Taliban-style justice stirs growing anger

Taliban-style justice stirs growing anger

Today, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Swat and Pakistani troops launching an offensive to drive out the Taliban forces, the pendulum of public opinion has swung dramatically. The threat of "Talibanization" is being denounced in Parliament and on opinion pages, and the original defenders of an agreement that authorized sharia in Swat are in sheepish retreat.

'Victims of ignorant cavemen'

The refugees are the "victims of ignorant cavemen masquerading as fighters of Islam," columnist Shafqat Mahmood charged in the News International newspaper Friday. He said that the "barbarian horde" that invaded Swat never intended to implement a sharia-based judicial system and that they just used it as cover. "This is a fight for power, not Islam," he wrote.

Such widely expressed views make a clear and careful distinction between the Taliban version of Islam -- often described as narrow-minded, intolerant and punitive -- and what might be called the mainstream Pakistani version of Islam, which is generally described as moderate and flexible.

Pakistan is a vast country with many sects and varieties of Islam, but experts here said most Pakistani Muslims agree that their religion has two complementary aspects. One is a set of unchangeable principles that guide their behavior, values, faith and relationships. The other is a practical application of these principles, which may adapt and evolve according to changing times and conditions, including war, weather, technology and taste.

"Islam is our identity and our system of life, but variety and choice are part of it. People should dress modestly, but women don't have to cover their faces and men don't have to grow long beards," said Khurshid Ahmad, an Islamic scholar and national legislator. "The Koran is very clear that there should be no coercion in religion. You cannot cram it down people's throats. This is where the Taliban destroyed their own case."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30666117/

On Edit:

When can we look forward to giving our own, the TaliBaptists, the same exposure and treatment?

have taken over here. At some point I think the moderates and small-d democrats will fight back on both fronts and hopefully save the world.

:puke:

is.