The Taliban

[Rage]

Taleban tap into Swat's emeralds

15:46 GMT, Tuesday, 24 March 2009

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Mingora, Swat


The Taleban in Pakistan's strife-torn district of Swat have taken over operations in its emerald mines.

The mines, which produce emeralds of international quality, were previously controlled by the Pakistani government.

They were taken over by the Taleban four months ago following a ceasefire between militants and the government.

The government has not stopped the Taleban from mining​

Until then, Swat was the scene of 18 months of conflict between the security forces and Taleban militants fighting to implement Islamic Sharia law.

The mines, along with the Panjshir mines in Afghanistan, hold the largest known deposits of emeralds in South Asia.


Taleban sympathies

"It is for the benefit of the public that we have reopened the mines," a senior Taleban commander told the BBC during a visit to the operations.

"They are open to anybody who wishes to mine them as long as they follow our rules."

Swat's emerald mines are located in the mountains that ring the district's main town of Mingora.

The mines cover an area of nearly 8km (4.9 miles).

When fully operational, they yielded a quarter of a million carats of emeralds between 1978 and 1988, according to official statistics.

The last official estimate put the projected yield at about 13.2m carats.

Gemstone dealers say that most emeralds range from just under one carat to just over five.

Prices range from $1,000 to more than $100,000 for a cut stone, depending on the quality.

However, workers at the site told the BBC their average daily wage was only about 400 rupees ($5) per person, after money deducted for paying off the Taleban had been calculated.

"It's still a good deal as previously all this was going to waste," one worker said.

Taleban commanders too are positive about its benefits.

"It is a great opportunity for the people, as there is so much poverty and unemployment here," the Taleban commander said.

According to the terms of the deal, the Taleban take one-third of the yield of each set of miners.

The costs are shared equally by the Taleban and the miners.

The Taleban say the mines provide
a "great opportunity"​

The Taleban say they are not directly involved in the operations themselves.

But the rules, which include amputation for theft and strict adherence to Sharia rules, mean only those with strong Taleban sympathies are allowed to operate.

No photos of the workers or the operations were allowed.

But the Taleban did show us their yield for the day, a small packet of clear, dark green gems.

So far the government has made no move to contest the Taleban's control of the mines.

This is despite the fact that the funds from the emerald operations are likely to be a huge boost to Taleban coffers.

Exactly how those funds will be spent - by militants who believe that international jihad is the only real way of life - does not take a lot of working out.


BBC NEWS | South Asia | Taleban tap into Swat's emeralds

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Taliban takes over emerald mines in Swat

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 4:03 pm


The Taliban in Swat Valley have taken over operations in its emerald mines of the region. The mines, which produce emeralds of international quality, were previously controlled by the Pakistani government.

Swat was the scene of 18 months of conflict between the security forces and Taleban militants fighting to implement Islamic Sharia law. The mines were taken over following a ceasefire between militants and the government.

The mines, along with the Panjshir mines in Afghanistan, hold the largest known deposits of emeralds in South Asia.

According to the terms of a deal, the Taliban take one-third of the yield of each set of miners. The rules, which include amputation for theft and strict adherence to Sharia rules, mean only those with strong Taliban sympathies are allowed to operate.

So far the Pakistan government has made no move to contest the Taliban’s control of the mines. This is despite the fact that the funds from the emerald operations are likely to be a huge boost to Taleban coffers.


Taliban takes over emerald mines in Swat

 

[LETHALFORCE]

pakistan has surrendered to them now they are just collecting the fruits of the war victory.

 

[EnlightenedMonk]

First Drug Money...

Now, Emerald Money... hehehehe...

Blood Diamond !!!

 

[ahmedsid]

The Taliban Are Here!

Hey guys thought this would be a good read:


The Taliban are here

Monday, April 20, 2009
Samad Khurram

Back in 2002, I was returning from Friday prayers when I saw an unusual gathering of singing and quasi-dancing mullahs. Unusual because I had always assumed mullahs to be against all types of kufr (art). The amused crowd were listening to chants of “Taliban aa-gae! Taliban aa-gae!” I smirked: As if! Pakistan is a nuclear country with the seventh-largest army. We’re safe.

The mullahs’ songs have been answered – the Taliban indeed are coming. And with them the cowards are bringing a lifestyle that destroys everything Pakistan.

Oh, no! Wait! This guy is on the paycheque of those who are trying to break Pakistan. The Taliban are our heroes, it is America which is in the wrong. Yes, this is the typical self-defence mechanism coming to full force. Having nothing to lose, and having been already declared a CIA agent earlier in life, I suppose I’ll continue. Continuing with a genuine fear that these words are falling on either deaf or hostile ears, it may well be that Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan is over in a year if all this chaos continues.

Perhaps, if Jinnah knew that the country he founded was going to become an arena for public flogging, where the laughs of sadist barbarians will mingle with the screams of women and children, he would not have decided on creating it. Had he known that there would be more suicide bombs in his country than any other place in the world, where militants and bigots would go around threatening women to “dress properly,” where schoolchildren would have to undergo security checks as if they were in a war zone, he would be extremely upset.

All our talk shows discuss the merits and demerits of the 17th Amendment, or bash America and India. Yes, American drones and Indian statements are a threat to our sovereignty. Yes, the balance of power is important, but it is the Taliban who have killed more people than India or the US drones combined, and have made us feel more unsafe than anyone else in the past thirty years. What other definition of sovereignty is there than provision of protection to people and maintenance of the writ of the state? Why can’t we have some programmes that discuss the atrocities of the Taliban, acts of terror that they do and how they have destroyed Pakistan?

No, it’s not the “Hindu Zionists” working on a CIA/Mossad-sponsored conspiracy to break Pakistan. And for the sake of argument, even if they are foreign-funded, does that not mean we should double our efforts to counter them? Remember when India briefly occupied some land in 1965 and how the whole country rallied to defend this invasion? My grandfather had stories of people going with sticks to support the army. I am afraid I will not have any such stories of patriotic resistance to tell anyone when another enemy has taken control of, say, a fourth of the NWFP and roughly one-twentieth of Pakistan.

But remember the great Pakistani Fauj which, under the Ameer-ul-Momineen, Zia-ul-Haq, crushed the Russians? This is only a plan to make America taste the same fate! Yes, thank you Zaid Hamid. For a nation which already lives in denial, your conspiracy theories are all we need to turn us completely schizophrenic.

For the love of God, can anyone explain to me why the great army whose laurels we sing from the day we are born has still not been able to jam radio stations pouring terror in Swat? How is it that these Taliban leaders can appear before journalists in broad daylight and roam freely without any trouble even when they claim responsibility for a suicide bombing?

Perhaps the real question I should ask is, why do I even care? When I took time off from Harvard to be part of the lawyers’ movement I had seen a ray of hope. There were concerned citizens and lawyers who stood for what was right, no matter what the consequences. We fought for a principle and won, with the hope that things will slowly improve. Today the very judges we had faith in released the Lal Masjid cleric whose crimes everyone knows about. If the judiciary was going to release people whose crimes were recorded on TV, perhaps it does explain why the Taliban are growing popular.

Having said that, rays of hope like Afzal Khan Lala, who has refused to move from Swat while he is alive, appear every now and then. However, he stands alone in facing the storm. Other than Ayaz Amir, not a single Pakistani leader has spoken out against the Taliban. Will the real leader who can get rid of these monsters stand up, please? Imran Khan? Qazi? Nawaz Sharif? This silence is criminal!

What’s worse is that these leaders of ours have unanimously approved a state within a state run, which is not accountable to anyone, absolved the Taliban of all crimes and provided them a safe haven to kill more Pakistanis. The so-called Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was endorsed by the National Assembly without any proper debate.

The sad story, friends, is that the Taliban are here, and unless we stand up against them in every possible way, Pakistan will be lost for good. And it will not be lost because of Zardari’s real or perceived corruption or anything else like that, but because of the silence of the lambs – we ALL will be responsible if Pakistan fails.

The writer is a student at Harvard University and turned down an award from the US ambassador as a mark of protest against killings of Pakistanis by US drone attacks.

Email: [email protected]

 

[Su-47]

Pakistan is in bad shape. I think it was a COLOSSAL mistake to allow Sharia law in Swat. Now there are two governments running in parallel, one pro-US, the other pro-taliban.

Its as if those areas with Sharia law and heavy taliban presence have already declared independance from the state of pakistan

 

[Daredevil]

Certainly, he seems to be pissed-off with Zahid Hamid. Anyways, the realization is dawning upon more Pakistanis, but now it is too late for them to salvage and undone the things that have happened in the past 3 decades in general and past one-year specifically. The Frankenstein's monster has been unleashed, now it it difficult to reign it anymore. Good luck Pakistanis.

 

[venkat]

what the hell pakistan army and airforce are doing? Busy Arranging a reception party at Islamabad? There is some thing really fishy going on in pakistan! To fool the world ! ISI and Army will be more than happy with Taliban ruling! because nobody questions them! The nukes will be under the control of drunken poppy eating monsters!I have seen PDF forum postings! There is no ,mention of taliban or talibanization of pak! ppll seems to be more than willing and happy! Something is grossly wrong!

 

[Singh]

Cleric Who Led Militants in Pakistan Is Released

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A hard-line Islamic cleric who had tried to impose Taliban-style rule here in the capital returned Friday to the city’s Red Mosque, the scene of a bloody siege nearly two years ago, and vowed to continue his struggle to enforce Islamic law in the country.

The cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was released Thursday night after the Supreme Court granted him bail. The charges he faces include involvement in terrorist acts and abetting terrorists, and he was held under house arrest for almost two years.

After his release, Mr. Aziz, known for his extremist and anti-American views, said that he no longer supported suicide bombings against Muslims and that his struggle would remain peaceful, local news reports said. Those reports said he still supported suicide bombings against non-Muslims, but provided no details.

In a sermon delivered after Friday Prayer in the Red Mosque, he hinted that he would again consider turning to violence, according to Reuters.

“We are a peaceful people, but if our way is blocked, then you have witnessed the scenes in Swat and in FATA,” he said, referring to the Swat Valley and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where militants have battled the government.

Thousands of his followers came to hear him and filled the mosque and adjacent street during the sermon.

Speculation was rife in the Pakistani news media that the release was part of an understanding between the government of President Asif Ali Zardari and Mr. Aziz, who has promised to help stop the spate of suicide bombings that has rattled Pakistan in recent months. Mr. Aziz denies making such a deal.

The Pakistani Army battled hard-line militants holed up inside the Red Mosque and its adjacent school compound for eight days in July 2007 before storming it and taking it over. At least 50 militants were killed, but the exact number remains in dispute. Mr. Aziz was arrested after trying to escape clad in a burqa.

The siege has become a potent symbol and motivation for militants who have retaliated in attacks against the government. At the time, Pervez Musharraf, then the president, defended the raid, saying the mosque had become a recruiting ground for terrorists.

Critics of the government said Friday that Mr. Aziz’s release seemed to fit a pattern of appeasement that would not work to contain the religious extremists who were increasingly threatening Pakistan’s stability.

Earlier this week, President Zardari signed a measure that imposed Islamic law in the restive northwestern region of Swat. As a result, militants in Swat agreed to a cease-fire.

Cyril Almeida, an editor at Dawn, the country’s most prestigious daily newspaper, said in an interview that the release of Mr. Aziz was a result of the country’s weak judicial system. “Pakistan has a broken judicial system,” he said. “Aziz was booked in over two dozen cases, but the cases were pursued in such a haphazard, unprofessional manner that any court would eventually have to release him anyway.”

Mr. Almeida said the problems with the judicial system would hamper any government efforts against militants. “Hamstrung in this way, Pakistan is almost certain to never be able to get the leaders behind militancy here — unless the state kills them in the battlefield,” he said.

Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst based in Islamabad, said in an interview that Mr. Aziz’s release was “symbolic, not substantive.”

“What he preaches, the intolerance, and violence and myopia, is not unique to him, or his mosque,” Mr. Zaidi said. “It is a virus for which there is no cure in the foreseeable future.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/asia/18pstan.html

 

[ahmedsid]

Not many pakistanis dont seem to understand the seriousness like this Chap has expressed. You can find many Radicals on the Forum world supporting the Inhumane conduct of the terrorists! But little do they understand that once these terrorists come to power they will ban Internet and TV and these Internet Warriors/Radicals will be oppressed alongwith the others! These internet freaks act like once Taliban come they will Garland them for Supporting them on the Forum/Internet World! lol

Better to understand the seriousness of the Situation and Act!

 

[Su-47]

The taliban are basically against civilisation. How anyone can support scum who oppress women, kill innocents, and basically denounce progress itself is beyond me.

The only way to defeat the taliban is to open the eyes of the taliban's support base: the uneducated, brainwashed and disinformed populace of the tribal areas of Afg and Pak.

 

[Singh]

^^Su-47 why do you think the lower middle class and the devout don't welcome Taliban?

 

[Pintu]

The first article the writer says that more people than India killed, so he is acknowledging the fact the Pakistani citizens were killed by India, now India unlike the USA , simply do not cross over to kill the Pakistani citizens, now where they are killed, answer is simple, that it is in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of our country where its citizens are killed in the form of terrorists. At least he acknowledges the involvement of its citizens in terrorist activity in India. The first and two articles points out one direction is that Cancer has been spread and chemotherapy is required.

You are right Ahmedji , Internet warriors of the forums across the border will be gifted in the form of ban on internet and tv and warriors who will try to break the rule will be presented with severe punishment.

Regards

 

[Daredevil]

The taliban are basically against civilisation. How anyone can support scum who oppress women, kill innocents, and basically denounce progress itself is beyond me.

The only way to defeat the taliban is to open the eyes of the taliban's support base: the uneducated, brainwashed and disinformed populace of the tribal areas of Afg and Pak.

Let me tell some facts about people of tribal areas in Pakistan. The literacy rate in Pakistan is around 45%. The literacy in tribal areas is in single digits and that of women is half of that single digit (according to Richard Holbrooke) . So, effectively close to 90% of population in tribal areas is uneducated. How, then one can expect them not to be the breeding ground for terrorism and talibanization. These are hard facts and one has to live with it for at least the coming decade or so, provided US Aid reaches them and people get educated as a result. I'm being optimistic here, you can imagine where they are headed if one has to be pragmatic in thinking about this situation.

 

[ahmedsid]

The taliban are basically against civilisation. How anyone can support scum who oppress women, kill innocents, and basically denounce progress itself is beyond me.

The only way to defeat the taliban is to open the eyes of the taliban's support base: the uneducated, brainwashed and disinformed populace of the tribal areas of Afg and Pak.

Not only the uneducated! Check out the Internet warriors on various forums, ready to wage Jihad for the bloody terrorists! Are they lacking education? Nah! They lack Humanity, they lack Sanity, They bloody well lack a Brain!

 

[Pintu]

The taliban are basically against civilisation. How anyone can support scum who oppress women, kill innocents, and basically denounce progress itself is beyond me.

The only way to defeat the taliban is to open the eyes of the taliban's support base: the uneducated, brainwashed and disinformed populace of the tribal areas of Afg and Pak.

Su-47, friend please check the Pakistani Internet Forums, the educated male and females act like uneducated freaks, and promote hatred, and support the Talibans and clown like Hamid is their respected idols, they don't know the consequences, and I am totally agree with Ahmedji, they have the education but lacks brain.

Regards

 

[Pintu]

The only way to defeat the taliban is to open the eyes of the taliban's support base: the uneducated, brainwashed and disinformed populace of the tribal areas of Afg and Pak.

How can you open the eyes of the uneducated people, who are brain washed and as well as dis informed, this is impossible to open the eye of the populace having all three, it is the breeding ground of Taliban, this is virtually impossible in that area, the area returning to the stone ages by the constant air raid by the USA and in human practice by Taliban, no modern law is there, with the withdrawal of judiciary from there.

Regards

 

[Sailor]

I doubt if a government on Earth thinks that the Taliban can be defeated militarily.
All we can do is garrison the area and keep them from murdering their womenfolk.
As you all know, I am from Australia. This is the first war in history that our womenfolk in the West supports. They know that their sisters have to be helped. Even the women in the far left here say nothing against the war in Afghanistan.
A photo like this says it all, and that's why we are there spending billions.

 

[F-14]

salior the Pakistanis claim that the Vdo of the the 18 year old female been Flogged in the Sawat region was a fake Vdo this argument can be seen as a Barometer for the amount of support that the Talibs have within the Pakistani establishment

 

[Capricorn]

what the hell pakistan army and airforce are doing? Busy Arranging a reception party at Islamabad? There is some thing really fishy going on in pakistan! To fool the world ! ISI and Army will be more than happy with Taliban ruling! because nobody questions them! The nukes will be under the control of drunken poppy eating monsters!I have seen PDF forum postings! There is no ,mention of taliban or talibanization of pak! ppll seems to be more than willing and happy! Something is grossly wrong!

Either the Pak Army has been subverted ( which is a possibility as the Officers Zia recruited based on religious degrees should have rised to Middle / senior level by now ) or the PA is allowing the chaos to permeate into the system so as to discredit the ( an ) elected govt. When they do step in , they will be seen as saviours - a role they have set for themselves over the yrs by not allowing the civilian govt to function / exist.

That the nation gets destroyed in so doing is of litle consequence. The PA remains the prima donna.

 

[Su-47]

Let me tell some facts about people of tribal areas in Pakistan. The literacy rate in Pakistan is around 45%. The literacy in tribal areas is in single digits and that of women is half of that single digit (according to Richard Holbrooke) . So, effectively close to 90% of population in tribal areas is uneducated. How, then one can expect them not to be the breeding ground for terrorism and talibanization. These are hard facts and one has to live with it for at least the coming decade or so, provided US Aid reaches them and people get educated as a result. I'm being optimistic here, you can imagine where they are headed if one has to be pragmatic in thinking about this situation.

How can you open the eyes of the uneducated people, who are brain washed and as well as dis informed, this is impossible to open the eye of the populace having all three, it is the breeding ground of Taliban, this is virtually impossible in that area, the area returning to the stone ages by the constant air raid by the USA and in human practice by Taliban, no modern law is there, with the withdrawal of judiciary from there.

Regards

I never said it would be easy. The people in the tribal areas are uneducated. That makes them more vulnerable to the taliban influence. What the government has to do is:

In the short term: Control taliban influence in these areas. Put mosques, madrassas etc, the places the taliban use to spread their vile propaganda, under surveillance, and arrest those mullahs who advocate jihad. replace them with more mild and neutral mullahs. Also, form pro-govt vigilante groups who will keep watch for jihad advocates. arrest those persons found guilty of advocating jihad. This should slow spread of taliban influence in these areas.

In the long term: form better educational systems in the area. increase support for govt in these areas by developing them. i have noticed that in pak, most development occurs in punjab. tribal areas hardly get any share of the govt budget.

Not only the uneducated! Check out the Internet warriors on various forums, ready to wage Jihad for the bloody terrorists! Are they lacking education? Nah! They lack Humanity, they lack Sanity, They bloody well lack a Brain!

i know about those losers online. But those mother****ers hardly do anything except rave. Those who support the taliban are few, and they don't make up the support base of the taliban. The taliban will survive without their contribution. I agree that these b******s should be monitored and prevented from helping the taliban in anyway, but to bring about the defeat of the taliban, the major support base, the people in the afghan-pak valley, has to be influenced not to support them.