Children of the Taliban

The day i turned 29, the entire world was celebrating. Afterall, the US had gunned down their No. 1 enemy on Pakistani soil. Osama Bin Laden, was found in a mansion in Abottabad in Northern Pakistan and in a swift night operation, was killed, identified and buried at sea.

 OSAMA BIN LADEN

If 9/11 became a watershed in the United States of America's history, Osama Bin Laden's death has become one for the Al-Qaeda. First the terrorist organisation didnt owe up or confirm. Four days later, a statement was issued. Finally Al-Qaeda accepted that Osama Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader and military commander was no more. The following days were spent in speculating the operation, the Pakistan-US relations, the blame game... where Al-Qaeda quietly pondered over its future. Who will take the reigns of this world wide empire? Will their fight against the 'kafirs' continue? What will happen to this organisation spread across the world, taking on a new battle everyday?

Maybe Osama's Will contains all those answers. I am sure when Osama was cocooned in that mansion of his for last 5 to 7 years (as per unconfirmed reports), he must have chalked out a plan for the future of Al-Qaeda. The recent reports say that Saif-Al-Adel, an egyptian has been chosen as an interim Al-Qaeda chief.

But even as Al-Qaeda picks up the pieces after Osama's death, the international media is rife with the prospect of Taliban using this opportunity to separate itself from Al-Qaeda. It was afterall Osama Bin Laden who had sworn allegiance to the Taliban leader Mullah Omar in his fight against the soviets. In return, Mullah Omar stood by Osama and helped carry out the 9/11 attacks and later providing him with cover to hide from the forces hunting for him. But now with Osama gone, Taliban is increasingly looking at becoming world's No. 1 terror organisation.

Taliban 

After almost being driven out of Afghanistan, having found refuge in Pakistan's northern SWAT valley, the taliban is slowly but surely emerging as the next big threat for the world. And giving tough competition is Pakistan's own home grown terror organisation - Lashkar-e-Toiba, openly and proudly supported by the Pakistan's ISI and Army. (But we will discuss LeT some other day)

Taliban will be now be the group to look out for. After reading several media reports from the middle east, US, UK and from various organisations, it is clearly becoming evident that Taliban is fully geared to find its ground in Pakistan and is infact spreading its wings across the country.

One of the most compelling documentary that i recently saw was CHILDREN OF THE TALIBAN. It is about how Taliban is now training kids to spread its empire and 'using them to execute allah's will'. For kids who have grown up in last decade in Pakistan's SWAT valley, the North Western Frontier Province, the law-less tribal lands; life has only been about war, playing with real guns, learning about jihad and dreaming of becoming a fidayeen (suicide bomber) one day. Nicknamed as 'weapons of mass destruction' by the Taliban, these young kids aged anywhere between 5 to 15 yrs, have now become a dominant force in the Taliban today. One madrassa teacher in this documentary also goes on to say how in this war, no matter how many muslims die, we will never run out of sacrificial lambs. This documentary is appalling, even terrifying but very very insightful.

Here's a link for those interesting in watching it. A superb watch and i strongly recommend it. 

Its disheartening and shocking to see how kids are being brainwashed in Pakistan. What is more unbelievable is that when a journalist (and if i may add a female journalist) can unearth whats happening to the country, how is it that the Pakistani establishment doesnt know about it? But then, its world famous now that Pakistan has always turned a blind eye and deaf ear... Afterall, they didnt even know Osama was living right alongside them.

What Pakistan feels about the Mumbai Terror Attack

Moments after Mumbai attack was shown live on television, reports started pouring in that the terrorists had come via the sea route from Karachi. The updates that kept coming later, made it amply clear that terrorists not only came from Karachi but were born and bred in Pakistan, picked up as recruits in Pakistan, trained on the Pakistani soil, by some Pakistanis who belong to the Lashkar-e-Toiba group. It was clear that PAKISTAN HAD ATTACKED MUMBAI. (I dont care if people think i am generalising. If so much can be allowed in the land of Pakistan, i have rights to generalize.)

So when we can all see it that where the attack came from... Pakistanis would beg to differ.

Today's Indian Express has a nice report of how the Pakistan media has been carrying this news. Forgive me for plagiarism but i would love to share this with the readers of my blog.

TALKING PAK

With Mumbai 26/11 escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the hostilities are playing out on a different platform: the media and the Net. While the Indian media has been talking of the “Pak angle”, the media in Pakistan has declared a virtual war on the Indian government and media. It is “hurt and angry” that India is “again” pointing fingers at Pakistan “without any proof”. Sympathy after initial news of the attacks gave way to defensiveness when Pakistan was first blamed, then to belligerence as the blame game intensified. Here, we tune in to some Pakistani TV channels, zoom into their blogosphere and peep into online social groups to hear their voices—mostly angry, some jingoistic and a few restrained.

TV: The big picture

News 1: Zaid Hamid, ‘security consultant and strategic defence analyst’, is a fixture on this channel: whether it’s on Mujhe Ikhhtilaf Hai with Qudsia Qadir or on Siyasat Aur Pakistan with Faisal Rahman. On Mujhe Ikhhtilaf Hai (I differ), Hamid made incendiary comments on how the Mumbai blasts are the handiwork of "Western and Hindu Zionists". "The Indians wanted to orchestrate 9/11 and recreate the drama of that but failed miserably," he says. He continued: "Inki shaklein Hinduonwali hain, jis zabaan mein guftagoo kar rahein hain, woh zabaan koi Pakistani istemaal nahin karta hai". (The terrorists looked like Hindus and their dialect was not what any Pakistani would speak)

Aaj TV: On the programme Live with Talat, Talat Hussain wondered if India and its media are jumping the gun by "instinctively pointing fingers at Pakistan". A clipping of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation, promising to "strongly take up with Pakistan…that the use of their territory for launching an attack on India will not be tolerated", is followed by Hussain citing the Samjhauta blasts of February 2007. Then, too, India and its media—newspapers and TV channels—blamed Pakistan-based groups. It now turns out, Talat said, that "right-wing Hindu groups" and a serving Lt Col, Prasad Purohit, were behind the blasts. Aaj TV’s news programme, Prime TV, quoted Major Gen Athar Abbas, a senior Army officer, as saying that there are no terror camps on Pakistan’s eastern border.

GEO TV: On November 28, viewers heard something that took many by surprise: commandos seen sliding down a rope from a helicopter onto the Nariman House rooftop, were described as “Israelis’’. Geo TV said there were reports that the men in black were not Indian NSG commandos but Israeli ones. Just like Indian channels put together clips from "fringe Pakistani channels" to show how the Pakistani media was taking sides, a report on Geo TV pieced together a TV clip from Indian channels which, they said, had eagerly jumped to the conclusion that Pakistan was behind the attack and were pushing the Government to go to war with Pakistan. The report showed Indian reporters claiming that the Pak Navy was behind the attack, without attributing it to anyone. Another said rather provocatively, "Das atankwaadi, das ke das Pakistani." The report also shows clips of TV advocating attack on terror camps in Pakistan. But the report also says that there have been some voices of restraint. It took Kabir Bedi’s quote on Times Now: "Let’s make a distinction between the government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan, let’s also make a distinction between this government of Pakistan and previous governments of Pakistan". On his programme Meray Mutabik, former PTV chief Dr Shahid Masood described the history and size of the Indian media, praised its role in breaking stories and its anti-establishment line. Masood wondered if India’s investigative journalists would get to "the truth of the Mumbai blasts instead of blaming Pakistan". A panel discussion, Capital Talk, took a more strident stand. It began with a "report" on the "atrocities India commits in the name of secularism—attacks on Christians, people gone missing in Kashmir, atrocities on Dalits". The show advised India to act against the likes of Pravin Togadia and Lt.Col Purohit, instead of carrying out a propaganda against Pakistan.

DAWN News: Another panel discussion; this time with the three top guns of Pakistani media—anchors Hamid Mir, Talat Hussain and Nasim Zehra. In an hour-long programme aired last Saturday and Sunday, they took turns to say that the Indian media was "too nationalistic", "told lies" and seemed to have made a habit of pointing fingers at Pakistan.

AL JAZEERA, QATAR, DOHA: Al Jazeera English tries to maintain a balance. It said that so far, there is “zero proof that Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda are in any way involved in the Mumbai attack" but added that the way Westerns were targeted makes the attacks a "trademark of the Al Qaeda”. It ended by saying: “Seems that like-minded groups are emerging in spite of the US’s so-called global war on terror”. On the channel’s Riz Khan Show, former CNN anchor, Riz Khan, in Mumbai “to study the success of Bollywood and explore social issues”, found himself assessing the attack: wasn’t this Mumbai’s 9/11? And how on earth did the attackers sneak in?

IBA NEWS, JERUSALEM: As expected the focus was on Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife killed in the Nari man House attack. One clip that makes it toYoutube is a report on the prayer meeting held in honour of the Rabbi and his family. It dwells on Baby Moshe still clutching his ball and still crying uncontrollably for his "Emma (mother)".

ON BLOGS

On http://darkcoldcoffee.wordpress.com/ 2008/11/30/, Raheel Lakhani questions the links between terrorists and religion in ‘A reaction is all they needed’. “Terrorists have no religion or nationality,” he writes. He thinks India and Pakistan are using the Mumbai attacks for their own purposes thereby playing into the terrorists hands who want “a ripple effect” and (you are) helping them achieve their motives”. Angry, he adds that if people around the world “are such cowards that our insecurities are only fulfilled by labeling, accusing and killing people'' or “harvesting more insecurities by propagation of fear then we all are also terrorists”.

“PS: The Arms Business is one of the biggest in the world. The fear propagated through them makes us buy them more.” With much talk on Indian TV of the need to raid Pakistan, Pakistanis debate the possibility and its possible outcome. Riaz Haq posted “Can India Do a Lebanon” in Pakistan (http://www.riazhaq.com/2008/12/can-india-dolebanon-in-pakistan.html) last Tuesday. He quotes Indian writer Pankaj Mishra's article in The Guardian on the possibility of India imitating Israeli raids on Lebanon. He wonders whether Indians growing admiration for Israel, Obama's support of India's right “to protect themselves”, and imminent general elections may tempt India to “do a Lebanon”?

In a detailed argument, he warns India would fail. “…they may… make some short-term tactical gains,” by killing a few suspected "terrorists", innocent civilians, and occupying some Pakistani territory temporarily. But in the long run, “they run the risk of a spectacular strategic failure leading to more and bigger terrorist attacks and possibly a nuclear conflagration in the South Asian region.” He argues that an Indian attack would “relieve pressure on Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's FATA region, strengthen support for Pakistan's military, weaken Pakistan's democracy”.

Another blogger, Supersizeme feels ordinary Pakistanis do little to make any positive change “in this repulsive ideology that has grasped not only our country but our religion” or to disprove the stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists: “Instead of saying ‘yeah, we do have a problem. Lets try to think of ways to fix it’, we get incredibly defensive and take offense at anyone lumping us in with terrorists.'' Another response illustrates why many Pakistanis are now angry at India. Raza admits finding it hard to sympathise. “Be honest: although you let out an 'OMG' or a 'that looks terrible'…you snarled under your breath, 'they had it coming,' or, 'whatever…the Marriot was worse.'.. (So) why are we chastising Indians for feeling angry and afraid right now?'' One reason is that “Pakistan deals with this stuff every day'' but no one sympathises.

“Our people are getting killed day by day in this fight, and no one gives a s…. So do excuse us for being a just A LITTLE bitter.” Still, he hopes those responsible for the attacks are caught. “As Pakistanis, I am sure we will do everything in our power to make sure that this doesn't happen again. But boys, this is one ride you're gonna have to come along for...so strap in.''

As Indo-Pak relations nosedive, some bloggers offer solutions. Here's one from http://pitafi.com/2008/12/03/mumbaitragedy-a-doable-solution/ “The best, and perhaps the only, option is that India with the help of the international community probes the matter and compiles the evidence. Then it can provide Pakistan the evidence with the diplomatic request to try the accused. Pakistan government then can ensure that the apex court's full bench tries these element in open and transparent hearings and they are finally brought to the book.”

Lets hope that better sense prevails...