Tuesday, September 29, 2009
We were astounded after reading Farhat Taj's article on Sept 27 titled "The Taliban and the Salarzais". I could not believe the lengths to which people will go to just to secure a space in a newspaper. The writer referred to a senior member of the Salarzai tribe as saying that the ISI was behind the target killing of elders and that the Taliban are just a facade. Nothing can be farther from the truth, and such a statement can either be passed thorough ignorance or with malicious intent. Either way such conspiracy theories are based on rumours and there is no concrete evidence which can help prove this allegation.
According to the writer, when the Mamond Taliban had commenced bombardment of Salarzai villages, neither the political administration nor the army was serious about helping them. This is another baseless rumour because immediately after the start of the bombing of the Salarzai villages the military responded with heavy shelling on Taliban positions on Mullah Said ridge.
The credibility of this article can be judged by the fact that the writer says that the spokesman for the lashkar Malik Munasib Khan was killed by the same group which she accuses earlier in the article. Given that Malik Munasib Khan is still alive and doing quite well, one would have to say that the claim that he was killed is patently false. The writer also mentions shelling on the Salarzai villages and claims that this was coming from Timergara and coordinated by a Colonel Sajjad. In reality, there are no gun positions covering Salarzai from Timergara and no officer by the name of Colonel Sajjad was ever posted there.
The writer says that Pashat is an area under Taliban control but not marked so by the military. Had the writer done some research on this topic she would have found that Pashat is the headquarters of the Salarzai lashkar. After reading this article I can only guess that the writer has never visited Bajaur and knows close to nothing about the mechanics of a lashkar in general and the Salarzai lashkar in particular. The lashkar was provided material and moral support by the security forces, and its injured were promptly evacuated by the security forces to Peshawar by helicopter. Their shaheed and injured were compensated and compensation amount paid to their next of kin. Writing on a sensitive issue like this requires diligent investigation.
We would also request your newspaper to thoroughly check the article for its factual worth, otherwise, printing such ill-researched pieces will not only undermine your newspaper's credibility but also the sacrifices made by the security forces.
Spokesman for FC NWFP
Peshawar
Taliban and Salarzais
