Talibanisation of Pakistan
February 22nd 2009 08:54
With Taliban having established its foothold in our neighbourhood today, the whole world is calculating the enormous risk of this dangerous development of Talibanisation of Pakistan.
This, indeed, is a new chapter in the history of the world. These developments are very different from what happened in Afghanistan or other parts of the world during past few decades and cold war era. Taliban occupying Afghanistan and assassinating its President Najibullah during 1996 was an altogether different situation. Pakistan is a recognised nuclear powered state with fully functional democratically elected Government in place. It is also the country which is in front of the US War against terror, and a major ally.
With this as background, if the Taliban has actually gained foothold in some regions of North West Pakistan, this could not have been possible without support from a considerable segment of civilian population as well as Pakistan Military, which virtually controls Pakistan’s democracy. It is difficult to imagine that Pakistani military establishment didn’t have capability to confront the Taliban and keep them away from their territory. And if Pakistani military has allowed them to gain a foothold in entire SWAT valley and adjoining regions, we living in other parts of the world have lot to reasons to worry about.
Firstly, this could severely affect human rights of people in these regions of Pakistan, and in turn, more and more innocent people giving in to terror ideology simply to stay alive rather than face persecution. This would be most unfortunate since this war against terror would become more and more complicated, and the anti-terror action would need to shift entirely into dangerous territory of another sovereign nation leading to worldwide ramifications and face severe opposition among other Muslim countries watching the developments.
Secondly, the development could have large scale impact on its immediate neighbour, India which is already suffering from insensible Pakistani sponsored terrorism for past few decades. With Taliban in place and controlling regions not too far away from India, the trouble is knocking on their doorsteps. The least that these countries (and also those far away from Pakistan) can expect is increase in instances of terror attacks like in Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Delhi last year. And these could be much more severe in future.
Thirdly, there exists the fear of Pakistan turning into an altogether religious fundamentalist state. This again should give heads up for most affected nations across the world, since the fundamentalist thinking could be transmitted to their likeminded groups which are active or dormant across the world. Casualties among the civilians due to terror war could unite religious fundamentalist groups across the world against the non-Islamist world.
Lastly, the nuclear status of Pakistan is of great concern to everyone, especially since Pakistani military is controlling their nukes. Its irresponsible proliferation history notwithstanding, if some of these weapons or technology fall into hands of these groups, the dreadful result cannot even be imagined. The likelihood has been debated for past decades the world over, however, this threat of nukes falling into wrong hands is perhaps the biggest one that faces the world today, the nuclear terrorism. Such a probability has been repeatedly expressed and cautioned against by most think tanks of the world recently.
These aspects would make controlling terror activities through conventional means more and more difficult in future. And since there was never any military solution to terrorism, we might be slowly heading towards an era where every time our family member goes out of the house, we would pray to God that he/she comes back alive.
Let’s all keep our fingers crossed, and watch how the situation develops in next few years.
This, indeed, is a new chapter in the history of the world. These developments are very different from what happened in Afghanistan or other parts of the world during past few decades and cold war era. Taliban occupying Afghanistan and assassinating its President Najibullah during 1996 was an altogether different situation. Pakistan is a recognised nuclear powered state with fully functional democratically elected Government in place. It is also the country which is in front of the US War against terror, and a major ally.
With this as background, if the Taliban has actually gained foothold in some regions of North West Pakistan, this could not have been possible without support from a considerable segment of civilian population as well as Pakistan Military, which virtually controls Pakistan’s democracy. It is difficult to imagine that Pakistani military establishment didn’t have capability to confront the Taliban and keep them away from their territory. And if Pakistani military has allowed them to gain a foothold in entire SWAT valley and adjoining regions, we living in other parts of the world have lot to reasons to worry about.
Firstly, this could severely affect human rights of people in these regions of Pakistan, and in turn, more and more innocent people giving in to terror ideology simply to stay alive rather than face persecution. This would be most unfortunate since this war against terror would become more and more complicated, and the anti-terror action would need to shift entirely into dangerous territory of another sovereign nation leading to worldwide ramifications and face severe opposition among other Muslim countries watching the developments.
Secondly, the development could have large scale impact on its immediate neighbour, India which is already suffering from insensible Pakistani sponsored terrorism for past few decades. With Taliban in place and controlling regions not too far away from India, the trouble is knocking on their doorsteps. The least that these countries (and also those far away from Pakistan) can expect is increase in instances of terror attacks like in Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Delhi last year. And these could be much more severe in future.
Thirdly, there exists the fear of Pakistan turning into an altogether religious fundamentalist state. This again should give heads up for most affected nations across the world, since the fundamentalist thinking could be transmitted to their likeminded groups which are active or dormant across the world. Casualties among the civilians due to terror war could unite religious fundamentalist groups across the world against the non-Islamist world.
Lastly, the nuclear status of Pakistan is of great concern to everyone, especially since Pakistani military is controlling their nukes. Its irresponsible proliferation history notwithstanding, if some of these weapons or technology fall into hands of these groups, the dreadful result cannot even be imagined. The likelihood has been debated for past decades the world over, however, this threat of nukes falling into wrong hands is perhaps the biggest one that faces the world today, the nuclear terrorism. Such a probability has been repeatedly expressed and cautioned against by most think tanks of the world recently.
These aspects would make controlling terror activities through conventional means more and more difficult in future. And since there was never any military solution to terrorism, we might be slowly heading towards an era where every time our family member goes out of the house, we would pray to God that he/she comes back alive.
Let’s all keep our fingers crossed, and watch how the situation develops in next few years.
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