Another US drone struck Pakistan's Tribal Areas Feb. 16, again killing some 30. Like the drone strike that killed similar numbers in South Waziristan Feb. 14, the raid targeted militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud [2]. But this time the missiles struck the Kurram tribal region—which had not been targeted before, signaling a broadening of the drone-strike campaign. The US has now targeted Pakistan four times since President Barack Obama [3] took office last month.
Meanwhile, Paksitan's government has accepted an offer from Maulana Sufi Mohammad [4] to instate sharia law in the Swat district of North West Frontier Province in exchange for a pledge to persuade Taliban fighters in the area to lay down arms. The agreement defies US demands for Pakistan's authorities to fight harder against the militants.
Officials said that authorities agreed to a legal system rejecting any law that does not comply with the doctrines of the Koran and Sunnah, or teachings of the prophet Muhammad. "After successful negotiations, all un-Islamic laws related to the judicial system, those against the Koran and the Sunnah, would be subject to cancellation and considered null and void," said NWFP information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. (NYT [5], Reuters [6], Feb. 16)
So is there any alternative for Pakistan other than US drone terror or capitulation to Taliban tyranny? Sound off readers...
See our last posts on Pakistan [2] and the struggle within Islam [7].
