Speaking of getting around to things a bit late. In any case, the group may be banned, but the ideology isn't -- and it has many, many adherents in Pakistan.
"Pakistan bans Taliban militant group," from AFP, August 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):
PAKISTAN today banned the main Taliban militant group behind a wave of suicide attacks in the country that has killed hundreds of people since last year.The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - an umbrella group for the Taliban Islamist militants who have threatened more suicide attacks - will have its bank accounts and assets frozen, the interior ministry said.
"We have banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan because of their involvement in a series of suicide attacks,'' interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said.
The TTP is headed by Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud, based in the lawless South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan.
The outfit has been blamed for most of the attacks in which nearly 1200 people have been killed since July last year....
Will Pakistan acknowledge that the right thing to do was to stop ISI support for Taleban in the first place?
This ban is highly irrelevant, as the data below indicates!
From a May-June 2008 poll conducted in Pakistan:
"Fifty-eight percent Pakistanis favor negotiating with Taliban militants rather than fighting them…The poll found 50 percent of respondents wanted talks with Al-Qaeda, and 19 percent wanted the government to fight the local Taliban. Only eight percent blamed Al Qaeda and four percent the Pakistani Taliban for violence in the county... 52 percent hold their United States allies in the war on terror most responsible for violence in the country"
Robert Spencer is right on the mark when he observes: "In any case, the group may be banned, but the ideology isn't -- and it has many, many adherents in Pakistan."
Indian analyst Sushant Sareen's observation on Talibanizing of Pakistan's society.
"Clearly, the Islamists are winning the ideological debate on the role of Islam in Pakistan. The liberal, and moderate, sections of Pakistani society are unable to present any convincing argument against the Islamists. Partly because of this, and partly as a result of the persecution complex that Muslims around the world have developed, Pakistani society is getting more and more Islamized and radicalized."
52 percent hold their United States allies in the war on terror most responsible for violence in the country"
Posted by: MoorthyM at August 25, 2008 7:51 AM
.. the proof: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080825/wl_nm/pakistan_afghan_apcs_dc;_ylt=ArZ8mDCIcGpfWnwFivHM6rz9xg8F
.... in Bajur, a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080825/ap_on_re_as/pakistan
Pakistan bans Taliban!
Yea, right. Good luck with that.
Pakistan bans Taliban. And it snows in San Antonio, Texas, in the summertime (or any other time!
Pakistan bans Taliban. And it snows in San Antonio, Texas, in the summertime (or any other time)!