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Archive for September, 2013

WARNING VIDEO : NAWAZ SHARIF’S SUICIDAL CUTS IN PAK ARMY, AIR FORCE, NAVY BUDGETS: INDIA RAISES A NEW MOUNTAIN STRIKE CORP & TESTS AGNI & BUYS AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER

Indians cheered news of the successful Agni-V test; and learned of political clearance to raise a Mountain Strike Corps in the east to be headquartered at Panagarh. Each of India’s three armed services is moving to modernise itself.ed news of the successful Agni-V test; and learned of political clearance to raise a Mountain Strike Corps in the east to be headquartered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwynne Dyer: The return of Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan

by GWYNNE DYER on MAY 16, 2013 at 10:03 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shekhar Gupta
The Indian Express
 
 
 
 
 

 

Yesterday, India jubilantly tested the long-range Agni-V ballistic missile for the second time, en route to the missile’s induction into the Strategic Forces Command in several years. But trouble looms on India’s borders. In the recent monsoon session, Defence Minister A.K. Antony stood before Parliament to defend the government against the charge that it is permitting Chinese encroachment along the border and Line of Actual Control. Ground realities are difficult to discern from New Delhi, but much of the Indian media seems fearful that the Chinese are winning a slow border game of chicken. To the west, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif continued to make conciliatory noises towards Delhi while also chairing a National Command Authority meeting, which affirmed its support for “full spectrum deterrence”.

To deal with this rough neighbourhood, India has embarked on an ambitious military modernisation programme. Indians have triumphantly witnessed progress on a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, the Arihant, whose reactor recently went critical; watched the aircraft carrier Vikrant set off from dry dock; cheered news of the successful Agni-V test; and learned of political clearance to raise a Mountain Strike Corps in the east to be headquartered at Panagarh. Each of India’s three armed services is moving to modernise itself.

But can India afford it all? The defence budget for 2013-14 grew by 5 per cent over the previous year, with defence capital acquisitions growing by 9 per cent. But, with inflation averaging more than 5 per cent since February, and the rupee depreciating by 14 per cent against the dollar over the same period, that modest nominal budget increase is actually a real budget decrease for defence. In a time of austerity, strategic planning is about prioritisation. How should India prioritise its future military modernisation to meet its envisioned security requirements? Each of the three services can claim urgent need.

In each of his previous terms, he tried very hard to make peace with India, but was thwarted both times by the Pakistani army. The current military chief of staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is due to retire at the end of this year (after a three-year extension in office), Nawaz Sharif  wants large-scale Indian investment in Pakistan (including pipelines bringing oil and gas from Iran and Central Asia). He would let Pakistan cut the military budget down to size. And it would end the army’s tacit support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, which is all about ensuring that Pakistan has a friendly government in Kabul to give it “strategic depth” in its long cold war with India.

That weakens the legitimacy of his victory, but with the support of some candidates who won as independents he will have no trouble in forming a majority government. The question is: what will that government do?

It’s a good question, because Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country of 160 million people that has borders with India, Afghanistan and Iran. 

Everybody knows that Nawaz Sharif is conservative, pro-business, and devout – during his second term, he tried to pass a constitutional amendment that would have enabled him to enforce Sharia law—but he hasn’t been tremendously forthcoming about his actual plans for his third term. And some of the things he did say have caused concern in various quarters.

The thing that most worries the United States is his declaration that Pakistan should end its involvement in the U.S.-led “war on terror”. The army in unhappy about his proposal that the government should negotiate with the Pakistani Taliban (who conducted a campaign of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings against the “secular” political parties in the recent election) rather than just fighting them.

And everybody is wondering what Nawaz will do about the economy. The country’s balance of payments is in ruins, and it cannot meet its foreign debt obligations without negotiating new loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Those loans would come with onerous conditions about balancing the budget and fixing the tax system, and they wouldn’t come at all without American support.

Pakistan is technically a middle-income country, but during the outgoing government’s five years in office power shortages grew so acute that most regions are facing power outages for up to 12 hours a day. Millions of vehicles fuelled by natural gas have been immobilised by gas shortages. The country desperately needs foreign investment, but the plague of Islamist terrorism frightens investors away.

Finally, the United States will be withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan next year, and Nawaz Sharif will have to decide what he wants to do about the Taliban in that country (who still have the tacit support of Pakistan’s army). The key to all these puzzles, oddly enough, may lie in the incoming prime minister’s determination to improve relations with India.

India has seven times Pakistan’s population and a booming economy, and it long ago lost its obsession with the agonies of Partition in 1947 and the three wars with Pakistan that followed. But the Pakistan army continues to be obsessed with the “threat” from India—in large part because that justifies its taking the lion’s share of the national budget. If Nawaz could fix Pakistan’s relations with India, a lot of his other dilemmas would also be solved.

The Taliban will inevitably be part of any post-occupation government in Afghanistan, but without Pakistani support they will have to strike a deal with other forces rather than just taking over. That outcome would greatly mollify Washington and make it easier for Islamabad to get new loans from the World Bank and the IMF. It would also make it easier for the government to negotiate some kind of domestic peace settlement with the Pakistani Taliban.

 

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

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PETITION TO SAVE THE PLANET: RUPERT MURDOCH’S OIL RICH FRIENDS DESTROYING THE EARTH FOR OIL COMPANY PROFITS

 CLIMATE CHANGE  PETITION

SAVE THE PLANET

 
Cars
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Humans
 
 

 
Global Warming Pollution
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
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Dear Global Friends and Pakistanis, 

In 24 hours, the world’s leading climate experts will release the most important report about our planet’s future in decades — but big oil and energy are rallying their worst bully to undermine this global wake up call: Rupert Murdoch and his huge conservative media empire. Let’s beat back his attack by calling him out to tell the climate truthbefore it’s too late:  

Sign the petition

In 24 hours, the world’s top scientists will release the most important report in decades: proving once and for all that climate change is a massive threat, but that government action now can stop catastrophe. It’s a global wake up call to save our planet, but big oil and dirty energy have a powerful bully who’s rallying to stop the truth from coming out. 

With hope, 

Alice, Jamie, Iain, Luis, Emma, Bissan, Laura, Ricken, Jooyea and the rest of the Avaaz team 

MORE INFORMATION: 

What 95% certainty of warming means to scientists (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130924/us-sci-warming-certainty/

The 5 stages of climate denial are on display ahead of the IPCC report (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/sep/16/climate-change-contrarians-5-stages-denial?CMP=twt_gu

Is News Corp. Failing Science? (Union of Concerned Scientists)
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/Is-News-Corp-Failing-Science.pdf

Dollars for Deniers: Big Oil Funds Climate Science Denialism (Daily Kos)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/26/1182365/-Dollars-for-Deniers-Big-Oil-Funds-Climate-Science-Denialism/

Global Warming Is Very Real (Rolling Stone)
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warming-is-very-real-20130912

Climate Change Report From UN Introduces Purple Color To Depict Worsening Climate Risks (Associated Press)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/climate-change-report-un_n_3918823.html

Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers Mislead Public On Climate Change and Environment (DeSmog Blog)
http://www.desmogblog.com/rupert-murdoch-s-newspapers-mislead-public-climate-change-and-environment

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Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s Living Dead Body Terrorizing Sikhs Now!

 

bULLER sIKH

Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s Living Dead Body Terrorizing Sikhs Now!

by

Balbir Singh Sooch

The government of India seems to have decided in connivance with ‘Sikhs Agents’ to keep Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar (Born in Punjab in 1965 to civil servant parents Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar became a Professor of Engineering at Ludhiana University. He is now a convict on death row in India) alive as a living dead body in order to terrorize Sikhs for a long period and decided not to hang him.

As long as Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar is to be kept alive as a living dead body, Sikhs will read and remember as to how his family’s very educated supreme personalities-heads were eliminated and or shown disappeared without allowing any inquiry in the crime committed by the State terrorism as usually happens here in India to keep India united in violation of the internationally recognized norms and values, which  welfare democratic States required to be followed to fulfill the aspirations of their subjects-people like Sikhs and people of J&K etc demand from and within India.

After playing dramas and great publicity in connivance with the agents as happened since long in case of Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, now the government of India seems in mood not to hang him for the purpose stated above.

Now, the Sikh agents cry to defend the supreme court of India as to how it happened that the mental state of Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar was not brought to the knowledge of the supreme court of India before the final decision?

  The Sikh agents by their statements defending the supreme court of India, to whom, the Sikh agents are trying to blame? Are they asked to blame to the family especially Navneet Kaur wife of Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar or engaged counsel for him in the supreme court of India or somebody else, who were crying for Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar to get him released on every forum of the world?

In such heinous criminal cases as loudly and after crying being said against Professor Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, the supreme court of India itself competent to ask to bring the accused before court to know his past state of mind and behavior (when, if he said to be committed crime), present state of mind and behavior, future state of mind and behavior as to what shall be social affect, if such accused released or hanged? As such exercises were earlier done by the supreme court of India in Billa-Ranga and other cases in India. Why not so in this case?   The politicians, who matter in India, the Indian agencies, the Sikh stooges and the outside world do understand as to what is going on under the garb of democratic values in India?

I cry more loudly and weep as to why the international community does not speak in the interest of justice of all human beings on the front of or against the State terrorism and corruption in India?

With this humble submission and the question before the international community, I have nothing to say more except enclosing a note, ‘Sikhs Are Agents’ as an introduction about present Sikhs.

 Courtesy: Zameer36.com
 

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Exam Factories

Exam Factories
 
Almost all children now believe they go to school to pass exams. The idea that they may be there for an education is irrelevant. Leading companies are struggling to recruit teenagers with basic skills because schools have been turned into “exam factories”, business leaders have warned. Many employers had been left “disheartened and downright frustrated” by poor levels of literacy, numeracy, communication and timekeeping among school leavers and graduates. Overemphasis on sitting exams and hitting targets throughout compulsory education had robbed children of the chance to develop the “soft” skills needed in the work place. Business leaders believed the emphasis on passing exams at school meant children failed to develop other skills, including the ability to hold a conversation, display good work ethic, turn upon time and apply basic literacy and numeracy.
 
State, independent and faith schools have become exam factories and are only interested in A to C Grades. They do not educate children. The result is that anti-social behaviour, gun and knife culture, racism, drug addiction. binge drinking, high rate of teenage pregnancies and abortions, high divorce rate are common in society. Exam results do not reflect a candidate’s innate ability. Employers have moaned for years that too many employees cannot read or write properly. According to a survey, school-leavers and even graduates lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. More and more companies are having to provide remedial training to new staff, who can’t write clear instructions, do simple maths, or solve problems. Both graduates and school-leavers were also criticised for their sloppy time-keeping, ignorance of basic customer service and lack of self-discipline.

 

Even Muslim schools have also become Exam Factories, only interested in A to C grades just like state schools. There is a positive co-relation between faith, culture and language. Faith needs culture and languages to flourish. According to a research, children who study the language and culture of their parents may achieve more and become more involved citizens. Migrant Muslims speak variety of languages. State schools as well as Muslim schools give lip service to the community languages but majority of Muslim schools completely ignore or discourage community languages. The ex- chairman of the Association of Muslim Schools Mr.Idrees Mears, a native revert totally rejects the teaching of Urdu and other languages. The same opinion was expressed by the head of state funded Islamia School as well as by the ex- Chairman of the Nida Trust. They are not in a position to understand the needs and demands of the bilingual children because they are themselves monolinguals. It is a well known fact that social and emotional education comes with ones own language, literature and poetry. Pakistani children suffer more than other children. They speak different languages at home and when they go to the Masajid they are exposed to Urdu and Arabic. At schools they are exposed to English and at the age of 11 are exposed to European languages. Now European languages are introduced at Primary level, but Urdu is totally ignored and discouraged by the state as well as by the Muslim schools. English, Arabic and Urdu must be introduced at nursery level so that the children can grow up with three languages. We have already lost three generation and the fourth one is in the process of losing its linguistic and cultural identity by not learning Urdu. The Muslim community is suffering because of social and cultural problems of high rate of divorce, run away young girls, low academic achievements, drug addiction, drinking, teenage pregnancies, disrespect for their parents and elders, forced marriages and honour killings. It is all because our youth are cut off from their cultural roots and languages. I blame state schools because they have never been serious in the teaching of Urdu, Arabic and other community languages.   

 

An American research reveals in 2005 that bilingual learners with no education in their first language take longer to learn English and a bilingual learner with a good education in their own language do best of all. Muslim schools are committing the same mistake by ignoring community languages. Even OFSTED is not serious about the importance of bilingualism and bilingual education. Their priority is the teaching of English language. No body is denying the importance of English as an economic language but equally important is the first languages of the children for social and emotional literacy.

 

The Muslim community has been passing through a phase of fourth Crusades. The battleground is the field of education, where the young generation will be educated properly with the Holly Quran in one hand and Sciences in other hand to serve the British society and the world at large. A true Muslim is a citizen of the world, which has become a small global village. We are going to prepare our youth to achieve that objective in the long run. A true Muslim believes in Prophet Moses and the Prophet Jesus and without them one cannot be a Muslim. My suggestion is that in all state, independent and Christian based school special attention should be given to the teaching of Comparative Religion and Islam should be taught by qualified Muslim Teachers to make the children aware the closeness of Islam to Christianity and Judaism which will help them to think about Islam, as “A Pragmatic and Modern Way of Life,” during their life time.
 
British schooling and the British society is the home of institutional racism. The result is that Muslim children are unable to develop self-confidence and self-esteem, therefore, majority of them leave schools with low grades. Racism is deeply rooted in British society. Every native child is born with a gene or virus of racism, therefore, no law could change the attitudes of racism towards those who are different. It is not only the common man, even member of the royal family is involved in racism. The father of a Pakistani office cadet who was called a “***” by Prince Harry has profoundly condemned his actions. He had felt proud when he met the Queen and the Prince of Wales at his son’s passing out parade at Sandhurst in 2006 but now felt upset after learning about the Prince’s comments. Queen Victoria invited an Imam from India to teach her Urdu language. He was highly respected by the Queen but other members of the royal family had no respect for him. He was forced to go back to India. His portrait is still in one of the royal places.
 
Children should be taught about the contribution Muslims have made to civilisation in order to combat threats of extremism and discrimination. It will help native children to develop positive attitudes towards Muslims. It will bring divided communities closer together, by teaching children about debt west owe to Muslims – coffee and pinhole camera to the three – course dinner and advancement in maths. The teaching will bring together science, history,RE, citizenship and community cohesion – some of the most pressing problems for the minister responsible for the curriculum.One of the major reasons for the alienation of British Muslims is a lack of clear identity. It is crucial for the British society to understand the hugely positive impact that Islamic inventors have had upon the world, and for Muslims to take pride in it. At present there is a widespread mis-conception among many people worldwide that the state of science and technology during the period known as “The Dark Ages” was that of stagnation and decline. The Muslim civilisation flourished and contributed to thousands of essential inventions that still affect western life style. The open recognition of the contribution of the Muslims should be reflected in the National Curriculum. The mainstream history of scientific ideas has failed to acknowledge numerous Islamic scientists and their great efforts and achievements throughout the centuries.
 
A report by the Institute for Community Cohesion found that native parents were deserting some schools after finding their children out numbered by pupils from ethnic minorities. Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated. The study focused on 13 local authorities. Many of the schools and colleges are segregated and this was generally worsening over recent years. This is RACISM because British society is the home of institutional racism. My statement regarding Muslim schools where there is no place for non-Muslim child or a teacher is based on educational process and not on racism. Muslim children need Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. For higher studies and research, Muslim teacher is not a priority.
 

I have been campaigning for Muslim schools since early 70s because there is no place for foreign cultures, languages and faiths in state schools. Muslim children are victim of racial abuse and discrimination. Neither Muslim community nor the DFE paid any attention to my proposal. Muslim community kept on setting up Masajid for worshiping and for the education of their children. Masajid help Muslim children to recite the Holy Quran without understanding and teach them how to perform their prayers. DFE introduced Multicultural education for the integration and assimilation of the Muslims.

 

I regard Muslim schools not just Faith schools but more or less bilingual schools. I set up the first Muslim school in Forest Gate London in 1981. Special attention was given to Standard English, Arabic and Urdu languages along with National Curriculum. But due to its closure, it could not become a model school for others to follow. Islamia School, founded by Yusuf Islam became the model school where there is no place for the teaching of Urdu and other community languages and only Arabic is taught.

 

The sound knowledge of ones owns language would appear to help – not hinder the acquisition of a second language and bilingual children may even have cognitive advantages and that the ability to speak more than one language is going to be increasingly important for the world of the future. Therefore, Muslim children and young Muslims have potentially a major educational advantage, although sadly this is not being developed well at present. British policy makers now recognise bilingualism as an educational asset rather than a problem. Education plays a central role in the transmission of languages from one generation to the next. The teaching of mother tongues is essential in terms of culture and identity. Arabic is a religious language for the Muslims but for Pakistanis, Urdu is also essential for culture and identity. Blind Muslim children in Bradford are learning to read Arabic and Urdu Braille, by a blind teacher who travelled from Pakistan. Now blind Muslim children are not going to miss out on culture, religion, language and the social aspects and integration into their own community and identity.

 

Majority of Muslim children are from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India They need to learn Arabic and Urdu to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. Urdu is a lingua frankua of the Muslim communities from the sub-continent. The young generation learn Urdu from Indian/Pakistani films, more than two dozens TV Channels and couple of radio stations broadcasting round the clock in Urdu/Hindi. They can speak and understand but are unable to read and write Urdu literature and poetry. Bilingualism and bilingual education should be part and parcel of each and every Muslim school. The problem is that most of Muslim schools are running by British educated Muslims who are made monolinguals by state schools. They do not feel the charm of bilingualism. They have never been given the chance to learn Arabic and Urdu along with English. An English man is proud of his language, culture and faith or no faith. In the same way a Muslim should be proud of his faith, languages and cultures. In my opinion at least three hours a day must be given for the teaching of English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages from nursery level. The teaching of Standard English will help them to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity.

 

According to a recent report, Muslim schools performed best overall, although they constitute only a fraction of the country’s 7000 schools. Muslim schools do well because of their Islamic ethos and a focus on traditional discipline and teaching methods. They teach children what is right and what is wrong, because young children need structured guidance.

 

Bilingual Muslims children have a right, as much as any other faith group, to be taught their culture, languages and faith alongside a mainstream curriculum. More faith schools will be opened under sweeping reforms of the education system in England. There is a dire need for the growth of state funded Muslim schools to meet the growing needs and demands of the Muslim parents and children. Now the time has come that parents and community should take over the running of their local schools. Parent-run schools will give the diversity, the choice and the competition that the wealthy have in the private sector. Parents can perform a better job than the Local Authority because parents have a genuine vested interest. The Local Authority simply cannot be trusted.

 

 

The British Government is planning to make it easier to schools to “opt out” from the Local Authorities. Muslim children in state schools feel isolated and confused about who they are. This can cause dissatisfaction and lead them into criminality, and the lack of a true understanding of Islam can ultimately make them more susceptible to the teachings of fundamentalists like Christians during the middle ages and Jews in recent times in Palestine. Fundamentalism is nothing to do with Islam and Muslim; you are either a Muslim or a non-Muslim. Muslim children suffer from identity crises because their parents teach them Islam and their schools teach them something else. There must be a positive co-relation between school and home, otherwise, children will suffer academically, spiritually , socially and emotionally. They are also unable to develop self-confidence and self-esteem.

 

You better teach your children in your own schools and let migrant communities teach their children according to their needs and demands. British Establishment and society should concentrate on the evils of their own society and stop trying to change the way of life of Muslims. Muslim community does not want to integrate with the British society, indulging in incivility, anti-social behaviour, drug and knife culture, binge drinking, teenage pregnancies and abortion.  Prince Charles, while visiting the first grant maintained Muslim school in north London, said that the pupils would be the future ambassadors of Islam. But what about thousands of others, who attend state schools deemed to be “sink schools”? In education, there should be a choice and at present it is denied to the Muslim community. In the late 80s and early 90s, when I floated the idea of Muslim community schools, I was declared a “school hijacker” by an editorial in the Newham Recorder newspaper in east London. This clearly shows that the British media does not believe in choice and diversity in the field of education and has no respect for those who are different. Muslim schools, in spite of meager resources, have excelled to a further extent this year, with couple of schools achieving 100% A-C grades for five or more GCSEs. They beat well resourced state and independent schools in Birmingham and Hackney.  Muslim schools are doing better because a majority of the teachers are Muslim. The pupils are not exposed to the pressures of racism, multiculturalism and bullying.

 

There are hundreds of state primary and secondary schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be opted out to become Muslim Academies. This mean the Muslim children will get a decent education. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. Muslim schools give young people confidence in who they are and an understanding of Islam’s teaching of tolerance and respect which prepares them for a positive and fulfilling role in society. Muslim schools are attractive to Muslim parents because they have better discipline and teaching Islamic values. Children like discipline, structure and boundaries. Bilingual Muslim children need Bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods, who understand their needs and demands.

Iftikhar Ahmad

London School of Islamics Trust

http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

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Radical “Islamists,” Would Never Compromise

Radical Islamists Would Never Compromise

By

Amb. Saeed Qureshi

 

 

 

 

WANTED FOR 7000 MURDERS

 

HAKEEM ULLAH MEHSUD-TERRORIST SUPREMO

 

It would be simply a moronic hope and mere illusion if any government in Pakistan believes that Islamic militants most notably the Taliban factions would agree to lay down arms and turn peaceful citizens. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is seriously contemplating dialogue with Taliban for restoring peace and to erase terrorism that is enormously destructive for a socially peaceful, economically robust, politically democratic and territorially stable Pakistan. By all reckoning such a peace initiative would not materialize. Taliban would not relinquish their militancy no matter how far Pakistan accommodates their conditions.  

In history, particularly in Islamic regimes, the renegade religious militants went fighting down but never submitted. Muhammad ibn ʿAbdal-Wahab (1703-1772) the founder of the Wahabi sect became so powerful that he forced his belief to become the state religion that is still in vogue in the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabic. The Assassins (1080-1256) rampaged, terrorized and killed with rare abandon, the rulers, the viziers and high ranking government functionaries for almost two centuries till a barbarian, savage army of Mongols annihilated them with a colossal and inexorable use of force.

These are some of the precedents from among a long litany of such horrific episodes not only in the Islamic world but in the Christendom that have held their respective dispensations in ransom. Similarly the Idrisis and the Fatimid and similar other religious movements in Islamic lands prevailed and ruled till they were swept away by more radical and ruthless contenders. These have been raising their ferocious heads in different phases of history and in different lands

The Al-Qaida and Al-shabab and various shades of Taliban are a newborn face of the erstwhile religious fundamentalist forces. The present day religious outfits with stubborn agenda and unflinching will to fight the heathens are the spillover from the past. It is mind boggling to watch that in these times of enlightenment, liberalism, free societies, the human rights is still infested with such bands that want the obscure dogmatic orders to be revived and implemented in entirety.

So the only effective way-out for dealing with the radical militants is to exterminate them physically and debilitate their militancy with full might of the state. If in Pakistan the skirmishes with the Taliban and Al-Qaida continue unabated, there would never be an end or any tangible result coming out of these. The compelling reason is that those who are killed among the insurgents are filled by new cadres and volunteers indoctrinated and motivated by religious zealots and fiery demagogues with a dainty and alluring promise of straight away going to paradise as martyrs.  

The taming of hardcore religious bigots and tenacious fighters is a far cry and cannot be attained by solicitation or sweet overtures. The underlying purpose of Taliban and their supporters from the mainstream politico- religious parties is to revive the pristine Islamic caliphate and towards the attainment of this objective they would never compromise or budge.

Even if by a miracle they join hands with the government, they would not abandon their option of falling out with the civilian or democratic government. The induction of Taliban factions into the democratic based political culture of Pakistan would always remain like strange and incompatible bedfellow and would backfire.

Pakistan along with other Islamic regimes created a force of universal Islamic crusaders to fight ungodly Russians in rugged Afghanistan as allies of a free and religious Christian world led by the United States. What a hoax it was that while the Islamic countries were arrayed against the Russian with a resounding spirit of Islamic resurgence, the underlying catch was to bring victory of capitalism over communism. While the second purpose has been ideally served, the first one became a lasting millstone around the neck of Pakistan or like a Frankenstein ever ready to swallow its own creator which in this case is Pakistan. Pakistan allowed its land and manpower for the fulfillment of a goal that was extraneous to its national interests. Hence we see the proliferation of terrorism all over Pakistan by Taliban and hardcore religious fanatics.

The ferocious Taliban and their cohorts had virtually occupied Swat valley in 2007. They were driven out with full-fledged military operations in 2007 and 2009. One could gauge the resilience and the systemic way the Taliban broadened their tentacles based on primitive orthodoxy in that marvelous enchanting valley. From Swat valley they were planning to march towards the federal capital of Pakistan Islamabad and terrorize the local population through coercive regimentation. They and their agents forced the people to abide by religious injunctions such as for the ladies to cover their head in the market places.

The dream of crafting a modern egalitarian, Liberal, pluralistic and democratic society in Pakistan is entirely out of sync with the crude model of state envisioned by the obscurantist and the conservative Islamic forces. Islam is fundamentally is a progressive religion and can tailor itself with the changing times. The creed and ideologies of fundamentalists and reactionary religious assortments are 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

retrogressive and negate the fruits of modern times such as advancement in technology, universal culture of humanism, emancipation of women folks and a fusion of religion with modernity and so on.

The sectarian and ideological conflicts now rife in the Islamic countries are the formidable hurdles in their progress and getting into the strides of modern nation states. With the advent of a fossilized version of Islam imposed on Pakistan, the country can transform into a medieval state but not the one that is indispensable in the present times of enlightenment and awakening. The conservative Islamic societies are in a state of flux and groping how to explore an identity that serves both their religious obligations and the imperative of the present times.

The Taliban and their ilk would resist, thwart and block, by every conceivable means, all such endeavors that overhaul Pakistan into a modern frame. The fundamental question is whether Pakistan survives as a modern state or succumbs to the dictates of Taliban and fanatic orthodox religious entities. The choice is certainly a modern state with a secular and pluralistic edifice erected on the foundation of an enlightened Islam. It would not be advisable or thinkable to live with a monster like Taliban and then expect to remain unscathed.

The ongoing, unrelenting mayhem of terrorism is primarily being spawned and tenaciously carried out by Taliban and sectarian rivals while the government and society is relatively free. It would be spine-chilling to imagine what would happen to Pakistan if such rigid, extremist and ruthless militants as Taliban in tandem with the homegrown religio-political groups become shareholders in power. In that horrid situation would Pakistan be any different from Syria and Iraq or certain African countries where religious insurgents are braced against the states and also fighting one another on the sectarian basis?

The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of Diplomatic Times and a former diplomat

 

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