PIR BABA, Pakistan — While recent headlines suggest the Taliban have left this area only 60 miles from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the reality on the ground here Saturday told another story.
Throughout the day, militants in black turbans with cloth over their faces could be seen brandishing automatic weapons in vehicles around the bazaars and on the main roads. Their stereos blared religious songs, and their presence was particularly evident at strategic locations such as key intersections.
Residents of Buner district were reluctant to discuss the militants’ presence, but most of them appeared to be on edge.The news of school bombings and moral campaigns by Taliban militants in the neighboring Swat Valley, and the beheading of police and politicians critical of their regime are well known.
Buner has seen an influx of Taliban from Swat who are looking to expand their territory. But the power grab, coming just days after Pakistan’s central government recognized the militants’ right to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in Swat appeared to backfire — at least in part and for the time being.
On Friday, the army, the president’s office, the prime minister, state government and social critics in fractious Pakistan all warned the Taliban to back off or face a military confrontation and possible dissolution of the Swat deal. By Friday night, the Taliban made a big show for the TV cameras of folding up camp and heading back to the Swat Valley. Some analysts urged the government to make a steady and strong response to militancy.
“Unless there’s a consistent show of resolve,” said Ayaz Amir, a Pakistani lawmaker and commentator, “the Taliban will keep making problems and moving into areas in whatever direction they can.”
In Buner, residents say the Taliban still appear relatively well entrenched, not only with their high visibility patrols but their encampment in private houses, a government-run school and mosques. And for their local headquarters, they’ve taken over a well-furnished two-story bungalow formerly inhabited by an influential community leader. Police and paramilitary soldiers have locked themselves in police stations across the district.
The only real security presence on the roads were traffic police trying to keep cars in line on the busy roads leading to the bazaars. One policeman charged that their weapons, training and manpower were inadequate for this challenge.
Shah Mureed, who runs a small restaurant in this city of about 100,000 people said that economic and social life have been hurt badly by the Taliban’s arrival and the prospect of a confrontation.
“This has become a state within a state,” he said. “People don’t like the army nor the Taliban. They’re two faces of the same coin.”
Most ordinary people hate the militants, but are afraid to speak out against them, he said. At the same time, many are deeply apprehensive of the army, which can’t be trusted to flush out the militants and may only make things worse.
Shopkeeper AnwarlluhGul said tensions had decreased since Friday, when many of the militants returned to Swat. Most of the Taliban still on patrol are local men, he said. And he doubts the withdrawal Friday is the end of the matter.
“The Taliban has started recruiting, and youngsters are voluntarily joining them,” he said.
Main government offices and local courts have been closed in Pir Baba. Judges have gone on leave. And owners of music shops have closed down their businesses, wary of the Taliban’s hatred of pop and other secular music.
The militants also installed an FM radio antenna on the top of a large tomb of the main mosque, which they use to broadcast a half-hour sermon every evening on Islamic values, said Farhad Ali, a teenager.
Announcements on loudspeakers affixed to Taliban vehicles have urged residents to attend a public meeting Sunday in nearby Sawarai valley west of Pir Baba.
And banners in the bazaars warn women not to visit the market. Hard-line Pakistani and Afghan Taliban believe women should remain at home, shun education and appear in public only in the presence of their husbands or brothers.
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