Female IDPs blame Taliban for their hardships
Monday, May 18, 2009
* Say Taliban destroyed their children’s schools, prevented them from going to jobs
Daily Times, Pakistan
Monday, May 18, 2009
By Akhtar Amin
MARDAN: Displaced women from conflict-hit Swat rejected the Taliban form of sharia, saying it was due to the Taliban that they faced hardships and were suffering in their own homeland.
During a visit to Mardan’s Jalala and Sheikh Shahzad camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs), women lashed out at the Taliban holding them responsible for bombing their daughters’ schools, ruthlessly beheading their sons and security forces personnel and stopping women from their jobs in the district.
“Today, we are spending miserable lives in camps and are homeless because of the Taliban,” said Naoreen, 40, a mother of five, living in a tent at the Jalala camp along with the children.
She said the women in Swat had been living a peaceful life in accordance with sharia, but the Taliban had begun targeting women in the district, in the past four years.
“Two of my daughters stopped going to school after the Taliban issued threats. Women were forced to stop their jobs and remain indoors,” she said.
Shazia, 50, another displaced woman from the Charbagh area of Swat strongly condemned the Taliban for their miseries in the camps. “First, the Taliban destroyed our children’s schools. Now they are slaughtering people and looting houses,” she said.
Rukhsana, a teenaged resident of Barikot in Swat said she was now in Jalala camp instead of in her school. “ The Taliban shattered my hopes to become a doctor. The future of thousands of female students in Swat is as dark as mine,” the girl added.
Some male IDPs from Swat – despite facing difficulties in camps and having had their houses destroyed in the operation – showed sympathies for the Taliban. “Taliban are not bad people. They were only struggling for the implementation of sharia in Malakand division,” said Mohammad Islam.
Home National
Daily Times, Pakistan
Monday, May 18, 2009
By Akhtar Amin
MARDAN: Displaced women from conflict-hit Swat rejected the Taliban form of sharia, saying it was due to the Taliban that they faced hardships and were suffering in their own homeland.
During a visit to Mardan’s Jalala and Sheikh Shahzad camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs), women lashed out at the Taliban holding them responsible for bombing their daughters’ schools, ruthlessly beheading their sons and security forces personnel and stopping women from their jobs in the district.
“Today, we are spending miserable lives in camps and are homeless because of the Taliban,” said Naoreen, 40, a mother of five, living in a tent at the Jalala camp along with the children.
She said the women in Swat had been living a peaceful life in accordance with sharia, but the Taliban had begun targeting women in the district, in the past four years.
“Two of my daughters stopped going to school after the Taliban issued threats. Women were forced to stop their jobs and remain indoors,” she said.
Shazia, 50, another displaced woman from the Charbagh area of Swat strongly condemned the Taliban for their miseries in the camps. “First, the Taliban destroyed our children’s schools. Now they are slaughtering people and looting houses,” she said.
Rukhsana, a teenaged resident of Barikot in Swat said she was now in Jalala camp instead of in her school. “ The Taliban shattered my hopes to become a doctor. The future of thousands of female students in Swat is as dark as mine,” the girl added.
Some male IDPs from Swat – despite facing difficulties in camps and having had their houses destroyed in the operation – showed sympathies for the Taliban. “Taliban are not bad people. They were only struggling for the implementation of sharia in Malakand division,” said Mohammad Islam.
Home National
Labels: Militants, Pakistan Army Operation, Plight of Women, Swat Operation, Taliban, Terrorism
posted @ 12:19 PM,
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