Pakistan: Exposing the Taliban

Following a peace deal that allowed the imposition of Sharia law in Swat Valley, the Taliban take advantage of Islamabad's weakness, Naveed Ahmad reports for ISN Security Watch.

Two months after reaching a peace deal with the local Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, the army is back on the offensive, attempting to keep the Taliban from moving closer to the capital Islamabad, while the government, enjoying its first consensus against extremism, seeks to regain a modicum of control.

For months, Swat has been the epicenter of militancy in the Malakand Division and the militants there led by pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah. The peace deal brokered by his father-in-law, Sufi Mohammad, with the liberal-minded provincial government is faltering and the Taliban cannot resist spreading their writ to the adjoining areas of Malakand region.

The peace deal, which allowed the external pageimposition of Sharia law in the area, has failed to yield any clear results, with the Taliban attempting to expand their influence to bordering cities and towns not covered under the agreement.

The law introducing Sharia courts in the troubled Malakand division, comprising six northwestern districts including Swat, is viewed by the Taliban as revival of the traditional justice system under which the area was run decades ago. The new law authorized the appointment of judges who would “seek guidance” from the Quran, external pageSunnah and external pageIjma for the purpose of trying cases in accordance with Sharia.

Barrister Zulfiqar Maluka, an expert in Sharia law, told ISN Security Watch he feared not only the creation of a parallel judicial system in Pakistan, but also a domino effect as other conservative areas may seek to impose Sharia law, thereby increasing the Taliban’s writ in neighboring regions.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan denied that the group was installing a parallel judicial system under the new deal.

On 19 April, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, responsible for brokering the peace deal, told his followers that the country’s superior courts were set up on un-Islamic foundations and follow western laws and legal authorities. He called for reforming the superior court along Islamic lines while refusing any right of appeal against the Taliban courts in Malakand Division.

Meanwhile, life in Swat Valley has undergone massive changes. Though markets and offices have reopened, however briefly, and an estimated 100,000 female students have returned to school, the Valley’s once flourishing tourism industry remains at a standstill, as most of the hotels are either in Taliban-controlled areas or their owners are too scared to resume business.

Life in the Sharia territory has become impossible for women, with strict restrictions on dress and even public flogging for appearing at the market with any men aside from their husbands.

“Today, new rules forbid music, painting, sculpting, singing, dancing, theater and it is not peace and security that beckon but the fear of punishment that looms large […]. There is no concept of a peaceful life as a free citizen in areas dominated by the Taliban,” Dr Tariq Rahman, a noted professor from Quad-i-Azam University in Islamabad, told ISN Security Watch.
Most critics see the advance of the Taliban in Swat and adjoining region as an attempt to control the resources and wealth of the region.

The majority of wealthy landlords and influential politicians have been targeted, with their homes raided and Taliban representatives forcing them to leave the area and abandon their possessions to the renegade militia.

Like their mentors in Afghanistan, the local Taliban make most of their money from logging, mining and the collection of toll taxes on vehicles. Marble factories, gem stores and hotels are increasingly falling under Taliban control in the six districts of Malakand division, according to a Peshawar-based senior provincial government official who spoke to ISN Security Watch on condition of anonymity.

Dr Farzana Bari, a civil society activist in Islamabad, criticized what he perceives as the Taliban’s hypocrisy as it seeks to take control of the areas wealth, saying it was ironic that “the same group of radicals is desperately seeking Sharia courts for speedy dispensation of justice.”

Succumbing to the Taliban

The government is under growing pressure from domestic and international forces for succumbing to Taliban firepower and blackmail.

Shaheen Sehbai, an editor with Pakistan’s daily The News, in a recent editorial examined the military’s apparent decision to remain on the sidelines, saying that the Pakistani army had in principle decided to follow the civilian leadership and let it take both the credit and blame for the developments resulting from its policies.

Various developments suggest that the military may be waiting to take advantage of the government’s failure to deal effectively with the Taliban. The worsening situation is likely to change public perception about the Taliban to the military’s benefit. As such, the military may find increasing support for its short and effective military campaigns against the Taliban.

Such was the case with the Pakistani army’s most recent external pagecampaign, on Tuesday, in which it killed over 80 militants to gain control of a key town in Buner district in the northwest, less than 100 kilometers from Islamabad. The militants had reportedly taken over police stations and kidnapped more than 50 security forces in an apparent external pageresponse to a US missile attack that killed at least five alleged militants in South Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan.

New consensus against extremism

While the Sharia peace deal in Swat has exposed the Taliban’s true designs for Pakistan and its penchant for further expanding its powers, it has also worked to create a consensus within the political leadership against extremism.

The government is now enjoying more political support than it has since its inception. All the political parties - including the Pan-Islamist Jama’at-i-Islami - have voiced opposition to the imposition of Sharia law. Pakistani political analyst Ershad Mahmud, told ISN Security Watch that this support would give the new government much-needed confidence to deal with the Taliban threat.

“For the first time since 9/11, the Pakistani nation has understood the nature and intensity of the threat posed to the country by extremism […]. It is a time for a quick and effective military operation to eradicate these handful clergymen,” analyst Ershad Mahmud, a writer for the Times, told ISN Security Watch.

Certain high-ranking officials, however, caution against allowing western allies to call the shots and warn that the government could pay the price politically if it is seen to be toeing Washington’s line.

“Each drone attack by NATO forces in Afghanistan-bordering tribal areas questions Pakistan’s unrelenting support in the war against the Taliban and makes it more difficult for the politicians to defend their position,” politician Imran Khan told ISN Security Watch. 

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