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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani leaders bystanders as country sinks into chaos |
| 2008-07-09 |
| 'As usual, Pakistan's political leaders are standing next to this powder keg with a fuse in one hand and a fire extinguisher in the other,' according to a report on the creeping Talibanisation of the NWFP. The report by Walter Mayr published by the online magazine, Salon, in arrangement with the German weekly Der Spiegel, says political Islamabad does not give the impression that Pakistan is facing one of the deepest crises in its history. Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and President Pervez Musharraf seem more interested in settling old scores. For a country under attack from the Taliban, it seems a dangerous lack of focus. The power vacuum has been an invitation to the fundamentalists, and they are responding by advancing ever further into the border regions. They have moved down from the mountains and towards Peshawar, bringing pious messages and undisguised threats. The writer finds it ironic that Islam is being 'reinvented' in Peshawar of all places, a city which 2,000 years ago was the centre of the Buddhist civilisation of Gandhara. 'But in addition to the irony is the danger. A tendency in the city towards submissiveness could win out in the end. As one politician from the Pakistan People's Party put it: 'I'm afraid that when the time comes, the inhabitants will simply go out and welcome the Taliban.' Things haven't gone that far yet, though. Daily life continues as though nothing has happened,' writes Mayr. The correspondent found pörnographic films being sold under the counter in Bara, while violent jihadist video and DVD material was being hawked openly, including films showing the Taliban beheading 'traitors' restrained in straitjackets, and a teenage boy being prepared by black hooded men for a suicide bombing mission that will take him straight to paradise. The final scene in the film shows the face of the young martyr suspended together with clouds in the sky, with a white dove taking to the wing. A message flashes across the screen: 'This is an example for you to follow' |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Good. Get all the perps in one place, and glass that place. We don't need to destroy all of Pakistan, just enough to make sure the stupidity virus rampant there doesn't spread. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-07-09 18:27 |
| #2 'I'm afraid that when the time comes, the inhabitants will simply go out and welcome the Taliban.' Let them. Then cut off their aid and let them live under 13th century facism until they see the light. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2008-07-09 11:42 |
| #1 sinks into chaos ??? Pakistan has been there for quite some time. The flavor of the chaos just seems to change from one month to the next. If one of Pak's major cities is destroyed by a Pak nuke, I wouldn't be surprised one bit. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-07-09 07:52 |