Fearing Taliban, Pakistan Cops resign

SWAT: Ismaeel Khan is one of hundreds of cops in the restive valley of Swat who have recently resigned after being threatened by Taliban militants to either quit or face "dire consequences."



"Around 400 cops, including myself, have resigned from our posts as we all still want to live," Khan, 42, a head constable in Swat police, told IslamOnline.net.



Mujahideen of the pro-Taliban Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TSNM) of Maulvi Fazlullah issued a warning to local policemen last month to resign from their posts.



"We don't want to fight you (local policemen) as you are our own people," read one of several pamphlets circulated by TSNM militants.



"Therefore, it is in your better interest to either leave your jobs or get ready for dire consequences."



The pamphlets advised local policemen to advertise their names in local newspapers if they quit their jobs.



Khan, like many colleagues, was initially defiant to cow to the threats but continuing ambushes targeting military and police convoys changed his mind.



"I consulted with my other friends, who all were of the same opinion that we should quit our jobs to save our lives."



They published a joint advertisement in a local newspaper informing the Taliban militants that they have quit the police force.



"It was a hard decision to take as I left my 16-year long service," said a visibly moved Khan.



A senior police officer of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), which borders Afghanistan, confirmed the resignation of around 350 local policemen.



"Yes, ads regarding their resignations from the police force are being published in local newspapers in order to save themselves and their families from Taliban," he told IOL requesting anonymity.



"We cannot stop them. We are fully aware of their position. They are locals and they have to live there."



Hijacked Dream



Khan, the head constable in Swat police, believed he had no other option but comply to the militants' demand.



"It was my job. I had been earning livelihood for my family, but I realized that there was no other option left for me because of the complete insecurity," he told IOL.



"Even army troops who live in heavily cordoned off places are not safe, let alone us (policemen) who are locals and an easy target."



Some 102 policemen have been killed in the past 10 months in militant attacks in Swat and neighboring areas.



Many of them were first kidnapped and later slaughtered by suspected Taliban militants, while some of them reportedly committed suicide.



"It was a hard decision to take as I left my 16-year long service," said a visibly moved Khan.



He was about to be promoted to the rank of assistant sub-inspector before his resignation.



"I had been waiting for this moment for last many years. In police departments, promotion for rankers (those who joint the police department as constable and do not appear in particular examinations) is always a dream.



"In fact, I had started receiving advance greetings, but my dream was hijacked by insecurity and uncertainty," he lamented.



The senior NWFP police officer said they have recommended to the federal and the provincial governments announcing some incentives for the Swat police in order to boost up their morale.



"However, I doubt that it will yield any positive results because life is more precious than any incentives."


Source: IslamOnline

It is a sad fate for police officers resigning just for the fear of Taliban. A question anyone would ask after viewing the thread would be " Why all the spaces between?"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008122...tanunrestnorthwestwomeneducation_081225090031
Taliban threaten to kill Pakistani schoolgirls
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Taliban extremists in Pakistan's troubled northwest Swat valley have banned girls from attending school, threatening to kill any female students, officials said Thursday.

The threat was delivered this week by local Taliban commander Shah Durran in an address carried on an illegally-run radio station in the area, local officials told AFP.

"You have until January 15 to stop sending your girls to schools. If you do not pay any heed to this warning, we will kill such girls," one official quoted the commander as saying.

"We also warn schools not to enrol any female students; otherwise, their buildings will be blown up."

The mountainous Swat valley was until last year a popular tourist destination featuring Pakistan's only ski resort.

But the region has been turned into a battleground since radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan's Taliban movement, launched a violent campaign for the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in the valley.

Durran said local Taliban leaders were determined not to allow girls to attend school, saying: "We want to enforce the true Sharia in the area -- for this, we are fighting and laying down our lives."

Swat residents said Taliban fighters had already destroyed scores of government-run schools, leading some to set up private schools in their homes to educate girls.

An official at the Pakistani education ministry said there are about 1,580 schools registered in Swat -- once known for its top-flight schools.

But the official, Naeem Khan, told AFP: "Already Taliban militants have destroyed 252 schools, mainly those where girls and boys were studying together."

Education has suffered badly in Swat as a result of the ongoing fighting between Taliban-linked militants and security forces, with only a handful of schools still open in the region's main city Mingora, Khan said.

The government had reached a deal with the rebels in May to gradually pull out troops and introduce an Islamic justice system in exchange for an end to rebel attacks, but the violence eventually resumed.

Aqeel Ahmed said:

It is a sad fate for police officers resigning just for the fear of Taliban. A question anyone would ask after viewing the thread would be " Why all the spaces between?"

Click to expand...

Maybe it's not necessarily because of "fear" of Taliban. But because of disenchantment with the current political course being taken by the government. Ideally for the government, they'd want this to be projected the way it has, depicting Pakistan being in the throes of some sort of colossal confrontation between civilized people and a motley group of savages with AK47s and rocket launchers.

They're just pandering to American demands to reign in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

nocturnal said:

Maybe it's not necessarily because of "fear" of Taliban. But because of disenchantment with the current political course being taken by the government. Ideally for the government, they'd want this to be projected the way it has, depicting Pakistan being in the throes of some sort of colossal confrontation between civilized people and a motley group of savages with AK47s and rocket launchers.

They're just pandering to American demands to reign in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Click to expand...

Cops in the restive valley of Swat have resigned just to pander to American demands?

Taliban Divided on Girls Education

Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
Bigger Taliban groups have rejected the TTS warning for girls not to attend schools. (Google)

Bigger Taliban groups have rejected the TTS warning for girls not to attend schools. (Google)
ISLAMABAD — A Taliban group in Pakistan's troubled northwest has banned girls from attending schools, threatening anyone who doesn't heed the warning, drawing opposition from bigger movements in the area.

"All the girls students are asked not to attend the schools after January 15 (2009), otherwise their parents will be responsible for the consequences," Maulana Shahid, a deputy of Maulvi Fazlullah, who leads a splinter faction of Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shari`ah Mohammadi (TNSM), said in a speech broadcast by the FM radio.

He, however, did not elaborate the consequences if the girls insist on going to school.

Haji Muslim Khan, a purported spokesman of Tehrik-Taliban Swat (TTS), confirmed the threat.

"It has been decided by our Shoora (consultative body) that no girl will be allowed to go to school after January 15 (2009)," he told IslamOnline.net by phone from an unknown location.

"We have asked them to get their certificates and other documents from their respective schools within the stipulated date."

Muslim Khan, a former seaman who has spent two years in the United States in late 1990s, contends that girls are bound to get religious education only.

"Yes, education is a must for every man and woman (in Islam), but women are bound to acquire religious education only," he said.

"They go to school without observing Pardah (veil), which is against Islamic norms."

The TTS parted its ways from TSNM of Sufi Mohammad as the latter refused to enforce Shari`ah by force.

The TNSM has reportedly opposed the TTS warning too.

Asked what if girls observe pardah, would they be allowed to attend schools, the spokesman said that the issue has been discussed by the TTS.

"But the problem is that despite our warnings, only a few girls observed pardah. Therefore, we have decided to stop them from attending the schools."

Several girls' schools have been set ablaze in the north western frontier province (NWFP) and Waziristan in the past few months.

The Pakistani government and security forces blame Taliban for the schools burning.
Rejection

But bigger Taliban groups reject the TTS warning.

"We have nothing to do with their (TTS) announcement," Hakim Mehsud, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the most powerful Taliban group in south and north Waziristan, told IOL.

"It has never been our policy to burn the schools or stop males or females from acquiring education."

The TTP, a conglomerate of different pro-Taliban groups in the tribal area, said it believes girls have equal rights to acquire education.

"Religious education is equally important but you cannot rule out the importance of vocational and conventional education," Mehsud said.

"We trust in the saying of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) that education is must for every Muslim male and female.

"Therefore, being follower of Prophet Muhammad, we are duty-bound to inculcate our daughters and sisters with education.

"I am surprised that on what basis they (TTS) have issued such a crude warning," he said.

Mullah Nazir's group of Taliban, which controls Wana, the capital of south Waziristan, also brushes aside the TTS warning.

"We totally reject this warning. It has nothing to do with Taliban," spokesman Suliman Waziri told IOL.

"Some disgruntled elements are using such tactics to malign Taliban. We have never been involved in burning of schools, and will never do that in future."

Wana, which borders northeastern Afghan province of Paktika, is considered the most literate area of the tribal belt, where various high schools, and colleges have been operating, some of them being run under Cambridge system of education.

Minor
"No doubt it will create panic among the girls and their parents, but it will not last for a long time," Mir said. (Google)
Security analysts do not give much importance to TTS's warning.

"No doubt it will create panic among the girls and their parents, but it will not last for a long time," said Hamid Mir, an Islamabad-based security analyst.

He said the group is operating only in four areas; Kabal, Khuwazkhela, Matta, and Charbagh, where a majority of schools are already lying closed.

"The warning will affect the girls students in nearby areas, but the TTS do not have the ability to act there," he said.

"Big Taliban groups do not support the philosophy of Maulvi Fazlullah, who is earning nothing but a bad name to Muslims and Islam."

Mir said the TTS threat will be used by the Western media to further tarnish the image of Islam.

"And unfortunately, people like Maulvi Fazlullah often provide them the opportunities for that," he said.

"Criminal elements are behind burning of schools in those areas."

Alam Khan, a Swat-based journalist, has a different view.

"This warning should be taken seriously," he said.

"As far as I know, girls will stop attending the schools in most of the areas of Swat because of the lack of security. People are scared of them (TTS)."

Wilma_Hum said:

Cops in the restive valley of Swat have resigned just to pander to American demands?

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No, i mean the Pakistan government despatching cops and military personnel to the restive region, is an attempt to pacify the area in order to pander to Washington's demands.

nocturnal said:

No, i mean the Pakistan government despatching cops and military personnel to the restive region, is an attempt to pacify the area in order to pander to Washington's demands.

Click to expand...

Why don't you think the Pakistan government wants to pacify part of it's own country?

Why would any country want an out-of-control area?