Does anyone else get the feeling of Deja Vu? *yawns at the fear mongering* On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Michael Dinowitz < [email protected]> wrote:
> > Must be them moderate Taliban folk we want to talk to. I wonder how long > it'll be before they have nuclear weapons. > > Taliban Seize District Near Islamabad > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124041153700943789.html > > Pakistan's Taliban have seized control of another district in the country's > northwest just 70 miles from the capital after consolidating their hold on > the Swat valley following a peace deal with the government, according to > local government officials and residents. > > The latest Taliban advance into the Buner district has spurred fears that > the controversial accord, which allowed the militants to enforce Sharia law > in Swat, has emboldened them to expand their influence. > > Militants have been moving into Buner since the Swat peace deal was signed > in February. But starting Tuesday night they seized control of the entire > district, which has a population of more than one million people, local > government officials and residents said. Heavily-armed militants, streaming > in from Swat, occupied government offices and set up their own checkposts. > Terrified residents fled their homes. > > Dozens of hooded fighters carrying rocket launchers and machine guns > ransacked the offices of international aid and development agencies working > in the district and took away their vehicles. Some employees of the > agencies > were also briefly taken hostage. The militants set up their headquarters in > Buner town after driving out government officials. > > The Taliban have banned music and television and stopped women from > entering > into a popular shrine of a Muslim saint. They are also using mosques to > invite local youth to join them. > > A Taliban commander said Islamic Sharia courts would soon be established in > the district as they have already done in Swat. Mohammad Khalil said the > main objective was to end the "sense of deprivation" among locals and > provide speedy justice to the people. > > Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Northwest Frontier > Province, warned that the militants' activities in Buner were in violation > of the Swat peace accord. "After the agreement, there is no justification > to > take up arms," Mr. Hussain said in a statement Wednesday. He denied, > however, that the Taliban have total control over the area. > > Rehman Malik, the federal home minister, said the government has the option > of using force if the Taliban did not withdraw from Buner. A senior > military > official said a military operation could not be ruled out to stop the > Taliban advance. > > In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Taliban > advances pose "an existential threat" to Pakistan and urged Pakistanis > world-wide to oppose a government policy yielding to them. > > Pakistanis "need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding > more and more territory to the insurgents," Mrs. Clinton said in testimony > before a House committee. She pointed to "the seriousness of the > existential > threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing [Taliban] advances, > now within hours of Islamabad." > > Analysts said the fall of Buner to the Taliban came as a serious blow to > the > government's efforts to contain Islamic militancy, which poses a major > threat to Pakistan's security. The people of the area had previously beaten > back Taliban raids, but lack of support from the security forces broke > their > resistance. > > The development came after Sufi Mohammed, a radical cleric who played a > central role in signing the peace accord called his followers to continue > their struggle for the enforcement of Islamic rule in the entire North West > Frontier Province. > > Addressing a large crowd in Mingora, the main town in Swat on Sunday, Mr. > Mohammed declared that there was no room for democracy in Islam. "The > Western democracy is infidels and should be rejected by Muslims," he said. > > U.S. officials have warned that the Swat peace deal could turn Swat into a > launching pad for militant expansion into Pakistan's more densely populated > plains. The militants have made it clear they would not lay down their > weapons, which is a crucial plank of the peace accord. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:295649 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
