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The United States’ new Afghanistan policy focuses on targeting Al Qaeda and ensuring that attacks against the West are stopped. As part of the new strategy, the US is planning to engage Taliban militants who have comparatively moderate views and are willing to lay down their arms.
According to US National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, moderate Taliban include those militants who are willing to participate in the political process ‘without violence and without terror and without causing breaches in the security of either [Pakistan or Afghanistan].’
How would you define a ‘moderate’ Taliban? Is there such a thing as a militant with moderate views? Do you think the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan are in a position to distinguish between ‘moderate’ Taliban and more hard-core militants? Does the new US strategy provide an effective framework for thinking about militancy?
I believe we cannot find moderate Taliban.
We should address real grounds of the problem.
What I had seen since my childhood majority of Sunnis in Pakistan belongs to Beralvi beliefs. They are the peoples who believe in Sufis and were very moderate. Now there is a huge shift in their beliefs. They are shifting more towards Saudi kind of extremist believes. It’s very unfortunate that since after Zia these extremists are getting more and more power.
After all their barbaric acts still majority of peoples in Pakistan have soft corner for Taliban.
And in argument they always blame that’s whatever is happening is due to Musharraf policies. Is that so simple? No one wants to analyze that we have lost our actual Islamic beliefs. We were never like Talibans.
I don’t think Govt can do anything to stop the surge of Talibanisation. We have already tried our military option. To counter such a treat we require collective effort from whole Pakistani nation which seems very unlikely.
Moderate Taliban are those who blow up Bamiyan Buddha statues. Extremist Taliban are those who blow up real people.
I feel moderate Talibans exist, but are over powered or over shadowed by hard liners. We have to understand who these people are and how do they think. What is their religious and educational background.
A pure pashtoon from NWFP, FATA area is moderate, peace loving, and has seen a social side of life, but is not highly educated, with strong belief in religion.
An Afghan is less educated, deprived of social amenities, with no exposure to civilized world (thanks to US 2001 indiscriminate bombing and embargoes). His religion is a combination of real religion overlapped or masked by hardliners personal thinking.
As I understand it, after Talibans were driven from power in 2001, they ran in all directions, and found Pakistan to be most suitable. Later these Talibans were joined by freedom fighters frm Chechnya, and surrounding countries. Chechens are very fierce fighters with a little religion knowledge. They resonate similar feelings for Pakistan as they did for Russian in Checnya and thus you see what is now happening.
Lastly, we can find moderate Talibans only if we are able to unmix this mix.
Moderate Taliban are those who flog girls within the four walls instead of open spaces.
A moderate Taliban is a person who does not has a gun. One should remember that all these people are primary school drop outs and they have lived on pieces of bread collected by knocking at your doors.They are taking revenge from society and think their condition will get better if they go back in time when Muslims were ruling the good part of the world. Every one agrees that Talibanization is a curse and cancer for our society. You can’t talk to cancer, the Doctor has to remove it, sometimes doing radical surgery.Since the cancer has spread to the whole country,it is high time to administer a strong chemo drug and also to give radiation. Cure is not possible without the concerted efforts of the whole nation. When we know the culprit and his hideout,why can’t we go after him. We are in a state of denial. Baitullah says,he has done it, our religious friends say it is America. The time is running fast.It is basically our war,which we have to fight ourselves. India may be our enemy, but the current threat is from these elements.
Even though I am in no position to label who is and who isn’t a muslim. But, I must say these people are NOT muslims; they are a disease (an uncurable cancer).
A true Muslim WILL NOT kill innocent people and blow up other muslims while THEY ARE PRAYING in a house of god (mosque), in the name of Islam. No where in Islam it says to deny rights to women and prevent education. Our prophet (PBUH) was a firm believer of education, himself. SO, what kind of Islam is this? and how do they call themselves muslims?
Its so sad; what we’ve done to such a beautiful country; there is so much potential, but self interest and greed is leading us to a path of total destruction.
God help this country; although, god also probably says; how can I help you when you’ve chosen this path yourself.
I KNOW!
A Moderate Taliban is one who believes in rather lashing a girl’s rear in the street for not accepting a marriage proposal vs having her stoned to death!
Though I am not an expert on this subject, I can only refer to the history. Today we shudder seeing the video of a teenage girl being flogged in Pakistan. But the same and more happened in Afghanistan a few years back and the rulers were the same Taliban. Were they moderate ? Did not see any of these uproar then. Let us be honest to ourselves. To Allah nothing is hidden. So hypocrisy does not help. Just like Zia twisted and distorted the constitution to have a warped veiw of the society and world, similarly the Taliban has twisted and distorted Sharia to have a warped views of the society and world. The moderate might have a slightly lesser degree of distortion and that too totally depends on the person at the helm.
Yes Pakistan may be OK with it and it might be OK (to some extent) to the World if it is contained within Pakistan (which is remote). As the world in general follows the rule of humanity enshrined in their constitutions, any spillage will create a destabilising factor which will be resisted and counterbalanced.
My request and pleading to the true followers of Islam in Pakistan – know your enemy in the true sense. Then have jihad against them. Not identifying the true enemy will hurt Pakistan both ways – from inside and from outside.
People in pakistan should understand that Taliban is no friend of theirs. They want to destroy Pakistan by siding with external terrorists and anti-national elements. Wake up, wake up Pakistan, and fight against this evil force as one nation. Do not let the history repeat itself. Should Cultured Pakistan be led by dark forces of Taliban? If so, it will be a great tragedy not only for pakistan but for India too.
I shall define a ‘moderate taliban’ for you, if you tell me what do you mean by being ‘moderate’?
There is no such thing as moderate Taliban in Islam.
Islamic-Taliban in the true sense is student of religion and not student of militancy. Therefore, There could be Islamic Talibans or non-Islamic Talibans.
Non-Islamic Talibans are militants and criminals.
Militancy is HARAAM. Islam teaches only moderation and and if the Talibans are learning the religion of Islam they can’t be other than moderate, and if they are, then they are student of other relegion.
Targetting innocent people and even security forces can not be allowed at all. Military is the responsibility of the state.
Islamic Talibans are only ordinary citizens who cannot take the law into thier hands.
But, the present scenario, definitely, is a part of yet unfinished agenda.
There is absolutely no doubt that the US has to take care of those Talibans who would not listen to them any more after the Soviets were gone with the wind.
There is no such thing as moderate Taliban in Islam.
Islamic-Taliban in the true sense is student of religion and not student of militancy. Therefore, There could be Islamic Talibans or non-Islamic Talibans.
Non-Islamic Talibans are militants and criminals.
Militancy is HARAAM. Islam teaches only moderation and and if the Talibans are learning the religion of Islam they can’t be other than moderate, and if they are, then they are student of other relegion.
Targetting innocent people and even security forces can not be allowed at all. Military is the resposibility of the state.
Islamic Talibans are only ordinary citizens who cannot take the law into thier hands.
But, the present scenario, definitely, is a part of yet unfinished agenda.
There is absolutely no doubt that the US has to take care of those Talibans who would not listen to them any more after the Soviets were gone with the wind.
There is nothing such as moderate Taliban. In fact I think the terminology is absurd.
Those who are being labelled as ‘moderate taliban’ are the militants as violent and as callous as their other brethren, except for the fact that they are weary after years of fighting.
They might be willing to negotiate and compromise for the time being, but that is only to catch breath and regroup so that they could embark on the holy voyage again.
It has been witnessed time and again that negotiations and peace deals with taliban do not bear fruits. I think after what happened to a 17-year old girl in swat after the peace deal was signed, I need not to present other evidence for the violent post-deal taliban activities.
These men exhibit megalomaniac tendencies, with brimming lust for expansion. And the veneer of moderation is just another ploy to execute the evil plan.
moderate Taliban ??
there is no such thing as moderate Taliban
it is very sarcastic to say this thing
i don’t even agree to say these extremist a Taliban because this word ‘Taliban’ is derived from the word talib which means a seeker, a lover which these people are certainly not because they dont love humanity!!!!
This is last chance to people of pakistan understand the TALIBANs
Good: This Taliban want to conquer NWFP first.
Bad: They want to ruin whole Pak in single mission (By this speed, it is possible to get this done in 3-4 year).
Only US can stop them by doing so to satisfy their very own interests but in that case pak will be another afganistan.
…And 99% of Pak still count INDIA on enemy side. Khuda khair kare…
The Taliban who are ready to laydown their arms can be negotiated.The ultimate solution will be talks and dis-arm the activists. Unity, Faith and Discipline were the mottos given by father of nation. We have to become first a Nation and then have to follow the given motto. We have to become Pakistani first. We have to consistent with democracy. We have to build friendship with all the nations especially with our neighbours,China, India, Afghanistan and Iran. We have to solve all the disputes with our neighbours by table talks, Dialogues.
We have to dis-arm the activists and to fight against terror with the help of all the nations. We should not allow the terrorists to use our land. We should ask our friend countries for help to establish democracy and fight against terror. Terrorism is enemy of our democracy. We should go to UNO for help to fight against terror. We have to Dis-arm the terrorists creating problems for us.We have to bring all the Fata under full control of Law and order. We have to put book in their hands instead of gun. Can we do it? Can the entire world help us to do this? Action against terrorists can only be done by Pak Army. Our friends should help our Army. We should solve Kashmir Issue by De-militarization and giving self governance to Kashmiris themselves. We should soften the border between India and Pakistan. We should open maximum import and export with India. We should do peace treaty and no war pact with all our neighbors including India and Afghanistan. We should boost democracy and national re-conciliation. We should dis-courage fundamentalism and we should be-come a moderate nation with keeping in mind the peace loving spirit of our religion Islam. (Sallamti For All Human-beings).We have to give equal rights to every citizen of Pakistan. All Discriminatory laws should be changed. Use of religion for killing of human-being should be dis-couraged and illuminated. Tolerance and sympathy should be en-courage among the society. Religious activists should be dis-armed and banned in the society. Use of religion for discrimination should never be allowed. Then it will be a democracy and moderate Islamic country.
Today (6th April) I like to appreciate the Urdu column written by Mr.Rauf Kale Sara (Meray Liya Bolnay Wala Koi Nahain Bacha) in daily jang. Excellent and very true anticipation. No doubt talibanization will through us in jungle life. We can not societe like Iraq and Afghanistan and can not fight with the entire world under UNO banner in Afghanistan. Let me say clearly that some Islami Jammats supporting the so called (Taliban-e-Pakistan) and Ex-Army Generals of ISI are behind non-state militant groups. Our some Madrissas and Mosques are nurseries of so called (Jihaddi).The only question is that our governments and forces are capable to un-armed these groups or not .Very deep intelligence work needed to explore and un-arm the groups promoting talibanization. A stitch in time saves nine. Al-though here we need many stitches . Media should play its vital role. Please Media: – Please save Pakistan. If media will not play its role today against terrorism and fundamentalism then media will also suffer. For example the Taliba-e-Sawat is angry about the media on showing their cruelty .Please keep continue your message of (Geo Ur Genay do).Give top priority to Pakistan and Humanity. Humanity is first.
There is no such thing as moderate Taliban or good Taliban.
Only god is entilted to punish and reward and that too after death, what authority these so called Taliban have to judge others?
I am so sad at the death of 22 Shia Muslims in the suicide attack at Chakwal today. These terrorists are not Muslims and if they claim to be one, they should be ashamed of their horrendous acts of violence and killing innocent human beings.
Being a good Muslim, I am opposed to sectarianism in Islam as it a contradiction of Islam and Sunnah and wish that both Shias and Sunnis come together and eradicate this non-Islamic differences from our midst. How much Islam would have gained and will gain if these unnecessary bridges and gaps are removed from our midst; and hatred eradicated from our communities.
Moderate Taliban are those who respect human life more than anything else as enshrined in Glorified Qurran.