Zahoor: Taliban and the media, in The Frontier Post, June 2008
Those who justify the Taliban uprising in Pakistan as an anti-imperialist movement forget that since the Taliban first swept into Afghanistan in 1996 (with the blessings of the Pakistani establishment), they have been a threat to women, pluralism and democracy in the region. Their oppressive order in Afghanistan pre-dates the American invasion of Iraq, bombing of Afghanistan, and drone attacks in Pakistan –– from an article I wrote in Dawn, 2009. Came across it again while searching for something else. Read it, and tell me, what has changed?
By Beena Sarwar, Feb 7, 2009
OF the many challenges Pakistan’s elected government faces perhaps the most menacing and deep-rooted is Talibanisation — a phenomenon identified earlier on (as Talibanism) by the then exiled Afghan government’s acting foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 21, 2000. Continue reading
Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: Ajoka, cartoonist, eqbal ahmad, Frontier Post, Ghulam Abbas Hotel Mohenjodaro, Gul Makai, Pakistan, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Taliban, Zahoor | 1 Comment »
Journeys to democracy 