After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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I saw this article about Taliban exploiting class issues in Sawat to occupy the valley. Now this same strategy could be used by them in Punjab.

We already know that the most popular nationalist leader of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif, has soft corner for them.

So is Punjab next?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/world/asia/17pstan.html?ref=global-home

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Taliban have advanced deeper into Pakistan by engineering a class revolt that exploits profound fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless tenants, according to government officials and analysts here.

The strategy cleared a path to power for the Taliban in the Swat Valley, where the government allowed Islamic law to be imposed this week, and it carries broad dangers for the rest of Pakistan, particularly the militants’ main goal, the populous heartland of Punjab Province.

In Swat, accounts from those who have fled now make clear that the Taliban seized control by pushing out about four dozen landlords who held the most power.

The militants did so by organizing peasants into armed gangs that became their shock troops, the residents, government officials and analysts said.

The approach allowed the Taliban to offer economic spoils to people frustrated with lax and corrupt government even while the militants imposed their strict version of Islam through terror and intimidation.

Unlike India after independence in 1947, Pakistan maintained a narrow landed upper class that kept its vast holdings while its workers remained subservient, the officials and analysts said. Successive Pakistani governments have since failed to provide land reform and even the most basic forms of education and health care. Avenues to advancement for the vast majority of rural poor do not exist.

Analysts and other government officials warn that the strategy executed in Swat is easily transferable to Punjab, saying that the province, where militant groups are already showing strength, is ripe for the same social upheavals that have convulsed Swat and the tribal areas.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Yes, the writing is on the wall.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

:crying:

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

It is very much a possibility, and there are enough weak points present that can be exploited. Unless the Govt. can ensure peoples' well-being, security, among other developmental facilities, frustrated people will be more likely to say yes to "quick justice" rather than "chief justice" pun intended

That is how taliban have operated in the frontier regions of Pakistan. They have worked to exploit people's fears and emotions, and then used those to hijack people's sentiments for their own agenda.
The people who were victims of police brutality but the wrong-doer got away with it, those are the very people who will welcome these extremists because they only care for justice no matter how ruthless and short-sighted it may be in reality.
The people who no one listened to because they had no money to bribe the officials, and/or no upper connections to obtain their God given rights as Pakistanis, are another set of people who will become victims when this wave of extremism comes to town, because they too want the ones responsible for ignoring them booted in the worst manner.

Do you see a pattern there?

The political rivalry will prove deadly for democracy at this point in time, and all political parties needs to work in unisome to ensure that everything that is done, is done for the well-being of the common citizen, or the common citizens might find a friend in the other extreme.

Let us not be shy to admit that people have for far too long been fooled by one political party or another, and the promises made are just painted pictures that are never made reality. The time is of the essence, and it is no time to score cheap points for the sake of power that might slip if people's concerns are not taken seriously. To defeat an extremist, you have to think like one, and defeat them in their own way. They hijack people's sentiments, so the Govt. must ensure that it is the Govt. instead who is obliging to and listening to people's sentiments before it is too late and people have switched "parties"

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

I dont think Nawaz Sharif has a soft spot for these terrorists. As we know, his govt did go after Punjabi terrorist groups before he was over thrown by Mush.

The reason he isnt speaking up now is for political reasons and nothing more.

If anything he is quilty supporting populist politics instead of tackling the problem at hand.

South Africa v Pakistan, 1st ODI, Bloemfontein, 10th March
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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Even if there is no issue between "class", its very easy to exploit lawlessness anywhere.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

An editorial in Dawn:

DAWN.COM | NWFP | Terror and Punjab

The New York Times is not the first one to underline the growing militant threat inside Punjab. This has been a constant refrain. For instance, last year Frontier Governor Owais Ghani said in Lahore that terror in Fata and parts of the NWFP had links with groups in southern Punjab.

NYT sums up previous reports when it charts the advance of militancy to Dera Ghazi Khan and even Multan and writes of a tactical alliance between the so-called Punjabi militants and the extremist outfits that had thus far operated mainly in the Frontier. The paper has attributed the attack on the Lankan team in Lahore in March and the one on The Marriott, Islamabad, some months ago to this ‘new’ terrorist nexus where Punjabi elements are said to be providing logistical support to resourceful Pakhtun Taliban and Arab militants in the Al Qaeda fold.

There is evidence to support the assertion — television channels flashing the news of two Punjabi bomb-makers in Islamabad just as these lines are being written. We are also told that all the 10 men who besieged Mumbai last November could have come from various Punjab districts. But despite all this, there is reluctance in Punjab to concede that its own people could be involved in the violent anti-state campaign run in the name of Islam and anti-Americanism.

There is this urge, and perhaps psychological need, to ideologically de-link the militants in Punjab from those in the Frontier. It is often said that militants in Punjab’s south and elsewhere in the province are exclusively committed to jihad in Kashmir, that, under no circumstances, are they to leave their brief and switch to other wars being raged in the name of religion. The question is: what do they do when they are not or cannot be in Kashmir?

There are obviously no guarantees that these trained hands won’t be pressed into service in pursuance of another holy cause. One other reason that quite often stops governments from taking cognisance of extremist threats in their own backyard is as global a concern as should have been the war on terror. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are as afflicted with the syndrome of denial as those who administer Punjab today.

They are wont to blame terrorism on outside forces, absolving people in their own jurisdiction of any involvement and wishing other regions to snuff out a problem that is as much their own as the rest of the world’s. This policy is not going to work as terror closes in. It is hard to contain and cannot be dealt with in isolation. We tried doing it in Swat only to be hit by a suicide bomber in Charsadda a few days later.

Sing a Song according 2 Ur Mood !!!!!
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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

Well the US seems to be warming up to Nawaz Sharif

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/us-warming-up-to-sharif–bi

WASHINGTON: The United States is quietly warming up to the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif as the Obama administration looks to broaden political support for the fight against terrorists in Pakistan.
The latest indication of renewed US interest in the former Pakistani prime minister was noticed in Washington this week when one of his close aides, Ahsan Iqbal, visited the US capital.
Mr Iqbal is a regular visitor to Washington and comes here almost every summer, meeting mainly prominent Pakistani-Americans and addressing PML-N meetings. But this time his presence was also noticed by ‘important Americans,’ as a PML-N supporter described his meetings in Washington.
Although his reported meetings with senior Obama administration officials are not confirmed, he did meet a number of influential US policy makers and scholars at half a dozen Washington think-tanks he visited or spoke at. These included several major think-tanks as well, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council and the Woodrow Wilson Centre.
When asked after these meetings if he believed the US would support a change of government in Pakistan at this stage, Mr Iqbal said: ‘There will probably be no need for such a change.’
He indicated that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani military were working together to reform the present system of governance in Pakistan instead of seeking yet another regime change. The United States supported this effort.
‘We believe that the 17th amendment will be removed from the constitution,’ Mr Iqbal said. ‘The prime minister and the parliament will be empowered and the president will have as much power as a head of state does in the British parliamentary system.’
If this happens, ‘there will be no need to remove Mr Zardari. He can complete his tenure.’
A recent report in The Washington Post also confirmed Mr Iqbal’s ‘loud-thinking,’ as he described his thoughts. According to this report, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special envoy Richard Holbrooke made several telephone calls to Mr Sharif during the judicial crisis.
‘The American officials signalled to Mr Sharif that they wouldn’t object to his becoming president or prime minister some day. Another key intermediary was David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, who urged dialogue with Mr Sharif,’ the report said.
The Post reported that when Ambassador Holbrooke and Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen visited Islamabad last week, they ‘reinforced the deal.’
‘They saw the key players and came away hoping that the three could form a united front against the Taliban insurgency in the Western frontier areas, rather than continue their political squabbling,’ the report added.
The three key players discussed in this report are President Zardari, Mr Sharif and army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.
The report confirmed that instead of seeking to remove Mr Zardari, the Americans are backing the effort spearheaded by Gen. Kayani to bring about a political system in which powers of the prime minister, the parliament and the president are clearly defined.
The report indicated that if this happens, Mr Sharif will be a clear winner but Mr Iqbal hinted that instead of trying to topple Mr Zardari, Mr Sharif would prefer to support the emerging political infrastructure while staying out of the government.
This would place Mr Sharif in a very comfortable position. He would be able to influence all important decisions made by the government without having to face the consequences if the decisions go wrong.
Diplomatic sources in Washington say that the Obama administration confronted a major dilemma when it started working on a new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan in February: Can Mr Sharif be a reliable partner in the fight against extremists? Or will he use his popular support to blunt the military’s already fitful campaign against the insurgency of the Taliban and al Qaeda?
The Bush administration had rejected the populist politician because of his close ties to religious parties. But the Obama administration decided to work with him.

Your Art Work & belongings
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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Pakistan will soon be taken over by Taliban

If you guys wanna visit Pakistan...I suggest you go now

Aamnay Samnay: HUMA!
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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

Mercenary2K bhai… after breaking of Pakistan can i get a job in FOX Canadian Bureau at reasonable salary about 50K approx. :confused:

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

Kaash wo sachay Aashiq-e-Rasool, sachay Musalmaan, Momin, Seerat-un-Nabi kay pairo-kaar, Hadees-e-Nabavi kay mannay waalay, Quran par amall karnay waalay … aur Insaniat say mohabbat, shafqat aur un par reham karnay waalay hotay to aaj ham bhi sar utha kar kehtay k haan ham Muslamaan hain …

Aashiq-e-Rasool :saw: bano, sab theek hojaiga … Reham karo insanon par, dil bara karh, dimagh ko kholo, aur discover the universe and work for humanity and be a human … piaar say, naram lehjay main insanon say baat karo, zulam na karo, sakht na bano, zalim na bano, zulm ko piaar say khatam karo … yehi Islam hay … phir daikho wo jo tum ko dehshat gard kehtay hain wo tum ko apnay kandhon par bithaingay …

Winners revealed! The Winter Conversations
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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Nawaz is Taliban's man in Pakistani guise.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

Even taxi drivers make more then this, you should broader your horizons !

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Now that Talibans have come to stay for long. Be ready for their takeover because the present govt is by itself endorsing their sort of sharia in certain parts of the country. Be ready to become Muslims with hanging swords on your heads. Do this do that as per their dictat. In short, leave your existence as human beings and become bigot robots. Don't cry, don't sing, don't ever try to paint. Ladies please beware, your lives from the day talibs rule onwards is no more than goats and sheeps. You could be huntered any time any where and shot without any hearing . Pakistan is living Dozakh for you. All the supporters of illiterate Talibans, be happy because a nizam which you dreamt is being actualised very soon. Ab to tumhari bhi maa bahno ki khair nahin. Your children will be taught only islam and nothing else. They will soon be looking like great bearded jahils with knee high salwar and a thousand years backward look. So what if our nation goes centuries back whereas the world is going further on.

Food Art
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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

yusuf:
[quote]
Your children will be taught only islam and nothing else.
[/quote]

sarcastic: Off course. Duniya is nothing to worry about, you know. Akhrat is everything.

( ^This is not Islam).

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab’s turn

Here is Nawaz’s brother Shahbaz eulogizing Taliban.

PMLN is Taliban supporter. Punjab is next in line to fall.
Get ready to smash your TV’s and killing anyone who disagrees to Nawaz’s Taliban friends.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

...

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

^You punjab haters will like to pin anything on PML. Shahbaz hasn't said anything supportivr of Taliban, he has rightly pointed out that if we want to stem the progress of Taliban we must get our act together.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

Brother, be afraid of Allah.
I don't hate people for their ethnicity.

I want people of Punjab to take the threat seriously. And I am afraid of Nawaz's support to Taliban in the past.

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Re: After Swat falling to Taliban, it is now Punjab's turn

In the past even US supported Taliban, that doesn't mean anything.

Sing a Song according 2 Ur Mood !!!!!