The Taliban may never come to power but they have succeeded in brain washing illiterate, educated zealots.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: The scene: A crowd of around 100 onlookers is watching cheerfully and can be heard shouting that 22-year-old Najiba has committed adultery and must die. As the young woman, in a burka, tries to move, a man walks up to her and opens fire with his assault rifle. That’s Taliban justice carried out in a few hours of accusation, prosecution, conviction and execution.
This cold-blooded murder took place last week in Afghanistan’s Parwan province and can be seen on YouTube. Also last week, another hysterical mob of hundreds of people attacked a police station on the outskirts of Bahawalpur, dragged a man out of the lock up — he had been accused of blasphemy — and lynched him by pouring petrol on him and setting it alight. The man who died this gruesome death was said to be mentally unstable though this had no affect on the murderous mob.
Two weeks ago, the Taliban released a video showing the severed heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers displayed on a bloody white sheet. These soldiers had been captured by the Taliban in a cross-border raid from their hideout in Afghanistan.
These and many other incidents are grim reminders of what the future holds for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban may never come to power in a democratic set-up but they have succeeded in brain washing of a number of illiterate people and are now being joined by some educated zealots as well.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2012.
