Is TALIBANIZATION a New Phenomenon?

Talibanization and Climate Change, two global problems are the buzz of town. Almost every social scientist is running regressions on terrorism data or playing with the discount rates in climate models.

Is Talibanization a new thing? NO I don't think so.....Pakistan was created in the name of religion so people could lead their lives according to the principles of Islam. 1970’s saw another Islamic era where Zia ul Haq tried to enforce Islam on every citizen. Then our democratic hero Nawaz Sharif attempted to bring Khilafat in Pakistan. Now we have Talibans who want to run the country implementing Sharia Law.

I forgot to mention that the complete name of Pakistan is “Islamic Republic of Pakistan�. A country made in the name of Islam after so much bloodshed. We killed our neighbors, friends; families got separated to enjoy this freedom. We divided the sub continent to practice an Islamic code of life. When Talibans are making our long unfulfilled dream come true we call them brutal animals and experts say this is not the true philosophy of Islam. How hypocritical!!

Hussain Haqqani quoted President Asif Zardari, in The Daily Show, "'I [Zardari] will negotiate with them [the Taliban] only to prove that you can't negotiate with them.� I admire Zardari for his master mind, to prove his hypothesis he made the peace deal with Talibans and caused such a chaos. There have been more than 3,000 civilian causalities, destruction, and mass migration of half a million people. The President values human life so little and is ready to sacrifice it to prove his political point.

Media has been an effective tool in changing opinions of people; earlier Pakistan was making demonstrations against US for the drone attacks, but few weeks later some clips of Talibans, beating a woman, slaughtering Pakistan army and civilians completely took a 360 degree turn. Civil society started praising Pakistan and US efforts to eliminate these terrorists. Once they were few miles away from the capital, educated urbanites loudly expressed that war is the best solution to stop Talibanization.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary “Children of the Taliban� is an interesting insight how we are creating social classes both pro and anti Taliban. Locals who are displaced think it’s all because of US and Pakistan is its puppet. Taliban are good at least they have the courage to face US. Others think Talibans are creating wave of terror and wants to take them back to dark ages in the name of religion. There have been more than 30 U.S. missile strikes in the tribal areas targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders, but civilians become the victims too. This becomes an easy recruiting tool for the Taliban. In the documentary, Wasifullah and Abdurrahman are two best friends from the same village, one wants to join Pakistan army and other is eager to sign up for Taliban. They are ready to kill each other if they have to. The madrassahs are working like corporations even during the global financial crisis they are mass producing the human bombs which are more dangerous than nuclear bombs. According to one Maulana sahib strong words like Jihad, sacrifice, heaven, Allah are the catalyst which create unlimited stock of suicide bombers.

It’s been more than a year that Pakistan army is fighting the Talibans. Seventh largest armed force is unable to overcome a few thousand Talibans. We are such a benevolent nation as first let them have Swat and later Buner. This might be a strategy, giving the Taliban some bait, they come out of their hideouts and then we can kill them. But this killing turned out to be very expensive. Oh by the way Pakistan has realized that India is not its enemy but Talibans, who are in the country and not across the borders. The top brass and the President assure that we can win this war but the soldiers who fight at the front share a gloomy story. They think if same military operations continue we cannot win against Talibans. It’s the same lesson we can learn from US, spending billions of dollars and sacrificing so many soldiers for the last eight years but still haven't won war against terrorism.

We need a secular Pakistan where our own culture, morals and values breeds, rather than borrowing from neighbors or west. Religion is a personal thing not to be imposed by the state. Win the hearts of people by development and not by war. Curbing terrorism needs cooperation and commitment with other countries and it’s only possible if our democratic elected President works on his credibility. We should not forget that Taliban was our own creation and the creator always knows the weakness of its creation.