A good Taliban is a dead Taliban

By Abdul Mannan

WATCHING BBC after the Peshawar carnage on December 16 would have made any human being sick and angry. The Frankenstein that USA and Pakistan's ISI jointly created at the height of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban (madrassa students), massacred 145 people in an Army School in Peshawar, of which 132 were students aged between 7 and 15. Peshawar has seen quite a few carnages in the last few years, but this one was perhaps the bloodiest since the British troops gunned down between 400 and 700 unarmed civilians in 1930.

Peshawar boasts of its Kissa Kahwani Bazaar (the bazaar of story tellers) and its famous Jamrud Fort that takes one to Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. In the 1st Century AD it was the seat of the Gandhara civilisation. From the Persian King Darius I to Alexander the Great, Sultan Mahumd of Ghazni, Babar -- the founder of Mughal Empire in India -- all invaded India coming through the Khyber Pass. The great English author Rudyard Kipling made Peshawar known to average British book lovers through his hypnotising book Kim.

They say whoever controls Khyber Pass controls India. Now it is the Taliban who control Khyber Pass, Waziristan, Quetta, Swat and Peshawar and they seem to control most of Pakistan. At least attacking a Pakistan Army School inside an army controlled area proved that Pakistan's security forces are at the mercy of these medieval thugs and that these thugs are capable of hitting anywhere anytime. A mother who lost her son in the carnage told the BBC that there is no such thing as a good Taliban. The only good Taliban is a dead Taliban.

In Pakistan, amongst the common people, there are many Taliban lovers, like Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan. Even after the Peshawar attack, the Chief Mullah of Islamabad's infamous Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, told worshippers he “shared the grief” of the victims' families but said the Pakistani Taliban's response was understandable and any army reprisal against them will not be good. Over the mosque microphone he declared: “You my debate it, you may call scholars from abroad, from India and Bangladesh (may be Hefazati or Jamaati), I will go before them and prove that this (army) operation is un-Islamic.” This is the same Lal Masjid which stands very close to the Pakistan's parliament buildings and was the scene in 2007 of a week-long military siege against radicals, which left more than 100 people dead. Earlier in December, the female students affiliated with the Lal Masjid issued a video statement praising the Islami State (IS) and calling on it to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden. Last April, the women in this seminary named the library in honour of Osama bin Laden. To them a good Taliban is one who creates trouble in India only. They love the AK-47 totting Taliban.

Imran Khan, the cricketer turned politician, is also in the good books of the Taliban. During the last parliament election the Taliban declared that no one from People's Party should be allowed to campaign in public. They supported Imran's Tehrik-e-Insaf in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to form the government. For all practical purposes Pakistan is a divided nation when it comes to the Taliban issue. Most of the Pakistani thinks that the Taliban activities are the result of the US drone strikes in Pakistan-Afghanistan border where regular strikes kill innocent people, including women and children. Taliban sees the Pakistan army as an active accessory to the US drone attack and will go to any length to disapprove the US-Pakistan collaboration against their activities.

There is another brand of Taliban called Afghan Taliban. Though there are no known organised Taliban outfits in India as yet, they were instrumental in sending their operatives into India to create terror in Mumbai in 2008. In Bangladesh, there are proven Taliban trainees who returned from Afghanistan after receiving training and often raise the slogan “we are all Taliban and Bangladesh will be Afghanistan.” They operate in disguise with Islami Chatra Shibir, JMB, LoT and Hijbut Tahrir. Though the Peshawar massacre was condemned by most governments, organisations and individuals no such condemnation came from any Arab country or even from the militant Islamic parties in Bangladesh.

December 16 was already a day of shame for Pakistan as on this day in 1971 the Pakistani forces surrendered to the joint command of the Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighters) and the Indian forces in Bangladesh. This December 16 massacre just added salt to their existing national wound. Though both the Pakistan government and the army chief have declared that they will get very tough with the killers, in the end this may not be the case as Pakistan has a very complicated political chemistry.
The most organised political party in Pakistan is the army. Over the last six decades or so the political institutions have crumbled. The average people on the street see the army as their only savior, though this is the same army that has put the country in the present quagmire. From Ayub Khan to Pervez Musharraf, all had a part to play in this senseless power play, intrigue and conspiracy over the years. Then there is the infamous ISI. The mullahs and the military always played a very dominant role in Pakistan's politics. Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan army, by declaring a 'jihad' against the Taliban jihadists, may be playing to the people's sentiment. But the Peshawar tragedy may not be the last tragedy of its kind. Already the Taliban have declared that if necessary they will assassinate the children of politicians and army officers. How Pakistan can get out of this mess is a
million dollar question.