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A reader named Wasay sent me an email yesterday. I want to post it here and respond publicly. Here’’s the email:
Hi Ahsan,
After monstrous beheadings and digging up of graves by the Pakistan Taliban I am starting to wonder if these acts are really religiously motivated?
These acts are no different to acts by other messed up leaders such as Saddam, Hitler, Kim Jong etc. I dont think such acts are even promoted by Wahabism or Saudis (havent heard of saudis digging up graves etc). Unlike Jihad which can be interpreted in different ways and of which there are many examples in Islamic history, I dont think these acts can be justified even by Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist outfit. There is no example of such acts in Islamic history, Quran or Sunnah even remotely.
Is it possible that these acts are politically motivated to have power, influence, take over area etc? Everyone thinks that they are just fighting for Sharia. Hypothetically speaking if Pakistani government were to implement sharia do you think these people will sit at home?
I just dont see how them beheading local population and Saddam gassing kurds is much different in terms of motivation? Taliban are terming everyone who do not agree with them as unislamic while Saddam termed shias and kurds as traitors.
Sorry for the long rambling email.
Just wanted to know what you thought of it.
Ask and ye shall receive! Here’’s what I think of the issues raised:
1. The Taliban are fighting for political control, not for religious purity per se
I want to be very clear here, because there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the Taliban are fighting for religious purity. But as Wasay points out, there is very little categorical religious justification for the Taliban are doing. Though the Quran does countenance violence explicitly, nowhere does it say you should murder someone for not pulling their shalwar above their ankle, and then murder their father for good measure. Nowhere does it say you should be digging up bodies and hanging them in public. Nowhere does it say you should destroy and bomb girls” schools. So the idea that they are fighting as religious vanguards is wrongheaded. They are not. They are, to the contrary, fighting strategically for a political goal.
2. The methods of imposing and maintaing political control involve clearing away extant political orders…
When the Taliban move into an area, they seek to do away with the traditionally tribal layers of authority that exist (the Taliban is a decidedly non-tribal movement). They begin collecting taxes, often at the barrel of a gun, to set up alternate structures of governance. They kill tribal leaders and political representatives that have traditionally enjoyed prominence in the area in question (about 400 tribal maliks have been killed since 2004 by the Taliban). They set up Sharia courts that dispense justice differently than tribal jirgas do so. And they organize administrative issues on non-tribal lines. All this is done to make the Taliban the new bosses in town.
3. …as well as sticks…
For the Taliban, digging up bodies and burning down CD shops and threatening barbers and blowing up girls schools is all about intimidation. Political authority rests on explicit and implicit notions of coercion. You do not cross a red traffic light because you are threatened by the law of the land if you are caught doing so. Similarly, you do not mess with the Taliban’’s aims because you and your family will be beheaded if you try. The argument is the same. Authority rests on the ability to coerce, which in turn rests on punishing disobedience, and what the Taliban are doing in order to impose their authority is demonstrate their ability to punish. This is not complicated – it is terrorism in the strictest sense of the word.
4. …as well as carrots
Do not underestimate the power of a three day trial. Please read this:
At the Mingora district court Ali Shah has been fighting a land dispute for two years, trying to wrest back several acres he says were seized by relatives. He misses work three or four times a month to attend hearings, and he’’s fed up.
“If Islamic law is enforced here our cases will be solved in two or three weeks,” he tells me. “Plus in the courts right now there’’s no difference between the oppressed and the oppressor. If Islamic law is imposed we”ll be able to distinguish between the two and get justice.”
Many others agree. The government system is painfully slow and seen to favor the powerful. For ordinary people Islamic law means swift justice.
Along with promises of swift justice, the Taliban also hold out guarntees for dealing with petty crime.
So, to recap: they want political control, and they try to establish it through (a) wrecking old systems of order, (b) intimidating the crap out of people, and (c) promising justice. And if you ask me, it seems to be working pretty well – particularly (a) and (b). Which means that the 91% of Swat residents who deem the Taliban way the “wrong way” (via Rabia) are in for a rough time.
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