Not only do Pakistani leaders often make statements on the security situation that contradict the reality on the ground, they make them at the most ill-advised times. Take Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s statements about Swat, the district the government recently turned over to the Taliban after allowing them to enforce their radical brand of sharia.
Gilani made his statement just one day after Sufi Mohammed, the leader of the pro-Taliban front group that has demanded the enforcement of sharia in the Swat Valley, put his finger in the eye of the government for caving. Sufi is telling the Pakistani government it must halt all activities by the secular courts in Swat and that decisions made by his Islamic courts cannot be challenged by Pakistan’s government. And if his demands aren’t met within four days, “The government will be responsible for all the consequences if our demands are not implemented,” Sufi threatened. He also described democracy, which is the political system employed in Pakistan, as “system of infidels.” As if on cue, today the Swat Taliban kidnapped four members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary police force. If ‘returning to normal’ means that Swat continues to fall further under the grip of the Taliban, then Gilani is 100 percent accurate.
