A dagger at the heart
No religion is more emphatic about this than Islam. The gradual “step by step” process of revelation of the Quran, spanning 23 years, began with the exhortation: “Read in the name of thy Sustainer …Who has taught (man) the use of the pen, taught man what he did not know.” The emphasis is that it is humankind alone that has been gifted the unique ability to read and write. Knowledge thus acquired is to be transmitted, verbally and through written records, from individual to individual, generation to generation and from one cultural environment to another.
But education is rejected by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and is anathema to their religion. It is not Islam that they follow but a creed that mandates the destruction of seats of learning particularly those for girls. Within weeks of the TTP takeover of Swat 180 girls’ schools were torched, some 900 private schools were closed indefinitely by their administrators and it became uncertain whether an estimated 125,000 females would ever be able to acquire education.
The former TTP spokesman, Muslim Khan, declared that schools for girls would not be allowed because: “they are being run under a system introduced by the British and promote obscenity and vulgarity.” The actual reason was the fear that education would not only expose their false religion but also make the people, as Lord Brougham said two centuries earlier, “impossible to enslave.”
This was proved by the courage of 13-year-old Malala Yusufzai who was nominated for the International Peace Prize for children by a Dutch organisation. She witnessed the death and devastation wrought by the TTP in Swat but refused to be intimidated. Using the pen name “Gul Makai” she wrote fearlessly about the atrocities, about the public hangings and beheadings, about the destruction of educational institutions and about the desperate plight of her people. It was with difficulty that the South African Nobel laureate, Bishop Desmond Tutu, controlled his emotions when he announced that Malala was one of the nominees for the award.
The same savagery was in evidence in the Bajaur Agency which was under the control of the Taliban from 2007 to 2009. The immediate outcome was the destruction of 91 out of Bajaur’s 616 schools and an estimated 24,000 students were unable to pursue their studies. Here again a brave little girl spoke up when others were terrorised into silence. Sheema Bibi, a 5th grader at the Government Girls’ Primary School, Nawa Killey, publicly said: “We are heading toward the Stone Age as the Taliban have snatched schools from us. We condemn the Taliban for targeting schools.”
The statistics compiled by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child reveal that countrywide 432 schools, including 287 for girls, have been blown up and 566 educational institutions have been targeted since 2007. The trend has continued this year. On Jan 10, the Government High School in Nadir Shah Kili of the Khyber Agency was bombed and the same day a girls’ school was razed to the ground in the Matani area of Peshawar. Twenty-four hours later a primary school for girls was destroyed in Swabi.
The assault on the ramparts of learning is integral to the TTP strategy of controlling the minds of people. The reduction of academic institutions to rubble and debris is considered essential for the propagation of their rejectionist worldview based on the distortion of religious tenets and enforced through unbridled violence. In this they are hand-in-glove with Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban. The three groups constitute a triangle of terror and are mutually supportive. They have been coordinating with each other regularly in order to chalk out a common strategy aimed at imposing their rule in the region.
The TTP was formally announced after 13 militant outfits united under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud in December 2007. On Aug 25, 2008, Pakistan banned the group and from late December to early January 2009 the first TTP-Al Qaeda-Afghan Taliban coordination meeting was held. The Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, sent Abdullah Zakir, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, to persuade the TTP factions to set aside their differences in order to combat the American presence in Afghanistan.
This resulted in an agreement between Baitullah Mehsud, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazir to establish the Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen and the three TTP leaders circulated a one-page pamphlet in February 2009 announcing their decision to unite in a joint onslaught against the US-led forces in Afghanistan. They also pledged fealty to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden. However shortly afterwards the Shura collapsed and hostilities between the TTP factions resumed.
Recently, at a meeting organized by the Afghan Taliban on Dec 11 in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, Abu Yahya al-Libi, a senior Al-Qaeda commander, bluntly told the TTP: “For God’s sake, forget all your differences and give us fighters to boost the battle against America in Afghanistan.” This demonstrated yet again the symbiotic relationship between the three groups who had also met earlier on Nov 27 in Wana, South Waziristan.
Prominent among the Pakistani militants who participated in the two meetings were the TTP chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, his deputy, Waliur Rehman, as well as Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur. The Afghan side was represented by Sirajuddin Haqqani whose network is one of the most feared groups in Afghanistan, and the main spokesman of the so-called Quetta shura, Zabiullah Mujahid, and Maulvi Sangin.
The outcome of the meetings was that the four Pakistani commanders and Haqqani argeed to form yet another council to resolve their differences. As a follow up a pamphlet was again distributed by the North Waziristan-based militants which stated: “All jihadi forces have jointly, on the recommendation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, formed a five-member council which will be known as the Shura Muraqba.”
The communiqué also called upon the Pakistani militants to coordinate with each other and “avoid unwarranted kidnappings for ransom. If any holy warrior is found involved in an unjustified murder or crime, he will be answerable to the committee and could face punishment.” Despite this declaration of pious intent, the TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan was quick to announce: “We will continue our jihad against Pakistani security forces.” Shortly afterwards 15 kidnapped Frontier Constabulary personnel were murdered and earlier this week a video of the gruesome event was circulated by the TTP.
On Jan 3 reports emerged that Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman were at each other’s throats again and this was confirmed by a senior TTP commander who said: “You will soon hear that one of them has eliminated the other.” A week later the unsubstantiated claim that Mehsud was killed in a drone strike was doing the rounds.
The correct facts will eventually surface but what cannot be denied is that the TTP, the Afghan Taliban and post-Osama Al-Qaeda have fractured. This needs to be exploited through a concerted effort to widen the differences between and within each group. Terrorism is the foremost threat to Pakistan and is like a dagger at its heart.
Email: iftimurshed@gmail.com
Wrong facts as TTP was never formed in 2008 as actaully TTP has 50% Punjabi taliban like Lashkar jhangavi and Lashkar Toiba and there are Half strength is comprising of Punjabi And Punjabi Taliban hence , not mention is like Telling Lies by Iftikhar Murshid and confusing people these Taliban were riased after 1990 by Pakistan to capture afghanistan and counter iran for us and Israeli interesta