BY: MANZOOR
The Pakistani army has claimed to have made great strides in defeating the militant menace in the Swat Valley. However, high-ranking sources tell us these claims are overblown, and what we are seeing is a replay of the cat-and-mouse game the Taliban have been playing with the government for years.
The crisis in Pakistan has been a long time in the making. For the last five years, Swat has been a popular refuge of all sorts of fundamentalist groups, including Saudi-led al Qaeda
fundamentalists, the Jaish- e-Muhammad from south Punjab, the Kashmiri fighters Harket-e-Jihad- e-Islami, and a collection of Uzbeks, Afghan Taliban and assorted individual terrorist adventurers.
When we entered the large tent a few women looked up and smiled. Some got up and put out their hands to greet us. They seemed surprised that we could converse in the same language. "Sit down. We can't even offer you tea" said one laughing, "look at us and what we have been reduced to." Their children were lying on the floor, red because of the heat, tired and listless in the hot air of the fans. The women had been sitting in silence before we went in.