AgNoStiC MuSliM
ADVISORS
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2007
- Messages
- 25,259
- Reaction score
- 87
- Country
- Location
Letters/opinions published in the News - not one that isn't critical of the Taliban.
Time to take on the Taliban head-on
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Taliban are going around toting guns, flogging women, blowing up schools, killing and raping people, and no one is stopping them. We the sons and daughters of this great country of the Indus must and will stop the Taliban. We must fight them for every inch of Pakistan. They destroyed Afghanistan with the help of imperialism. They took billions of dollars from US imperialism to ruin that country, plunge it into chaos, anarchy and backwardness. They destroyed the lives of millions. They call themselves anti-American. They are not anti-American. They are the scum that US imperialism left in our region. They are scoundrels and counter-revolutionaries.
We call on the brave people of Pakistan to fight against the Taliban for every inch of our great country. Every stone is sacred, every field flourishes with our blood and sweat. The Taliban think they can terrorise the Pakistani people with suicide bombs and slaughter. They don't terrorise us. We the great people of Pakistan will fight them and their masters (US imperialism) and liberate our country.
The sons and daughters of Pakistan will throw you into the gutter. If our army refuses to fight, we will raise a new army to fight you, if our parliament surrenders we will raise a new parliament that will fight you. We will never surrender. We will never let our sacred homeland be desecrated by the Taliban or US imperialism. The five rivers of the Punjab will rise in flames and the valleys of Pakhtunkhwa will ring with the battle cry of the people of Pakistan against these marauders and the imperialist masters that created them.
Taimur Rahman
(Laal)
Lahore
*****
The people of Swat especially the businessmen have suffered a lot and they had a lot of hope from Sufi Mohammad. However, after what he said in his speech in Mingora on April 19, the situation in the area is again very grim.
Tajul Haram
Swat
*****
It is fascinating to see the pro-Taliban elements in the media extolling the virtues of giving legitimacy to thugs in Swat and calling others 'liberal extremists'. It was these liberal extremists who spearheaded the non-violent lawyers' movement. It was these liberal fascists who raised their voice when the dictator of the time clamped down on the country on Nov 3, 2007. The lawyers' movement did not resort to any violence despite the violent crackdown.
Ali Ahmed Kurd, despite his fiery speeches, never advocated suicide attacks. Atizaz Ahsan never said that regardless of the results, arms would never be laid down. Their objective was justice for all!
Adnan Cyprian
Riyadh
*****
I am at a loss to understand how and why the Swat Taliban have set up a bureau for facilitating love marriages? I say this because on the one hand they flog a woman because she is walking outside her home with her father-in-law and on the other they are saying to men and to women that they can approach the Taliban if they want to marry the person of their choice. I am most perturbed.
Salman Asghar Yousafzai
Mardan
*****
I am very depressed and disappointed at the promulgation of Nizam-e-Adl in Swat. What is the need for spending a huge chunk of taxpayers' money on the armed forces when they can't even defend their country from a few thousand miscreants?
Emmad Toor
Rawalpindi
*****
Those who heard Sufi Mohammad's speech on April 19 must have been stunned by the man's audacity. Instead of asking the Taliban to lay down their arms, he called the Supreme Court and the high courts un-Islamic. If this is what is going to happen from now on then I am afraid that the ANP has played a very mischievous game with the people of Malakand and left them at the mercy of barbarians.
I am Muslim and I for one cannot for the life of me understand which version of Islam Sufi Mohammad wants to enforce. Does he not know that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and unity? I appeal to the people of Pakistan to forge unity against such elements and expose them.
Nasir Mehmood Shafqi
Mardan
*****
I would most respectfully like to ask the chief of army staff why the military has failed to handle the situation in Swat and FATA. Are the misdirected miscreants and terrorists stronger than the army? How can a nuclear state be so weak that it should be dictated to by a group of terrorists? Some theories in the past -- especially when General Musharraf was in power -- said that these terrorists were like our teeth, which we would show to Europe and America, to make them back off. If that is indeed happening even now, then I am afraid this is a strategy that has thoroughly backfired -- and now is putting Pakistan's very existence in peril.
Instead, it has demoralised the whole nation which is now questioning the need for such a large army when it cannot defend us from these monsters. I would humbly request the government and the military establishment to take immediate action to stem the demoralisation of the nation. We need you to take on the Taliban with unity of purpose and action.
Ashfaq Azmi
Karachi
*****
In the past, political parties have accused the army of engineering the collapse of their governments, covertly or overtly. However, given the abysmal performance of the current setup, perhaps this time, no one would need to make an effort. The way all the 'so-called' secular and democratic parties of the country capitulated to the thugs and terrorists, it is safe to assume that they will die their own natural death. At this point, one hates to admit that given the not-so-charming past of the MQM, at least this time they have proven their secular and democratic nature, giving a feeble hope to the citizens amidst growing depression and frustration with every single day.
On the contrary, the ANP, once the party of Bacha Khan, has lost much of its following and respect in the eyes of many ordinary Pakistanis.
Muhammad Ali Asghar
Islamabad
*****
With the army having walked out of Swat because it could not or would not tackle the militants, would anyone mind explaining what the ANP government should have done other than agreeing to the Nizam-e-Adl regulation?
Mahnaz Qaiser
Peshawar
*****
As a Muslim, as a Pakistani, and as a Pathan, I feel horribly about what is transpiring in the world today. The happenings in Swat are just a reflection of the problem that we all face. Whose side are we on? Do we even have a side? The government, obviously, has failed us in more ways than one and I cannot, with a clear conscience, support our rulers. But, neither can I support the ones who declare democracy to be a sham and who establish their own writ while alluding vaguely to God's law. Sharia is indeed God's law, but does God's law make the likes of Maulana Fazlullah and the Taliban -- the supreme rulers of our beloved Swat?
And to top it all, we as a country are facing a west that believes its actions to be legitimate and that we are incapable of governing ourselves. The picture painted is dismal, but it is for us to forge a path of our own, and to decide what is right and what is wrong. Instead, we've been reduced as a nation which is trying to choose the least of a myriad of evils. At this point, neither the democracy-toting government nor the anti-government factions are the answer. What is the answer? I wish I knew.
Khadija Mahsud
Islamabad
*****
I fail to understand why the mainstream media gives so much importance to the pronouncements of a semi-educated man who has the blood of hundreds of Pakistanis on his hands and who does not recognise the constitution of Pakistan. And by the way, what exam has he passed to qualify for the title of 'maulana'?
Muhammed Islam
Lahore
*****
The NWFP police have gained evidence from the interrogation of terrorists, including a would-be suicide bomber, arrested in connection with the Charsadda bombing, which suggests that the bombing was planned in Swat by Fazlullah. The plan was made in Swat but the responsibility was deliberately taken by Baitullah Mehsud so that Fazlullah escapes any criticism. This clearly shows that Fazlullah is using the Swat peace deal as a cover to conduct more terrorist acts.
This also shows that either Sufi Mohammad is being used or that he has now shown his true colours after declaring the Pakistan constitution as being against Sharia and that calling the high courts and the Supreme Court un-Islamic. In addition the Swat Taliban have invited Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leadership to come to Swat and have safe sanctuary there. This is an open challenge to the government and the state of Pakistan. The government has to act now -- because if it does not then there will be no turning back.
The Charsadda bombing report should be made public and the people and the media be shown exactly what was behind it all. An effective media campaign needs to be launched to expose the real motives of these militants -- enough is enough.
Eschmall Sardar
Peshawar
*****
Another part of my beloved country -- Buner -- has fallen into the growing darkness that is the Taliban. I am dumbstruck by the proportionately growing insensitivity of the country's political and military leadership to this lethal cancer. The president and the prime minister keep saying that terrorism and militancy are our biggest dangers but they are not doing anything at all to put their words into action. I am losing my faith and pride in our military. Do we need a messiah to come from the heavens and take us out of our predicament?
Dr Muhammad Amir
Lahore
*****
Starting from South Waziristan in 2002, the Pakistani Taliban and their Al Qaeda mentors progressively occupied one agency after another. In September of the same year, a 'peace deal' was signed in North Waziristan. The Taliban simply used it to expand their activities to Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, and to attack US and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. Since 2004, the army signed three agreements with militants in FATA and all three failed. After that, the Taliban have steadily advanced into the settled areas. General Musharraf basically lied to the Americans, the Afghans and to the people of Pakistan. His two-faced policies have directly led to the dangerous advance of the Taliban, who now occupy over a third of NWFP.
The 'peace deal' in Swat is another fraud with the people of Pakistan. Sadly, only the MQM had the guts to call a spade a spade, and point out the critical danger the unchecked advance of the Taliban is posing for Pakistan's existence. Our policy makers and particularly the military establishment would do well to remember that Pakistan can sacrifice the Taliban for the sake of its existence but under no circumstances can Pakistan itself be sacrificed for the sake of the Taliban. I appeal to the president and the army chief to please wake up and take resolute action before it is too late.
Tariq Nazir Syed
Rawalpindi
*****
When the flogging video of a girl appeared on the media, representatives of the Taliban denied it by saying that the video was fake. Yesterday I saw a video where four FC personnel were being slaughtered like animals and beheaded. I am sure that not a single horror movie could be compared with this video. I am a religious person, pray five times a day, preferably in the mosque, and fast in Ramazan. But if what I saw in that video is Islam then I should be sorry for being a Muslim.
If it is not so then why those committing such heinous and barbaric crimes are being welcomed and rewarded by the government with a peace deal -- they should be punished with the full force of the law.
Anwar Ali Khan
Islamabad
Time to take on the Taliban head-on
Time to take on the Taliban head-on
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Taliban are going around toting guns, flogging women, blowing up schools, killing and raping people, and no one is stopping them. We the sons and daughters of this great country of the Indus must and will stop the Taliban. We must fight them for every inch of Pakistan. They destroyed Afghanistan with the help of imperialism. They took billions of dollars from US imperialism to ruin that country, plunge it into chaos, anarchy and backwardness. They destroyed the lives of millions. They call themselves anti-American. They are not anti-American. They are the scum that US imperialism left in our region. They are scoundrels and counter-revolutionaries.
We call on the brave people of Pakistan to fight against the Taliban for every inch of our great country. Every stone is sacred, every field flourishes with our blood and sweat. The Taliban think they can terrorise the Pakistani people with suicide bombs and slaughter. They don't terrorise us. We the great people of Pakistan will fight them and their masters (US imperialism) and liberate our country.
The sons and daughters of Pakistan will throw you into the gutter. If our army refuses to fight, we will raise a new army to fight you, if our parliament surrenders we will raise a new parliament that will fight you. We will never surrender. We will never let our sacred homeland be desecrated by the Taliban or US imperialism. The five rivers of the Punjab will rise in flames and the valleys of Pakhtunkhwa will ring with the battle cry of the people of Pakistan against these marauders and the imperialist masters that created them.
Taimur Rahman
(Laal)
Lahore
*****
The people of Swat especially the businessmen have suffered a lot and they had a lot of hope from Sufi Mohammad. However, after what he said in his speech in Mingora on April 19, the situation in the area is again very grim.
Tajul Haram
Swat
*****
It is fascinating to see the pro-Taliban elements in the media extolling the virtues of giving legitimacy to thugs in Swat and calling others 'liberal extremists'. It was these liberal extremists who spearheaded the non-violent lawyers' movement. It was these liberal fascists who raised their voice when the dictator of the time clamped down on the country on Nov 3, 2007. The lawyers' movement did not resort to any violence despite the violent crackdown.
Ali Ahmed Kurd, despite his fiery speeches, never advocated suicide attacks. Atizaz Ahsan never said that regardless of the results, arms would never be laid down. Their objective was justice for all!
Adnan Cyprian
Riyadh
*****
I am at a loss to understand how and why the Swat Taliban have set up a bureau for facilitating love marriages? I say this because on the one hand they flog a woman because she is walking outside her home with her father-in-law and on the other they are saying to men and to women that they can approach the Taliban if they want to marry the person of their choice. I am most perturbed.
Salman Asghar Yousafzai
Mardan
*****
I am very depressed and disappointed at the promulgation of Nizam-e-Adl in Swat. What is the need for spending a huge chunk of taxpayers' money on the armed forces when they can't even defend their country from a few thousand miscreants?
Emmad Toor
Rawalpindi
*****
Those who heard Sufi Mohammad's speech on April 19 must have been stunned by the man's audacity. Instead of asking the Taliban to lay down their arms, he called the Supreme Court and the high courts un-Islamic. If this is what is going to happen from now on then I am afraid that the ANP has played a very mischievous game with the people of Malakand and left them at the mercy of barbarians.
I am Muslim and I for one cannot for the life of me understand which version of Islam Sufi Mohammad wants to enforce. Does he not know that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and unity? I appeal to the people of Pakistan to forge unity against such elements and expose them.
Nasir Mehmood Shafqi
Mardan
*****
I would most respectfully like to ask the chief of army staff why the military has failed to handle the situation in Swat and FATA. Are the misdirected miscreants and terrorists stronger than the army? How can a nuclear state be so weak that it should be dictated to by a group of terrorists? Some theories in the past -- especially when General Musharraf was in power -- said that these terrorists were like our teeth, which we would show to Europe and America, to make them back off. If that is indeed happening even now, then I am afraid this is a strategy that has thoroughly backfired -- and now is putting Pakistan's very existence in peril.
Instead, it has demoralised the whole nation which is now questioning the need for such a large army when it cannot defend us from these monsters. I would humbly request the government and the military establishment to take immediate action to stem the demoralisation of the nation. We need you to take on the Taliban with unity of purpose and action.
Ashfaq Azmi
Karachi
*****
In the past, political parties have accused the army of engineering the collapse of their governments, covertly or overtly. However, given the abysmal performance of the current setup, perhaps this time, no one would need to make an effort. The way all the 'so-called' secular and democratic parties of the country capitulated to the thugs and terrorists, it is safe to assume that they will die their own natural death. At this point, one hates to admit that given the not-so-charming past of the MQM, at least this time they have proven their secular and democratic nature, giving a feeble hope to the citizens amidst growing depression and frustration with every single day.
On the contrary, the ANP, once the party of Bacha Khan, has lost much of its following and respect in the eyes of many ordinary Pakistanis.
Muhammad Ali Asghar
Islamabad
*****
With the army having walked out of Swat because it could not or would not tackle the militants, would anyone mind explaining what the ANP government should have done other than agreeing to the Nizam-e-Adl regulation?
Mahnaz Qaiser
Peshawar
*****
As a Muslim, as a Pakistani, and as a Pathan, I feel horribly about what is transpiring in the world today. The happenings in Swat are just a reflection of the problem that we all face. Whose side are we on? Do we even have a side? The government, obviously, has failed us in more ways than one and I cannot, with a clear conscience, support our rulers. But, neither can I support the ones who declare democracy to be a sham and who establish their own writ while alluding vaguely to God's law. Sharia is indeed God's law, but does God's law make the likes of Maulana Fazlullah and the Taliban -- the supreme rulers of our beloved Swat?
And to top it all, we as a country are facing a west that believes its actions to be legitimate and that we are incapable of governing ourselves. The picture painted is dismal, but it is for us to forge a path of our own, and to decide what is right and what is wrong. Instead, we've been reduced as a nation which is trying to choose the least of a myriad of evils. At this point, neither the democracy-toting government nor the anti-government factions are the answer. What is the answer? I wish I knew.
Khadija Mahsud
Islamabad
*****
I fail to understand why the mainstream media gives so much importance to the pronouncements of a semi-educated man who has the blood of hundreds of Pakistanis on his hands and who does not recognise the constitution of Pakistan. And by the way, what exam has he passed to qualify for the title of 'maulana'?
Muhammed Islam
Lahore
*****
The NWFP police have gained evidence from the interrogation of terrorists, including a would-be suicide bomber, arrested in connection with the Charsadda bombing, which suggests that the bombing was planned in Swat by Fazlullah. The plan was made in Swat but the responsibility was deliberately taken by Baitullah Mehsud so that Fazlullah escapes any criticism. This clearly shows that Fazlullah is using the Swat peace deal as a cover to conduct more terrorist acts.
This also shows that either Sufi Mohammad is being used or that he has now shown his true colours after declaring the Pakistan constitution as being against Sharia and that calling the high courts and the Supreme Court un-Islamic. In addition the Swat Taliban have invited Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leadership to come to Swat and have safe sanctuary there. This is an open challenge to the government and the state of Pakistan. The government has to act now -- because if it does not then there will be no turning back.
The Charsadda bombing report should be made public and the people and the media be shown exactly what was behind it all. An effective media campaign needs to be launched to expose the real motives of these militants -- enough is enough.
Eschmall Sardar
Peshawar
*****
Another part of my beloved country -- Buner -- has fallen into the growing darkness that is the Taliban. I am dumbstruck by the proportionately growing insensitivity of the country's political and military leadership to this lethal cancer. The president and the prime minister keep saying that terrorism and militancy are our biggest dangers but they are not doing anything at all to put their words into action. I am losing my faith and pride in our military. Do we need a messiah to come from the heavens and take us out of our predicament?
Dr Muhammad Amir
Lahore
*****
Starting from South Waziristan in 2002, the Pakistani Taliban and their Al Qaeda mentors progressively occupied one agency after another. In September of the same year, a 'peace deal' was signed in North Waziristan. The Taliban simply used it to expand their activities to Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, and to attack US and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. Since 2004, the army signed three agreements with militants in FATA and all three failed. After that, the Taliban have steadily advanced into the settled areas. General Musharraf basically lied to the Americans, the Afghans and to the people of Pakistan. His two-faced policies have directly led to the dangerous advance of the Taliban, who now occupy over a third of NWFP.
The 'peace deal' in Swat is another fraud with the people of Pakistan. Sadly, only the MQM had the guts to call a spade a spade, and point out the critical danger the unchecked advance of the Taliban is posing for Pakistan's existence. Our policy makers and particularly the military establishment would do well to remember that Pakistan can sacrifice the Taliban for the sake of its existence but under no circumstances can Pakistan itself be sacrificed for the sake of the Taliban. I appeal to the president and the army chief to please wake up and take resolute action before it is too late.
Tariq Nazir Syed
Rawalpindi
*****
When the flogging video of a girl appeared on the media, representatives of the Taliban denied it by saying that the video was fake. Yesterday I saw a video where four FC personnel were being slaughtered like animals and beheaded. I am sure that not a single horror movie could be compared with this video. I am a religious person, pray five times a day, preferably in the mosque, and fast in Ramazan. But if what I saw in that video is Islam then I should be sorry for being a Muslim.
If it is not so then why those committing such heinous and barbaric crimes are being welcomed and rewarded by the government with a peace deal -- they should be punished with the full force of the law.
Anwar Ali Khan
Islamabad
Time to take on the Taliban head-on
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