Pakistan’s descent — VOICES for REASON

“Every day I see armed Taliban move around freely. At the time of prayer, if they see anyone in his shop or walking about, they whip him with a stick,” said a resident of the Swat Valley in Pakistan. Yet those who are whipped can count themselves lucky by comparison with a man and woman who were executed for the alleged crime of adultery. This is the grisly reality of Islamist rule now swallowing up chunks of Pakistan.

The brazenness of the Islamists is astounding; the other day the Taliban stopped a Pakistani Army convoy heading into Swat and forced it to turn back. In large measure this confidence stems from the so-called peace deal that allows them to enforce sharia law in Swat Valley.

But the Pakistani government’s surrender has had another, little noted, effect: it has understandably demoralized many Pakistani citizens. This poignant story in the NYT sheds light on the experience of people in the area of Buner. There are also reports that people elsewhere are contemplating an exodus, for fear of what will become of their lives under Islamist rule.

I’m not sure which has a greater demoralizing effect on the innocents in Pakistan–the growing strength of the Islamists, or their national government’s capitulation (and perfunctory military responses). My sense is that it’s the latter, because it enables the gains of so vile a movement as the Taliban.