Talibanization is not a mere threat. It is a clear and present danger that has already hit our cities and villages alike.
by Mohammad Ali Mahar, Austin, TX, USA
The writer can be reached at mamahar@hotmail.com
I was reading a book, “Three Cups of Tea”, which is based on the true story of a mountaineer who got lost in the wilderness of Himalayas in the early 1990s and ended up being in a small village named Khorpe – the last Pakistani settlement at the feet of the mighty mountain range . I am not going to repeat the whole biographic account of Greg Mortenson, the mountaineer, here. However, it was at that time that he saw the scourge of Talibanization worming its way into the Pakistani society. If a complete stranger could see it coming, and predicting the outcome, was it merely an intelligence failure that Pakistani security agencies could not see Taliban building a strong foothold in the country?
Drive from Karachi to Rohri on any given day and you will see busloads of Afghanis with turbans and beards, and who knows what in their luggage, driving into Sindhi cities. Go to Sohrab Goth area and you would think you were in Kabul. Sometime back, a Pukhtun (an Afghan refugee, and, who knows, a Taliban?) even tried to grab a previous piece of land on the Gorakh Hill!
Also, please read Dr. Manzur Ijaz’s column to see how these Taliban are making inroad to even the far flung areas of Thar.
I would be blind if I could not see Taliban’s intentions of taking over Sindh, and the rest of the country, authorities permitting.