things that may come to pass
It looks like we're staring at something more sinister than what has been seen in the past and that which shall certainly pose a threat to the way we live if this movement continues at the pace that it is currently going on.
Today, when the government of Pakistan announced the imposition of Shariah law in the swat valley district it clearly communicated to the rest of the world their fast decimating control over their own sovereign territory.
And ironically, the intelligentsia there is also more resigned to this as seen here in this Dawn article (the leading Pakistan daily) where this respected journal is actually advocating the furthering of the same set of policies to even more regions of the state.
An even more sinister pattern seems to emerge if you juxtapose the release of as many as twelve militant commanders to rescue a single Chinese engineer while allowing the polish geologist and the Indian cook to be murdered (all earlier this month). All these clearly are attempts to get cozier with China at all costs while the former 'all weather friend' United States seems to drift farther away under the current administration.
The policies of the Pakistan government that has long supported laissez-faire towards the NWFP, FATA and NATA regions are finally beginning to show their short sightedness. At the same time, the rise of the Taliban demonstrates how devastating ideological hijacking of common people, tired of government non-intervention on one hand and economic collapse on the other can possibly be.
Given the geographical proximity of Swat with Islamabad - and of the Pakistani capital with the Indian border - imagination boggles on the ramifications that the recent events have for India. For a country that is remarkably secular and liberal the very thought of a movement like the Taliban, notorious for its treatment of women and nearly dark age like legal and social structure. When one thinks of the fate of the Bamiyan Buddha’s, one can only imagine the deep animosity they would have to our way of living – our rich heritage of khajuraho and Konark.
At this point of time, we can only thank our strong sense of nationhood that (hopefully) they do not enjoy any support whatsoever inside India – the bedrock of their proliferation inside parts of Pakistan.
This article shall be updated as and when further events unfold ....
Today, when the government of Pakistan announced the imposition of Shariah law in the swat valley district it clearly communicated to the rest of the world their fast decimating control over their own sovereign territory.
And ironically, the intelligentsia there is also more resigned to this as seen here in this Dawn article (the leading Pakistan daily) where this respected journal is actually advocating the furthering of the same set of policies to even more regions of the state.
An even more sinister pattern seems to emerge if you juxtapose the release of as many as twelve militant commanders to rescue a single Chinese engineer while allowing the polish geologist and the Indian cook to be murdered (all earlier this month). All these clearly are attempts to get cozier with China at all costs while the former 'all weather friend' United States seems to drift farther away under the current administration.
The policies of the Pakistan government that has long supported laissez-faire towards the NWFP, FATA and NATA regions are finally beginning to show their short sightedness. At the same time, the rise of the Taliban demonstrates how devastating ideological hijacking of common people, tired of government non-intervention on one hand and economic collapse on the other can possibly be.
Given the geographical proximity of Swat with Islamabad - and of the Pakistani capital with the Indian border - imagination boggles on the ramifications that the recent events have for India. For a country that is remarkably secular and liberal the very thought of a movement like the Taliban, notorious for its treatment of women and nearly dark age like legal and social structure. When one thinks of the fate of the Bamiyan Buddha’s, one can only imagine the deep animosity they would have to our way of living – our rich heritage of khajuraho and Konark.
At this point of time, we can only thank our strong sense of nationhood that (hopefully) they do not enjoy any support whatsoever inside India – the bedrock of their proliferation inside parts of Pakistan.
This article shall be updated as and when further events unfold ....
posted by puddlefrog @ 5:25 AM
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