bhangra12345
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http://dawn.com/2007/08/10/ed.htm#2
THE security forces were little more than silent spectators as the local Taliban overran Darra Adamkhel on Wednesday after capturing a nearby village, which fell to the militants following a pitched battle with Qasimkhel tribesmen. Flush with their success, heavily armed Taliban then descended on Darra Adamkhel, brandishing machine guns and proclaiming that the mujahideen had restored peace. Terrified residents could only watch helplessly as the militants took control of the town located a mere 35 kilometres (22 miles) south of Peshawar in Frontier Region Kohat. This is not the first time that the local Taliban have flexed their muscles in Darra. In June, the militants had imposed a 10 pm curfew, set up checkpoints where everyone had to stop or face being shot, and made reporting on the militants activities an unpardonable crime. The question is: if militants can seize control of a town situated so close to the provincial capital, how capable is the state and its security apparatus of ensuring the rule of law in more remote areas? These are not some shadowy militiamen engaged in hit-and-run operations in some desolate areas. On Wednesday at least, the Pakistani Taliban ruled the town of Darra Adamkhel where helpless residents were left to fend for themselves.
The government must take immediate action and any failure to do so will be unacceptable. Even if the militants ultimately leave or are forced out of Darra, they must be pursued and neutralised. Bogged down in the politics of expediency and the struggle for self-preservation, the government has failed miserably in checking the growth of extremism in recent months. Darras takeover, however brief it may turn out to be, is not an isolated incident. After enforcing their writ in vast swathes of the tribal belt, the local Taliban are now spreading their influence in all directions. It is in the national interest to stem the rising tide of Talibanisation, for it is Pakistan not the US or Nato that is bearing the brunt of this militancy. Society and core values as we know them are under attack, and efforts to bring the fanatics to book must be redoubled.
