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June 28, 2008 by Moin Ansari
A lot of propaganda has been doled out in the past few week about the "imminent fall" of Peshawar to the "Taliban". My mother would call these "news stories" "chandoo khaney kee ura raha hai" (nonsense from the crack house). Most of this nonsense emanates from the notoriously anti-Pakistani reporting of the New York Times (which is probably high on Afghan opium and Indian Dollars) and from across the border in India. This nonsensical news is reminiscent of the garbage doled out in 1965 which published reports that Lahore had fallen to Indian forces. Of course the Indian Army was bogged down in Batapur and never did cross the BRB (Khojal) Canal. In 2008 the supposedly free Indian press is filled with bigoted Brahmans that can never see anything good in Pakistan and constantly exaggerate any iota of bad news.
Hindu upper caste men, who constitute just eight per cent of the total population of India, hold over 70 % of the key posts across newsrooms in the country. The so-called twice-born Hindu castes dominate 85 % key posts despite constituting just 16 % of the total population, while the intermediary castes represent a meager 3%.
The Hindu Other Backward Class groups, who are 34 % of the total population, have a share of just 4% in the Indian newsrooms. Muslims, who constitute about 13 % of the population, control just 4 % top posts while Christians and Sikhs have a slightly better representation. But the worst scenario emerges in the case of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes /Aborgines (STs): Based on CSDS study, 2006. Ref: The Hindu, June 05, 2006
The problem arises when news journalists from far shores attempt to cover Pakistan without an understanding of the situation on the ground and are armed with an agenda to sensationalize even minor attempts. The story of the "imminent" fall of Peshawar" is like claiming that "South Central Los Angeles is about ready to fall to the "Cripps and the Bloods gangs".
The stories manufactured by the New York Times lumps every criminal, and every smuggler into a big box called "Taliban" and then reports a law and order situation as if it were a political event.
"Taliban" means student. The original Rohrabaker's boys were the students who were recruited by the CIA to bring peace to Afghanistan and halt the encroachment of the Soviet backed Northern Alliance. Today's Pakhtun partisans are fighting the occupation are comprised of Hazaras, Afridis, mehsuds, Acahzais and all other tribes of the Pakhtuns and none of them are students in refugee camp seminaries. Calling them "Taliban" is a misnomer. The moniker has to be dumped in nuanced reporting of the Tribal belt and Swat.
Peshawar isnt Srinagar that we want to capture it: Baitullah Mehsud
June 28th, 2008 - 5:04 pm ICT by ANI - Email This PostPeshawar , June 28 (ANI): Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has said that his outfit cannot dream of capturing or damaging Peshawar , as has been done by militants and insurgents in Srinagar , the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir .
In a message conveyed to the media through his spokesman, Maulvi Omar, Mehsud said: Peshawar isnt Srinagar that we want to capture it. Taliban cannot think of damaging their beloved Peshawar , which is the capital and identity of our province.
However, according to The News, Mehsud warned that the Pakistani Taliban had the capacity to capture Peshawar, and castigated Islamabad for promoting propaganda that suggested that Peshawar was about to fall into the hands of the Taliban and other militant/insurgent groups.
Known to issue statements for public consumption of and on, Mehsudhad said a few weeks ago that he had doubts about the Pakistan Governments resolve to reject Washington s demand not to go ahead or conclude peace pacts with the Taliban. (ANI)
Security threat to Peshawar exaggerated: ISPR
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: The Frontier Corps have started operation against the militants in Bara area of Khyber agency on the orders of the NWFP government, and the security threat to the city of Peshawar had been exaggerated, ISPR Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas said on Saturday.
Talking to Dawn News, Abbas said though there were sporadic incursions into Peshawar due to the volatile Bara situation, the threat had been exaggerated as the situation was not that alarming. He said the government was mindful of the threat in the suburbs of Peshawar and taking action to tackle it. He said the army was on standby and could support the paramilitary forces if required.
He said the NWFP government and militants were engaged in peace talks in Swat and hoped that there would be some way to remove the 'hiccups' that had emerged previously.
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