Sikhs, Hindus dread Taliban tax in Pakistan

[Coventina]

Source: AFP

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Sitting on a broken chair outside a Sikh temple in a crowded part of Peshawar, Aman Deep Singh is frantic about his future after losing his business in Pakistan's tribal district of Khyber.

When the Taliban gave Sikhs and Hindus an ultimatum -- leave the land of your forefathers or pay an Islamic tax in protection money -- Singh packed up and left his native Tirah valley for Peshawar.

(snip)

Sikhs and Hindus are tiny communities in Pakistan. In the last year, hundreds have fled their homes after receiving death threats from the Taliban and other militant groups in an increasingly unstable northwest.

After US troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001, Taliban and Al-Qaeda ideologues fled to Pakistan, where they have increasingly focused their campaign and where 2,000 people have perished in bomb attacks over the past two years.




Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jDb_MJz1cDxpe92OiodD9lSo9c_A

[cosmicone]

1. All this done with US tax dollars

stop all aid to Pakistan now and let it falter.

[TheCoxwain]

2. Pakistani Nukes are an insurance against USA cutting them loose or letting them fail

they have the Ultimate bargaining chip..


No wonder North Korea acquired one and Iran wants one too ..


I also suspect - If Cheney/Rummy & Co. would have known for sure that Saddam had a nuke - they would have wanted to 'negotiate' with him ... and he would be strutting around today in IRAQ.


So do you blame these regimes for wanting a nuke?

The American foriegn policy is Naive at best and dishonest/dangerous at worst.

[cosmicone]

5. I agree with you but ...

Pakistani nukes are manageable. Pakistanis are cunning but not fanatic.

After 9/11, when Richard Armitage made Musharraf pee in his pants and made him go into total submission, Armitage could have asked for possession of the nukes.

Today, Pakistan is floundering and we could have asked for the nukes as collateral for any loans.

Heck, we don't even insist on making them turn over AQ Khan for questioning !!!

[InfiniteThoughts]

3. welcome to the 12th century Taliban Paradise ...

soon, Hindus & Sikhs will be used in the weekly program, "Stoning & hanging" - the official television program of the Taliban.

After a year, it is back to the basics - abusing Hindu women, do i need to explain more on this ...

All of this in the name of ALLAH. If only one was to see ALLAH now, crying in shame for what idiots parading themselves as Muslim have done to his name.

[fujiyama]

4. There's no point in mentioning any of that on this site

My guess is you'll receive ten replies blaming imperialist Christian crusaders or Hindu nationalists or some such garbage.

This site and many leftists have a glaring blind spot towards Islamic terrorism and well, the history of Islam itself which is just as bloody if not more so than Christianity.

The standard impression I get on this site is it's better to be a whack job Islamic theocracy than a responsible democracy because they "steal jobs".

[cosmicone]

6. Precisely

Way too many Pakistan apologists on the board despite Pakistan being an illegitimate and tinpot country which uses terrorism as official state policy.

[smitra]

7. Could not agree more...

Look at the recent posts on another thread bashing the only functioning democracy in the region for acquiring a nuclear submarine. I suppose they would rather see the Chinese navy use these and other vessels they have and sail into Mumbai or Surat harbor from Gwadar.

[fujiyama]

8. There are few military related threads on DU with ANY useful analysis

It's mostly gross ignorance. There's little discussion of strategic implications of the weaponry being deployed or the technical aspects.

I'm not a militarist by any means, and no one would like to see disarmament be made a major priority worldwide more than me, but I'm tired of this naive view that if you simply strip down your military, you'll buy yourself peace and prosperity. It's incredibly stupid, especially when you have powerful bullying neighbors like China and other irresponsible basket case nations like Pakistan surrounding you.

[ohio2007]

9. PESHAWAR, is the 'uncontested' capitol of the parallel Pak govt confederacy

snip

‘Minorities in Orakzai and Khyber were warned by some militant groups to become Muslims or leave the area. This was a real threat,’ Singh said.‘They’re running a parallel government. Hindu and Sikh families did not feel safe, in Orakzai, in Bara and in Tirah. We preferred to migrate, at least here we can breathe in peace and feel safe,’ he said.

The same sentiment was echoed by other shopkeepers from Bara.

‘No female Muslim or non-Muslim is allowed out without a male relative. All women, even the elderly, have to wear a burka,’ said Gulab Khan Afridi, a 38-year-old Muslim.

Gulab Khan said growing a beard and wearing a cap had become compulsory, otherwise Lashkar extremists would dole out beatings or a 200 to 500-rupee fine.
‘Can you believe it? A man cannot wear a ring in Bara,’ he added. Much like the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Islam acts like police, enforces prayers five times a day and punishes people accused of prostitution and other vices.

Sardar Sahib Singh, a Sikh leader in the district assembly in Peshawar, said his community paid 150,000 rupees a year to Lashkar-e-Islam in protection money.

‘Our community is better off. We only pay tax, while Muslims have to work, like being guards in Lashkar trenches,’ he said. But families are dwindling. ‘At first there were 500 Sikh families in Bara, now only 150,’ he said.

Scholars say only a true Islamic government, no one else, can collect jizya and on condition that those who pay feel safe, but Lashkar-e-Islam insisted the tax was proper payment for services rendered.



snip

pay your taxes.... ya Sikh freaks.... and nobody gets hurt this week