Sir,
The Talban are on the horns of a serious ideological dilemma. Their sympathisers from the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi to the Russian President Vladimir Putin and from the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud look forward to ”stability” in Afghanistan under the new Islamic emirate , but no country even Pakistan has accorded diplomatic recognition. The United Nations terms for recognition are so strict that Taliban are reconciled to their fate of no recognition for long.
But the rank and file of new hukmat are inebriated with the medieval terroristic tradition. Only the other day, four bodies of alleged kidnappers were hung in a public square in the western Afghan city of Herat, alleges the erstwhile governor as “a lesson” to other would-be kidnappers. A Taliban official warned that public executions and amputations would resume. This has alarmed the neighbouring countries that have extended an olive branch to the new regime in Kabul. The top brass made it clear that they would not welcome a democratic order but one that would adhere to Shariat diktats.
The road ahead for the Taliban 2.0 is bumpy. To hang on to a democratic order is unacceptable to Shariat-adhering ultra-Islamists. A peaceful milieu whose fundamental requirement is equal opportunity to all irrespective of religious affiliation and gender variations is not attuned to Shariat dictatorship.
S. Ray
on e-mail
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