If there is good news in this conflict here it is…
The Peninsula On-line: Qatar’s leading English Daily
Taliban’s ideology not selling well in tribal belt along border, says survey
Web posted at: 8/10/2008 3:25:47
Source ::: Internews
ISLAMABAD • A majority of the people in Pakistan’s turbulent seven tribal areas bordering Afghanistan support girls’ education and are against the ideas and actions of Taliban as well as of the military, shows a survey released here.
Contrary to the general perception, the non-scientific survey by the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) has found that 95 percent of the tribal people are for female education.
It was non-scientific in the sense that tribal traditions limited the number of the respondents in the survey to a little over 1,000 in a population of over three million of Fata.
A similar survey commissioned by the British High Commission in Pakistan in April had come to the same conclusions that the perception that the tribal society was falling to Taliban was an exaggeration.
Ninety-two percent of the respondents believed that the Taliban leaders, including Maulana Fazlullah of Swat, did not represent true Islam. Only six percent thought that the Taliban were trying to enforce Sharia in the country.
However, 94 percent of the tribesmen said the Taliban’s way was not the right way and the same percentage disapproved of the use of arms by them in their cause. While 86 percent considered the Taliban activities damaging to Pakistan, 11 percent believed they were no threat to the country’s interests.
Similarly 86 percent of the respondents disapproved of the Taliban smashing up CD shops against 13 percent who supported the action.
While releasing the survey Farrukh Saleem, Executive Director of the CRSS, told report era that the survey was conducted at a time when the appointment of Gen Petraeus as head of the US Central Command (Centcom) signaled a major shift in the US policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. It symbolised that America’s focus was shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Seventy-four percent replied that there were no foreigners in the tribal areas at that time, while 21 percent said that there were indeed foreigners militants present in the area.
In order to confirm the presence of foreign militants in South Waziristan, he said, the respondents were asked whether the foreigners present in the tribal areas paid good rents to local people for occupying their houses.
Half of the respondents believed they were not paying good rents while 34 percent thought it was good rent. In North Waziristan, the opinion was equally divided -45 percent on rents being good or not good.