The fascist Taliban

The cruelty and barbarity of the Taliban has forced the state into submission. The deal with the Taliban in Swat remains in place uptill now - which has brought some respite for the citizens of that beleaguered area. but the Taliban is just buying time before they unleash and expand into other areas of Pakistan. This is very much the quiet before an impending storm of cruelty.

The media coverage has been topsy turvy regarding the Swat debacle especially in the western press. The following articles by Rahmillullah Yusufzai, Kamran Arif and Manzoor Ali which i found through the excellent Pakistan tea House blog - give much needed insight into the cause and effect of the Swat tragedy. Read and reflect!

Disarray

The Lahore attack aftermath shows all the signs of a government in total disarray. Two days have passed and yet scant little is known about the attack that took place. It just goes to show the dismal state of affairs. The officials have not stopped being casual about these attacks which are now occurring on a more routine basis. It almost seems like they are getting used to the whole idea.

We still do not know how many militants stormed the Manawan academy, how many were killed, whether they took police recruits hostage, or whether they wore police uniforms.

A local television channel reported a construction worker present near the academy just before the attack told the channel he saw five men wearing backpacks disembark from a white pickup truck in front of the academy's main gate and scale its walls "commando-style"There is confusion about how many attackers were involved, how many were killed and did anyone of them manage to escape. So, while four or five attackers came in from the front, did others scale the back wall and join up with their comrades in the central building area where the main drama unfolded?

Officials from the head of the interior ministry and the army spokesman to the provincial police chief failed to clear this up. They did not even agree on how many attackers had been killed. While interior ministry official Rehman Malik said that three attackers "blew themselves up", an army official at the scene told newsmen that "four attackers have been killed". This is lackluster and pathetic!

Did the fourth attacker also blow himself up, or was he shot? If this is the case than where is the body? The number of injured varies as well. All of this give credence to the conspiracy theories doing the rounds. One of the more popular theories out there is that this apparent nonchalance is largely due to the continued interest of some sections in its powerful defence establishment to keep the militants afloat. I am myself is starting to believe some of those theories.

Another attack!

Another attack in the heart of Lahore, this time on a Police academy. The aim of the attack was clearly to undermine the security apparatus of the country and thereby weaken the state. This is the second attack in Lahore after the commando style attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Liberty square. It could very well be the case that personnel involved in the police academy attack were the same people who were involved in the Liberty square operation since all of them had managed to escape after the raid.

I have no doubt that Pakistan is suffering the blow back for its Jihadi operations in India and Kashmir. It is very much the case of Chickens coming home to roost. Having said that, it is no coincidence that attacks of such magnitude and ferocity especially in Punjab have kicked up after the Mumbai attacks. I know from my own sources that Pakistani officials were expecting the Indians to vent out their anger and frustration after the Mumabi attacks. They are clearly using the Afghan base to give Pakistan some taste of its own medicine.

The silver lining is the security operation which managed to kill and capture these battle hardened terrorists. I hope that we get some real intelligence from the captured ones. Another positive thing to see was the attitude of the people - Lahorites are known for this - the way they cheer leaded especially when the army came into the scene was very heart warming. They shouted slogans vowing to kill the attackers and praising the security forces. The reaction was spontaneous and goes to show that it needs to be channeled in the right direction to identify the nemesis of the Pakistani state - the Islamist terrorists.

Nawaz Sharif - A Make over?

Nawaz Sharif is Pakistan's most popular leader today. The long march only confirmed this, yet he has restrained himself from launching an all out attack against the Zardari government. He has become somewhat of a better speaker after his years in exile and seems to be genuinely interested in making this system work. He was a protege of Zia Ul Haq, just as Zulifqar Ali Bhutto was Ayub Khan's. He worked extensively in the 90s to under mine the PPP governments, but his ouster and exile by the army when the was the PM made him realize the futility of doing deals with the generals.

Still I am not sure that Nawaz Sharif is all that changed a person. We thought the same way about Zardari as well and let's be frank if it was Nawaz Sharif in power, it very well may have been Zardari running the long march.The last time he was the prime minister with an overwhelming mandate - he did everything he could to become another dictator. In fact, he was planning to introduce the shariah and become the Amir ul Momenin when he was removed by General Musharraf in October 1999.

Still, he has managed to avoid politics of confrontation if judged from the standard of Pakistani politics. Its a good omen that he has decided to support the PPP government until it completes its term. The two party system has to work in order for democracy to deliver, and for this the leaders of the two parties have to become better versions of their past selves.

Finally - A victory!

We were part of the initial convoy of more than 200 cars that set out from Model town, Lahore..After the initial speech by NS, the crowd was just powered up and these were not the typical hooligan workers that one associated with PML (n) in the past. I saw ppl with families and regular folks as well..The police just backed away..I think this awareness amongst ppl has been created by the media. Of course, most of the credit goes to the lawyers for this...

We were en route to Gujranwala, ahead of the NS convoy when we got the word that after Kiayni's meeting with Z and Gillaini aka Forest Gump - something might be afoot..

I think its a sign of times a good one too when NS back tracked from the march once he was satisfied of the deal.He did not boast about his victory..I still have my doubts about him and his brother, but he has shown some wisdom and tolerance here..

We saw the final card being played by the desperate elements of pro-Zardari in PPP when they started palyign the Sindh card..MQM was eagerly waiting to jump on this bandwagon of ethnic conflict..I was there and i saw no one shouting against Sindh or Sindhis, but there were plenty of abuses hurled towards Zardari - something which i know for a fact is a daily routine in Larkana...It just goes to show that how much these so called leaders are willing to risk in order to cling on to power..

I just hope that we can move as a nation and mobilize the masses against the threat of Talibanisation the way we did in this lawyer movement..There are dangerous signs that these fascists are spreading their tentacles in the heartland of Punjab. More on that later...

In the end , it was a victory for Pakistan..We have had a lot to fret and worry about...After t he debacle in Swat this is one sweet victory and time is right for the nation of Pakistan to rebound!

The week

This week has been pretty eventful. My personal life has been evolving
with more flirtations. I am not losing any sleep over my morals and
anyway i think that there is nothing wrong in minor flirtations. Its
not like i am sleeping around with someone. If you can seen a man
appreciating your body from the way he looks at you, than i don't see
why i should not at least make an eye contact or smile at him. I know
its risky but it exciting. Such excitement is pure joy at times - just
imagine what lies in the second step.

Danger ahead

I have a feeling that things will be taking a really bad turn in the very near future. Pakistan's stability resides in Punjab and if and when Pakistan's most populated and richest province starts to get destabilized- the state of Pakistan will start unraveling. The destabilization process has already begun by the sacking of the Punjab government by the ever corrupt and inefficient Zardari and the terrorist attack in the heart of Lahore. I think there is a real danger that everything can come apart with the assassination of one of the Sharif brothers. Nawaz Sharif has already alerted the media regarding the threat to his life. The terrorists thrive in chaos and for them there seem to be no limit. If only the politicians had the vision and maturity to handle this, but i think none of them have learned anything from their past mistakes. This time around the stakes are very high and they could end up paying a very high price for their shortcomings.