Pakistanis use Facebook to take on extremists

After years of turning a collective blind eye to the Islamist menace, ordinary Pakistanis are using the Facebook and text messages to take on the extremists in the country. Many Pakistanis, who were shocked to see part of the country ceded to Taliban, seem more determined than ever to take on the militants as the urban centres in the country come under the increasing onslaugh of the militants.
 
Young women, who were outraged by a video showing the Taliban flogging a minor girl in NWFP's Swat, felt under threat as colleges girls in Pakistan's most cosmopolitan city
Lahore were warned by the extremists to cover their heads and give up jeans.
 
35-year-old Sadaffe Abid, a chief executive of a foundation providing microfinance for rural women, was pushed into activism when she felt the impact of last week's massive
bomb blast in Lahore.

Pakistanis like her began a letter-writing campaign to tell the government and army chief not to give in to the militants, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.  Abid, who until recently never thought the Taliban were anything to do with her, told friends to "come out on to the streets to protest against these militants".'
 
"This bomb was meant to turn public opinion against the army operation to clear the Taliban from Swat, and we shouldn’t give in," she was quoted telling her friends by the
British daily today.

A series of bomb attacks last week seemed to strengthen public resolve as an intelligence official warned: "Lahore is now the real prize for militants". Twice in the past two months Abid and many of her friends have gathered for rallies in the heart of Lahore, holding banners declaring "No to terrorism", after spreading the word through Facebook and text messages, the report said.

Abid’s brother Farhan Rao, who was earlier with teh bombed Marriott hotel in Islamabad last year, was among those who participated actively in the campaign. "None of us ever got involved in politics before, but we feel the whole future of our country is at stake," he said.
 
The military seems to have gained the gratitude of ordinary Pakistanis, who had turned a collective blind eye to the militants groomed by the intelligence agencies to fight
proxy wars in neighbouring countries.

Inspired by the popular lawyers’ movement, citizens’ groups across the country, including the NWFP's capital city Peshawar, are planning a march against militancy. "We can no longer just stand by," said Maryam Bibi, one of the organisers, who runs a women’s group in the restive Waziristan, near the international border with Afghanistan.
 
Even as these are incremental steps, it represent a shift of attitude in a country which has often blamed its neighbours across the eastern border for all its problems."It’s a huge change," said lawyer Asma Jahangir, Pakistan’s top human rights activist.
 
"For a long time it felt like we were the only ones raising voices against these militants while the rest of country remained silent and we were labelled anti-Pakistan. I
just hope it’s not too late," she told the Times. Amid stepped up military operations against the militants in the Swat valley, the media said the Taliban has gone from house to house in search of recruits for grooming as suicide bombers.
 
Pakistani troops yesterday took Mingora, the administrative and commercial centre of the Swat valley, after days of resistance from the Taliban fighters. Winning back Mingora was a crucial victory for the military offensive launched in April, after the Taliban had reached within a striking 100 km distance of Islamabad and took control of the NWFP town of Buner.

The operation was launched in Swat, Dir and adjoining areas of the troubled North West Frontier Province. Nearly 2.5 million people have been displaced to
neighbouring provinces that has often sparked political and social tension, apart from turning into an economic burdern for the impoverished nation.