This thread is dedicated to news and analysis of the Swat crisis. We will restrict this thread to coverage of the topic in media. our focus here is the humanitarian cost, spread of anti-state forces and the response of Pakistani government to it.
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Swat — towards a Wahhabi state?
Monday, January 19, 2009
by Khurshid Khan
In his article, “Behind the crises in Swat” (Nov 27, 2008), Sartaj Khan described the conflict in Swat as a class struggle. Farhat Taj (Dec 18) responded with “No class war in Swat.” Sartaj’s contentions are believed by many as the real depiction of the current turbulence, but that is not the case. Before coming to any conclusions about the current turbulence in the valley we have to keep in view the weaknesses of the state institutions, people’s grievances and the impacts of international politics on the valley.
Fredrik Barth, a Norwegian social anthropologist author of Political Leadership among Swat Pathans, carried out considerable research in Swat in the 1950s and wrote numerous papers. His work is of great importance but the situation has immensely changed since then.
Since the early 1970s people travel to the Arab states in search of lucrative employment opportunities. The inflow of foreign remittances transformed the socio-economic structure of Swat’s society. Education increased and people acquired employment in various fields across the country. Emigration to America, Canada and Europe and the Far East in the 1980s increased overseas remittances creating a new prosperous society in Swat.
During this period Swat witnessed numerous changes, both positive and negative. Fertile soil and abundance of irrigation water paved the way for innovations in farming. New varieties of fruits and crops were introduced and farming became more profitable. Being a tax-free zone trade, Swat saw commerce flourishing. The scenic beauty and rich heritage made Swat a favourite spot for national and international tourists. The hotel industry became a big contributor to the economy of Swat.
The tenants/peasants, on the whole, became comparatively prosperous in Swat. A section of them have purchased cultivated land from the previous owners and manage it properly with latest technology. A study has revealed in Upper Swat that in one village a Khan has 20 jaraib of cultivated land (one jaraib is equal to approximately 1,100 square feet) while a Gujjar has 150 jaraib. The Gujjar community has earned billion of rupees in the Arab states. Another community, the ”Shapankyan” or “Shpoon” (shepherd) are the wealthiest community today in Swat. Most of them they have now settled permanently and abandoned nomadic life. They have given up rearing herds and are employed. Many of them run businesses in Arab states. Both communities enjoy a relatively high standard of living and have western-style houses. The shepherd community belongs to the Wahhabi sect and is better organised than the other groups.
In the 1970s the regulations of PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas) were promulgated in the whole of Malakand division which gave enormous powers to the civil bureaucracy and paved ways for corruption. The people of Swat were unfamiliar to the new setup. The new judicial apparatus did not appeal to the masses, as they were conversant with the judicial system of the former state of Swat. This state of affairs created a gap between the state and the people. The state-sponsored peasant movement in 1974 created hatred and tension between tenants and landowners, and bloody clashes took place in some areas in Swat. The landowners and a number of the other side went for justice to the civil courts but the complex judicial system disappointed them, persuading them to seek other solutions to their disputes. Many landowners sold their land to peasant occupants in various areas of Swat.
The Afghan war also affected the valley like other Pashto-speaking areas. Religious seminaries mushroomed and jihadi organisations established their offices in Swat. Those subscribing to the Wahhabi school of thought tried to establish their seminaries but were opposed by the local traditional clerics belonging to the Deobandi school of thought. This coincided with the emergence in the 1980s in Swat of the staunch Wahhabi Sufi Muhammad, who set up a seminary in Sangota, which was razed to the ground by those loyal to the dominant religious figures of the time.
The TNSM was founded in 1989 in Dir and penetrated into Swat. It was tacitly supported in Swat by the then commissioner of Malakand Division through a so-called loya jirga. The jirga demanded the implementation of Sharia in Swat and joined hands with Sufi Muhammad, a close friend of Major Amir, the then director of the Intelligence Bureau. This support encouraged him and he freely started visiting Swat. The people, who were disappointed by the judicial system, the police and the revenue department, supported the demand for the enforcement of the Sharia. In 1994 bloody clashes occurred between local people and the security forces. In 2001, Sufi Muhammad declared jihad against the US in Afghanistan and went there along with thousand of followers. Hundred of people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. On his return the political agent of Kurram Agency imprisoned him under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) without trial.
During the TNSM movement in Swat the Wahhabi school of thought spread its roots and established its religious seminaries. In the absence of Sufi Muhammad, his son-in-law, Fazlullah, filled this gap and became popular in the area. The Wahhabis joined his group and seized all the important areas. Besides other, Maulana Shah Dawran and Maulana Muhammad Alam are key clerics who keep important portfolios in the Taliban movement in Swat. They are known for their hard and harsh beliefs, and hence it could be said that the Swat Taliban are completely under the influence of violent jihad doctrines.
They loathe the Barelvi school of thought and have assassinated many renowned religious scholars in Swat during the ongoing turbulence and unrest. They consider them mushrik (one who ascribes partners to Allah). The assassination of Pir Samiullah and the hanging of his mutilated body in a square for public display show their attitude towards their opponents. The militants said that they have buried Pir Sami at an unidentified place ostensibly to stop his followers from building a shrine at his grave. Besides, Buner police arrested a suspected bomber last Ramazan. During interrogations he revealed that his target was the tomb of Pir Baba. He insisted that the shrine is the principal centre of shirk.
They consider amulets, visits to shrines and offerings on on shrines on specific days to be shirk. Someone who used to write amulets (good luck charms) was killed in Khwazakhela. The valley is witnessing a surge and dominance of the Wahhabi doctrine which was until recently alien to the local culture.
The Wahhabis are making a state within a state in Swat. Fazlullah has established his own administration on the pattern of the Saudi monarchs. He has created his own trained army equipped with the latest weapons and controlled by his loyal commanders. A well functioning judiciary is established across the valley dealing with cases of various natures and the verdict is always enforced. People are inclined towards these Islamic courts. He has established a baitul maal (treasury) and has a mechanism for revenue generation and collection. His commanders collected ushr (one tenth of agriculture produce) in some areas of the valley during the 2008 winter harvest. (The rulers of Swat used to collect ushr which was a major source of their revenue.) Taliban also collected skins of the sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha this year worth billion of rupees. Donations and war booty are also the major sources of their revenue.
The information and broadcasting wing of the Taliban is working effectively. A spokesperson and FM channels broadcast important announcements, decrees and counter-propaganda against them. A strong communication network or secret services is the main characteristics of this new monarchy in Swat.
The present upsurge, therefore, is an attempt to create a sort of a state within a state and is not a manifestation of a class war in Swat.
The writer is a social activist living in Swat. Email: [email protected]
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Minister, MPAs make morale-boosting trip to Swat
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Khalid Kheshgi
PESHAWAR: In the face of growing criticism against elected representatives from Swat for leaving their electorate at lurch, a provincial minister and two MPAs visited the violence-plagued valley almost after seven months to convey a message to the people that they were there to ‘live and die’ with them.
As a sign of solidarity with the central leader of ANP and former federal minister Muhammad Afzal Khan, who has stayed put in his hometown Drushkhela in militant-infested Matta and bravely faced the growing attacks of the militants, NWFP Minister for Science and Technology Ayub Khan Ashari, MPAs Syed Jafar Shah and Sher Shah visited him and discussed the situation in the valley.
The ANP lawmakers besides holding a press conference in Mingora, Swat, also had whirlwind visit of some parts of Kabal and Matta tehsils as well.
“The morale of Afzal Khan Lala was quite high, who vowed to defend his people and soil to last drop of his blood,” Jafar Shah MPA told The News while recalling their meeting with Afzal Khan, commonly known as Khan Lala, at his hometown Drushkhela the other day.
He said that Khan Lala told them that he would never leave his birthplace for the fear of a handful of extremists who were bent on destroying lives, values and property of the Pakhtuns in the area.
The ANP delegation also conveyed the message of Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and informed him about the new strategy being carved out by the federal government in collaboration with the NWFP government to combat militancy and restore peace in the valley.
“Khan Lala has no particular demand from the government, but wished concrete and comprehensive steps on the part of security forces against the militants,” the ANP MPA recalled and added that under the new strategy the public representatives along with high-ups of the provincial government would visit Swat on weekly basis in order to boost up the people morale and supervise and coordinate drive against militants in Swat.
Jafar Shah, who defeated PML-Q provincial chief Amir Muqam on PF-85 Swat in 2008 general elections, claimed that the local Taliban had lost the confidence of the local people, but the fear and uncertainty still reign supreme in the crisis-hit environ of Swat.
“Those who had once donated precious belongings to the Taliban movement, are now fed up of their acts and policies, particularly regarding the ban on female education, destruction of schools and slaughtering of innocent people,” he added. However, the local people had complaints about the suffering of innocent both at the hands of Taliban and security forces, he said and added that the prolonged curfew in Swat had also multiplied the worries of common people.
The MPA also asked for more relief facilities and proper mechanism to treat and compensate the victims of military operation in the area.
He said that a unit of regular army had been deployed in Afzal Khan’s village where they defied a raid of the militants some two days back and killed about 18 militants in a fierce clash.
He said the ANP as well as NWFP government wanted the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation at the earliest in Malakand division while the party was still stand for its peace talks with the Taliban in case they lay down their arms.
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Swat militants extending influence
Monday, January 19, 2009
By Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: Emboldened by their unchallenged activities in the troubled Swat valley, Maulana Fazlullah-led militants have started extending their sphere of influence and activities to the hitherto peaceful districts bordering the militancy-plagued valley, setting the alarm bells ringing for the already beleaguered NWFP government.
The militants, after succeeding in terrorising the people of Matta, Kabal and Khwazakhela into submission, unleashed shooting and beheading spree to the relatively calm district headquarters, Mingora, and established their writ partially.
In a couple of weeks, about 26 persons were either shot dead or slaughtered and their bodies hung from trees and pole at city squares, particularly the Grain-turned-Green Square. The unchecked militant activities left the people of the city petrified and dumbfounded.
“One cannot dare to talk even to one’s family members inside the house due to fear of militants’ reprisal,” a frightened resident said when asked to comment. “Walls have also ears,” he said, fearing to speak even being alone.
Tragically, the valley of gleeful people and best orators, to summarise fear from the militants, has turned into the abode of dumb people where no one would talk about militants. Let alone dwellers, government official, MPA and minister would not speak on the escalating militancy, as all dissenting voices are stifled then there. No right to expression at all, perhaps no right to live if one dares to disagree. Seeking anonymity is demand of the day.
Turning to the upper parts of Swat, the militants marched on Madyan. The valley’s Walibagh, the house of late Khan Abdul Wali Khan in Chakri where he would stay during summers, was blown up on Friday to punish the Awami National Party for the Swat operation.
They also appeared in Barikot, a militants-free tehsil of the valley, and checked vehicles on main Swat-Peshawar Road. A resident from Shalbandai told The News that the militants had erected blockade at Karakar Pass and checked vehicle, taking away all those hailing from Shalbandai.
A suicide bomber sent by the Swat militants mowed down 42 people at a polling station in Shalbandai on December 28 for shooting down six militants in August last year. They are bent upon extending their scope of operation to Buner, a bid robustly opposed by the people.
The militants have threatened more deadly attacks against the people for standing up to them, something that terrified the people after Shalbandai suicide blast. Little was done to protect and encourage the people of Buner, allowing militants to exert their writ to hitherto peaceful district.
In Batkhela, the agency headquarters of Malakand Agency, the militants have not only fixed fee for doctors but are also trying to entrench themselves. Owing to militants’ action, doctors reduced fee as suggested by the militants that would buoy up militants to impose their will on the people, as people cannot resist after dwindling writ of the government.
The town, a business hub of the Malakand division, was rocked with four bomb blasts on the night between Thursday and Friday, three of them near Levies Post. At times, they bomb audio and video shops in Batkhela, besides hurling threats at people through their FM Radio.
Taking cue from Batkhela militants, militants commander for Lower and Upper Dir, Hafizullah, who is closely associated with the Swat militants, issued a list of fee for doctors and warned of action in case their dictate was ignored.
Shangla is a district, which was overrun by the militants in 2007 and certain towns were occupied. Though their influence has tapered off, it has not completely ended in Shangla. The militants are attempting to get hold of all neighbouring districts-Buner, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Shangla and Malakand Agency. Before it is too late, the government needs to act to secure these districts from falling to Taliban.
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Pakistan’s tourist idyll falls prey to Taliban militants
*Men ordered to grow beards and women barred from markets as Islamic law is brutally imposed
*
By Omar Waraich in Islamabad and Andrew Buncombe
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Militants who have seized control of swaths of Pakistan’s Swat Valley have set today as a deadline for men to grow beards or face retribution.
In the latest edict issued by Taliban forces seeking to impose Islamic law on an area once celebrated as a tourist destination, men have been told to begin growing beards and to wear caps. Barbers in the Matta area, a militant stronghold, have been ordered to stop offering shaves, and have posted signs in their shops asking customers not to request them.
The Swat Valley, just five hours from Islamabad, has gradually fallen under the control of militants headed by the cleric Maulana Fazlullah. Despite claims by the Pakistani army that they are successfully confronting the extremists, local residents say up to 80 per cent of the valley is outside government control.
In recent weeks the militants’ tactics have become increasingly extreme. Corpses of people who have fallen foul of the Taliban have been strung up in trees and markets have been ruled off-limits to women. Two weeks ago the movement demanded the closure of hundreds of schools, leaving the future education of around 125,000 young girls in doubt.
“Swat was once the most verdant, peaceful valley. You could even travel safely at night. Now you cannot even travel during the day,” said Zubair Torwali, an activist and journalist. “It is beyond sad. What is happening is a tragedy.”
Another indication of the looming terror concerned the killing last week of Amjad Islam. The luxuriantly bearded teacher seemed an unlikely target for the Taliban, having previously fought for the mujahedin in Afghanistan. But on Thursday he was approached by militants who did not like the fact that his shalwar, baggy cotton trousers worn by Pakistanis, concealed his ankles. Followers of the austere strain of Islam practiced by the Taliban – and the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia – insist trousers should be raised over men’s ankles, in the belief that this was the manner of the Prophet Mohamed.
Mr Islam declined to comply and, according to local reports, a scuffle ensued. The militants shot the teacher before also killing his father, Ghani Akbar. They later took Mr Islam’s body and hung it in a public square, telling people not to remove it, so that it might serve as a warning.
Local politicians, who have fled the valley, say the military is not doing enough to impose law and order. They repeat residents’ claims that elements of the military and the militants appear to be acting together. Bushra Gohar, vice-president of the Awami National Party, said: “Even if they are not, there needs to be a complete review of the military’s strategy.”
The suspicion of collusion, said a local government official in the largest town, Mingora, is based on the proximity of army and Taliban checkposts, each “a mile away from the other”.
What is certain is that the army faces an uphill task if it is to restore order in Swat. Senior officers say that, having achieved significant gains a year ago, the new provincial government sought to end fighting by signing peace deals with Mr Fazlullah.
The deals broke down after the Taliban continued to set fire to girls’ schools. They have captured territory, driven the police off the streets and established a network of makeshift sharia courts that dispense “speedy justice”, namely the lashing and stoning of those found guilty. “[The effort to broker ceasefires] cost us a lot of time,” said Major General Athar Abbas, an army spokesman.
Mr Fazlullah last week denied that he had issued the edict on beards, raising the prospect that groups of extremists are operating outside his control. Either way, the loss of the Swat Valley raises more questions about the effectiveness of the fragile government of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani.
“Swat was a fully integrated part of the Pakistan state in a way that was not really true of the tribal areas,” said Farzana Shaikh, a scholar at Chatham House in London and author of a forthcoming book, Making Sense of Pakistan. “Everyone from the ruling elite went to Swat every summer. It is significant that groups [such as the Taliban] now represent a threat to the sort of moderate, tolerant Islam that Pakistan and its dominant elite had been associated with.”
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In Pakistan, Radio Amplifies Terror of Taliban
January 25, 2009
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Every night around 8 o’clock, the terrified residents of Swat, a lush and picturesque valley a hundred miles from three of Pakistan’s most important cities, crowd around their radios. They know that failure to listen and learn might lead to a lashing — or a beheading.
Using a portable radio transmitter, a local Taliban leader, Shah Doran, on most nights outlines newly proscribed “un-Islamic” activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticizing the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school. He also reveals names of people the Taliban have recently killed for violating their decrees — and those they plan to kill.
“They control everything through the radio,” said one Swat resident, who declined to give his name for fear the Taliban might kill him. “Everyone waits for the broadcast.”
International attention remains fixed on the Taliban’s hold on Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal areas, from where they launch attacks on American forces in Afghanistan. But for Pakistan, the loss of the Swat Valley could prove just as devastating.
Unlike the fringe tribal areas, Swat, a Delaware-size chunk of territory with 1.3 million residents and a rich cultural history, is part of Pakistan proper, within reach of Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the capital.
After more than a year of fighting, virtually all of it is now under Taliban control, marking the militants’ farthest advance eastward into Pakistan’s so-called settled areas, residents and government officials from the region say.
With the increasing consolidation of their power, the Taliban have taken a sizable bite out of the nation. And they are enforcing a strict interpretation of Islam with cruelty, bringing public beheadings, assassinations, social and cultural repression and persecution of women to what was once an independent, relatively secular region, dotted with ski resorts and fruit orchards and known for its dancing girls.
Last year, 70 police officers were beheaded, shot or otherwise slain in Swat, and 150 wounded, said Malik Naveed Khan, the police inspector general for the North-West Frontier Province.
The police have become so afraid that many officers have put advertisements in newspapers renouncing their jobs so the Taliban will not kill them.
One who stayed on the job was Farooq Khan, a midlevel officer in Mingora, the valley’s largest city, where decapitated bodies of policemen and other victims routinely surface. Last month, he was shopping there when two men on a motorcycle sprayed him with gunfire, killing him in broad daylight.
“He always said, ‘I have to stay here and defend our home,’ ” recalled his brother, Wajid Ali Khan, a Swat native and the province’s minister for environment, as he passed around a cellphone with Farooq’s picture.
In the view of analysts, the growing nightmare in Swat is a capsule of the country’s problems: an ineffectual and unresponsive civilian government, coupled with military and security forces that, in the view of furious residents, have willingly allowed the militants to spread terror deep into Pakistan.
The crisis has become a critical test for the government of the civilian president, Asif Ali Zardari, and for a security apparatus whose loyalties, many Pakistanis say, remain in question.
Seeking to deflect blame, Mr. Zardari’s government recently criticized “earlier halfhearted attempts at rooting out extremists from the area” and vowed to fight militants “who are ruthlessly murdering and maiming our citizens.”
But as pressure grows, he has also said in recent days that the government would be willing to talk with militants who accept its authority. Such negotiations would carry serious risks: security officials say a brief peace deal in Swat last spring was a spectacular failure that allowed militants to tighten their hold and take revenge on people who had supported the military.
Without more forceful and concerted action by the government, some warn, the Taliban threat in Pakistan is bound to spread.
“The crux of the problem is the government appears divided about what to do,” said Mahmood Shah, a retired Pakistani Army brigadier who until 2006 was in charge of security in the western tribal areas. “This disconnect among the political leadership has emboldened the militants.”
From 2,000 to 4,000 Taliban fighters now roam the Swat Valley, according to interviews with a half-dozen senior Pakistani government, military and political officials involved in the fight. By contrast, the Pakistani military has four brigades with 12,000 to 15,000 men in Swat, officials say.
But the soldiers largely stay inside their camps, unwilling to patrol or exert any large presence that might provoke — or discourage — the militants, Swat residents and political leaders say. The military also has not raided a small village that locals say is widely known as the Taliban’s headquarters in Swat.
Nor have troops destroyed mobile radio transmitters mounted on motorcycles or pickup trucks that Shah Doran and the leader of the Taliban in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah, have expertly used to terrify residents.
Being named in one of the nightly broadcasts often leaves just two options: fleeing Swat, or turning up headless and dumped in a village square.
When the army does act, its near-total lack of preparedness to fight a counterinsurgency reveals itself. Its usual tactic is to lob artillery shells into a general area, and the results have seemed to hurt civilians more than the militants, residents say.
In some parts of Pakistan, civilian militias have risen to fight the Taliban. But in Swat, the Taliban’s gains amid a large army presence has convinced many that the military must be conspiring with the Taliban.
“It’s very mysterious how they get so much weapons and support,” while nearby districts are comparatively calm, said Muzaffar ul-Mulk Khan, a member of Parliament from Swat, who said his home near Mingora was recently destroyed by the Taliban.
“We are bewildered by the military. They patrol only in Mingora. In the rest of Swat they sit in their bases. And the militants can kill at will anywhere in Mingora,” he said.
“Nothing is being done by the government," Mr. Khan added.
Accusations that the military lacks the will to fight in Swat are “very unfair and unjustified,” said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman, who said 180 army soldiers and officers had been killed in Swat in the past 14 months.
“They do reach out, and they do patrol,” he said.
Military officials also say they are trying to step up activity in Swat. This weekend, soldiers were deployed to protect a handful of educational buildings in Mingora, amid a wave of school bombings.
General Abbas said the military did not have the means to block Taliban radio transmissions across such a wide area, but he disputed the view that Mingora had fallen to the militants.
“Just because they come out at night and throw down four or five bodies in the square does not mean that militants control anything,” he said.
Few officials would dispute that one of the Pakistani military’s biggest mistakes in Swat was its failure to protect Pir Samiullah, a local leader whose 500 followers fought the Taliban in the village of Mandal Dag. After the Taliban killed him in a firefight last month, the militants demanded that his followers reveal his gravesite — and then started beheading people until they got the information, one Mandal Dag villager said.
“They dug him up and hung his body in the square,” the villager said, and then they took the body to a secret location. The desecration was intended to show what would happen to anyone who defied the Taliban’s rule, but it also made painfully clear to Swat residents that the Pakistani government could not be trusted to defend those who rose up against the militants.
“He should have been given more protection,” said one Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the subject. “He should have been made a symbol of resistance.”
Gruesome displays like the defilement of Pir Samiullah’s remains are an effective tactic for the Taliban, who have shown cruel efficiency in following through on their threats.
Recently, Shah Doran broadcast word that the Taliban intended to kill a police officer who he said had killed three people.
“We have sent people, and tomorrow you will have good news,” he said on his nightly broadcast, according to a resident of Matta, a Taliban stronghold. The next day the decapitated body of the policeman was found in a nearby village.
Even in Mingora, a town grown hardened to violence, residents were shocked early this month to find the bullet-ridden body of one of the city’s most famous dancing girls splayed on the main square.
Known as Shabana, the woman was visited at night by a group of men who claimed to want to hire her for a party. They shot her to death and dragged her body more than a quarter-mile to the central square, leaving it as a warning for anyone who would flout Taliban decrees.
The leader of the militants in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah, gained prominence from making radio broadcasts and running an Islamic school, becoming popular among otherwise isolated homemakers and inspiring them to sell their jewelry to finance his operation. He also drew support from his marriage to the daughter of Sufi Mohammed, a powerful religious leader in Swat until 2001 who later disowned his son-in-law.
Even though Swat does not border Afghanistan or any of Pakistan’s seven lawless federal tribal areas, Maulana Fazlullah eventually allied with Taliban militants who dominate regions along the Afghan frontier.
His fighters now roam the valley with sniper rifles, Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortar tubes and, according to some officials, night-vision goggles and flak vests.
His latest tactic is a ban on girls’ attending school in Swat, which will be tested in February when private schools are scheduled to reopen after winter recess. The Taliban have already destroyed 169 girls’ schools in Swat, government officials say, and they expect most private schools to stay closed rather than risk retaliation.
“The local population is totally fed up, and if they had the chance they would lynch each and every Talib,” said Mr. Naveed Khan, the police official. “But the Taliban are so cruel and violent, no one will oppose them. If this is not stopped, it will spill into other areas of Pakistan.”
Ismail Khan contributed reporting.
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15,000 militants present in Fata, Owais tells Asma](http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=157489)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
By Ghulam Dastageer
PESHAWAR: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Asma Jahangir on Friday paid a day-long visit to the provincial metropolis in a bid to get the firsthand information about the growth of militancy in the tribal belt and certain parts of the Frontier province.
During the visit, she met NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, NWFP Peace Envoy Afrasiyab Khattak, veteran politician Begum Naseem Wali Khan, civil society members and media persons.
In this connection, a five-member delegation of the HRCP, led by Asma Jehangir, discussed with the NWFP governor the deteriorating law and order situation in Fata and settled districts of the NWFP with a special focus on the Swat region. Other members of the visiting team included HRCP Secretary-General IA Rehman, Vice-Chairperson for NWFP Musarrat Hilali, Council Member Kamran Arif and programme coordinator.
When asked by Asma that being a concerned citizen what should be expected from the government, the governor said that unfortunately, most of the people did not understand the real nature of the problem. “It’s not a law and order problem, rather, it’s a well-planned ideological insurgency, therefore, it should be treated as such,” he said.
The governor said that the forces were facing highly organised and well-funded militants, “who are persistently being espoused by external spy agencies. There are about 15,000 militants in the tribal belt, who have no dearth of ration, ammunition, equipment, even anti-tank mines.” They were being paid properly for that, he added.
The governor said that a militant was normally given Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per month while their leaders got Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month which, he asserted, was next to impossible without funding from external intelligence agencies.
He, however, sounded optimistic about containing these militants, saying that now they were back in the areas where the government had lost its writ, but he was quick to add that they had no resources for Fata to bring it at par with other parts of the country.
The delegation also had a long meeting with Afrasiyab Khattak, who informed them about the policy of the ANP-led coalition government to put a permanent damper on militancy in the province.
The HRCP chairperson also held a meeting with a group of media persons and discussed with them in detail the issue of law and order in the region.
The journalists, nevertheless, appeared to be quite sceptical about the role of security agencies in eradicating the problem of militancy.
One of them raised a very appropriate question about the supply line of the militants in Swat, saying that the valley was far away from the tribal region but the shortage of petroleum products across the NWFP had no effect on the local Taliban, “which clearly shows that their logistic activities go on uninterrupted.”
A senior journalist said the establishment must bear in mind the fact that the ongoing insurgency in the NWFP and Fata would not end here, rather, it would engulf the country.
“You know first it was confined to Waziristan, then it spread to the whole tribal belt and has now crept into the settled districts of the Frontier and, eventually, it will go to other parts of the country, especially to the Punjab, which is the next door neighbour,” he said.
Other media persons apprised the HRCP chief of the threats to them owing to the growing influence of the local Taliban even in the settled areas of the province.
The HRCP chairperson said the commission would soon launch a campaign outside the NWFP to make the people of other provinces aware of the situation prevailing in the northwest of the country.
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Alarm bells ring in Lower Dir: Taliban issue warning to people
By Haleem Asad
TIMERGARA, Jan 27: The local chapter of the defunct Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan rang alarm bells here on Tuesday when it warned the people to give up all ‘un-Islamic, immoral and illegal’ businesses and switch over to rightful trades otherwise their shopping centres and houses would be blown up.
Talking to journalists in Maidan, Taliban local chief Hafeezullah demanded of the federal and provincial governments to enforce Islamic Sharia in Malakand region in accordance with TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad’s demand.
It was for the first time that Taliban chief invited journalists to Kumbar, a far-flung mountainous area of Maidan, to brief them on a host of issues regarding their activities in the district.
He extended all out support to TNSM peaceful campaign for implementation of Sharia in its true spirit, saying they were waiting for directives to start armed struggle for the cause if the government failed to meet Sufi Mohammad’s demand.
But in the same breath he made it clear that Taliban would abide by the agreement inked with the security forces via mediation of local peace jirga. He said that Taliban would not target government’s installation or facilities in the districts until any action was taken against them by the security forces.
Defending Taliban movement, he said that infidels had grabbed powers on the earth and Muslims were being subjected to un-Islamic laws on their own soil. “That’s why Taliban chose gun to enforce the Islamic divine law on this earth of Allah,” he added.
To a query about Tehrik-i-Taliban structure, Hafeezullah said Mulla Mohammad Umar was their supreme leader, Baitullah Mehsud was their country chief, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad of Bajaur was vice chief and Maulana Fazlullah of Swat was their nazim alaa.
“Dir Taliban are on a standby position and ready to conduct even suicide attacks if TTP leadership asks for it,” he said.
He said that some elements of vested interests had been carrying out their immoral and un-Islamic activities, which the Taliban would never tolerate. He said stern action would be taken against them in accordance with Sharia.
He also gave two cell phone numbers to journalists to contact him, saying that Dir Taliban would neither issue any threatening letter nor contact anyone by phone other than the prescribed numbers.
“We will use only these two numbers for contacts and if someone receives any threatening call from any other phone numbers it should be considered fake and fictitious,” he said.
He admitted Taliban’s hands in few incidents of blowing up schools, where troops were stationed, and CD centres and attacks on security forces vehicles in the district. He said that they targeted only those people who were trying to harm Taliban.
About funds, he said donations and subscriptions were the only means of their financial resources. He expelled the impression that any foreign fund was being supplied to Taliban, saying it was just propaganda of anti-Taliban elements to mislead the people.
The TTP, he said, was so organised that no one could enter Taliban ranks and files without following a specific procedure. He also justified suicide attacks.
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Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
**Swat: Pakistan’s lost paradise
**](http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/01/200912512351598892.html)By Kamran Rehmat in Islamabad
Amid Barack Obama’s inauguration as US president, the war on Gaza and the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan’s media had until recently all but ignored the descent into hell of the Swat Valley in the North-West Frontier Province.
The valley has been transformed from a tourism magnet because of its alpine scenery into a valley stained with blood in recent months.
From banning female education and blowing up schools to the hanging of decapitated bodies in Mingora, the valley’s main town, the reign of terror spearheaded by Maulana Fazalullah, a radical cleric, defies description.
Until recently, the 11-month old government in Islamabad was virtually oblivious to the chain of events that question the very territorial integrity of the country.
Even the hyper-active local media was busy elsewhere: angling for the latest in the India-Pakistan stalemate, decoding what the incoming Obama administration held for Islamabad and the usual soap opera that passes for national politics.
No-go area
That all changed, however, after radicals delivered on their promise of blowing up schools if they were not shut down by a January 15 deadline.
Their actions have made a mockery of the government’s commitment a day earlier that the schools would reopen with its patronage and protection.
Only last week did the national parliament pass a resolution, rejecting the ban on female education and condemning the blowing up of schools.
On Saturday, the government decided to deploy troops to guard some institutions in Mingora.
But the belated measure to post 25 soldiers each at 16 locations is seen by many as an exercise in futility.
Swat today is a decidedly no-go area. Even Haji Adeel, a senator and senior leader of the Awami National Party, which heads the ruling coalition in the North-West Frontier province, pointed to the valley’s dire security situation.
He said: “Swat is a part of Pakistan but no governor, chief minister or the prime minister can venture to go there.”
The Pakistan army says armed groups have so far blown up or torched 165 schools for girls, 80 video shops, 22 barber shops and destroyed 20 bridges.
A devastating after-effect of the insurgency is that an estimated one million children in the Frontier province, which includes Swat, may have missed anti-polio vaccinations after the government exempted from its immunisation drive various settled areas it deemed too dangerous.
Kingdom of fear
Fazalullah’s attempts to enforce Islamic Sharia and an ongoing military operation launched by Pervez Musharraf, the former president, in 2007 have forced nearly a third of Swat’s 1.5 million people to migrate out of the province.
Taking advantage of the government’s deep engagement in the “war on terror” and Musharraf’s own protracted battle for survival in 2007, Fazalullah’s 10,000-strong private army established control over 5,337 square kilometres of territory.
The radical cleric uses FM radio to pass on his decrees to the local population. So effective is his grip on the valley, that the government’s influence is now largely confined to just 36 square kilometres of territory in and around Mingora.
Fazalullah runs a self-styled judiciary, which hears cases and hands down verdicts.
A treasury collects ushr (the Islamic practice of collecting one-tenth of agricultural produce). Last month, they also collected animal hides worth millions of rupees on Eid Al Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice.
His feared - and well-equipped - rebel army reportedly takes its cue from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an extremist organisation headed by Baitullah Masud, the commander suspected of authoring the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister, in 2007.
The two came together in the aftermath of a sweeping military operation in 2007 at the Red Mosque in Islamabad that killed hundreds of seminary students and clerics who had defied the Musharraf regime for months.
Following up on their threat to avenge the killings, this alliance is said to be responsible for suicide bombings that killed dozens of security personnel.
The army, which has four brigades in Swat, says it is considering a new strategy to retrieve the situation by securing the main supply routes and reinforcing its strength in urban and rural centres.
However, skepticism abounds about how that will be achieved.
Scene from hell
Zubair Torwali, a social activist who lives in Swat, says the security forces fear patrolling the Swat valley.
“The police are escorted by the army personnel and come out of their hideouts for a couple of hours,” he said.
“One of the busiest squares, Grain Chowk, was renamed by shopkeepers as Khooni (bloody) Chowk because when they come to their shops in the morning, they find four or five bodies hung over the poles or trees. The bodies are usually headless.”
“The police are escorted by the army personnel and come out of their hideouts for a couple of hours”
Zubair Torwali, a social activist
A more chilling account of the prevailing fear is provided by Hamid Mir, a talk show host with Geo TV; Mir earned fame for his interview with Osama bin Laden in 2001.
Mir describes an episode in which a widow, who taught at a private school in Mingora, was warned by the extremists to stop coming out of her house, let alone teach.
Having no other means to feed her three children, she begged a religious scholar to intercede with the extremists, one of whom was a former student of the scholar.
However, the commander of the extremists was so annoyed that he had the scholar arrested immediately, before banishing him from Mingora.
Days later, the widow was executed by the extremists after being declared a prostitute.
At least three journalists - Sirajuddin, Azizuddin and Qari Shoaib - have also been killed while a sister of another, Sherinzada, perished in an attack on his house.
However, two other journalists, Hameedullah Khan and Musa Khankhel, have braved death to report on events in Swat.
Khan had his house dynamited by the local Taliban earlier this month and Khankhel has escaped two assassination attempts.
Khankhel has managed to earn the ire of both the security agencies and the extremists for his reporting.
The army has also been accused of indiscriminate fire resulting in the deaths of many innocents. It claims to have killed 784 extremists while losing 189 personnel since launching the military operation.
Mission impossible?
Syed Allauddin, a ruling Pakistan People’s Party MP from Swat who is unable to return to the region, believes there may be a three-pronged solution to the violence.
He suggests that Sharia be officially implemented followed by economic development and creation of job opportunities.
“But if I cannot enter my area how can I help my voters?” he said.
Caught between an indifferent government and ineffective army on the one hand and the extremists on the other, the people of Swat are, similarly, at a loss.
“The predicament of the people of Swat is worse than even of the people of Gaza. In Gaza, the enemy was well known but in Swat, the people don’t know who the enemy is and whom to hold responsible,” said Torwali.
The lack of faith is understandable, said Nasim Zehra, a security analyst based in Islamabad.
“Clearly, people in Swat have zero faith in the institutions of their own country. Can we blame them?”
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
Taleban’s stranglehold brings fear to Swat](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7851790.stm)
By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Mingora
Swat Continental hotel in the town of Mingora in north-west Pakistan opened in the mid-1990s when tourism in the region was at its peak.
A decade later, it is the only hotel in town which still receives guests, mainly television crews that come to cover the conflict.
For two years, the region once known for its river valleys and wooded mountains has been in the grip of a bloody insurgency by Islamic militants.
Pakistan has deployed a large number of army and paramilitary troops to try to contain them. Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting.
The past few weeks have been the worst.
Climate of fear
Amid reports that the government plans to renew talks with the militants, there has been a sudden escalation in the conflict.
First, it was the appearance of beheaded bodies in various public places in Mingora, terrorising the local population.
According to reports, more than 30 bodies were found in the town during a two-week period in December and January.
Then came the Taleban’s edict banning education for girls.
Although the edict came at a time when government schools had closed for the winter holidays, some privately-owned schools still holding classes closed down after that.
At the same time, suspected militants blew up several schools in Mingora, including some boys’ ones, saying the buildings were being used as camps by the army.
Various circles in Mingora believe the army has responded to this by killing militants it has been holding in its custody.
The army denies this.
Troops have also moved into several school buildings in Mingora - as well as the city’s oldest college, the Post-Graduate Jehanzeb College for men - apparently to prevent the militants from blowing them up.
For the people of Mingora, all this has the makings of a timebomb that is ticking away and may blow up on or around 1 March when schools are scheduled to reopen.
This has had a visible effect on the morale of the city.
‘Cleansing’
Since the insurgency began the civilian population has increasingly become a target of both sides.
The very rich and the very poor have already left Swat
Swat resident
Only guest in town’s luxury hotel
The militants are “cleansing” individuals suspected of holding “liberal” views.
Swat has been a stronghold of two secular parties - the Pakistan People’s Party and the Awami National Party. The militants are now bent upon weeding out their supporters.
As a result, many families have suffered attacks and beheadings by the militants.
The army, given its lack of local knowledge, has been rounding up people at random to blunt the effectiveness of the militants, often with adverse results.
Besides, it has mostly occupied public buildings in civilian areas, which have subsequently become targets for suicide bombers, with devastating repercussions for locals.
A year ago, an attack on a public library in the heart of Mingora, which the army had occupied, not only led to dozens of civilian casualties but also destroyed Swat Museum, which was located opposite the library.
The Japanese government had spent 46m yen ($500,000) in the late 1990s to renovate the museum, which contained relics from Swat’s Buddhist past.
Today, it is closed to the public and most of the relics are said to have been irreparably damaged.
Few guests
In November 2007, when I last visited Mingora, the place still bustled with activity and the streets in the centre were choked with traffic. Not any more.
“The very rich and the very poor have already left Swat. The rich can afford to live in other cities of the country, and the poor would rather do the labour where it is safer,” says one resident.
The middle-income segment, with business stakes or government jobs, are stuck here because their means do not allow them to have the same lifestyle elsewhere, he says.
Traffic, therefore, has thinned out and businesses face hard times.
An estate agent told me that a shop in central Mingora - which would have fetched 10m rupees (about $127,000) until six months ago - is now available at 3.5m, but there are no buyers.
And there are few officials in the government offices due to fear of attacks.
Back in 2007, Swat Continental had more than half its rooms occupied, and a staff of more than 70 people.
They are now down to six. And I am their second guest in a week - the others are a four-member television crew.
What’s more, there are no TVs in the rooms.
“We cleared the TVs from the rooms because there are hardly any guests, but we’ll give you one,” says the only room service member staff on duty.
But when the TV comes on, I discover that there are only two channels available - both local news channels.
When I ask the reason, the man gives me a sheepish smile. “This is all we have.”
I know that they have a satellite dish on the roof top and can receive more channels. But at the same time I realise that the writ of the Taleban, who have banned satellite TV, runs deep inside Mingora.
Article suggested by LJ
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
**Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl **](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7834402.stm)
*
THURSDAY JANUARY 15: NIGHT FILLED WITH ARTILLERY FIRE
*
The night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times. But since there was no school I got up later at 10 am. Afterwards, my friend came over and we discussed our homework.
School in Swat allegedly destroyed by the Taleban
The Taleban have repeatedly targeted schools in Swat
Today is 15 January, the last day before the Taleban’s edict comes into effect, and my friend was discussing homework as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Today, I also read the diary written for the BBC (in Urdu) and published in the newspaper. My mother liked my pen name ‘Gul Makai’ and said to my father ‘why not change her name to Gul Makai?’ I also like the name because my real name means ‘grief stricken’.
My father said that some days ago someone brought the printout of this diary saying how wonderful it was. My father said that he smiled but could not even say that it was written by his daughter.
*WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY: I MAY NOT GO TO SCHOOL AGAIN
*
I was in a bad mood while going to school because winter vacations are starting from tomorrow. The principal announced the vacations but did not mention the date the school was to reopen. This was the first time this has happened.
In the past the reopening date was always announced clearly. The principal did not inform us about the reason behind not announcing the school reopening, but my guess was that the Taleban had announced a ban on girls’ education from 15 January.
This time round, the girls were not too excited about vacations because they knew if the Taleban implemented their edict they would not be able to come to school again. Some girls were optimistic that the schools would reopen in February but others said that their parents had decided to shift from Swat and go to other cities for the sake of their education.
Since today was the last day of our school, we decided to play in the playground a bit longer. I am of the view that the school will one day reopen but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again.
*FRIDAY 9 JANUARY: THE MAULANA GOES ON LEAVE?
*
Today at school I told my friends about my trip to Bunair. They said that they were sick and tired of hearing the Bunair story. We discussed the rumours about the death of Maulana Shah Dauran, who used to give speeches on FM radio. He was the one who announced the ban on girls attending school.
Some girls said that he was dead but others disagreed. The rumours of his death are circulating because he did not deliver a speech the night before on FM radio. One girl said that he had gone on leave.
Since there was no tuition on Friday, I played the whole afternoon. I switched on the TV in the evening and heard about the blasts in Lahore. I said to myself ‘why do these blasts keep happening in Pakistan?’
*WEDNESDAY 7 JANUARY: NO FIRING OR FEAR
*
I have come to Bunair to spend Muharram (a Muslim holiday) on vacation. I adore Bunair because of its mountains and lush green fields. My Swat is also very beautiful but there is no peace. But in Bunair there is peace and tranquillity. Neither is there any firing nor any fear. We all are very happy.
Today we went to Pir Baba mausoleum and there were lots of people there. People are here to pray while we are here for an excursion. There are shops selling bangles, ear rings, lockets and other artificial jewellery. I thought of buying something but nothing impressed - my mother bought ear rings and bangles.
*MONDAY 5 JANUARY: DO NOT WEAR COLOURFUL DRESSES
*
I was getting ready for school and about to wear my uniform when I remembered that our principal had told us not to wear uniforms - and come to school wearing normal clothes instead. So I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look.
My friend came to me and said, ‘for God’s sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taleban?’ During the morning assembly we were told not to wear colourful clothes as the Taleban would object to it.
I came back from school and had tuition sessions after lunch. In the evening I switched on the TV and heard that curfew had been lifted from Shakardra after 15 days. I was happy to hear that because our English teacher lived in the area and she might be coming to school now.
*SUNDAY 4 JANUARY: I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL
*
Today is a holiday and I woke up late, around 10 am. I heard my father talking about another three bodies lying at Green Chowk (crossing). I felt bad on hearing this news. Before the launch of the military operation we all used to go to Marghazar, Fiza Ghat and Kanju for picnics on Sundays. But now the situation is such that we have not been out on picnic for over a year and a half.
We also used to go for a walk after dinner but now we are back home before sunset. Today I did some household chores, my homework and played with my brother. But my heart was beating fast - as I have to go to school tomorrow.
*SATURDAY 3 JANUARY: I AM AFRAID
*
I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.
Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban’s edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.
On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone
Article suggested by LJ
**Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl **](BBC NEWS | South Asia | Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl (iii))
WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY: TEARS IN THE EYES OF MY PARENTS
My father fulfilled his promise and we reached Islamabad yesterday. On our way from Swat I was very scared because we had heard that the Taleban conduct searches. But nothing of the sort happened to us. It was instead the army who conducted the search. The moment we left Swat our fears also subsided.
We are staying with our father’s friend in Islamabad. It is my first visit to the city. It’s beautiful with nice bungalows and wide roads. But as compared to my Swat city it lacks natural beauty. Father took us to Lok Virsa museum and I learnt a lot. We also have such a museum in Swat but I don’t know if it will remain undamaged from the fighting.
My father bought popcorn from an old man outside Lok Virsa. When the vendor spoke to us in Pashtu my father asked him if he was from Islamabad. The old man replied: “Do you think Islamabad can ever belong to Pashtuns?”
He said that he hailed from Momand Agency, but because of an ongoing military operation was forced to leave his abode and head for the city. At that moment I saw tears in my parents’ eyes.
MONDAY 26 JANUARY: HELICOPTER TOFFEES
I woke to the roar of heavy artillery fire early in the morning. Earlier we were afraid of the noise of helicopters and now the artillery. I remember the first time when helicopters flew over our house on the start of an operation. We got so scared that we hid.
All the children in my neighbourhood were also very scared.
One day toffees were thrown from the helicopters and this continued for some time. Now whenever we hear the choppers flying we run out and wait for the toffees but it does not happen anymore. A while back my father gave us the good news that he was taking all of us to Islamabad tomorrow. We are very happy.
SATURDAY 24 JANUARY: NO NAMES ON THE HONOURS BOARD
Our annual exams are due after the vacations but this will only be possible if the Taleban allow girls to go to school. We were told to prepare certain chapters for the exam but I do not feel like studying.
As from yesterday the army has taken control of the educational institutions for protection. It seems that it is only when dozens of schools have been destroyed and hundreds others closed down that the army thinks about protecting them. Had they conducted their operations here properly, this situation would not have arisen.
Muslim Khan (a Swat Taleban spokesman) has said that those schools housing the army would be attacked. We will be more afraid of having the army in our schools than ever. There is a board in our school which is called the Honours Board. The name of the girl achieving the highest marks in annual exams is put on this board. It seems that no names will be put on it this year.
THURSDAY 22 JANUARY : VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION
I am quite bored sitting at home following the closures of schools.
Some of my friends have left Swat because the situation here is very dangerous. I do not leave home. At night Maulana Shah Dauran (the Taleban cleric who announced the ban on girls attending school) once again warned females not to leave home.
He also warned that they would blow up those schools which are used by the security forces as security posts.
Father told us that security forces have arrived at the boys’ and girls’ school in Haji Baba area. May God keep them safe. Maulana Shah Dauran also said in his speech on FM radio that three ‘thieves’ will be lashed tomorrow and whoever wants to see can come and watch.
I am surprised that when we have suffered so much, why people still go and watch such things? Why also doesn’t the army stop them from carrying out such acts? I have seen wherever the army is there is usually a Taleban member nearby, but where there is a Taleban member the army will always not go.
MONDAY 19 JANUARY: ARMY IN THEIR BUNKERS
Five more schools have been destroyed, one of them was near my house. I am quite surprised, because these schools were closed so why did they also need to be destroyed? No one has gone to school following the deadline given by the Taleban.
Today I went to my friend’s house and she told me that a few days back someone killed Maulana Shah Dauran’s uncle; she said that it may be that the Taleban destroyed the schools in anger at this.
She also said that no one has made the Taleban suffer but when they are hurt they take it out on our schools. But the army is not doing anything about it. They are sitting in their bunkers on top of the hills. They slaughter goats and eat with pleasure.
FRIDAY 18 JANUARY: NO POLICE IN SIGHT
My father told us that the government would protect our schools. The prime minister has also raised this issue. I was quite happy initially, but now I know but this will not solve our problem. Here in Swat we hear everyday that so many soldiers were killed and so many were kidnapped at such and such place. But the police are nowhere to be seen.
Our parents are also very scared. They told us they would not send us to school until or unless the Taleban themselves announce on the FM channel that girls can go to school. The army is also responsible for the disruption in our education.
Today a boy from our locality went to school and he was told by the principal to go back home because a curfew was to be imposed soon. But when he reached home he came to know that there was no curfew, instead his school was closed down because the army was to move through the road near his school.
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
Taleban kidnap Pakistani troops](BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Taleban release Pakistani troops)
Taleban fighters have kidnapped 30 Pakistani policemen and troops in the restive Swat valley in the north-west, police say.
Thousands of militants laid siege to the police station, just south of the valley’s main town Mingora, on Tuesday.
Troops were mobilised to break the militants’ cordon but could not rescue the surrounded policemen and soldiers as darkness fell, officials said.
Swat valley has been the scene of a major battle since Saturday.
The clash is the latest in an operation against an increasingly powerful Taleban insurgency in the valley.
Dead-end roads
The insurgents attacked the security post in Shamozai village, police said.
They blew up the post and abducted the security men, who were then moved to an undisclosed location.
Roads which lead west, north and east of Mingora mostly connect areas of tourist interest and end in remote mountain valleys.
All have been virtually closed for regular traffic since 2007.
Only local people use these roads, but traffic is often disrupted or caught in crossfire.
The only road that has remained fully open is to the south, connecting Mingora with the rest of the country.
This is the region’s main trading artery and strategically important to the security forces.
In the past, incidents of traffic disruption on this road have been rare.
But since last week, militants have repeatedly closed this road, forcing the army to impose curfew in the area, the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad.
This means that Mingora is under virtual siege from all four sides.
Meanwhile, an army spokesman in Mingora said the security forces had consolidated their positions in the Sangota and Manglawar areas to the north, after two days of fierce battles.
He said there were still some pockets of resistance in the area, but fighting had largely died down.
Over the weekend, the army said it had captured high ground in Charbagh area and neutralised a strategic advantage the militants enjoyed earlier.
Fighting continues unabated in Kabal and Matta sub-districts of Swat.
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
Faith Trumps Fear For Anti-Taliban Politician In Pakistan
The Swat Valley, where for two years local Taliban have been trying to establish Shari’a law, is at the center of the Pakistan government’s efforts to root out extremism. Military operations launched in late 2007 in the once-popular tourist region of Northwest Frontier Province has cost the lives of some 2,000 civilians and hundreds of government soldiers. And as the effort gains fresh momentum – 35 Islamist militants were reported killed in an overnight raid conducted on February 2-3 – thousands of desperate locals, fearing reprisals from the Taliban, are looking to flee.
Afzal Khan, whom locals refer to as “lala” – or “elder brother” in Pashto – is an 82-year-old Pashtun nationalist politician who has emerged as a symbol of the resistance to Taliban extremism in the Swat Valley. Khan has survived numerous assassination attempts, but he nevertheless continues to oppose the Taliban and their representation of Islam. In an interview with RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Najib Aamir, Khan explains why.
RFE/RL: You top the “hit list” recently issued by the Taliban, and which includes a number of politicians and prominent residents of Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Do you intend to surrender to the Taliban’s Shari’a court, as they have demanded?
So your life reaches a point when going to mosque is virtually equal to running to a trench…Imagine living under such circumstances.
Afzal Khan: If the Taliban had their own state, and they had a president or a prime minister or a king, and it functioned like a [legitimate state] system – then they would have a judicial system and courts that would follow Islamic law, Shari’a. But if they don’t have a state or a political system, then whose court should I go to and why?
Thus, there is no question of surrendering to such a court. I am a Muslim and, therefore, I believe that only almighty God, who has created us all, will decide how and when to take someone’s life. This is my homeland and my people are here, so what can I do? Should I leave my home and my people? But where will I go? Why should I leave – just because of the fear of death?
RFE/RL: Being a leader of the Awami National Party that leads the provincial government, are you satisfied with the policies it is pursuing to restore peace and stability to Swat?
Khan: I was part of the central and provincial governments [as a cabinet member] in the past, and I know that the central government exerts the real authority. The situation here is [really alarming] because the police have collapsed. And we don’t have another [local] armed force. The army is a last resort that the state is now using [to establish its authority]. If this fails, unfortunately, we will have a revolution. I believe that if all institutions honestly play their respective roles, then we won’t face a real problem in [establishing authority].
When I was being treated in the hospital, I told journalists that if I ever met our attackers, I would ask them, ‘What was our crime? I have never even slapped anybody. Why then are you trying to kill us?’
RFE/RL: Mountainous Swat was once a tourist haven. But considering the prevailing insecurity, what is it like living in Swat today?
Khan: We have a lot of problems here. Imagine that mosques are being targeted in suicide bombings. So your life reaches a point when going to mosque is virtually equal to running to a trench. Going to a market [is equally tough], because you think somebody will attack you or there will be a bomb blast. Imagine living under such circumstances. This is [very unfortunate] in a place like Swat because it had been peaceful for centuries. The people of Swat didn’t even think about violence.
RFE/RL: Given that some of your relatives were killed in the numerous attempts on your life, how concerned are you about the security of your relatives and people working for you?
Khan: Two of my young grandsons were killed together. One of their friends was also killed and three were injured. When I was attacked, my driver and a bodyguard were martyred while two were injured. My nephew, Abdul Jabbar Khan, was hit by four bullets, and I was hit by two. If you have to face such circumstances in your home region, how worried would you be? You would definitely ask, ‘Why is this happening to me?’
When I was being treated in the hospital, I told journalists that if I ever met our attackers, I would ask them, ‘What was our crime? I have never even slapped anybody. Why then are you trying to kill us?’
RFE/RL: With the insurgents blowing up schools, hospitals, and bridges, there is a strong perception among Swat residents that they are the victims of an elaborate insurgent plan to establish a new kind of political order in this region. How do you look at this issue?
Khan: The people who are doing this, if they want to establish a new [political] system, then they should know that they cannot institute a new order on the back of murder. They cannot establish a new political order by bombings or suicide attacks. You have to go to people [to talk to them], to change their minds, and to convince [and win over] their hearts. Islam is a religion of peace and one that emphasizes helping the poor and the oppressed.
RFE/RL: You recently met the head of the Pakistani military, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. What did you discuss? Do you see the military winning in Swat?
Khan: He told us that this is a national issue. We told him that it can only be resolved [when it is prioritized] as such an issue. The military is the last option available for a state trying to restore its authority. If they fail, then we will be confronted with a revolutionlike situation. It is the law of nature when you have a vacuum, somebody will come forward to fill it.
I don’t think the military operation will fail. But for it to succeed, everybody will have to fulfill their responsibilities diligently and with honesty.
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
Swat Calls For Civil Society to Act](http://www.chowk.com/articles/print/15263)
Zubair Torwali
Jan 7, 2009
The main town of Swat, Mingora, has now virtually fallen to the militants. The police comes to the streets escorted by the army officials for a couple of hours and then leave for their ‘hide-outs’. One of the busiest square, the Grain Chowk, was renamed by the shopkeepers as Khooni Chowk (Bloody Square) as a sign protest because when they come to their shops in the morning on each day they find four or five dead bodies hung over the poles or the trees. They see dead bodies scattered along the foot path in the morning. The bodies are usually headless.
The practice goes thus with an average of four deaths daily in the square. Similarly on each morning there are found throat slit bodies in Qambar, Kabal, Matta, Khawza Khela and Charbagh. This practice has been going on for weeks; and unfortunately does not seem to stop.
15th January is the deadline by the militants to close all the schools, especially those of girls. Now as the deadline is coming nearer the people are getting more terrified. Killing goes on hiking day by day; government writ is a faded vision; elected councilors and Nazims are killed, women no more allowed to visit bazaars; markets are deserted, police stations vacated, people from non-governmental organizations are forced to leave the valley; and terrified children play ‘Fouji Taliban’ game. This is a new game the children have made for themselves based on the ‘greater game’ between the militants and the security forces. In this game one child comes forward challenging the other. One becomes a Fouji whereas the other becomes a Talib; and the game begins. [How much resilient are our children!]
Amidst extreme cold the people have nothing left to desire for. Every day they see dead bodies lying on the roads and streets. No mother is certain whether her son would come back home alive or not. Fear prevails in the whole valley. Anarchy roams every where masked and disguised
The infrastructure including roads was badly damaged. People cannot move inside Swat. About all the bridges are wholly or partially damaged. Beyond the main town there exists no more the facility of telephone. The phones are dead for the last five months. In addition most of the people live in utter dark because, again and again, there inflicts heavy loss to the electric installations.
There is human rights violation from the security forces side as well. They do not let people move outside there homes. Curfew is imposed constraining the people inside homes for weeks. They fire indiscriminately. Whenever there happens something the security forces open fire on general public. The general public in Swat cannot demonstrate because they are in between the devil and the deep sea. Whenever they try to protest against the atrocities of the government the security forces open fire on the crowds killing dozen of people. The people cannot say anything against the militants as they see dead bodies on every morning with letters telling that anybody ever dares to oppose the militants that would be his destiny.
The FM radios are functioning causing more recruits in the circle of the militants. There is even news that in some areas the militants have compelled the local population that it would be obligatory upon each household to get one man recruited in the files of the militants.
The various check posts set by the security forces are of no sue at all. The people question how scores of militants had entered Kalam last week in spite of the six check posts from Bagh Dahri to Bahrain.
All this is going on with the people of Swat. The government has failed to end the militancy. On the contrary it has now given a boost to the militants. It is well apparent that the militants are now the victors in the war. The government is not to be said as the vanquished but the people living in Swat are the victims and vanquished.
But who cares about? The government has been entangled in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage. It has no sinews left to provide security for the people of Swat. The world leaders visit Pakistan and India in order to disengage these two countries from a war. There is no doubt that Pakistan is in the worst crisis since its inception but the people of Swat are even in a worse situation that the people of Gaza. In Gaza the enemy is well known but in Swat the people know not who the enemy is; and whom to hold responsible.
People of Swat particularly, and the Pukhtun intelligentsia in general are very particular about the civil society in Pakistan. The civil society of any country is regarded as a great force to mobilize the general public against the violation of civil rights and liberty. It is considered as a bulwark against the violation of human rights. It is deemed as the upholder of people’s rights where the state fails to deliver.
The civil society of Pakistan is not weaker. Though divided into a number of agendas yet it can uphold and mobilize the people of Pakistan. The mettle of Pakistani civil society was tested in the movement for the restoration of the judiciary. It has also contributed in bringing the cases of honor killing in different parts of the country. People can still trust the civil society but in the case of Swat the civil society has apparently adopted an ostrich-like strategy. We hear no voice raise against the atrocities committed in Swat. No civil society organization in Pakistan raised its voice against the plight of the women and children in Swat.
We saw no demonstration in the big cities against the monster of militancy in Swat; and in FATA. The media also seems apathetic about the plight. The general intelligentsia is awfully divided on the issue altogether. They bicker on the question whether the ‘war on terror’ is Pakistan’s war or not. Among them those are more vocal who had brought this war to Pakistan three decades back. The print media does well to some extent but their scope is limited. A few voices in the Urdu print media are strong enough to be pro-people but what is happening to their feelings is obvious from the email messages they get as reaction to their writing.
Where does the civil society stand now? Is it frightened? Is it helpless as the people of Swat are, or has it given up will and hope? The people of Swat ask you to come out on their behalf and mobilize the general public against the intestine war going on in the region. The people implore you to feel empathy with them; to imagine their plight. The people implore you to come out of your drawing rooms and stage protests against what is going on in Swat.
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
Deal only hope for regaining Swat control
Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: February 06. 2009 9:30AM UAE / February 6. 2009 5:30AM GMT
ISLAMABAD: Political parties in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP) are pushing for a negotiated settlement with Taliban militants who now control about three-quarters of the Swat valley, 130 kilometres north-west of Islamabad.
“The military operation has been proven useless and fruitless. Before the operation, the Taliban was in control of 25 per cent of Swat; now they control 75 per cent,” said Syed Ala ud Din, a member of parliament from Swat associated with the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), headed by Asif Ali Zardari, the president.
Like other candidates in the Feb 2008 elections, conducted during a military operation, he campaigned by telephone from Peshawar and Islamabad, and won amid abysmally low voter turnout. He was unable to visit his constituency then and has not been since, during which time his Khwazakhela residence has become the local Taliban headquarters.
Mr Ala ud Din confirmed a newspaper report on Tuesday that Sufi Mohammed, the father-in-law of the Swat Taliban head, Maulana Fazl Ullah, had sent a draft peace agreement to the NWFP government, headed by the Pukhtun nationalist Awami National Party.
“I have heard that they have the agreement, but will be working with my colleagues to persuade the president to approve it,” he said.
Mr Mohammed was the founder of the 1990s Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammedi movement that successfully agitated for the introduction of Islamic courts in Swat and other districts of the Malakand region in 1993. His armed activists, drawn largely from the ranks of landless peasants, had blockaded road links between Swat and the rest of the Malakand region, and occupied the airport at Saidu Sharif.
While federal security forces then succeeded in quelling the mini-insurgency, the government accepted popular demands for an Islamist judiciary, changing the nomenclature of civil judges to qazi, and appointing scholars to assist them in delivering rulings within two weeks. The system was changed back after elections in 1997.
However, Mr Mohammed lost popular support after recruiting thousands of ill-armed, untrained tribesmen to fight US forces invading Afghanistan in 2001. Most were killed in air strikes and Mr Mohammed surrendered himself to Pakistani authorities in Peshawar to avoid facing wrathful relatives in Swat.
His movement was taken over by Fazl Ullah, who had previously made his living operating a cross-river cable cart service for residents of Mandherei village near Sanghota. Mr Mohammed’s son-in-law spent five years repairing the lost credibility of the movement, leading an ominous-sounding but largely peaceful campaign for the introduction of an Islamist judiciary.
He changed tilt in 2007 after hundreds of students from Swat were killed in a military operation against the Lal Masjid seminary in Islamabad. Shortly after, the movement linked up with militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the border with Afghanistan, and adopted the Taliban brand.
Residents, journalists and politicians said the Swat Taliban’s brazenness has peaked over the last two months. Militants rapidly expanded their territory during December and early January, filling a vacuum created by the repositioning of Pakistani military assets during post-Mumbai-carnage tensions with India.
Mr Fazl Ullah, has tightened his grip from his FM radio pulpit, broadcasting daily between 8.30pm and 11pm. His rulings initially fell broadly into two categories: indictments against persons deemed to be in violation of his extremist interpretation of Islamic law, particularly law enforcement personnel, and edicts governing aspects of day-to-day life.
“Absolutely everyone listens to the daily radio broadcasts, because they don’t know if a rival has made an accusation that puts them on the list. It gives them an opportunity to present their side of the case to the Taliban, and be acquitted in the following day’s broadcast,” said a Mingora resident widowed by the Taliban, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Nonetheless, enforcement has been ruthless, with those daring to resist kidnapped and executed, and their often-beheaded bodies displayed at road junctions in towns across the valley. The victims have included police and paramilitary personnel, leaders of poorly armed community militia, and even orthodox clerics who supported the introduction of an Islamist judiciary but were critical of the Taliban’s murderous methods.
Non-fatal measures have been the demolition of girls’ schools, followed by an edict approving education for females up to the fourth grade, and the enforcement of a graduated scale of fees charged by doctors, graded against their qualification.
This has been less a process of elimination of individuals and more one of eradicating and replacing the state machinery. The “accused” are given the opportunity to repent, by calling the cellular phone numbers of the two top Taliban commanders, Muslim Khan and Shah Dawar Khan, advertised daily in Pushto-language newspapers printed in the district capital, Mingora, in defiance of the resident army garrison. The same newspapers have been flooded with advertisements displaying affidavits from police and local administration personnel announcing their resignations.
The ante has been raised since late January, when the calming of rhetoric between Islamabad and New Delhi facilitated the launch of a military campaign to push back the Swat Taliban. Artillery and helicopter gunship shelling of Taliban positions have, according to military spokesmen, killed between 30 and 70 militants a day (out of an estimated total of 2,500, of which about 1,000 are local) over the last week. Journalists covering the story scoff at those numbers.
“The Taliban are far more upfront about their losses and tend not to make incredible claims. Therefore, readers treat their statements as more credible than the government’s. Clearly, the militants are winning the propaganda war,” commented a national newspaper journalist, who also asked not to be named.
Mr Fazl Ullah’s response to the campaign came in two headline-grabbing hit lists: one issued on Jan 25 was a who’s who list of the region’s politicians, ranging from members of the federal parliament to ministers of the North West Frontier provincial government and local government representatives. The second, broadcast on Feb 3, extended the ultimatum to all employees of the state, judges and lawyers.
The earlier of the two is seen largely as propaganda; all but a handful fled to Peshawar and Islamabad in mid-2007, when violence first erupted in the area. The latter edict has been immediately effective, causing an instant and indefinite suspension of the judiciary, in effect the last functioning arm of the state.
Amid the upsurge in violence, the resident population is in as much danger of being killed by poorly aimed artillery guns as they are from the Taliban.
Mr Ala ud Din estimates more than 1,000 civilians have died as collateral damage since 2007, and about 200,000 have been displaced. Those remaining are confined to their homes during curfews that are often longer than officially announced, often without electricity and amid constant shortages of food and household goods.
Understandably, many residents are outright paranoid of the government, and especially of security forces.
“Do they mean to say that you can’t track publicly published cellular phone numbers or a radio station that broadcasts for two-and-a-half hours daily?” mocked an affluent refugee resident in Islamabad.
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
ANP female MPs to visit Swat](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\02\07\story_7-2-2009_pg7_14)
By Zakir Hassnain
PESHAWAR: A delegation of female parliamentarians from the Awami National Party (ANP) will soon visit Swat to assess the damage caused to girls’ schools there and to express solidarity with women who suffer the most in the current law and order situation in the restive valley.
The parliamentarians on Friday announced formation of a ‘women peace jirga’ and two committees to monitor the deteriorating law and order in Swat, assess damage to girls’ schools and suffering of women and children and raise funds.
“Militants are targeting girls’ schools and destroying them and women are suffering. We condemn destruction of schools,” MPA Shagufta Malik said at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club.
Shagufta said ANP leader Zahra Khattak was the convener of the organising committee while ANP MPA Zubaida Ehsan and former MPA Farah Aqil Shah were the committee members. She said the organising committee would contact other democratic parties and civil society organisations to cooperate with the ANP MPs and help them find a solution to the problems of women in Swat.
Shagufta said National Assembly Member Jamila Gilani was the convener of the fund-raising committee while ANP Peshawar District President Nasreen Bukhari and MPA Musarrat Shafi were its members. “To start with, ANP female MPs would donate their one-month salary and appeal to party workers to provide financial assistance for the women and displaced people of Swat,” she said.
Shagufta said the delegation would consist of the organising committee and ANP female MNAs and MPAs. “The delegation will shortly go to Swat to assess the damage caused to girls schools, express solidarity with women and collect details of the internally displaced persons,” said MNA Bushra Gohar.
Bushra denied that ANP parliamentarians did not visit the troubled areas themselves and said, “We go to Swat. We have got votes from Swat,” she said. However, Bushra added, it was not ANP’s responsibility alone. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to restore peace in Swat,” said the ANP MNA.
She said schools would open in March and the government would make alternative arrangements for schools, which were completely destroyed.
Jamila said the ANP ‘women peace jirga’ would contact other political parties and civil society activists within a month and provide them one platform to find a solution to the conflict in Swat.
Pakistans War: On The Front Line
A must must must watch for everyone !
Rageh Omaar of Al-Jazeera Tv gets exclusive access to the Pakistani army in their full-scale military offensive against fighters on the frontier with Afghanistan.
Part-1
Part-2
Part-3
Part-4
Re: The Swat Crisis - News, Articles, Opinions
The Cambridge chaplain fighting fanaticism by radio in Pakistan’s Swat valley](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/4742533/The-Cambridge-chaplain-fighting-fanaticism-by-radio-in-Pakistans-Swat-valley.html)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01319/butt1_1319031c.jpg
Militant broadcasters, whose followers have all but wrenched the area from Pakistani government control, use the airwaves as a bully pulpit, announcing the names of people they have killed.
For listeners who do not share their dream of turning the area into a Taliban mini-state, however, there is an alternative setting for the dial: courtesy of a local DJ whose more natural audience might be the well-heeled commuters of his native Surrey.
John Butt, a Cambridge University chaplain who was brought up in the affluent suburb of Walton-on-Thames, first set foot in Swat after arriving from neighbouring Afghanistan in 1969, when the area was a popular stop on the Asian hippy trail.
Charmed by the valley’s rugged beauty and the simple lifestyle of its people, he converted to Islam, trained as a mullah, and has lived there ever since.
Facing the prospect of his adopted homeland being wrecked by the weapons of religious fanatics, he has fought back by setting up his own radio station dedicated to countering the militants’ extremist message. The station - a current affairs and discussion broadcast which he describes as the local answer to BBC Radio’s Five Live - offers more traditional and moderate interpretations of the Koran.
“It is a Five Live for the border region,” said Mr Butt, 58, referring to the long, mountainous Pakistan-Afghan frontier. “The radicals use radio as a method to propagate militancy, But in fact the theology on which they base their arguments is quite shallow. As far as tradition is concerned, they don’t have a strong case.”
Once known as the “Switzerland of the Himalayas” for its ski resorts, grand mountain views, lush pine forests and turquoise lakes, Swat has been over-run in recent years by militants from Pakistan’s lawless tribal regions.
Last week the Pakistani government agreed to let the militants impose Islamic law on Swat in return for a cease fire with the 20,000 government troops who have tried and failed to quell the insurgency.
The deal - which is also likely to involve an amnesty for the extremists responsible for a wave of bombings and murders - has drawn criticism from the West, with the American government saying it was worried about “a surrender” to the Taliban.
Mr Butt, who wears the traditional long robes and skull cap of a south Asian mullah, also fears the arrival of a warped form of Sharia heavily reliant on corporal punishment.
“For Sharia to be implemented properly, you need theologians, jurists, thinkers and judges to come up with a complete system,” he said. “But there’s a danger that they will simply introducing floggings. As a theologian and a citizen, I worry about that.”
Mr Butt says much of the blame lies with the Pakistani army, whom he claims used heavy handed tactics in their efforts to fight the militants. The brunt of the recent fighting has fallen on the shoulders of civilians - the Taliban has bombed girls’ schools and the government forces have shelled villages suspected of harbouring militants.
When he last took the long drive through the valley, Mr Butt came upon the scene of a devastated village. “Women were crying on the side of the road, besides themselves with anguish and grief,” he said. “They told me that if they refuse to shelter militants they will be attacked. If they accept, the government will target them.”
He also points to the West’s role in the origins of the conflict by encouraging the foreign radicals who flooded into Afghanistan in the 1980s to wage jihad against the Soviet Union.
Mr Butt, who spends part of his year as the Muslim chaplain of Cambridge University, studied for 13 years of at the Dar ul-Uloom Deoband, the most influential Muslim seminary in south Asia. He set up the Pact radio station in 2004, staffed by local reporters he trained himself, to help disseminate the views of local people.
His programmes argue that the superficial - and dangerous - ideas preached by militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are a deviation from the more profound message of Islam.
To reinforce these points, Mr Butt has tried to recruit reporters from local madrassahs because students with a strict religious training are better equipped to rebut extremism.
One man who can attest to the dire conditions that now prevail in Swat is Waqar Ahmad Khan, a local politician whose brother and two nephews were murdered by the Taliban.
“Armed men surrounded my brother’s house at night,” he said. “They found my two nephews and shot them in front of my brother. Then they shot him and the servants and destroyed the house.”
Mr Khan faces the wrath of the Taliban himself: he is one of 45 men who have been ordered by them to stand before a religious court or face death. He has so far declined their offer.
But he is standing against a movement in the ascendency. The Taliban are able to play on local grievances about the state of secular justice - the corruption of the police, the bureaucratic inertia of the courts, and the heavy-handedness of the army. He said a recent army offensive had killed more than 1,200 civilians but little over 100 Taliban.
“The militants used the name of Islam and the common people extended their support in the hope that they would get easy and speedy justice,” said Mr Khan. “I myself am a supporter of Sharia, but Sharia does not allow the killing of innocent people.”
Enjoying better access to the villages and mosques than any other Westerner, Mr Butt has come to believe that the West has committed a serious strategic blunder in the fight against extremists.
For the proud mountain people of the border region, the vendetta is a central element of personal honour - and is now being turned against the West.
“One big reason is that the West wants to solve problems by force,” he said. “They create 100 enemies every time they kill 10 people with an air strike aimed at one militant.”
As President Barack Obama orders another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, he fears the war will be escalated. And while Mr Butt and his colleagues have so far escaped threats from the Taliban, he admits that the situation has deteriorated - creating a far more dangerous working environment.
“Our programmes were making a difference and grew very popular,” said Mr Butt. “But with things the way they have been recently, it was like standing in the face of a torrent. It’s very hard to say we’re making a difference - but I think we are making a start on making a difference.”
Additional reporting by Emal Khan in Peshawar