Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Pakistan, the Taliban, and Peace Through Diplomacy

Pakistan's national government has found a peaceful means of dealing with the Taliban: giving them what they want. The North West Frontier Province's Malakand region - including the Swat Valley - will be under Islamic law.

Taliban-style, that is.

Maybe it's the best that Pakistan's leadership could do.

If You Liked Afghanistan in the Nineties, You'll Love Tomorrow's Swat

I'm not at all comfortable with the situation: I remember what the Taliban did when they were running Afghanistan. And, although someone explained that blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas was the fault of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the United Nations, and the world community in general (I'm not making this up), I think the Taliban is responsible. It was their explosives, used at their orders.

I regret the ancient statues' destruction, and believe that the AIIS slide show of the Bamiyan Buddhas just isn't the same as having the real thing available.

The real problem with the Taliban is that they don't stop with destroying statues that offend their notion of what Islam ought to be. Between flogging women, cutting off thieves' hands, and stoning adulterers (the women, anyway), the Taliban has a rather blemished record when it comes to human rights.

Islamic Law, Taliban-Style

The Taliban and their supporters wanted their notion of good old-fashioned Islamic law in the northwestern part of Pakistan. So far, in northwest Pakistan, they've destroyed
  • Girl's schools
  • Music shops
  • Barbers
    • (timesonline didn't say whether it was Barber shops or Barbers
Now that that they've gotten the green light from Islamabad, they may start getting more hard nosed about making people follow their particular flavor of Islam.

I'm glad I don't live there.

Related posts: News and views:

1 comment:

Brigid said...

*head desk*

Just when you thought things couldn't get worse...

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.