Whichever channel you may like these days to watch, there may have been going on some talk shows or special programs on it about Taliban and other militants in Pakistan, Swat and other parts of the country, including Buner. It appears that these channels have had no other programs except to make unfounded or baseless propaganda against Taliban and their system to which they intend to enforce in Swat.
If Taliban were not planning to replace the system which we had inherited from our colonial masters in a country that came into being in the name of Islam, indeed no one would have objected if they had issued strict orders for regular observance of five times prayers and observing of strict sanctity during the Holy month of Ramazan as General Zia did so during his days.
"Instructions were issued for regular observance of prayers and arrangements were made for performing noon prayer (Zohr) in government and quasi-government offices and educational institutions, during office hours, and official functions, and at airports, railway stations and bus stops".
An "Ehteram-e-Ramazan" (reverence for fasting) Ordinance was issued that "complete sanctity to be observed during the Islamic month of Ramazan, including the closure of cinema houses for three hours after the Maghrib prayers." Moreover, Zia introduced Hudood Ordinance, Prohibition Order, Adultery (Zina) Ordinance, Blasphemy Laws, and Religious Offences and Punishments in making Pakistan an Islamic state and also Islamized Pakistan's economy by issuing Zakat and Ushr Ordinance.
Here, I want to make it clear that Zia did not try to tailor Pakistani society in accordance with the tenets of Islam but rather he took all above measures and others half-heartedly to prolong his rule. It is the reason that no one raised any finger over these measures but rather Zia got all kinds of support in this regard from every nook and corner.
The crux of the matter is the present system. Wherever the English went, they gave hard blows to their prevalent systems and replaced them with their own. When they captured India by making its people fight among themselves, they made a literate nation an illiterate one by imposing a system which was not agreeable to them in any way.
Now Jews and Christians do not want that their system is to be changed in any part of the world. It is the reason that anti-Taliban elements are making all kinds of propaganda against them as they are seeing the real threat not from the Muslim world but from the Taliban. They are bent upon to transform the present system which has not only become a part and parcel of the affluent class but has also pushed the have-nots in abject poverty.
They are of the view that their bad luck can never be turned into a good one until this system is present They feel no shame in forcing the majority to live in slums. It is said that every cloud has a silver lining.
We should give some time to Sufi Muhammad and his colleagues so that they could be able to transform a society that has fallen victim to so many vices. What have the poor to do with a judiciary system which takes so many years (say 10 to 15 years or even more) even to pronounce a decision? Let the Taliban be given some time to show results.