Salsa with the devil

You reap what you sow. The demons that one creates for others will one day come back and haunt you too.

So Pakistan has made peace with elements of the Taliban in SWAT valley in exchange of enforcing Shariah law. As a neighbouring country whose existence appears rooted many times in anti-India rheoteric and also a country which has the nuclear bomb, this signals a dengerous development. Is Pakistan a failing state?

The shariah law in SWAT is atavistic in many aspects. Women testimony will not be equivalent to men, no more girl eductaion(over 500 girl schools have been destroyed by the Taliban in the region),compulsory purdah and a general repression of freedom.

There were about 3000 taliban fighters in SWAT. Why is it the Pakistani army could not defeat them. Or was it just that the generals dont want to.

I end with this quote of Winston Chuchill,"If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

It would be well if the Pakistani establishment was to remember this. Because one can't win in a negotiation with the devil. Pakistan created the Afghanistan Taliban and all the offshoots of the same in their country com from there only.

"
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety--Benjamin Franklin
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The above quote remains as true today as anyday in the past.