The writer is author of The Gun Tree: One Woman’s War (Oxford University Press, 2001) and lives in Bhurban
Everything — make that ‘almost’ everything — that could be written about Mullah Fazlullah has, since his rather surprising election as head honcho of the TTP, has already been printed but what has — for reasons unknown but which can be guessed at, the main one being ‘fear’ — been glossed over, is the indisputable fact that when this guy puts his mind and his henchmen to it, the ‘job’ most certainly gets done. Be it strangling the living daylights out of Swat for a couple of years or ordering schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai to be unceremoniously shot in the head and that, remember, was when his control was basically restricted to Swat and its immediately adjoining areas alone. Since absconding over the border into neighbouring Afghanistan, however, he has had time to consolidate his aims and intentions. It is reported that the Mehsuds, traditional leaders of the TTP, are not too happy — to put it lightly — with Mullah Fazlullah’s rise to the very top of the table and, with luck, there could very well be some TTP infighting over this which would, one hopes, distract, at least temporarily, their no doubt bloody plans for the Talibanisation of Pakistan. This being the month of Muharram, which has seen Ashura processions on the move, what can one say other than ‘Shia beware’ — along with anyone else, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Parsee and others not upholding, steadfastly and publicly, Mullah Radio’s version of religion.
The arrival of an early winter could, quite conceivably, slow down TTP plans and act to hinder possible infighting in mountainous terrain and, naturally, could also disrupt any possible army action against the TTP which, as the current government is still rumbling on about ‘peace talks’, is highly unlikely to be on the agenda unless General Kayani decides to retire with a massive bang!
Heavy snow would, naturally, limit the movements of the mountain-based TTP but will not (other than briefly as there are always ways and means and even pigeons) restrict their communication with the plains-based TTP, of which there are many and increasing by the day, for long and will not prevent an escalation of violence in any place and in anyway the TTP so choose and the one thing they do not choose is peace. This they have, even under the relatively restrained leadership of the now passed on Hakimullah Meshud, made perfectly clear and Mullah Radio will not alter this. It is peace on the TTP terms or bloody chaos let loose and we all know, or should know, which of these it will be.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (9)
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"got any evidence that would stand up in court in regard to terrorist"
Evidence? In pakistan the judges have to flee for their lives and hide in exile, the police officials who brought evidence end up in gunny sacks and dumped by the roadside ... Let's hope the armchair critics cribbing from the safety of London or whichever other place under protection of NATO come to Pakistan and fight for the rule of law so evidence would matter.
Indian Law would take Crores of rupees and fifty years before deciding whether the evidence can be admitted or not. The case itself may take a few generations.
@shiraz: Have you ever met the so called strong leadership that you are referring to ? The stregnth iof the leadership comes from the people which unfortunately at present time are divided!!
Rex Minor
@3rdRockFromTheSun: Dear 3rd rock., I was not arguing about OBL or Dr Siddiqui. However, now that you raise the point it is quite obvious that you do not have any evidence in regard to OBL, or terrorism generally, and you are, like most people, just passively accepting propaganda. . l
@Sexton - "...NATO forces killed well over a million people over the last 12 years or so..." Really? And as far as your other arguments re OBL and Aafia, the less said the better.
So have a good time under the Taliban!
Hard times are here and already for a while, at leats for the vast majourity of Pakistanis. What a surprise that even the elites are also getting worried about it; I say why not. Let the times get real hard and why not even for those who consider themselves special and above the sufferings that most of us must face. Let the hard times do a thorough job this time round and cleanse this land completely and rid us of this privileged class of looters and plunderers here.
Of course the author was extremely quiet when NATO forces killed well over a million people over the last 12 years or so. I would say that Pakistan is in for a rough time over the next few years. Nobody can see the other guys point-of-view, and we will finish up with a lot of dead bodies. Incidentally csmann, now that we are talking about so called terrorism, have you or anybody else got any evidence that would stand up in court in regard to terrorism, and that goes for OBL until the present day. To my knowledge the only person who has been found guilty of anything is Dr Siddiqui at a New York show trial because she had the audacity to attach her Bagram torturers in Afghanistan.
Nicely put.......but our leaders are really not bothered because they don't live in Pakistan, they are here out of necessity. For the likes of me, who live here, we have seen Sod's Law being proved right time and again........so this will be one more time.
nicely put!!
Unless one meets fire with fire,chaos will reign supreme...but alas,for that we need a strong leadership with guts(to stand upto these bandits and their backers). We are not going to find such leadership in Mr.Sharif/Kayani/Zardari.