Pakistan's Pashtuns Feel More Alone Than Ever
by Shaheen Buneri
RFE/RL
Pashtuns straddling the Pakistani-Afghan border face serious challenges to their socio-cultural survival. It's very hard for the estimated 50 million Pashtuns to know whether the world recognizes their numerous sacrifices in the ongoing war, or whether all of them have simply been dismissed by the outside world as Taliban supporters and sympathizers.
From Waziristan to the Swat Valley, the Taliban since 2006 has claimed responsibility for the destruction of hundreds of schools, music shops, and other buildings, as well as the killings of about 700 tribal elders and the kidnapping of university teachers, religious scholars, and aid workers. Taliban suicide-bomb attacks have killed thousands of innocent bystanders.
Until very recently, Pakistan's central government completely ignored the rise of the Taliban. Hundreds of illegal FM radio stations were allowed to spread hatred and bigotry throughout the tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Locals became convinced that the security and intelligence agencies were preparing a horrible plot that even today has no end in sight.
In the past four years, the Pashtun "jirga" was replaced by the Taliban "shura" through a display of violent force. Traditional Pashtun melodies have been superseded by Taliban chants inciting youths to a life of terrorism. Female dancers have been persecuted and murdered by Taliban militants seeking to impose their extremist religious agenda on a moderate people. In March 2009, the shrine of legendary Pashtun Sufi poet Rahman Baba was bombed and destroyed.
(More here.)
RFE/RL
Pashtuns straddling the Pakistani-Afghan border face serious challenges to their socio-cultural survival. It's very hard for the estimated 50 million Pashtuns to know whether the world recognizes their numerous sacrifices in the ongoing war, or whether all of them have simply been dismissed by the outside world as Taliban supporters and sympathizers.
From Waziristan to the Swat Valley, the Taliban since 2006 has claimed responsibility for the destruction of hundreds of schools, music shops, and other buildings, as well as the killings of about 700 tribal elders and the kidnapping of university teachers, religious scholars, and aid workers. Taliban suicide-bomb attacks have killed thousands of innocent bystanders.
Until very recently, Pakistan's central government completely ignored the rise of the Taliban. Hundreds of illegal FM radio stations were allowed to spread hatred and bigotry throughout the tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Locals became convinced that the security and intelligence agencies were preparing a horrible plot that even today has no end in sight.
In the past four years, the Pashtun "jirga" was replaced by the Taliban "shura" through a display of violent force. Traditional Pashtun melodies have been superseded by Taliban chants inciting youths to a life of terrorism. Female dancers have been persecuted and murdered by Taliban militants seeking to impose their extremist religious agenda on a moderate people. In March 2009, the shrine of legendary Pashtun Sufi poet Rahman Baba was bombed and destroyed.
(More here.)
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