The bodies of two beheaded women have been discovered near the city of Bannu in Pakistan's North Waziristan Agency. A note found nearby accused the women of "acts of obscenity", a reference to prostitution. The district police suspect Islamist militants of having carried out the attack (BBC).
Once again, this sort of brazen act highlights the need for the Pakistani government to take charge in areas like North Waziristan. At present, the government seems incapable of protecting its own citizens; what is needed is not a bloodbath like at the Red Mosque, but a step-by-step strategy to integrate the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas into the rest of the country, in a way that preserves the quasi-autonomy of the region while making it hard for militants to operate there with impunity.
Showing posts with label Islamabad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islamabad. Show all posts
07 September 2007
10 July 2007
About 50 killed in Islamabad mosque raid
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a cleric at Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), has been killed by Pakistani army troops in a crossfire with militants holed up in the mosque, according to Javed Iqbal Cheema, a Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman. About 50 militant supporters of the mosque were killed in the fighting, and the head imam, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was arrested as he tried to flee the mosque disguised as a woman on 4 July.
About 50 women and children were removed from the mosque by the soldiers.
An additional 70 militants either surrendered to Pakistani forces, or were captured by them.
The standoff between the Pakistani government and the mosque, which had lasted for several months, escalated when supporters of the mosque kidnapped seven Chinese people who, according to Lal Masjid clerics, had been running a brothel (BBC).
This seemingly brings to a sad end the story of the Lal Masjid's defiance of the authorities in Islamabad, which Notes on Religion reported on several times previously. I argued before that Musharraf ought to do something about the mosque, but it is troubling that it came to a bloodbath of this sort.
About 50 women and children were removed from the mosque by the soldiers.
An additional 70 militants either surrendered to Pakistani forces, or were captured by them.
The standoff between the Pakistani government and the mosque, which had lasted for several months, escalated when supporters of the mosque kidnapped seven Chinese people who, according to Lal Masjid clerics, had been running a brothel (BBC).
This seemingly brings to a sad end the story of the Lal Masjid's defiance of the authorities in Islamabad, which Notes on Religion reported on several times previously. I argued before that Musharraf ought to do something about the mosque, but it is troubling that it came to a bloodbath of this sort.
09 April 2007
Pakistani madrasa girls' parents concerned
The parents of several girls studying at Jamia Hafsa, the madrasa that has recently been at the centre of religious vigilante activity in Islamabad, are concerned both about their daughters in particular, and the madrasa's activities in general.
As Abdul Wahhab, the father of a Jamia Hafsa student, put it, "I believe that our religion teaches us to stop a vice when we come across it but at the same time, I don't agree with what the madrassa administration is doing. I believe these things should be handled in a peaceful manner. Our religion lays emphasis on peace" (BBC).
It appears that the girls themselves are being used as pawns in a game being led by the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque). It is high time for the Pakistani government to intervene peacefully and make sure the girls can continue their education in a place that would not encourage them to pursue street militancy.
As Abdul Wahhab, the father of a Jamia Hafsa student, put it, "I believe that our religion teaches us to stop a vice when we come across it but at the same time, I don't agree with what the madrassa administration is doing. I believe these things should be handled in a peaceful manner. Our religion lays emphasis on peace" (BBC).
It appears that the girls themselves are being used as pawns in a game being led by the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque). It is high time for the Pakistani government to intervene peacefully and make sure the girls can continue their education in a place that would not encourage them to pursue street militancy.
02 April 2007
Vigilantes assert themselves in Islamabad
According to Pakistan's leading English-language daily newspaper, the country is undergoing "creeping Talibanisation", a phenomenon that is no longer confined to outlying, semi-autonomous regions like Waziristan, but has reached Islamabad.
A group of female religious school students has taken over a children's library located near their school, the Hafsa Madrasa, and the government has failed to respond. Emboldened, the has annexed the library. Further, vigilante groups linked to a pro-militant mosque called Lal Masjid (which has connections to the Hafsa Madrasa) have started threatening shopkeepers selling audio-visual material. The vigilantes are apparently patrolling the area around the mosque, batons in hand, while the authorities are reluctant to restore the government's writ over the federal capital, fearing that a confrontation may get out of hand (Dawn).
After the coup d'état which brought him to power, President Pervez Musharraf, desperate to give his regime a degree of legitimacy, decided to stifle the popular opposition (Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto's parties), and to artificially strengthen the Islamist parties. Before him, the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, helped create the Taliban. Before that, President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, another military strongman, cloaked himself in religious populism. Pakistan is still reaping the harvest, not to mention Afghanistan.
Yet that's not the whole story. Not all religious parties are alike. Under Begum Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi religious parties were sometimes in government as coalition members, yet, as far as I know, no vigilante groups wandered around Dhaka telling video stores to shut down.
Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that, while the Bangladeshi Islamist parties, such as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, were members of a democratically elected coalition government, working in partnership with one of the most popular parties in the country, the Pakistani Islamist parties are pawns in Musharraf's hands. As such, there is little to keep them away from fanaticism. That, in turn, may legitimise fanaticism among unaffiliated groups such as the Lal Masjid gangs.
A group of female religious school students has taken over a children's library located near their school, the Hafsa Madrasa, and the government has failed to respond. Emboldened, the has annexed the library. Further, vigilante groups linked to a pro-militant mosque called Lal Masjid (which has connections to the Hafsa Madrasa) have started threatening shopkeepers selling audio-visual material. The vigilantes are apparently patrolling the area around the mosque, batons in hand, while the authorities are reluctant to restore the government's writ over the federal capital, fearing that a confrontation may get out of hand (Dawn).
After the coup d'état which brought him to power, President Pervez Musharraf, desperate to give his regime a degree of legitimacy, decided to stifle the popular opposition (Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto's parties), and to artificially strengthen the Islamist parties. Before him, the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, helped create the Taliban. Before that, President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, another military strongman, cloaked himself in religious populism. Pakistan is still reaping the harvest, not to mention Afghanistan.
Yet that's not the whole story. Not all religious parties are alike. Under Begum Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi religious parties were sometimes in government as coalition members, yet, as far as I know, no vigilante groups wandered around Dhaka telling video stores to shut down.
Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that, while the Bangladeshi Islamist parties, such as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, were members of a democratically elected coalition government, working in partnership with one of the most popular parties in the country, the Pakistani Islamist parties are pawns in Musharraf's hands. As such, there is little to keep them away from fanaticism. That, in turn, may legitimise fanaticism among unaffiliated groups such as the Lal Masjid gangs.
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