Islamabad, April 22 (Inditop) The Talibanisation of Pakistan is not just a threat but a reality in the wake of Sharia laws being imposed in Swat and other parts of the country’s northwest, an editorial in a leading English daily said Wednesday.
Another editorial termed the Nizam-e Adil Regulation parliament passed to impose the Sharia an anathema on the constitution.
“Talibanisation is not just a threat, it is the reality today. Face it,” Dawn said in an editorial.
“There is considerable harm in it because such a regulation is anathema to the Constitution and shouldn’t have been acceded to and drawn up in the first place by the government,” The News maintained.
Dawn said it was “now clear” that the Taliban will not stop until they have their way.
“And this is their prescription for Pakistan: a nation, armed with nuclear weapons, jerked back to a mediaeval age. A country where men without beards are flogged, and women killed if they choose to express themselves.
“That is where we are headed. And one is wrong if one thinks this can’t happen in Pakistan. It can and it will unless we strike a decisive blow for the silent majority,” the editorial maintained.
“We must resist this onslaught,” it added.
From day one, it said, “the stance of these militants who murder in the name of religion has been all too clear”.
“These people are savages, yet we don’t put them behind bars. Why? If we don’t have the wherewithal to take them on, we should admit as much and stop making ludicrous claims that the enemy will be defeated in due course.
“Striking �deals’ with an enemy that is simply buying time won’t help either,” the editorial contended.
The reference was to a controversial peace deal between the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and the Taliban on imposing Sharia laws in Swat and six other districts of the province in return for the militants laying down their arms.
The deal is being observed more in its breach than its practice, with the Taliban now saying they aim to impose Sharia laws across Pakistan.
“How many times do we have to say this? Their interest is not limited to enforcing – at gunpoint – Sharia law in Swat and the rest of Malakand. They want to take over all of Pakistan and subject each and every citizen to their brand of �justice’.
“This government is ceding them territory and emboldening them to an extent where they will be able to dictate terms without fear,” the editorial lamented.
“We didn’t vote for this on Feb 18, 2008. We didn’t vote for barbarity in the garb of religiosity,” it added.
According to The News, the Nizam-e Adl Regulations puts the government in a “very weak” position and gives “all the benefits” to the Taliban that “they have been using to their maximum advantage.
“They have not laid down their arms, they have continued their bombings of paramilitary, military and police personnel, they are continuing with their kidnappings of government officials and opponents in general, and they are forcing the population of Swat to adhere to their rigid interpretation of Islam,” the editorial noted.
On Monday alone, it pointed out, alone several security personnel were kidnapped in Swat, including those who were taking a dead colleague’s body in an ambulance to his native village.
“Reports were also coming in from various Swat villages and towns of the local Taliban forcing markets to close during the time of prayer.
“In addition to this, the Swat Taliban have crossed over into Buner and despite several warnings by the local population of that district to leave, have not left it,” the editorial pointed out.
