Taliban fail to win people hearts in Swat, Pakistan

By Khalid Kheshgi

 

KALAM, SWAT, July 29: Said Rehman, a cab-driver in Swat, has no love or sympathy for the firebrand cleric Maulana Fazlullah and his men but he cannot express his hate for them in public as he believes his negative remarks would land his entire family in trouble.

“I know that there would be no one there to help me out, not even the security agencies, if they happen to lay hands on me,” the 35-year old taxi driver, who described his name as Said Rehman, told this scribe while coming from scenic Kalam valley to Mingora on Sunday.

Majority of people, particularly hoteliers, transporters and traders in Swat have put the blame on militants, military and media for the prevailing unrest and turmoil in the picturesque valley where hundreds of tourists and picnickers used to throng the area during summer seasons in past. The striking of peace agreement between the NWFP government and Maulana Fazlullah-led Taliban failed to restore the confidence of local people as well as tourists as neither the militants had stopped their activities or the military had removed the check posts on various roads in the former princely state Swat. Similarly, local correspondents of the media, particularly electronic media, misreporting or exaggerating the things in order to take lead from their contemporary channels and organizations.

Like Said Rehman, hundreds of traders and businessmen have the same feelings about the local Taliban and Pakistan army troops present in Swat, however, the political party workers, members of civil societies and local landlords have the courage to own the claim of holding responsible a handpicked group and military men

for the whole mess in Swat.

“I appreciate the NWFP government for striking a peace deal with the local Taliban as it would at least expose the real face and their design of those who had hypnotized the beguile people through emotional speeches,” an ANP activist Abdul Mateen in Bahrain said. He said if the government had promised to implement Sharia system and compensate the damages then the so-called Taliban have no justification to continue their violent activities in the area. However, he added, the army troops should also remove unnecessary check posts and go back to the barracks.

The crisis in Swat, surfaced in August last year, had and is still adversely affecting the tourism, hotel industry and people associated to it during last summer and this year despite the fact that the scenic Kalam, Bahrain, Miandam and Madain remained calm and peaceful during this period. “Besides militants and military, the media also played dirty role in the prevailing crisis, which resulted in the lowering of tourism,” manager of Khyber Hotel in Kalam said. He said their main customers from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Karachi, Lahore and other big cities of country did not turn to Kalam where they used to spend weeks in the months of June, July and August. “A person in Karachi or Lahore is relying on media, which present a negative side of the Swat valley,” Gohar Rehman, manager of Miandam Palace Hotel in Miandam, said and added that on one hand the Punjab government as well as private sectors had provided each and every facilities to the tourists and businessmen community in Murree while on the other the NWFP government had yet to announce any special package for restoring the confidence of tourists and businessmen in Swat.

However, it does not mean that the clashes between militants and military in Swat had pushed the lovers of natural beauty to other resorts and picnic spots but one can see dozens of families and individuals from Lahore and Karachi in Kalam where they got rooms in luxurious hotels and guest houses at the lowest rates. “I am addicted to the natural beauty of Swat valley for the last many years where the snow-capped mountains, splashing waters of the river Swat and lush green forests in Kalam valley have no alternate in Pakistan,” Muhammad Saeed, a trader from Lahore, said, adding that he would stay for longer this time in Swat as the rates are lower compare to the past. He said the security personnel at check posts on Mingora-Bahrain road are meant for the safety and security of local as well as tourists from other cities.  

However, Said Rehman, the cab-driver, who claimed to have permanent customers from Lahore and other big cities of the Punjab, said that unless and until the army did not remove the check posts on various roads, the tourists and motorists would reluctant to visit Kalam valley.

 

Maulana Fazlullah, the militant leader who has played a huge part in creating the violence that today plagues Swat, has warned that suicide bombers are ready to carry out attacks across the country if a military operation is launched. The cleric, who had disappeared from public view ten months ago, has been able to issue his threat at a press conference he addressed in Kabal on July 27. It is of course extraordinary that while militants are apparently able to talk to the media at will, it seems to be impossible for authorities to apprehend these criminals who regularly kill, blackmail and threaten. Surely the time has come when these persons should be treated as offenders who deserve to be tried under the law, rather than protected from it time and time again.

Fazlullah, by charging the authorities with using 'delaying tactics' in complying with the peace deal made in Swat, is of course merely finding excuses for acts of renewed violence committed by his men in the area. As before, a deal has been broken without qualm. The assertion by Fazlullah that the burning of a girls' school in Swat is a 'minor' action, belies his distorted thinking. In no way can this be defended on the grounds of religion. Fazlullah is a man who has been known in the past to roam the Swat area on horseback, wielding a sword, as people handed over money and jewellery to him. Such acts of extortion are well-known in the area. The blackmailing of authorities too is not new. It is obviously pointless to engage in dialogue with such men. They must be treated as the criminals that they are and not permitted to hide behind the convenient mask of religious belief.

 

 

15-point peace deal signed between NWFP government and Swat based Taliban on May 21, 2008:

1-To accept and honour the writ of the federal and provincial governments

2-Shariat-e-Muhammadi would be implemented in erstwhile Malakand Division in letter and spirit.

3-The militants would not malign religions of other citizens.

4-The cases of the (Taliban) prisoners would be reviewed and a decision about their release would be made.

5-The government is assured that its law enforcement agencies, government officials, buildings and installations, police stations, police officials, Police Lines, Army, Frontier Corps, Frontier Constabulary, bridges, roads and electricity installations would not be attacked. There would be a ban on keeping private militia. The Taliban would denounce and disown suicide attacks, remote-controlled bomb blasts and bomb blasts in all private, government buildings and shops.

6-The Army would be gradually sent back to barracks in accordance with the prevailing situation.

7-All foreign militants would be handed over to the government besides an assurance from the militants that they would not attack barber shops and markets visited by women.

8-The government would look into all damages done during the operations and would compensate all deserving victims.

9-The Taliban would not oppose vaccination against polio, measles, smallpox and TB, including all those administered to children, and would not obstruct women's education.

10-There would be complete ban on the display of weapons and only licensed arms would be allowed.

11-The incidents of kidnapping and car-lifting must be condemned and subsequently eliminated and all those training centres where militants and suicide bombers were being trained would be dismantled besides those places where explosives were being made.

12-In line with the rules of the authorised license, there would be permission to talk on FM radio channel.

13-The local Taliban would cooperate with the government in the investigations of incidents of murders, robbery and other crimes.

14-The government would take action in the area against oppressors, bribe-takers, adulterers, thieves, dacoits and kidnappers in order to rid the society of such elements.

15-An Islamic university would be set up in Mamdheri Complex, which would be run by a joint government-Taliban committee.

 

Ends