا

اس سامع کے بقول مولانا دوران قرآنی آیات اور احادیث پڑھنے کے بعد ان کا ترجمہ یا تشریح ’طالبان کی سوچ اور کارروائیوں‘ کے تناظر میں کرتے ہیں۔ مثلاً جب وہ کہتے ہیں کہ ’یا ایہی الکافرون‘ تو وہ اس کا ترجمہ کرتے ہوئے کہتے ہیں: ’اے کافروں، اے پاکستانی فوجیوں، اے پولیس والو، اے ایف سی والو۔۔۔ اور ’یا ایہی المؤمنین‘ کا ترجمہ ’اے مومن طالبان‘ کرتے ہیں۔

رات کے ساڑھے سات سے دس بجے تک جاری رہنے والی نشریات چار حصوں یعنی درسِ قرآن، چندہ دینے والوں کا شکریہ، ’خوشخبریاں‘ سنانے اور دھمکیاں دینے پر مشتمل ہوتی ہیں۔

مذکورہ سامع کا کہنا ہے کہ مولانا شاہ دوران اسلامی تاریخ کے واقعات کچھ اس انداز سے پیش کرتے ہیں جس سے طالبان کی کارروائیاں، جیسے لوگوں کا سرقلم کرنا وغیرہ صحیح ثابت ہوسکے۔ ایک دفعہ انہوں نے کہا کہ گزشتہ رات تقریر کے بعد جب وہ ساتھیوں کے ساتھ بیٹھ گئے تو انہوں نے ان سے ایک جہادی سی ڈی دیکھنے کی فرمائش کی اور بقول ان کے ’میں نے جب سی ڈی دیکھی تو اس میں ذبح کرنے کےاتنے خوبصورت خوبصورت مناظر تھے کہ مزہ آگیا۔‘

وہ اپنی تقریر کے دوران ملکی اور بین لاقوامی سطح پر تشدد کے ہونے والے بعض واقعات مزے لے کر بیان کرتے ہیں جس سے وہ خوشخبریوں کا نام دیتے ہیں۔

مقامی لوگوں کا کہنا ہے کہ ماضی کے مقابلے میں ایف ایم چینل کے سننے والوں کی تعداد بڑھ گئی ہے۔ اس کی وجہ یہ ہے کہ لوگوں کو یقین ہوگیا ہے کہ طالبان ایک قوت ہے اور وہ جو کہتے ہیں کرکے دکھاتے ہیں۔

یہ خبریں وہ ایک اخبار سے پڑھ کر سناتے ہیں۔ جیسے ایک بار انہوں نے کہا کہ ’زمبابوے میں بیماری پھیل گئی ہے سو افراد ہسپتال میں داخل، مبارک ہو مبارک! تھائی لینڈ میں ایک دھماکے میں چھ افراد ہلاک ہوگئے ہیں، مبارک مبارک! انڈیا میں بعض فوجی قتل، مبارک ہو مبارک! ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان میں بم دھماکہ چھ ہلاک، مبارک ہومبارک!‘

مقامی لوگوں کا کہنا ہے کہ ماضی کے مقابلے میں ایف ایم چینل کے سننے والوں کی تعداد بڑھ گئی ہے۔ اس کی وجہ یہ ہے کہ لوگوں کو یقین ہوگیا ہے کہ طالبان ایک قوت ہے اور وہ جو کہتے ہیں کرکے دکھاتے ہیں۔

سننے والوں میں زیادہ تر پرائیویٹ سکولوں کے مالکان، ان اداروں میں پڑھنے والے بچوں کے والدین، مینگورہ میں خواتین مارکیٹ کے دوکاندار، این جی او سیکٹر میں کام کرنے والے اور کاسمیٹک انڈسٹری کے مالکان شامل ہیں۔

ان لوگوں سے جب بات کی تو ان کا کہنا تھا کہ وہ شوقیہ نہیں بلکہ اس لیے ایف ایم چینل سن رہے ہیں کہ انہیں اندازہ ہوسکے کہ طالبان کا اگلی ’لائن آف ایکشن‘ کیا ہے، یعنی کس کو قتل کرنے کی دھمکی دی جاتی ہے، سکولوں کے بارے میں ان کی سوچ اب کیا ہے اور جنگ کی تازہ ترین صورتحال کیا ہے۔

اس یف ایم چینل کی نشریات سوات سے باہر مردان کے بعض علاقوں تک بھی سنی جاسکتی ہیں اور ان میں زیادہ تر لوگوں کا کہنا ہے کہ مولانا شاہ دوران کے مزاحیہ انداز گفتگو سے لطف اٹھانے کے لیے وہ ان کی تقریر سنتے ہیں۔

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2009/01/090128_swat_fm_radio_kakar.shtml
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Debacle in Swat - by Kamila Hayat

Debacle in Swat

Thursday, January 22, 2009 (The News)
Kamila Hyat

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

The Pakistan military seems to have suffered a decisive defeat in war. While a fierce military operation has continued in Swat since July 2007, the extremist militants who now control nearly three quarters of the valley have, through these months, dramatically expanded their hold. Till early 2008, only about a quarter of the Swat area, home to 1.8 million people, fell under their grip. Today, they have closed down hundreds of schools, run their own 'Shariah' courts in the area and execute people almost each day at a central square in Mingora. Among the victims of the militants has been a school teacher who worked to support her children. She was labelled a prostitute, forced to wear 'ghungroos' (ankle bells) on her feet and then killed after being mercilessly demeaned. Other young women and their parents speak of threats and harassment aimed at preventing them from working or studying. Parents have been 'visited' by militants and asked to keep daughters indoors. Those killed include persons, some elderly, who dared to speak out against the militants. In most cases they were dubbed government 'spies'.

Quite obviously, the writ of State has vanished from Swat. For all the brave words we heard after the operation against militants resumed in Swat after the middle of 2008, the armed forces deployed there seem to have failed completely to overcome the fighters. People in the valley, few of whom risk speaking out given that now even Mingora is not safe, believe they have been punished for voting for the liberal ANP in the February 2008 polls, and voting against the MMA coalition. The vote appeared to be a desperate bid to escape the tyranny of militants who had begun to exert their hold over the area in the mid-1990s, when the firebrand leader of the radical Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi (TNSM), Sufi Mohammad Khan, began an effort to impose his own version of Islamic law, launched the FM stations that authorities have since been unable to shut down and took thousands off for 'jihad' against the Americans in Afghanistan in 2001. It is today a rather frightening reflection on reality that the now aged Sufi Mohammad, released from jail last year as the ANP attempted to reach a deal with militants, today comes across as a moderate. Rather than any marked change in his stance, it is the far harder-line approach taken by his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah that has cast him in this role. Sufi Mohammad's own influence too has waned, even though he is said still to be in dialogue with members of the provincial government who hope to find some way to end the bloodshed. Those who once chuckled at mention of Fazlullah, a man who wielded a sword and rode a white steed in apparent emulation of past Islamic warriors, collecting money and jewellery from villagers to finance his 'jihad', now cringe in fear at the mention of his name.

ANP leaders too cringe. Many, quite understandably terrorized by the beheadings carried out by militants, no longer speak out. Others, including party legislators from Swat who have threatened to resign over the fate of their homeland, have shed tears of frustration and genuine pain on the floor of the NWFP Assembly. But essentially, the party is helpless. It could only watch as a house that belonged to the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan in Swat was destroyed by militants. More inexplicable is that the military, deployed in the valley since 2007, have also seemed just as helpless. Even the presence of entire divisions seems to have done nothing to help them overcome what is, after all, a band of irregular fighters; they should be no match for a huge army on which we spend millions. The talk of ideology and the claims to defend Islam from these murderers is nothing more than a cloak to shield their true nature. Even respected religious figures in Swat who have attempted to raise the point that the actions of the militants, who bombed yet another girls school this weekend, have nothing to do with Islam, have been slain or driven out of Swat. Indeed, according to some estimates, 60 percent of the population has fled – with only the most hapless and the most impoverished who have nowhere to go, left behind to face the wrath of the militants.

The situation has led many to question the role played in Swat by the army. Certainly we need answers. Some local people are convinced the militants enjoyed secret protection from the security forces. There is a belief that some at least within the establishment still see militants as key allies. ANP leaders have themselves hinted at this. The NWFP Chief Minister has demanded the federal government do more to save Swat.

Members of the central government claim they are not oblivious to the situation. But this does not quite explain why the situation that now prevails there is being allowed to continue. Does the PPP – a party led for three decades by women – really believe that the denial of education to 80,000 girls is a minor matter? Or that messages warning men not to allow women out of homes are to be ignored? The total collapse of the writ of state from Swat is an immense issue. It highlights the dangers we face in other areas. To fail to address urgent attention to the situation there would be a folly of enormous magnitude.

Indeed, it is odd we have not heard about what has been happening in Swat for so many months. It is only now, as things have worsened still more, that we have been told about the atrocities committed on a daily basis. The media has helped in this. But perhaps it needs to do more. There is still an opinion that the problems in Swat and other areas have been created because of the steps to battle militants. The argument goes that this falls in line with orders issued from Washington. The facts are somewhat different: In Swat militants had already been using force to establish a writ over the area some eight years before the US got embroiled in the war on terror after the events of 9/11. The recruitment of people, especially young boys, for 'jihad' was on for years. The failure to make any effort to rehabilitate these brainwashed fighters after 2002, when many returned from Afghanistan, may have helped promote further militancy. This mistake must not be repeated. The State must do all it can to bring back Swat to its domain. If it fails to do so, other territories could also opt to go their own way – further weakening a country that has rapidly lost control over vast tracts of its territory.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com
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