She is not the first victim of the Taliban’s barbarity nor is she likely to be the last. But the grainy footage of a 17-year-old girl being publicly flogged in Swat has brought home for many the reality of the living hell that is today’s Pakistan. Pinned to the ground and encircled by onlookers, the screaming girl was lashed at least 30 times. Her ‘crime’, according to the Swat Taliban, was to be seen with a man who was not her husband. The identity of her companion is wholly immaterial.The point at issue is this: what gives the Taliban the right or authority to act as judge, jury and executioner? And this is the answer: their authority stems from the decisions taken by successive administrations, including the government now in power, who chose to cede the writ of the state by striking deals with mass murderers. The state has failed the people of Pakistan and stands guilty by association.The turning point came in September 2006 with the signing of the Waziristan deal by the Musharraf regime. The state abandoned the people and gave the militants space to regroup, rearm and administer ‘justice’ as they pleased. It should be clear by now that the desired results can never be achieved by negotiating with people who abhor our core values and wish to gain total control over Pakistan.A complete rethink is in order if we wish to keep at bay forces that will never allow a nuclear state to fall into the hands of the Taliban. A spokesman for the Swat Taliban said the girl who was flogged was shown ‘leniency’. If that is the militants’ concept of compassion, those who argue that there is no such thing as the ‘moderate’ Taliban may have been right all along.Today we repeat the need to develop a political and social consensus on the issue of militancy. Though in a small minority, there is no shortage of apologists who are either blind to reality or sympathise with the Taliban. An NWFP minister belonging to the ostensibly secular ANP was at pains to stress that the flogging took place before the peace deal was struck in Swat.The timing, sir, is of no consequence whatsoever. What is clear is that the Taliban will never change their ways until they are compelled to do so. Some religious groups have condemned the incident, but the head of the Jamaat-i-Islami repeatedly evaded the issue in an interview with a television channel. He asked what is “so special” about the girl’s flogging that it deserves so much hue and cry, conflating the incident with the completely unrelated issue of US drone attacks.Top government leaders have been strong in their condemnation but statements alone will not suffice. The Taliban are not answerable to anyone. But the elected government has some serious explaining to do.
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Sunday, April 5, 2009
Abbas makes surprise visit to Baghdad
North Korea space launch 'fails'
Obama calls for nuclear-free world
Barack Obama has promised that the US will do all it takes to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.In a major speech on Sunday in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, the US president said Washington would take "concrete steps" to reduce its nuclear arsenal and encourage other nations to do the same.He said countries needed to co-operate and have patience to achieve a nuclear-free world."Today the cold war has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not," Obama said in front of thousands of Czechs at a square in front of the Prague Castle."More nations have acquired these weapons, tests continue ... the knowledge to build these weapons has spread."If we say to ourselves that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable we are saying that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable."Obama said the US will seek ratification of the comprehensive test ban treaty on nuclear weapons.Obama also proposed a nuclear energy bank that nations could access to meet their requirements. The banks in turn would prevent them from using other nuclear materials that could potentially be used to make bombs. There are an estimated 24,000 nuclear weapons in the world Russia owns 13,000 of the world stocks The US has around 10,000 France, China and the UK also have stocks Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons but are not members of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty Israel is believed to have nuclear weapons but refuses to discuss its capabilitiesNuclear weapon stocks
Deadly blast in Pakistani mosque
North Korea Launches Rocket, Defying World Pressure
Israelis shoot dead armed woman
Danish PM to be new head of Nato
He did ! Gunman in Binghamton, N.Y., Immigration Center Massacre Was 'Coward'
Binghamton, N.Y., authorities called the gunman who shot 13 people dead at an immigration center a "coward" who planned to fight police but later changed his mind and committed suicide.Police Chief Joseph Zikuski identified the shooter as 41-year-old Jiverly Wong and said he had voluntarily changed his last name to Voong."He arrived wearing body armor," the chief told a news conference Saturday. "At one point in his thinking process, he was going to take on police or at least stop them from stopping him. He must have been a coward. We speculate that when he heard the sirens, he decided to take his own life."Zikuski said Wong was depressed about his poor English-speaking skills, which he believed he was being teased about, and his recent unemployment.People "degraded and disrespected" the gunman over his inability to speak English well, Zikuski said on NBC's "Today" show."He was terminated from his job at a place called Shop-Vac, and he was very upset about that also," Zikuski told reporters at the press conference.Wong could not find work and complained that his unemployment benefit checks were only $200 a week, said Hue Huynh, a Binghamton grocery store proprietor whose husband worked with him years ago.Wong had driven a truck in California before recently returning to Binghamton, only to lose a job there, Huynh said."He's upset he don't have a job here. He come back and want to work," she said. Her husband tried to cheer him by telling him he was still young and there was plenty of time to find work, but he complained about his "bad luck," she said.Wong was unmarried and lived with his mother, father and sister, the chief said. He had been taking classes until last month at the center where he committed the massacre, called the American Civic Association.
FBI rejects Taliban US attack claim (Fool Baitullah Mehsud "foolish claimed")
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has dismissed claims made by the Pakistan Taliban that it was responsible for an attack in the state of New York in which a gunman killed 13 people. F00l Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, had claimed in a phone that he had ordered the shooting in which a man, believed to be a Vietnamese immigrant, opened fire at an immigration centre.Mehsud had said the attack was a direct response to the drone attacks carried out by US forces on Pakistani tribal areas and a second attacker had managed to escape.But Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, said on Saturday: "Based on the evidence, we can firmly discount that claim."
'More than 100' Tamil Tigers killed in military offensive
Afghan 'smuggling bid' youths die
Blast hits police checkpoint in Islamabad
Clashes mar Nato allies' summit
Abducted UNHCR official John Solecki released
QUETTA A spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) Saturday evening said that the group released UNHCR Balochistan Chief John Solecki.In a phone call to a private news agency, the spokesman who identified himself as Shehek Baloch said that Solecki has been released in Khadi Kucha area of district Mastung.Prime Minister's Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik confirmed the release of the kidnapped official. He said that Solecki was in government custody and was being given medical treatment.