The Pakistani government has “been talking of strong action against radicals for long. But they have not yet taken anyone and I don’t see any concrete policy by the government, so far, to tackle this problem.” Meanwhile, these “traditional Muslims” continue to guard their “traditional morality,” with increasingly lethal consequences for their victims.
“Pakistan ‘Taliban’ bombs shops in morality bid,” by Zeeshan Haider for Reuters, :
CHARSADDA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Farmanullah Khan was asleep safe and sound at home when a bomb in the middle of the night ripped through his small music and video store in a northwestern Pakistani town, and destroyed his livelihood.
Khan was warned in a letter, pushed under the shop’s shutters on March 23, that he had a month to close down his business.
It was signed “Islamic Taliban.” A week after the deadline expired, they struck, bombing his store and two others nearby….
Militants whose brand of Islam is cut from the same mould as Afghanistan’s Taliban movement have targeted Charsadda.
Around 22 music shops have been bombed in recent months in Charsadda, forcing around half of the 100 such shops in the area to close down.
Similar things have been happening across the province in recent months, barbers are being threatened against shaving beards, girls are being warned against going to schools without observing purdah or Islamic veils….
In some remote parts of the province, radical clerics are running private FM radio stations to propagate their teachings….
Pakistanis have been shocked by the government’s failure to confront the followers of two such clerics at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the heart of the capital, Islamabad….
“They have been talking of strong action against radicals for long. But they have not yet taken anyone and I don’t see any concrete policy by the government, so far, to tackle this problem,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, a journalist and expert on tribal affairs said.