Each whip by the fanatic religious custodian, that struck the buttocks of a young girl in front of a gathering in Swat, was like a lash on the faces of the chief minister of NWFP, the prime minister, the president, the legislators and most importantly, on the faces of every civilized Pakistani and Pukhtun.How can this be a conspiracy when the Taliban spokesman has admitted that they had carried out this brutal act, and that had the case gone to a qazi court, the punishment would have been more severe? It doesn’t matter if the incident took place before or after February 16, the fact is that this is the type of people with whom the peace deal has been struck, and such acts must be condemned.What was the crime of this poor girl? She did not have a trial; she was simply dragged to the city centre, and put through a humiliating, painful and downright inhumane ‘punishment’.
This should be an eye-opener, to all those deluded individuals who praised the ‘peace deal’ with the Taliban. It was said by the supporters of this deal that the people of Swat want ‘speedy justice’ and peace. They refused to look at the precedent the Taliban set in Afghanistan where the terrorised and murdered people in the name of justice.
The case of this poor girl is just the tip of the iceberg. The Taliban will behead, maim, torture and humiliate anyone they see as having violated their laws, and they will do so without any trials.
The state should never have given up its writ and surrendered Swat to the Taliban. Now they have the freedom to wreck the lives of the Swatis; while Sufi Muhammad threatens “action” if the state tries to interfere. This deal should be scrapped immediately, and the government should drive out the Taliban from Swat.