Daily Times

A friend on Facebook summed it up. He posted, “Dear Ghairat Brigade! Now that the US has apologised, how about seeking an apology from the Taliban for beheading Pakistani soldiers?” It seems as if the big game hunting season is always on for the Taliban, without any questions asked. I am constantly amazed when I meet individuals defending the Taliban and their allies in the media and civil society organisations. Different arguments are put forth in favour of the Taliban’s ‘ideology’ while condemning their methods. Perceived Muslim phobia in the west, the Palestinian, Kashmir issues, governance crisis in Pakistan, low conviction rates, lack of judicial access in the country are some of the more oft-cited arguments put forth in the Taliban’s defence.
While engaging in constant arguments with this group, there is a ray of hope for me at least in the latest Pew Research Centre’s public opinion poll. Of course, the cynic in me is mindful that no conclusive evidence can be extracted from a poll’s results. However, it is useful to gauge at least, for mapping trends in popular opinion. With a sample size of 1,200 respondents, the Pew poll was conducted from March 28 to April 13, 2012, and is quite indicative of people’s sentiments regarding the Taliban. While the rest of the country still cannot break free from speedy justice and avenging Muslim pride, aka the Taliban style, the highest number of ‘negative views’ about the Taliban were prevalent in Khyber Pakhthunkwa. This is the province where according to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, “Suicide attacks remained rampant in the Province, with as many as 411 persons killed and 705 injured through 2011, in 23 such attacks. 26 suicide attacks were recorded in 2010, inflicting a total of 489 fatalities and injuring another 767. Meanwhile, the number of other bomb blasts in the Province increased from 137 in 2010 to 198 in 2011. The Province accounted for 96 major incidents, resulting in three or more fatalities in 2011, as against 86 in 2010.”
In other words, the province that has, undoubtedly, suffered the most from terrorism at the hands of the Tehreek-e-Taliban were the clearest in their hatred for the militant group. This is not to forget that it was in the same province where in areas like Swat, women donated jewelry to support Maulana Fazlullah and the Taliban’s speedy justice was hailed initially as being of benefit to the people. The lesson that I draw from this poll finding is that those who have truly experienced the Taliban ‘rule’ and their ideology are the ones who have a negative view of them. This is akin to the uprising of ordinary villagers in the Ghander village in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. Sick of being under the Taliban’s rule under which, “We could not breathe,” the villagers have taken up arms against the Taliban. Lest we are quick to label them as supporters of so and so, the villagers quite loudly and clearly proclaim, “We are sick of the Taliban, Karzai and the Americans. We just want a peaceful future for our children, nothing more.” In other words, they are thinking and acting locally — not falling into the lethal quagmire of not acting locally but thinking globally, of Palestine, Kashmir, etc, and losing your loved ones to senseless killings. Ask the mother of a beheaded Pakistani soldier whether she cares more about Palestine or her own son. We raise the flag of sovereignty and Islam after Salala but forgive and forget when a proclaimed Muslim beheads another.
On the subject of Islam and practice, there is another very interesting finding of the Pew poll. There seems to be a direct co-relation between how ritualistic one is to one’s view of the Taliban. According to the poll, “Pakistanis who pray five times a day are also more likely than those who pray less often to offer negative views of extremist groups.” Can we, perhaps, draw the conclusion from the result that if one understands religion and practises it, one is more likely to believe that the Taliban is more of a guerilla band of psychopaths rather than an Islamic jihadi force?
Another finding of the Pew poll is that presently, fewer Pakistanis support a military response to terrorism: 32 percent to 2009’s 53 percent. Juxtapose this with the fact that since the present Pakistan People’s Party government took power in 2008, some 50,000 licences of prohibited bore arms have been issued. Such weapons include submachine guns and AK-47s, all licensed for personal security, which reflects not only the law and order situation in the country but also our more militarised mindset. So do we want less military response to terrorism but a more militarised response to challenges in our personal lives?

The writer is a development consultant and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com