Malala Yousafzai operated after being shot by Pakistani Taliban

Editor’s remarks: The brutal murders and violence by the Taliban show no signs of abating. Suddenly, they throw a bomb here or a grenade there in crowded places, killing and maiming people, or they resort to firearms to shoot as they like. But what is not disclosed to our Pakistani people is that these Taliban have not appeared suddenly from some unknown source; in fact they have been in the making for decades in the political anarchy that has prevailed in Pakistan. The major players in this game have been Pakistani politicians and religious leaders (or ringleaders ) of religious parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, for instance, who have misused the name of Islam for their political ends and have misled the vast majority of Pakistani people that a pure Islam was being re-introduced. 

Thus the field was open for such ‘mujahiddin of Islam’ and the custodians of mosques to brainwash common people into believing that the dawn of Islamic rejuvenation was just around the corner. The Islamisation programme by the sadistic dictator General Zia-ul-Haq was a natural growth of that process that had started long ago. That process had matured and has been showing its results in the shape of sectarian versions of Islam, violence against religious minorities (Ahmadis, Christians, Shias, Hindus, etc.), where the ‘pure’ Muslims, the mujahiddin and the Taliban, are doing Allah’s work and fiery clerics spouting their venom against fellow human beings. 

Can these forces be stopped by an official decree or praying for peace? The answer is No. Much has gone wrong in Pakistan in the name of Islam. It will take much more than pious wishes and prayers  to remove the evil forces that are terrorising the people of Pakistan. 

Nasir Khan, Editor

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• Jon Boone in Islamabad
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 October 2012 09.35 BST

The 14-year-old schoolgirl shot in the head by Pakistani Taliban arrives by helicopter at a hospital in Peshawar Link to this video
Pakistani surgeons have removed a bullet from the head of Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old schoolgirl and peace activist who was shot by a Taliban gunman on Tuesday.
Relatives of the girl, who rose to fame for her outspoken opposition to Taliban militancy in her home town of Swat, said she appeared to be doing well after a three-hour operation.
Her father, Ziaudduin Yousafzai, said doctors were encouraged by a CT scan taken after the operation. She was unconscious but had moved her hand slightly after coming out of surgery.
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