The siege of Peshawar
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Daily Times, Pakistan
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Taliban retaliated in Peshawar after their defeat in Peochar in Swat and an explosive fixed to a bicycle was detonated via remote control in a crowded bazaar. On Friday, the provincial capital wore a deserted look as security was notched up in anticipation of further attacks. The city is under Section 244 for the coming month and all educational institutions have been closed down. Peshawar, more than the rest of the country, is waiting for some kind of storm.
The plight of Peshawar in some ways precedes that of Swat and some will call it much worse than Swat despite the events that have shocked the world. The capital of the NWFP has been falling under the influence of a number of warlords and criminals riding under the banner of the Taliban. When the ANP government came to power in 2008 it discovered that it hardly governed the city. Peshawar had already been divided up in areas of control by warlords and criminal gangs located outside the province in the tribal areas.
What was further discovered was the tolerance that had been shown earlier to the spread of the power of the external warlords inside the city. Criminal gangs in the city, seeing exemption in it, joined up with the warlords and began to organise their extortions around so-called “Islamic” injunctions. They in turn ensured massive ownership of property in the city by the warlords. For instance, the properties owned by one warlord in Khyber run into scores of locations. The police was, and is today, hardly capable of facing up to these outlaws.
Peshawar is still suffering the aftermath of the “exemption” of the earlier MMA and Musharraf years. The city is inadequately defended against the enemy who is already inside it. “Summons” are daily received by businessmen asking them to present themselves in the Taliban courts inside the city to answer charges of “anti-Islamic” activities. Sensitive to the weakness of the government, doctors and teachers are obeying newly imposed dress codes and waiting for the tables to turn against the terrorists. *
Source
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Taliban retaliated in Peshawar after their defeat in Peochar in Swat and an explosive fixed to a bicycle was detonated via remote control in a crowded bazaar. On Friday, the provincial capital wore a deserted look as security was notched up in anticipation of further attacks. The city is under Section 244 for the coming month and all educational institutions have been closed down. Peshawar, more than the rest of the country, is waiting for some kind of storm.
The plight of Peshawar in some ways precedes that of Swat and some will call it much worse than Swat despite the events that have shocked the world. The capital of the NWFP has been falling under the influence of a number of warlords and criminals riding under the banner of the Taliban. When the ANP government came to power in 2008 it discovered that it hardly governed the city. Peshawar had already been divided up in areas of control by warlords and criminal gangs located outside the province in the tribal areas.
What was further discovered was the tolerance that had been shown earlier to the spread of the power of the external warlords inside the city. Criminal gangs in the city, seeing exemption in it, joined up with the warlords and began to organise their extortions around so-called “Islamic” injunctions. They in turn ensured massive ownership of property in the city by the warlords. For instance, the properties owned by one warlord in Khyber run into scores of locations. The police was, and is today, hardly capable of facing up to these outlaws.
Peshawar is still suffering the aftermath of the “exemption” of the earlier MMA and Musharraf years. The city is inadequately defended against the enemy who is already inside it. “Summons” are daily received by businessmen asking them to present themselves in the Taliban courts inside the city to answer charges of “anti-Islamic” activities. Sensitive to the weakness of the government, doctors and teachers are obeying newly imposed dress codes and waiting for the tables to turn against the terrorists. *
Source
Labels: Extremism, Militancy, Military Operation, Peshawar, Swat Operation, Taliban
posted @ 10:59 AM,
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