Author: Harinder Baweja
Publication: Tehelka
Date: May 5, 2009
URL: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne020509proscons.asp
Introduction: The Taliban will not halt their
expansion at the borders of Pakistan
The Saviours of Islam - or at least that is
how the Taliban sees itself - now want Shariah to extend beyond the valley
of Swat to the rest of Pakistan. No sooner had President Asif Ali Zardari
consented to the Swat peace pact than an emboldened Taliban brazenly upped
the ante. It will not disarm, is their latest missive.
The peace pact signified a strategic retreat
by the Army, one which encouraged the 'saviours' to continue using religion
to expand their political writ and base. Already, Sufi Mohammad - the key
cleric who brokered the deal - has declared that there can be no appeal to
the High Courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan from judgements given out
by Shariah courts. His argument, simply, is that Pakistan's constitutional
judicial system is 'un-Islamic'. In other words, judicial power should be
vested in the hands of qazis. Obviously, these qazis will be handpicked by
Sufi Mohammad himself.
So, in accordance with 'Islamic principles'
- as interpreted by the Taliban - the qazis will sanctify the punishments
the Taliban has been doling out: death by stoning for men caught stealing,
death for women who leave the house unaccompanied by a man and, of course,
death for any couple suspected of infidelity.
But the problem is not only about what the
Taliban are capable of. The bigger problem is that Zardari has spent the last
one year consolidating himself and not his beleaguered country. The peace
pact was signed after nearly four lakh Swatis fled the Valley. After the Army
said it could not fight its own people, and after terrified policemen advertised
in newspapers proclaiming that they had resigned from the force. Zardari,
in fact, is not alarmed that the Taliban has openly expressed its expansionist
intent and has not only called for Shariah to be enforced throughout Pakistan
but is slowly making its way towards Islamabad.
It is clear that the Taliban has little intention
of keeping its end of the bargain: to end all terror activities, lay down
arms and enable the local government to regain administrative control. On
the contrary, Sufi Mohammad is now asserting that the Talibs accused of murder
and extortion cannot be brought to book. This clearly indicates that the Taliban
are only using the peace pact to gain greater power for themselves.
This steady encroachment towards Islamabad
is also causing grave concern in Delhi's political and intelligence circles.
Intelligence agencies are now reporting that batches of Talibs are making
their way across the border into Kashmir. What should worry them is the fact
that scores of Talibs are intimately familiar with Kashmir, having been there
to fight for the Harkat-ul-Ansar and the Harkat-ul- Mujahideen in the early
and mid-90s, when the insurgency was at its peak.
I can testify to this. While in Kabul in September
1996, when the Taliban were flush with victory after they had conquered the
capital, I met any number of Talibs in Kabul and near the Panjsher Valley
who gave graphic details of their battles against Indian security forces in
Kashmir. Many were particularly keen to secure the release of their commander,
Nasarullah Langriyal. Langriyal travelled from Afghanistan to Kashmir where
he was arrested in 1993 for an attack on the Border Security Force.
As the meeting with the Talibs comes back
in vivid detail, what stands out is what they told me back then - that they
had only returned to Afghanistan to support the Taliban's final push into
Kabul, which they capped with the brutal hanging of then President Najibullah.
Flush with their victory in Swat, the Taliban
will no doubt turn their attention to Kashmir once again. It is an integral
part of their expansionist intent.
