TALIBAN RULE UNCHALLENGED IN PAKISTAN MOUNTAINS

by Ashfaq Yusufzai

(IPS) PESHAWAR -- "Shaving beard isn't done here. Contact only for hair cut," reads a sign pasted outside the entrance of a barber's shop in Upper Dir, a rugged and mountainous district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) that borders Afghanistan.

All the barbers' shops in Timergarah, the district headquarters, and Munda have stopped providing shaving services since leaflets advising them that it was Islamic to grow a beard were distributed by an unnamed group last Tuesday.

On Mar. 4, there were explosions inside two saloons, a music shop and four other shops in the adjoining Bajaur Agency, part of the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA) along the restive Afghan border. The Taliban have reportedly banned music in the tribal areas, and have started fining taxi drivers found listening to music.

According to news reports, a video shop in front of a police station in Bannu, the hometown of the NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani, was attacked by armed men suspected to be Taliban on Feb. 27, who destroyed CD players and CDs of Urdu, English and Indian films.

The district of Tank, located on the border with South Waziristan Agency has slipped into the control of the Taliban. There is a total collapse of the civil administration. Police stations remain closed after sundown, and the Taliban fighters patrol the streets and the bazaars riding on their favorite Datsun pickups.

Most Taliban groups and their al-Qaeda friends crossed over to Pakistan's tribal region after U.S.-led forces toppled their government in late 2001. Since then, thousands of people, including Taliban fighters and locals have died in military attacks conducted by either the U.S. or the Pakistan army.

"The spillover of militancy from tribal areas to settled parts of the NWFP is understandable, because the establishment is supporting the Taliban and al-qaeda," asserted Peshawar-based Afrasiab Khattak, a lawyer and human rights activist who is an expert on Afghanistan.

According to Khattak, missile and air attacks by the U.S. on alleged Ôterrorist' targets inside Pakistan's tribal areas have worked to the advantage of the Taliban, which has increased its support base in these border regions. There are persistent reports that sympathetic tribesman are providing shelter and support to Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fugitives.

In September last year, President Pervez Musharraf signed a controversial peace deal with the Pakistan-based Taliban groups, which has resulted in a new assertiveness displayed by the Islamic radicals in these Pashtun-dominated, semi-autonomous border areas.

"Both the Pakistan and Afghanistan governments are accusing one another of supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda, but practically both have failed to stem the tide of militancy," commented Ashraf Ali, a scholar at Peshawar University who is researching the Taliban.

Administrative control in North and South Waziristan and Swat district has slowly slipped into the hands of radicals. A demoralized police force which has been the target of suicide attacks -- most recently in January 2007-- is unable to provide protection to businesses banned by the Taliban. Some music shop owners have shifted to Peshawar.

"The Taliban frequently visited our shop and asked us to close down. One day, they delivered an ultimatum: either you close it or we will do it for you," said Hamza Khan, whose family owned a chain of music shops in Tank for 20 years, and has now relocated to old Peshawar.

The local Taliban burnt TV sets even in Charsadda district, which is adjacent to Peshawar. "The government has lost its writ due to which Taliban are thriving," observed Ali who is doing his doctorate.

Even girls schools in upscale Peshawar are receiving anonymous threats of suicide bombing. Several schools were recently forced to close after the administration received threatening letters. The Taliban are against providing education for girls and letting women work.

Last month, two government-run girls schools in Mardan, the second biggest district in NWFP, were shut down as a precautionary measure following warnings from Taliban groups. Another letter warned that girl students must be veiled from head to toe or the schools would be blown up.

Religious extremists in the district of Swat have derailed the government's anti-polio campaign. At the forefront is a charismatic local cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, who has his own FM radio. "Anyone getting crippled by polio or killed by an epidemic is a martyr," he announced at a sermon during Friday prayers.

The cleric, who likes to ride on a horse followed by his supporters in the bazaars, told IPS: "Vaccination of children against polio is a conspiracy by the U.S. to make the coming generation sterile."

In February 2006, in neighboring Darra Adamkhel, religious extremists killed a senior doctor and health workers involved in the polio campaign.

Anti-U.S. sentiments are growing even in Peshawar city, rued researcher Ali. "Some barbers are refusing to shave off beards -- a sign of their hatred for the U.S.," he said.