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When the Government of the NWFP made a secret deal with Sufi Muhammad, there were responsibilities on both sides of the agreement. We just wanted to remind you of the 14 points that were agreed to and you can judge for yourselves if the Taliban is true to their word or not.

1. The Sharia law will be imposed in Swat, including the whole Malakand division;
2. The Army will gradually withdraw security forces from the region; 
3. The government and the Taliban will exchange prisoners; 
4. The Taliban will recognise the writ of the government and they will cooperate with the local police; 
5. The Taliban will halt attacks on barber and music shops; 
6. The Taliban will not display weapons in public; 
7. The Taliban will turn in heavy weapons like rocket launchers and mortars to the government; 
8. The Taliban will not operate any training camps; 
   
9. The Taliban will denounce suicide attacks; 
   
10. A ban would be placed on raising private militias; 
    
11. The Taliban will cooperate with the government to vaccinate children against diseases like polio; 
12. The Madrassa of Maulana Fazlullah in Imam Dherai would be turned into an Islamic University; 
13. Only licensed FM radio stations would be allowed to operate in the region
    
14. The Taliban will allow women to work without any fear.

Those that are in bold have not been fulfilled by the Taliban.

Breaking News across AAJ TV is a new threat from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan:

Hanging posters in front of newspaper and media channel offices, the Taliban have threatened the Pakistani domestic media of dire consequences if they continue to report negative stories about the Taliban, their activities and the Nizam-e-Adl.

The Fidayeen division of Tehrik-e-Taliban has accused the Pakistani media of projecting a negative impression of the Taliban, their activities and the Nizam-e-Adl. They also claimed that for the past week, the Pakistani media has been supporting the US and the Government of Pakistan and this should come to an immediate end otherwise cases will be brought in the Sharia courts of the Malakand division.

So far, the only news channel to report this is AAJ TV (and that too in the televised breaking news report), but you have to wonder why the others aren’t saying anything yet?

Will the media of Pakistan continue to be strong?

We are trying to get a picture of the poster, but if you have a picture, please email it to us (b...@emagine-group.com) or point us to a link.

This letter is being circulated on Facebook and I, and probably a bunch of other bloggers, am sharing. Read the letter, send it to the people listed at the bottom and join the protest against Talibanization.

Letter to the President,PM,CJ and COAS

Dear Mr. President,

We, the citizens of Pakistan, are angry and dismayed at the abject capitulation of the state of Pakistan before the Taliban insurgents in Swat. With one stroke of the pen, you and the Parliament have signed away any real prospects of a stable, tolerant and progressive Pakistan as envisioned by its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Leaving aside the merits or demerits of the so-called Nizam a Adal Regulation, we believe that any agreement signed at the point of a gun and under threats from violent extremists can never lead to a lasting and just peace. It has now become clear how naïve the government has been in thinking that the Taliban could be contained in Swat.

Since you signed the Regulation, the Taliban have stated that that they don’t intend to lay down their arms, have called into question the legitimacy of the Parliament and Supreme Court, and declared the intent to impose their own brand of violent and brutal Sharia law not only in the rest of Pakistan but across the world! This is proof positive that the real aim of the Taliban is to seize power through brutal force and intimidation.

We reject the argument that the Pakistan army did not fight a counter insurgency because it did not want to kill its own people.

The army and security agencies of the country did not display any such qualms and reservations when they, under orders of the governments’ of the day, shot and killed hundreds of Pakistani’s -who were deemed a threat to the state – in east Pakistan during 1971, the MRD protestors in Sindh in 1984, and Baloch insurgents over the last 40 years. One is forced to ask the question, are the lives of some Pakistani’s more precious than others in the eyes of the establishment of Pakistan?

We realise that the dark clouds of obscurantism hanging over our country are the direct result of a ‘Jehadi’ mindset within the civil and military establishment, which has for decades fostered and pandered to religious zealots and regressive forces in the country. Read the rest of this entry »

As Buner and Lower Dir are cleared of the Taliban invaders and the Government of the NWFP steps up its pressure, there are some reports coming out of Swat that the TNSM Chief Sufi Muhammad is abandoning the peace agreement that he made with the NWFP government because of the military operations and have threatened a resumption of suicide attacks.

Ameer Izzat Khan, spokesman of the Taliban, said that “the TNSM would no longer be responsible for the security of the Malakand division”. He also blamed the NWFP government for violating the peace agreement.

What I find funny is the number of times that the Taliban violated that same peace agreement (the Taliban takeover of Buner & Shangla, sealing the district courts and threatening the lawyers and judges, and the suicide attacks in other parts of the NWFP) with the Government of Pakistan and the NWFP standing firm to their commitments.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Information Minister of the NWFP government, said that since the Nizam-e-Adl has been signed, anyone who picks up a weapon is a terrorist.

Get the details here.

For those who are interested in getting more information about Swat and what is happening there – or even finding an archive of some of the statements made by the Taliban spokespeople – I stumbled on this site today – Swat is Burning.

As so many people talk about the what the judicial system in Swat was in Wali Swat’s time, I stumbled on this great review of the whole system from another Swati.

History of The Valley Swat 

Judicial Administration:

Like other administrative spheres, Swat State had its unique status in respect of its judicial system.

Qazis, Shariat, Judicial Hierachy, and their Status:

Qazis were appointed, claims Maingul Abdul Wadud, all over the State on the village, Tahsil and Hakimi levels to decide the cases and the litigants may not suffer travelling long distances to the courts. The Tahsil Qazi had not only to deal with the Tahsil level cases but also acted as a court of appeal for the decisions of the village Qazi. The Qazi attached with every Hakim acted as higher court of appeal. On the top was a court at the capital of the State, comprising of Chief Qazi and other learned scholars of Islamic jurisprudence, which adjudged serious cases and worked as a Supreme Court of Islamic Jurisprudence and the highest court of appeal.

However, the judicial hierarchy comprised the Ruler on the top and Tahsildar at the bottom. The Qazi could not take cognizance of the disputes unless referred to them by Tahsildar, Hakim, Mashir, Wazir, Heir Apparent, and the Ruler or other officials. Even the Commander-in Chief held judicial powers and duties. A new department known as Mehkama-e-Munsifan was established later on. The munsifs were also entrusted with judicial power. Their panel usually had to visit the spot and had either to give their own judgement or had to report the position to the Ruler or heir apparent.

It should not be taken, as is commonly believed, that Shariat was the Supreme Law and that all the people were bound to follow and decide their cases accordingly in the Qazi courts. There was no separation of power in respect of the State officials. Administrative, executive, fiscal and judicial powers and functions were vested at a time in the hands of the State officials and Ruler, but the Qazis did not possess any sort of administrative, executive, fiscal and real judicial powers and functions. The Qazi courts were subservient to the Administrative cum Judicial officers and Islamic Laws to the regional ‘Codes of Conduct,’ and both were subordinate to the orders of the Rulers.

There were fines for all kinds of offences, I.e. murders, thefts, adultery, and so forth. Strict Islamic rules and laws were seldom followed. All the fines were fixed by the local jargas in the Codes of Conduct or by the Rulers.

It us noteworthy that procedural uniformity did not exist in filling petitions and their dispensation. Petition has been filed to a variety of the State officials, e.g. Tahsildar, Hakim, Hakim Ala, Naib Mashir, Mashir, Wali, Sipah Salar, Wali Ahmad and the Wali. Petitions and applications on the ordinary paper and letters from abroad have also been entertained. All the related officials instructions, correspondence, orders, and so forth has been done on the back of the papers on which petitions has been filed. However, the final decisions and verdicts have been given on stamp papers to those in whose favour the cases have been decided. The verdicts of the decisions have been usually brief, stating names of the petitioner(s) and the respondent(s), contentions of the parties and the reason for the decision in favour of the one party, written in Pukhtu which was the official language of the State. These have also been recorded in the in the State registers as official copies. Besides, some of the shortcomings of the Western judicial system-technicality, delay, and high cost were not known ever. Read the rest of this entry »