The transformation was radical. In the village of Matta, the police post sported a new sign: "Taliban Station." So did the precinct in Kabal. In Kalam village, Dr. Fazli Raziq's barber disappeared, driven out of business by a new edict prohibiting men from shaving their beards. Fazli's wife, Zaibi, stopped leaving the house, preferring to stay inside rather than replace her headscarf with the freshly mandated shuttlecock burqa that left only a mesh opening for the eyes. Then militants threatened to bomb their daughter's school. All in all, five out of seven subdistricts — some 68 villages — in this picturesque valley 100 miles (160 km) from the capital are under the control of an extremist group that has torched music shops, beheaded policemen and tried to blow up centuries-old Buddhist monuments.

No, this is not Afghanistan. It is the Swat Valley, Pakistan's biggest tourist destination, home to the country's only ski slope and a haven for trout-fishing. Its people are deeply conservative Muslims, yet highly tolerant of the liberal ways of international visitors. In recent months, however, Swat has changed. Maulana Fazlullah, a fundamentalist preacher known as the "FM Mullah" for his daily radio sermons, has launched a campaign for the establishment of Islamic law, or Shari'a, in the valley. Fazlullah is backed by Pakistani extremists who share an Islamist ideology with the Afghan Taliban next door. These militants have unleashed a wave of violence on Swat that has claimed nearly 300 lives, mostly security personnel, and that has driven nearly half a million residents from their homes. "Swat used to be a paradise," says Zaibi Raziq. "I used to go on walks every day with my family and friends. But we stopped going out; we stayed inside, discussing what might happen next." The next time she left her home, it was for good. On Oct. 29 Zaibi and her family fled Kalam, leaving a TV, a computer and all their furniture behind.

When Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, declared emergency rule on Nov. 3, he cited the threat of Swat's mounting insurgency as justification. But, so far, Musharraf has used his emergency powers mainly to jail opponents and journalists, and to oust the Supreme Court judges who were about to pronounce his recent re-election as President unconstitutional. (On Nov. 19, a newly reconstituted Supreme Court comprising Musharraf loyalists decreed his re-election lawful.) While the government concentrates on putting out opposition rallies in the capital Islamabad, extremist wildfires are erupting across the land. Since the imposition of emergency rule, the violence has actually gotten worse: sectarian strife on the Afghan border has claimed more than 100 lives, and at least four police and eight frontier-corps soldiers have been beheaded in Swat. "Musharraf's emergency was just a pretext," says Shah Jehan, director of the Institute of Management Studies at Peshawar University. "If he really wanted to do something [about terrorism] he would have pulled the plug on the FM Mullah. Instead, things are getting worse."

Radicalism has been on the rise for several years in Pakistan. Many members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, fleeing the U.S. assault on their bases in Afghanistan, have taken advantage of the porous border between the countries to regroup in the remote, mountainous tribal areas of Waziristan. But Swat is different. The virtual takeover by extremists of a populous, settled area so close to Islamabad marks a significant advance in local militancy. "Swat is a symbol," says a Western military official based in Islamabad. "Mullah Fazlullah's influence is spreading — it doesn't look good."

Fazlullah, a 34-year-old cleric who once earned a living ferrying passengers and goods across the Swat River, got his start studying under Maulana Sufi Mohammed, a religious teacher who founded the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law) in the 1990s. In 2002 the organization was banned, and Mohammed was thrown in jail for mobilizing thousands of his followers to fight American forces in Afghanistan. Fazlullah, who by then was Mohammed's son-in-law, also went to Afghanistan to fight. Radicalized by the experience, and by his short stint in an Afghan jail, he returned to continue the campaign for Shari'a using the platform of his popular radio show. "He is a very good speaker," says Zaibi Raziq. "He gets the attention of a lot of people." In a region plagued by corruption and government inefficiency, Fazlullah's demand for rule of law — even Islamic law — struck a chord. "Many of his listeners were poor and illiterate," says Rahmat Ali Khan, a businessman from Matta who fled after his cousin, a police officer, was beheaded by Fazlullah's militants on Oct. 27. "They suffer under rich landlords who give them no rights. They think that if they follow [Fazlullah] they will be able to occupy their own lands, under Shari'a."

Eventually, Fazlullah's didactic sermons started to alienate many of Swat's residents, but by then it was too late — his militia had already established a foothold. Khan, the businessman from Matta, was sent threatening letters after he denounced Fazlullah's men for killing his cousin. "They have spies everywhere," he says. For too long, the central government ignored the problems festering in Swat, concerned that a crackdown on demands for Shari'a would alienate the country's Islam-based political parties. By the time the military tried to intervene, a homegrown insurgency was in full swing. Fazlullah equated resistance to the government with an anti-American jihad that had already gained some support among Swat's Pashtuns, who belong to same ethnic group as Afghanistan's Taliban. The high incidence of civilian casualties from early bombing raids targeting extremist strongholds further alienated the populace. "The people want the militancy to stop," says Adnan Aurangzeb, a former MP and the grandson of Swat's last princely ruler. "The militants have stopped tourism and disrupted their lives, but the government doesn't have the people's sympathy either."

Earlier attempts to secure Swat resulted in failure. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, director general of military operations, says bands of militants as small as eight or nine have been able to take over entire villages. Local security forces often flee when faced with an insurgent onslaught. "If they stand up to fight, they know the gangsters will call in their 50 friends," says Pasha. Pakistan's military — which came of age fighting conventional wars with archrival India — never developed the expertise to tackle domestic insurgencies. The frontier corps, says the Western military official, is undertrained and outgunned. He puts himself in the soldier's boots: "I'm making $20 a month, I've got five bullets in my gun, and a couple of guys with AK-47s come up. I mean the question is, Do I want to die? Oh, and by the way, they know all my family."

The military says it's fighting back. This past week the army command sent in 15,000 regular army troops, helicopters, tanks and armored vehicles to battle Fazlullah's ragtag band of some 500 militants. The goal is to push them back into their mountain redoubts where the winter snows might keep them out of the way long enough to secure low-lying villages. When the fighting is over, says Fazli Raziq, he will return. But his wife Zaibi feels the violence will not end: "I know in my heart that there will never be peace." For her, and for many other Swat villagers, their valley is forever lost.

STOPPING THE BLOODBATH OF PUKHTOONS
By Dr Adalat Khan

“It is sad. Many people have been killed by the Army and the Mullahs have also beheaded few soldiers. I hope someone stops these senseless killings”. This is what my mother told me when I enquired about my family’s safety in a village called Bedara in Swat where the current Military operation against Maulana Fazhullah and his supporters is taking place. “ We can not leave our homes and no one can run from the death” She replied when I suggested to her to move out to Karachi or somewhere else. I was also informed that many villagers have left the village for safety as Military helicopters are hovering and bombarding the area. There is no immediate solution and both the government and the Pro-Fazhullah supporters seem to have dug in for a long fight. If wisdom do not prevail both the parties will end up losing, as bloodshed, buildings and human carnage of our people can not being victory to anyone.

But people are asking questions? Who are these Mullahs, who created them, and how they emerged in control of the area. These are difficult and complex questions which needs honest answers.

The origin of most of the extremists can be traced back to the war in Afghanistan against Russia. The American CIA in collaboration with Pakistani intelligence agencies started recruiting civilians mainly from Pukhtoon areas of NWFP and tribal areas and brain washed them to fight against Russians. The same strategy was also used to fight a proxy war in Kashmir. Civilians Pukhtoons brainwashed into believing that the war in Afghanistan was a Jihad (Holy war) against infidel occupying forces enthusiastically fought. As a freedom and Islam loving people this was not the first time Pukhtoons had fought against occupiers but during the last 300 years they had/fought against British colonial powers. It was also in 1948 that the Pukhtoon freedom fighters took a major chunk of Kashmir from Indian occupation which is now known as Azad (Free) Kashmir in Pakistan.

However September 11, 2001 saw a complete reversal in Pakistan policy as USA directed the Pakistani administration to about turn and reign in the Jihadis (Freedom Fighters). The U.S. attacked Afghanistan and later Iraq) which according to an average Muslim is a war against Islam and not on terrorism as claimed. This sudden turn of events and the lack of a coherent strategy on the part of both American and Pakistani Administration on how to deal with these fighters created a negative vacuum. The problems were further execrated with the subsequent attacks by U.S. forces inside Pakistan as well as Military operations by Pakistani Army in Tribal Areas as well as the Lal Masjid Episode in Islamabad.
So far we have only discussed some of the issues but the real causes of the problem can be further elaborated. The real problems are not apparent specially to the Pakistan and US government and without their solutions the problems can not be solve.
Extreme corruption, un-employment, the lack of justice and high inflation is one of the key reasons which have led to the present Mayhem. Mistrust of the government agencies and lack of economic specially job opportunities have created cadres of unemployed youth who will catch at every straw offering hope of improvement. Fed up with these problems to the people especially to the disgruntled youth the Mullah such as Fazlullah offered a ray of hope even if it is false. Many youths and disillusioned people joined these groups for possible solace. To tackle this issue the government instead of bombing the people must solve these underpinning problems and only then the problem can be solved.

Another reason which is one of the factors leading to the current turmoil specially in Swat is the promise of the government to impose Shariah laws. It may be remembered that Fazlullah is the relative of Sufi Muhammad who was the chief of Tehrike Nifaze Shariat Muhammadi or T N S M as probabarly known. It may be noted that this movement had struggled to impose Shariah law specially in the Malakand Division where Swat is located. An agreement was reached between the T N S M and the government where the government had agreed to the promulgation of Shariah in the Malakand division. However up-to now that promise have not been fulfilled. People tell us that the Mullahs feel cheated and have thus resorted to the current extreme tactics. The majority of the people in the area also want Sharia laws in the are. In fact before 1969 when Swat was a semi-independent state Shariah was the law of the land. As such the application of the shariah laws to the territories will do no harm but solve this insurgency. However, the government must ensure that true Shariah and not a distorted version of Islamic laws are introduced as some of the Mullahs are confusing pre-Islamic pagan (Jahilia) laws with the enlightened law of Shariah.

One of the other key reasons for overall turmoil in the country is the illegal rule of the Military. With the latest imposition of emergency rule the country is being led to an uncertain future if not self destruction. This will further fuel anti-government sentiments and in the times to come more bloodshed will take place. The usurp of the judiciary led by the chief Justice Ifhikhar Ahmad Choudhry and forceful replacement of judges have yet again dashed the hopes of a disillusioned nation. People are not going to sit idle rather it is feared that the whole nation will revolt against the illegal and unconstitutional military rule. This process will further fuel insurgencies.

Pakistan is going through the worst of times as illegal rule, terrorism, intra-conflicts and hopelessness have engulfed the whole nation. As if the problems of poverty, unemployment, inflation and lack of a access to justice were not enough terrorism, emergency rule and internal bloodsheds have further exacerbated the problems of the nation. The carnage of Pukhtoons is in full swing and if wisdom and strategies are not adopted the country many disintegrate. The key players which oversaw and played a role in the destruction of the country are the military and its allies, religious extremists as well as our external enemies which are abundant. There is an urgent need to steer away the country from disaster and disintegration. If these challenges are not met, however, the military will have only itself to blame for the troubles, and the disasters that could be lying ahead.
Dr Adalat Khan is an international columnist who is based in Malaysia and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

AMERICAN JIHAD FOR GLOBAL DOMINANCE

The end of the cold war between Russia and the United states saw the emergence of one power and the graduation of one super power to a Hyper Power. That Hyper Power is the USA. A hyperpower, also called an omnipower, is a state that is militarily, economically, and technologically dominant on the world stage and after the defeat of the Soviet Union by the Afghans and its collapse the only world power which qualifies for this title is the United States. According to Mahmood Mamdani a renowed American professor (2004:121), Afghanistan represented the “high point of the Cold War,” in that American policy against Soviet occupation simultaneously exhausted the resources of Soviet power, and eventually brought to light “how the unintended consequences of misinformed, cynical, and opportunistic actions can boomerang on their perpetrators.” Responding to an erroneous division of Islamist mobilization, between what Mamdani calls “revolutionary” and “elitist” Islamism, the CIA under the Reagan administration and in conjunction with Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) embarked on a mission to develop an internationally organized group of “Islamic guerillas” called the mujahideen. Funded in large part by the Saudi monarchy, the United States, and Pakistan, trained primarily by the CIA and ISI, and ideologically supported by figures such as the Palestinian Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, the Afghan mujahideen included Muslim fighters from the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States who all assisted in the jihad against the Soviets. This war culminated in the defeat of Russia which in 1988 started withdrawing their troops from Afghanistan. This war also resulted in the disintegration of the Soviet Union into different countries. Because of its reliance on the US for both strategy and infrastructure, Mamdani argues that what actually happened in Afghanistan was less a Muslim jihad for freedom than it was an American jihad for global dominance. In fact the end of the Afghan war was the beginning of the American Jihad for total superemacy of the world and a strategy to plunder the vital resources of the Middle East mainly oil and gas. Against this backdrop a group of power hungry intellectuals including Vice President Cheney, Ex-Secretary of States Donald Rumsfield, Powel Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, John Bolton, and Zalmay Khalilzad also known as neoconservatives or neocons in 1997 created a think tank called The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC. Above all else, PNAC desires and demands one thing: The establishment of a global American empire to bend the will of all nations. They chafe at the idea that the United States, the last remaining superpower, does not do more by way of economic and military force to bring the rest of the world under the umbrella of a new socio-economic Pax Americana. So according to them a new approach was needed.
The fundamental essence of PNAC's ideology can be found in a White Paper produced in September of 2000 entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." In it, PNAC outlines what is required of America to create the global empire they envision. According to PNAC, America must:
* Reposition permanently based forces to Southern Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East;
* Modernize U.S. forces, including enhancing our fighter aircraft, submarine and surface fleet capabilities;
* Develop and deploy a global missile defense system, and develop a strategic dominance of space;
* Control the "International Commons" of cyberspace;
* Increase defense spending to a minimum of 3.8 percent of gross domestic product, up from the 3 percent currently spent.
Most ominously, this PNAC document described four "Core Missions" for the American military. The two central requirements are for American forces to "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars," and to "perform the 'constabulary' duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions." Note well that PNAC does not want America to be prepared to fight simultaneous major wars. That is old school. In order to bring this plan to fruition, the military must fight these wars one way or the other to establish American dominance for all to see. These are the modern chartists of American Jihad or to be correct terrorism. It is yet to be seen whether the prophecies of the document or the pseudo intellectuals behind it will materialize its goals. However the US has since then gone on a flurry of wars including Afghanistan and Iraq and other regions will see the repeat of the same. Iran, Syria, Pakistan, countries in the Middle East, Central Asia as well as China should get prepared as the US wants nothing less than a total submission. In the times to come we will see new villains and evil empires created and ultimately attacked by the US. Success in Iraq and Afghanistan will offer templates upon which new wars will be designed and fought culminating in the total surrender of nations to the will of the USA. There are two key objectives of this new strategy:
Firstly the US aims at controlling the energy resources or what it call as vital resources in the Middle East and the Central Asian as well as the South American nations.
Secondly and perhaps most importantly it wants to create a fear among the nations or call it Shock and Awe where no one will dare to defend itself or confront the US when attacked.
The end of the cold war was a sigh of relief for many nations thinking that it will culminate an era of peace and stability. But this euphoria was short lived as the US war mongers and war profiteer chalked a much dangerous and disastrous strategy of global dominance. As a result we saw the launch of war in Afghanistan followed by Iraq. The US call it the war on terrorism, the Muslim calls it the war on Islam but in reality it is an American Jihad for global dominance. American public supporting this war are creating worldwide enemies for themselves, countries supporting this madness are writing their own death certificates and those remaining silent are inviting self destruction. To avert the disasters of these evil enterprises the US public, sovereign nations, and those nation who either out of fear or greed are supporting the American wars must rethink and reflect whether they want to be part of the menace which will destroy the world or create a world of peace and harmony. In particular the sane American public must oppose the will of few who are bent on world destruction. This will also help the US in the long run to save itself from its internal enemies as well as those who will retaliate due to self defeating strategies of the US government.
Dr. Adalat Khan is an international columnist and global strategic analyst who can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it