dagblog - Comments for "In Pakistan, Death by Drone Turns a Villain Into a Martyr"

Maybe you are casually

A Guy Called LULU — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 15:56:44 +0000

Maybe you are casually thinking of the Taliban as a completely removed, completely different kind of person than the non-Taliban common people they are interacting with. But they largely come from the same or similar culture don't they. In the old South not everyone was a racist bigot and not all the racist bigots joined the KKK, but a KKK murderer could be set free by a jury that knew damned well he was a killer and most the vocal community would support it. Those who didn't would mostly keep their mouths shut. No doubt sometimes there were persons on the jury who would have liked to have seen justice as you and/or I would see justice today, but would not hold out or even speak up for it among their peers.
Getting way out in tortured-metaphor-land, imagine if a more morally advanced African country's more morally enlightened leaders sent some snipers to start picking off some clan leaders so as to put a stop to lynchings. They swore convincingly that their targets needed killing and so their own electorate supported them, partly because they believed it when told that the snipers were precise in their aim, that it was always at known bad guys, but the locals in Selma, for instance, knew for a fact that sometimes the foreign gunner found his target in a crowded place and opened up at him with a machine gun or grenade launcher. It's not hard to imagine where the most bitter feelings would be directed, even among those citizens who would like to see the Klansmen dealt with justly.

I understand Pakistanis

Aaron Carine — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 14:30:38 +0000

In reply to Why Pakistan Lionizes Its

I understand Pakistanis hating us for the drone strikes, but it is somewhat surprising that they are soft on the Taliban, which has killed more innocent Pakistanis than we have. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I guess.

Why Pakistan Lionizes Its

artappraiser — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:48:11 +0000

In reply to In Pakistan, Death by Drone Turns a Villain Into a Martyr

Why Pakistan Lionizes Its Tormenters
By Mohammed Hanif, News Desk @ newyorker.com, Nov. 14, 2013

[....] Why does Pakistan’s political and military élite celebrate the very people it is fighting? The logic—or its absence—goes like this: Hakimullah Mehsud was our enemy. But the United States is also our enemy. So how dare the Americans kill him? And how dare they kill him when we had made up our minds to talk to him? If the United States is talking to the Afghan Taliban, why can’t we talk to our own Taliban?

According to Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, our Taliban are not a fighting force with clear goals but merely people “who are mentally disturbed and confused.” These confused people have attacked mosques, Air Force bases, and anyone who looks remotely like a Shiite; in Swat, they barred all women from leaving home without a male companion. Not to mention shutting down girls’ schools. (One of my friends and fellow-journalists once told one of Fazlullah’s commanders, You can get away with slitting people’s throats in public squares, but shut down girls’ schools, and there will be a lot of very irritated and angry parents. The commander was not persuaded.)

The popular narrative in Pakistan holds that the Taliban’s fight is simply a reaction to American drone strikes: [....]

I think the above may be a

artappraiser — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 05:26:56 +0000

In reply to Enter Fazlullah Editorial,

I think the above may be a variation of the classic Pakistani refrain" "if all else fails, blame Karzai." (After all, India is in chahoots with him, etc.) And then Karzai always responds with equally fervent accusations against Pakistan.

Who to believe? Well one thing Karzai has for points is that he kept implying where Osama bin Laden was for years, and he was right.

Admit I may be wrong on this, as haven't kept up on my Af-Pak reading like I used to, not since Syed Saleem Shahzad was killed in 2011.

Enter Fazlullah Editorial,

artappraiser — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 04:45:37 +0000

In reply to In Pakistan, Death by Drone Turns a Villain Into a Martyr

Enter Fazlullah
Editorial, The News International (Pakistan,) Nov. 09, 2013

The TTP’s decision to appoint the man known to the world as Mullah Radio as its new leader makes the prospects of peace talks as distant as ever [....] The current outbreak of polio in Pakistan and the near-constant attacks on polio workers can be traced back to his propaganda [....] Even by the blood-soaked standards of the Taliban, Fazlullah was a particularly brutal leader. He took advantage of a ceasefire with the military to build an alternative administrative structure all over Swat, which included parallel courts known for their speedy dispensation of justice. But ultimately his rule centred on violence against anyone who didn’t agree with him. Everyone from music shop owners to sellers of computers was targeted by his mobs. The main square in Mingora became known as ‘Khooni Chowk’ for all the bodies Fazlullah’s government hung there. Despite this, the government still attempted peace [....]

In the coming days there may be an attempt to whitewash some of Fazlullah’s earlier crimes and play down his extremism. That temptation should be resisted. Negotiations with him have been tried but they were an utter failure. The ANP government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was even willing to accept the retrogressive Nizam-e-Adl to try and kick-start negotiations with Fazlullah but the man was simply too committed to his cause to give in at all. Fazlullah’s elevation will garner even more scrutiny because there are some doubts about his connections with the government in Afghanistan [....]

New Taliban chief could push Pakistan to military action
Daily Times (Pakistan,) Nov. 9, 2013

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban’s appointment of a new hardline leader opposed to peace talks and with a long history of attacks against the military could push the army into launching a fresh offensive, analysts said Friday.

The election of Maulana Fazlullah, notorious for leading the militants’ brutal two-year rule in Swat valley, is like a “red rag to a bull”, one analyst said. It could also raise tensions with Kabul at a critical juncture as US-led forces withdraw from Afghanistan after 12 years of war. While Kabul has long accused Islamabad of supporting the Afghan Taliban, Fazlullah has orchestrated cross-border attacks from his hideout in eastern Afghanistan, and Pakistan suspects its neighbour’s intelligence services of supporting him [....]

Dynamics of militancy after

artappraiser — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 04:14:35 +0000

In reply to In Pakistan, Death by Drone Turns a Villain Into a Martyr

Dynamics of militancy after Fazlullah’s surprise pick
By Zulfiqar Ali, Dawn.com, Nov. 9, 2013

[....] Now, dynamics of TTP militancy have changed with the appointment of Fazlullah. For the first time, TTP would be controlled by non-Mehsud from across the border.

Fazlullah is sitting in Afghanistan while his deputy chief belongs to Swabi district. This new development will trigger blame game between Islamabad and Kabul.

Fazlullah who had claimed killing of Maj-Gen Sanaullah Niazi in Upper Dir on September 15 and also owned cross border attacks on security forces in Malakand Division is wanted to Pakistani government. The government had announced Rs 5 millions head money on Fazlullah.

Security analyst Brig (r) Mahmood Shah accused Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) of patronising Mullah Fazlullah.

“Afghan government claims that Pakistan is supporting insurgency in Afghanistan so Kabul is supporting Pakistani Taliban,” he said, but as whole the situation was in favour of Pakistan.

But, Brig (r) Shah said, shifting of leadership from Mehsud to Fazlullah would certainly weaken TTP and this is an opportunity for the government to take advantage of the vacuum [....]

much more there...

The iron fist of Maulana

artappraiser — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 04:06:49 +0000

In reply to In Pakistan, Death by Drone Turns a Villain Into a Martyr

The iron fist of Maulana Fazlullah
New Tehreek-e-Taliban chief fought army to standstill, killed those who crossed him, and ordered attacks on schools.
By Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera English, 08 Nov 2013 15:55

[....] As chief of the local chapter of the TTP in Swat, Fazlullah drove civil and military authorities out of the area in 2007, before finally signing a peace agreement with the government in 2009.

The agreement, dubbed the "Nizam-e-Adl" (system of justice), granted the TTP virtual control over Swat and implemented their interpretation of Sharia law, in exchange for the cessation of hostilities.

It soon disintegrated, however, when Fazlullah's men attempted to expand their sphere of control to neighbouring Buner district.

As a result, Pakistani forces moved into Swat for the second time in two years, resulting in hundreds of deaths and millions of civilians displaced. Fazlullah was finally driven out of the valley by September 2009, with several of his top commanders captured.

But while the government and civilians rebuilt lives in the valley, Fazlullah continued to conduct operations in Swat remotely, from neighbouring Dir district and, as many locals tell Al Jazeera, the Afghan border provinces of Kunar and Nuristan.

From his base, Fazlullah ordered the targeted killings of elders who led peace committees against the Taliban, as well as rights activists. Among the dozens of people the Taliban killed or attempted to kill during this time was Malala Yousafza [....]

[....] His rise culiminated in him leading Eid prayers in the valley's Kabal ground in 2007, an occasion that saw thousands fall in line behind him as he raised the cry of "Sharia or martyrdom!" [.....]

His group had already established a parallel court system, and he outlawed the operation of businesses such as CD shops, which his group believed to be against Islam. They also carried out attacks against dozens of girls schools, based on the assertion that women should only receive an Islamic education.

During his time in control, Fazlullah ruled over Swat with an iron fist, publically executing both those who would stood against him and those who his group deemed to have violated Sharia law [....]

Okay, but let's clarify

Aaron Carine — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 02:43:54 +0000

In reply to you are a bit behind the

Okay, but let's clarify something. That a lot of Arabs have the same gripes that the terrorists have doesn't mean that giving them what they want(cutting off aid to Israel, pulling troops out of Saudi Arabia) won't mean "redressing the grievances of the Jihadists". Chomsky, Zinn, and the others were advocating appeasement as a way to make the terrorists stop. They weren't saying "do this only for the Arabs who don't support terrorism, not for the jihadists".

you are a bit behind the

jollyroger — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 01:24:49 +0000

In reply to Jollyroger, you are a bit

you are a bit behind the times

con respetto, you cited the work, I only ported a quote from it. If it was written by an author now dead, and thus addresses issues which time has altered, call me pisher.

"the tragedy of Andalusia

jollyroger — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 01:19:12 +0000

In reply to I don't think anything you

"the tragedy of Andalusia

Now you touch with eerie clairvoyance upon my family history...

Roger I (aka, Roger the Impatient) who failed to wait and marshall all his forces before attacking the invading Tuarag vanguard of the Caliphate in 711 at Cordoba. The resulting closure of the Mediterranean brought on The Dark Age that enveloped Europe for 700 years. On behalf of the entire family, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincerest possible regrets of the most profound nature for this interruption in the march of human progress……………