Swat diary: ‘Taleban rule now’ |
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Militant Taleban sympathisers are fighting for control of Swat
Munir (not his real name), an administrator in the Swat region of north-west Pakistan, describes the challenges of daily life in his valley as the Taleban and the army vie for influence. In recent weeks, he says, the Taleban have gained the upper hand and are making their presence felt in brutal fashion.
I know I always say the situation is terrible. And each time I find myself saying it, I am aware it has got worse.Over the last five to six days 13 bodies have been found in our area. In Mingora [capital of Swat] bodies are laid out in the square called Green Chowk. Hundreds come and look at the dead bodies. Sometimes they have been beheaded, sometimes they are just shot. Over the last few months the number of people killed in my village alone is in double digits. Some of them are villagers, others are frontiers corps and sometimes we see total strangers just lying there. But recently there was a terrible death in our village. It happened while I was away. It was a prominent man who spoke against the Taleban and tried to unite people against them. He was shot dead.
The deadline of 15 January that the Taleban have set for girls schools to close down is a false deadline. Schools have already closed.Dozens have been burned to the ground. My two nieces were going to school and now they just stay at home. Nobody dares to educate girls now. People are very sad about this but they are more sad about the dead bodies. People are really becoming very upset about this problem. ‘Beatings’ And the Taleban are taking power, they are going up in the world. Last night I saw for myself in my village that they had painted on walls signs saying: “Do not smoke” and “do not sell hashish”. It is frightening to see these things painted around your home. In a village close by militants entered people’s homes and broke television sets and beat the owners using terrible force on them. They walk about warning people not to smoke and sell cigarettes or hashish. Some people in our village smoke hashish and opium. The people who were seen smoking during Ramadan were taken by the Taleban, beaten and their mobiles were broken. ‘People leaving’ Most of the Taleban in my area are local villagers, I have come to believe now. Or at least people who were close friends of the Taleban. Things have changed a lot recently as the Taleban have gained more power in this region. They have guns, weapons, they have got everything. So I think this makes people want to become one of them. Some people are leaving. My uncle’s old home has been occupied by the Taleban. They have total control of his village. Many of the homes there were razed to the ground when the Taleban battled the army – but the Taleban are still there, although many villagers have left. Here, nobody really fully knows who belongs to the Taleban. The militants are obvious, the sympathisers are not. There is no trust. The issue becomes complicated when reporters come to the district. Nobody is willing to talk to them. Everyone is scared. |
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January 12, 2009
Swat diary: ‘Taleban rule now’ BBC NEWS
Posted by ayeshahalam under Ayeshah Alam, BBC, current affairs, dangerous, Islam, opinion, Pakistan, politics | Tags: Swat, Taliban, terrorism |[3] Comments
Here, nobody really fully knows who belongs to the Taleban. The militants are obvious, the sympathisers are not. 
Ayeshah Alam's Weblog 
January 12, 2009 at 10:09 am
If you go back to my older posts… this is something we have been crying out about for how long… .did it on my tv show… did on the radio and yet because Swat is an area that is “UP THERE” somewhere….no one has been paying attention…if they have made it to Swat…its only a matter of time before they get down to Islamabad as well….. and the rest of the country….. the rich and elite will flee leaving those who are unable to leave, deal with the mess they have left .
January 28, 2009 at 11:52 pm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) – PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Terrorists Control Large Portions of Pakistani Territory
Taliban broadcast “Wanted” lists in Swat Valley
By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
PAKISTAN (ANS) — Serious charges about security in Pakistan have been provided to ANS by a reliable source in Pakistan speaking on condition of anonymity.
The anonymous source said in an e-mail that Pakistan’s government needs to make clear its real intentions.
He said that while Pakistan tells India, the U.S. and the rest of the world that the country doesn’t allow terrorists to operate internally, the Taliban has successfully consolidated its control in the Swat Valley during the last year.
The source charged the Taliban in Swat with an ongoing reign of terror.
He said, “They have banned women from the marketplace, killed dozens of innocent people everyday and left their bodies in the street or hanging on a pole in a busy shopping area, some of them headless.”
He said among other atrocities, Taliban members in Swat have also “bombed 200 schools, banned girls’ education in the whole valley (preventing 80,000 girls from going to school), killed politicians, policeman and their relatives, destroyed dozens of homes, destroyed barber shops where men had their beards trimmed, blown up music shops and threatened bus drivers with suicide bombers if they do not stop playing music on their buses.”
The source told ANS that police officers are rarely seen in public and when they travel, they have a military escort. In addition, he said, the Peshawar High Court has said it plans to close its courts in Swat because of an inability to function under current conditions. There is also a plan, he said, as a result of pressure from the Taliban, to legalize Shariah (Islamic) law in much of the province.
“In light of this,” the source said, “people need to know what the prime minister, president and others in leadership positions mean when they say that they will not allow terrorists to operate on its soil. If they are so concerned about other countries respecting their sovereignty, they should explain to the rest of us why they allow these evil men to continue to flagrantly violate the constitution of Pakistan.”
The source asked, “When will these leaders, who were elected less than a year ago, finally decide to take a stand and protect the very people who elected them to office?”
The source concluded his comments by saying the international media need to put a spotlight on this issue, and start asking the government hard questions.
ANS discovered that some media are already drawing attention to the situation. In a story by Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich in Britain’s Independent newspaper, the writers reported that Taliban members in the Swat Valley are issuing “wanted lists” for four dozen people they plan to bring before makeshift Shariah courts.
The Independent said that in one of his “notorious” radio broadcasts, Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah named politicians and government officials “wanted” by the militants.
“These people encouraged military operations in the area and are responsible for the killings of Taliban and civilians,” the Independent reported the cleric said.
The Independent said the list’s creation is the latest threat from the militants who now control more than three-quarters of the Swat Valley, one of Pakistan’s most celebrated tourist areas.
In recent weeks, the Independent said, their brutality has increased with a series of public executions and the issuing of a number of edicts.
The Independent reported that a spokesman for the Taliban said the wanted list was drawn up following a meeting chaired by Fazlullah.
“All of them will have to appear before the Taliban court, or they will face action,” the Independent reported Muslim Khan, a spokesman for the Swat Taliban, told The News newspaper.

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is “The Face of Homelessness.” Additional details are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com. Reynalds’ latest book is “We All Need a Little Help.” It was released on October 3 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 400-7145.

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February 17, 2009 at 8:19 pm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) – PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
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Tuesday, February 16, 2009
The Taliban have won!
By special correspondent to ANS
PAKISTAN (ANS) — A resident of Pakistan has told ANS that the Taliban already controls 2/3rds of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of the country, and the provincial capital, Peshawar, continues to get “squeezed” from all sides.
“If it falls, the rest of the province will too, and what’s to stop them from spreading to other parts of Pakistan? This is a worse-case scenario, but it’s already starting,” the contact told ANS.
He went on to say that today (Monday Feb 16), the Provincial Assembly of the NWFP bowed to pressure from the Taliban and stamped their approval on a peace deal between the Taliban of the Swat valley and the NWFP government, which was reached the day before.
“This new law, which applies to only one portion of the province, agrees to implement Sharia Law, a parallel system of justice, a key demand of the Taliban for the past two years,” he said. “Sharia law promises swift justice, something that the people from this valley have been wanting for a long time.
“Unfortunately, instead of responding to this need and fixing the current system of justice, the government has largely ignored this problem over the years. The Taliban have exploited this weakness.
“Between their brutal tactics and the vast collateral damage caused by the Pakistan military offensive these past few weeks, the people of Swat are now begging to have Sharia — not because they want it, but because it is the only way to stop the intense fighting that has been going on in the valley.
“The Taliban have killed and then publicly displayed the dead bodies of anyone opposed to them. On the other side, the Pakistan military has killed more civilians than Taliban insurgents, and destroyed more homes of innocent people than those used to support the Taliban. Large portions of entire villages have been leveled by Pakistan military operations.
“It’s impossible at this point to know how many have been killed because journalists cannot access the area, but some residents from the Swat valley (where some of the heaviest fighting is taking place) say that between 10 and 50 civilians are killed for every 1 Talib (singular form of Taliban). It’s no wonder that most in the valley see the Pakistan military as the bigger threat.”
He said that during the last week, large crowds of people have been marching in the streets of the major city there, demanding the government to implement Sharia law. They see this as the only way to stop the fighting.
“The government is too weak, or not committed to ending the growing militancy, and are willing to compromise with the Taliban in hopes that they will lay down their arms,” he went on to say.
“Ironically, two headlines in the Daily Times (Lahore, Saturday February 14) shows the confusion that exists at the highest levels of government — President Asif Ali Zardari claims that force is the only option to end militancy. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, on the other hand says that the military option is not he only option. They each made their respective public statements following a joint meeting with the head of Pakistan’s intelligence agency (ISI) who briefed them on the situation in FATA and Swat.
“The fact is, the people of Swat are convinced that the military and militancy are actually two sides of the same coin. Whether this is true or not, and only those within these two establishments can answer that question, neither the civilian government nor the people of Swat have the power to overcome and restore an everlasting peace. So it is not surprising that when people have to decide between continued war or peace, they will choose peace, regardless of the price.”
The ANS contact concluded by saying, “The sad reality is that people’s optimism will be short-lived. While the government is busy making itself look good, the Taliban, which has been emboldened by this victory, will regroup, grow even stronger and plan strategies for further expansion. Based on their progress thus far, it seems likely that by the end of this year, the government of Pakistan will retain only minimal control of the North West Frontier Province.”
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