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ARE TALIBAN REALLY BARBARIANS?
By: Hussain Khan, Tokyo
A lot of one-sided and baseless stories are being circulated against Taliban. The Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has also talked about the `mortal danger' of Taliban and further expressed her exaggerated fear of Taliban taking over Islamabad. Some people accuse Taliban of ¡°beheading people, denying girls of schools, barring women from coming out, and measuring beards of men and also burning schools and music shops.¡± That is not the real face of Taliban. The secular opponents of Sharia and the so called liberals are misinforming and demonizing these matters and painting a picture of Taliban as barbarians.
Based on such false accusations the war is being carried out by the US in Afghanistan and in Pakistan aided by the Pakistan army. A vast number of innocent civilians are being daly killed by the army which cannot locate the true militants and therefore treats all civilians as militants. It also resulted in a huge number of civilian exodus from their homes to safe areas. No power in the world history has ever succeeded in killing only the real militants in any guerilla type of war. Always innocent civilians are killed much more than a few real militants. The killing of such innocents provides more recruits to the resistance movements. Such a war could not be won either by the US and Nato forces or by the Pakistan army. Despite 8 years of high-technology war of a Super-power like the US, Obama admits, "we are not winning in Afghanistan" against the ill-equipped Taliban. It was for the same reason that Musharraf had to make a deal with the so called "terrorists" after huge losses of Pakistan army. The same reason compelled the Pakistan army and the secular provincial ANP government of NWFP to conclude a Peace Agreement with the Taliban after 18 months of fighting an unsuccessful guerilla war against them.
As regards the accusation about girls education, Taliban deny it both in speech as well as through the practical execution of their policies. They had to close some schools, both of boys and girls as well, in Afghanistan due to lack of funds. But false propaganda is carried out against them as if they closed girls schools only. An anti-Taliban report in the New York Times of February 14, 1996 says, "It is a world where there has been a systematic drive to push women back into purdah, the traditional Muslim arrangement that prevents them from seeing any men outside their immediate families. Under Taliban decrees, women have been forbidden to work outside their homes, except in hospitals and clinics, and then only if they work exclusively with women and girls." For the Westerners and the secular Muslims, purdah may be equal to pushing back women into illiteracy or it may be regarded as something discouraging women from education. In Islam, Purdah is basically to prevent the free mixing of sexes, which is the root cause of several social evils of a modern society, leading to rape, divorce, illicit relationships, birth of children outside the wedlock and so on. But it is not an impediment to women's education. Many highly-educated Muslim women today are contributing to society with Hijab. Even in the above anti-Taliban report, it is admitted that the women were allowed to work in hospitals and clinics. If Taliban would have abandoned women's education and prevented them from going to schools, from where they brought women to work in hospitals and clinics? It indicates as to how false are the reports that Taliban are against the education of girls and women!
No doubt, they have blasted some of the girls¡¯ schools in Swat, as they were fighting against the Pakistan army which had made these schools its operational bases for attacks on Taliban. Now after the peace agreement, all girls schools are functioning as usual. Maulana Sufi Mohammad has not spoken anything against girls¡¯ education. Secularists have made it their propaganda agenda to create hatred against Sharia. The number of girls' schools destroyed by Taliban is quoted but the readers are not informed that these schools were operational bases of the army, which was attacking and killing them.
Taliban are blamed for usurping women's rights. Better to ask about it to a British woman journalist, Yvonne Ridley, who was arrested by Taliban, while on assignment with the London¡¯s Sunday Express in 2001. After her release from the Taliban prison, she converted to Islam. What kind of impression incidents of this nature create about Taliban? Do the barbarian behave like this? Will a Western educated lady, a well-informed journalist by profession, convert to the religion of the barbarians after remaining as their prisoner for several days? She is now working for a Muslim Television station in London covering herself with Islamic decency and Hijab. She is a renowned British journalist. She now works for the Iranian-based 24-hour English language news channel Press TV, where she fronts her own London-based current affairs show, The Agenda.
There is no Taliban rule now. After visiting Afghanistan in November, 2008, she has written about the present situation, "The only winners emerging from Afghanistan these days are the drug barons who preside over the world¡¯s largest heroin trade and the pimps who control the Chinese prostitutes operating from the scores of bordellos and brothels which have emerged since the US military occupation.. .So there you have it ¨C Afghanistan a country in the grip of reckless soldiers, slappers and smack."
During about 6 years of their rule in Afghanistan between 1994 to 2001, Taliban rightly claim to have established law and order, cleansed the society from all kinds of crimes, completely eradicated the production and the sale of drugs, as admitted and appreciated by the UN as well. As regards the emergence of Taliban in 1994, the same New York Times report of February 14, 1996 says, "Only a year ago, the rise of the Taliban was greeted with widespread enthusiasm in areas of the country that they now control. Their sudden emergence as a political and military force, from a base in the southern city of Kandahar, was propelled by their pledge to "cleanse" Afghanistan of the killing, rape and pillage that became endemic under the cover of the civil war that ensued after Soviet troops were withdrawn in 1989.......Out of the anarchy that followed the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan in 1989 emerged numerous competing factions, many of them still fighting with weapons that had been supplied covertly by the United States. Divided by tribal origins, personalities or strictness of their interpretations of Islam, the factions have battled for control ever since. A new and stringently fundamentalist faction, the Taliban, arose in Sept. 1994, in protest against the abduction and rape of a group of Afghan women and teenage girls by local warlords who had gained power in the fight against the Soviets. Invoking the memory of forebears who fought the British, the Taliban pledged to rid Afghanistan of the warlords, whom they described as "parasites" masquerading as Muslims. Within four months, they controlled a third of Afghanistan. Since then, their fortunes have varied. Herat, the key city in western Afghanistan, fell in Sept. 1995." How one can call such people barbarians who have emerged to unite their country against the competing factions, to protest against the abduction and rape of Afghan girls and to rid Afghanistan of the warlords, who were regarded as "parasites" masquerading as Muslims? How the people emerging for such lofty ideals can suddenly become terrorists and criminals, as they are presented in this color by the anti-Islam secular media?
The same New York Times report, which is basically anti-Taliban, ridicules the Taliban punishments in the following words, "The new Afghanistan is a world where murderers and "enemies" of the Taliban are hanged from cranes and the barrels of tank cannon, where the execution of others found guilty of killing consists of being shot in the back with rifles by their victims' fathers, and where convicted thieves are subjected to surgical amputations of their hands and arms.......After the anarchy of recent years, many Afghans have welcomed the harsh punishments meted out by the Taliban to some violent criminals, while others have been horrified... ..According to reports published in Pakistan, there were public executions carried out in the eastern Afghanistan city of Khost a few days ago." The Taliban punishments are described in a ridiculous style, but one has to see the character and face of Taliban in it. This shows that Afghans have welcomed these harsh punishments as they have got rid of anarchy and lived in peace. Justice was meted out promptly. It further illustrates, how strict Taliban had been against all kinds of crimes. As a result they have eradicated crime in Afghanistan during their 6-year rule. What is ridiculous is the propaganda against them that such people have now turned to become barbarians and criminals themselves against whom they had been giving such severe punishments. This kind of baseless propaganda against them cannot hold ground for long.
No civilized government in 21st century could be successful so far to achieve such fantastic results in prevention of crime and maintaining law and order in their respective countries. Neither America, nor Europe, nor Japan, nor any other country, except Saudi Arabia, can claim their success in prevention of crime, homicide, rape, drugs, fraud and what not. the late King Faisal once replied to a questioner in the US that the crimes committed in New York in one day are much more than all the crimes in Saudi Arabia in more than ten years. Every year the rate of crime is on a constant increase in every so-called civilized country today.
In maintaining law and order in society, Taliban deserve to be ranked as No.1 in the world. In view of these big achievements of Taliban government, it is better to forgive some of their extreme measures about beard etc., which are extraordinarily insignificant in nature and do not deserve to be demonized by our secularized or liberal intellectuals.
As regards the beheadings by Taliban, there are reports in some Western newspapers that Taliban have beheaded some of the criminals who were pretending as Taliban commanders in their ranks. The secularists are falsely propagating that such beheadings were those of the innocent civilians.
American spies and CIA informers are inviting Drone attacks to their own people. Since 2006 these attacks have killed only 12 militants. An article about Drone attacks in Pakistan published in a US web site, Council on Foreign Relations on March 20, 2009 by Greg Bruno states, ¡°¡.Center for American Progress counts as many as 543 people killed by U.S. since 2006; only twelve were top al-Qaeda operatives.¡± These 543 innocent civilians were killed because of American informers in the Taliban ranks or in the civilian population. These CIA spies are the real murderers of innocent civilians. Do such spies and informers, who are the real murderers, not deserve the punishment of beheadings?
Taliban have not become insane to carry out beheadings of innocent people. They had solid proofs and reliable evidence against those criminals who deserved beheadings. To blame Taliban for every act of inhuman crime or violence is the result of mischievous misinformation which is intentionally carried out by the secular enemies of Sharia.
Our central and provincial governments have been blaming Indian agencies and professional criminals for most of the inhuman and criminal activities as they occurred in Baluchistan, in Lahore against Sri Lankan cricket team, and in Malakand Division. Why our 6th sense cannot separate criminal activity from the lofty mission of Sharia implementation goal of Taliban Jihad. Why should all criminals be regarded as Taliban?
Pakistan government has accused India, Afghanistan and Russia for the disturbances in Baluchistan. A news item in the daily DAWN (April 24, 2009) states, "At a closed-door Senate session on Thursday, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik presented a bleak picture of the security situation in the country and showed what he called evidence of the involvement of India, Afghanistan and Russia in terrorist activities. It is the first time Pakistan has blamed these countries and cited evidences which, it is believed, will be shared with the international community, particularly the United States, which has expressed concern over growing militancy in the country. Following a harsh statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday and conveyed a similar message. During the Senate briefing, the adviser said that all major incidents of terrorism and suicide attacks were linked to India and Afghanistan, adding that terrorists were being trained by them in those countries and in North Waziristan and being sent to the settled areas."
The Governor of the provincial government of NWFP, Owais Ahmed Ghani has blamed criminal elements, not Taliban, for the "terrorism" in Swat valley. He has accused the enemies of its agreement with the Swat Taliban, which was concluded with the help of the mediating role of Maulana Sufi Mohammad. Such groups are trying to dislodge the peace and the improved law and order situation in Swat after the agreement. For this purpose, they have adopted such mean and false methods as showing a fake film of a girl being beaten by lashes to ridicule Sharia and Islamic punishments. Provincial government has categorically denied about the flogging incident. It has called this fake film incident and other criminal activities in Malakand Division as an attempt to create an atmosphere against the Nizam-e Adl regulation.
In a news item published in DAWN, (April 27, 2009), Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has said, ¡°The enforcement of Nizam-i-Adl was demand of the entire population of the Malakand division and the government has enforced the law in line with their cherished desire. Sincere efforts are under way for its implementation and the system will definitely get practical shape,¡± he said. If it was 'a demand of the entire population of the Malakand division' as the governor Owais says, then why the fulfillment of such a democratic demand is dubbed as a surrender to Taliban at gunpoint? Its opponents have raised false alaram and unnecessary hue and cry as if it is an act of caving in to the violence of a few miscreants.
The governor, in the same statement, made it clear that "........certain miscreants were bent upon attacking the police force, kidnapping of citizens, thefts and looting and damaging the public and private properties.. ......The governor mentioned certain incidents of terrorism in Malakand division, particularly the killing of a former district nazim of Lower Dir, Alamzeb Khan, and District Police Officer Khurshid Khan along with their colleagues. Besides, he said, police officers and jawans were also martyred, in an attack on mobile van of the force at Malakand University. Such kind of criminal and subversive activities, the governor said, were intolerable and therefore, police and the Frontier Corps launched a joint action against the elements, who were not deserving any sympathy. Mr Ghani appealed to the religious scholars, political leaders and general public to create a congenial atmosphere for implementation of Nizam-i-Adl and play their positive role to curb the activities of anti-Nazim-i- Adl elements." Taliban are accused of all criminal activities in Malakand Division but the provincial government puts the blame on criminal elements and not on the Taliban.
Rather it is requesting the Taliban to cooperate with the provential goverment to subdue the miscreants. Accordingly, Swat Taliban have successfully negotiated with the Bunir Taliban to vacate the city and not to display the arms. Bunir Taliban agreed to it and vacated the city. But unfortunately Pakistan army was mobilized next day unnecessarily to kill the Taliban in Lower Dir and Bunir. The same job was successfully carried out earlier by the Swat Taliban. But the alarming statement of Hillary Clinton, devoid of appreciation of ground realities, forced the Pakistan army to show its muscle by killing a few hundred citizens of its own country for the pleasure of the US policy-makers. Such pressures by the US are counter-productive and costing unneccessary civilian life and disrupting thie peaceful livelihood, as they had to migrate in thousands to safe places.
No doubt the real Taliban are also taking a few extremist measures. But we have to separate criminal activities from the pious mission of Taliban to establish Sharia courts for swift justice. Despite all false accusations and several years in jail in Afghanistan as Taliban, Maulana Sufi Mohammad and Swat Taliban have achieved success in their struggle and Jihad to establish Sharia in Swat. Sharia was already enforced in Swat state for over 110 years before its forced accession and assimilation in Pakistan by a secular military dictator Gen. Yahya Khan. Sky would not have fallen, if the people of Swat demanded to revert to a system of Sharia courts, with which they had been familiar for the last 110 years.
We should look to the other side of the coin as well and find out the causes as to why Taliban movement has emerged in Pakistan and why it is becoming more and more popular and powerful day by day?
It was an Afghanistan phenomenon earlier. In addition to our secular military dictators, American Drone missile attacks have generated it in Pakistan. America has brought the Afghan war into Pakistan in the name that it has become a sanctuary of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders of Afghanistan.
The secular military dictators, like Yahya Khan and Pervaiz Musharraf, have forced Pakistan to detract from its ideology against the democratic wishes of its people. As a result, a violent Taliban movement has sprung up in Pakistan to resist it, since there was no way out for the democratic forces to assert themselves under militaristic dictatorial regimes. Such dictators in collusion with the U.S. have sown the seeds of violence in Pakistan. They have thus motivated Taliban to resist them through violent methods. In the absence of democracy, they had left only the door of violence open for the lovers of Pakistan ideology.
Patriotic and sincere Muslims are facing this tragic situation, as no government has taken any serious step in Pakistan for Islamizing our country during the last 60 years of its existence. Had the government moved in the direction of its 1973 Constitution, which was a reflection of people's democratic wish to frame and implement laws according to Quran and Sunnah, Taliban movement would not have taken root in our society.
Whatever small beginning was initiated by the late Gen. Zia-ul Haq in this direction, another secular military dictator, Gen. Musharraf, reversed it. Hudood Laws of 1979, based on Sharia and on the consensus of all eminent Ulama and Muslim Jurists of that time, were abrogated after 29 years of their peaceful and successful implementation. There was no public outcry or agitation in Pakistan against these Islamic Laws during the 29 years of their enforcement. This anti-Islamic measure compounded with the massacre of innocent Lal Mosque students by Musharraf government have fueled and pushed the Taliban movement in our country to its extreme.
In addition to the frustration all true Muslims in Pakistan feel against the secular character of all our governments, aerial missile attacks by American Drones have provided Taliban with unlimited suicide bombers to recruit against these attacks to take a revenge. Instead of forcefully resisting it, Pakistan government is simply paying lip service and appears to be a US partner and a complicit in favor of these attacks. Taliban have therefore targeted Police, army and other symbols of government administration to take the revenge of Lal Mosque massacre and the Drone attacks killing hundreds of civilians. Western news agencies like AP have mentioned in their dispatches that the terrorist activities of Taliban have increased tremendously after the Lal Mosque massacre of innocent students by the Musharraf regime. A US counter-terrorism report (DAWN May 01, 2009) says, "The coordination, sophistication, and frequency of suicide bombings that increased sharply in 2007, continued to grow in Pakistan in 2008. By November 30, there were already 57 recorded suicide attacks in Pakistan, in comparison to 45 reported attacks in 2007. These attacks will be constantly increasing as long the US would try to force its will upon the government and the people of Pakistan against the interests and the wishes of our countrymen.
Peace would return to Pakistan and all violence will come to a halt, if US missile attacks through unmanned Drones are stopped immediately and Swat-like peace agreements are not demonized as surrender to Taliban. Rather such agreements should be concluded in all those tribal areas where Taliban are active. Afghnistan Taliban regard themselves as 'freedom fighters' against the colonization of their country by foreign forces. They were not even aware of 9/11 planning and had made no contribution in these events. Pakistan Taliban will be silenced with the stoppage of Drone missile attacks and the implementation of Sharia in their desired areas.
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Regards,
Hussain Khan, Tokyo
Bessho 2-16-3-702, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0363, Japan, Phones: 09033566207; 0426-76-4982; 0426-57-3551
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