Post Reply 
 
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Bittersweet Eid celebrated in Swat
09-25-2009, 06:23 AM
Post: #1
Bittersweet Eid celebrated in Swat
* Shopkeeper says there is less fear now, but people still fear Taliban resurgence
* Taliban-style toy rifle hottest selling gift item among children

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: For the first time in three years, The Washington Post points out, people in Swat have been able to celebrate Eid this week without looking anxiously over their shoulders for armed vigilantes.

Girls in bright dresses pushed each other on swings, and boys in pastel tunics played soldier with toy rifles. Neighbours hugged, families gathered and vendors sold scoop after scoop of sweet custard.

Yet, the Taliban-free feast has been bittersweet for many Swatis, still shell-shocked from the summer-long army operation that drove the Taliban from the valley, but also had hundreds of thousands of inhabitants fleeing for their lives.

“It doesn’t really feel like Eid... we cannot forget so soon,” said a fruit seller in the town of Batkhela. “They are still finding bodies in the Swat river. We had to spend weeks in those hot tents, and some of our women had to give birth on the road as we ran from the fighting. There is too much sorrow and shame for us to celebrate.”

Two months after the army declared that people could return home from the relief camps, Swat still looks like a war zone. Dozens of buildings in every town lie in ruins – some destroyed by the Taliban, others by army shelling.

The main road through the valley winds past peach orchards, rice paddies and fragrant eucalyptus groves. But drivers must navigate a succession of military barricades concocted from boulders, trees, car parts and iron pipes. Every few miles, soldiers flag down long lines of vehicles, peer inside and check each passenger’s face against photos of fugitive Taliban leaders. The 7pm to 11am curfew was lifted for Eid but few people went out after dark and most shops remained closed until mid-morning.

Less fear: “There is less fear now, but people are still worried the Taliban will come back, so they don't feel completely free," said Shah Ziaul Haq, 40, a shop owner in Balogram whose house was partly destroyed by army shelling. "My family is still in mourning because my brother was killed when he went outside after curfew one night. We still don't know what happened to him."

The enjoyment was also marred by a dispute over when the people could end their month of daily fasts. There were awkward social situations, semi-opened markets and general annoyance.

"Everything is confused," said Noor Rehman, a butcher in Batkhela, where many shops were closed on Monday. "Some mosques announced it was Eid yesterday, but others said we should still fast. It is because the government is too weak. We need to have one Eid to unify the country."

During three years of Taliban control, Eid began whenever the Taliban said so. But people also recount how Taliban bombed a girls school, dragged hashish addicts off to be whipped, beheaded a clerk accused of being a government spy and beat a couple who ventured outdoors and could not convince the vigilantes that they were married.

The atmosphere of the first post-Taliban Eid was a mix of muted celebration, religious contemplation and re-emerging commercial freedom. Many shops remained closed, but Indian movie posters were back up on the walls, and young men browsed through racks of pop-music CDs.

At the Saidu Baba shrine, a steady stream of people entered all day. They knelt to wash in a stone trough of running, ice-cold spring water, and then knelt again to say their Eid prayers.

A white-bearded man outside the shrine recalled the days when Swat was peaceful and full of foreign tourists who came to see its ancient Buddhist ruins, climb its green craggy hills and enjoy its bracing alpine air. He also mentioned proudly that England's Queen Elizabeth II had visited in the 1950s.

Gift: Just down the hill from the shrine, a dozen boys in new yellow and blue tunics were playing in an old cemetery. As they hid behind the jagged gravestones and jumped out in ambush, each brandished a plastic, Taliban-style assault rifle -- the hottest selling gift item in Swat this Eid.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_24
Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread: Author Replies: Views: Last Post
  Work on Express Highway in Swat to begin shortly Salman 0 6,885 11-25-2013 01:32 PM
Last Post: Salman
  SC directs Swat DRO to retrieve citizen’s land Salman 0 3,964 01-24-2012 12:22 PM
Last Post: Salman
  21st anniversary of Defence Residents Society celebrated Salman 0 5,958 11-18-2011 01:40 PM
Last Post: Salman
  Defence Day to be celebrated today Lahore_Real_Estate 0 5,301 09-06-2011 04:29 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Last day of Spring Festival celebrated at UVAS Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,575 04-01-2011 12:20 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Hazrat Ali’s anniversary celebrated Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,649 06-26-2010 12:28 PM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Swat Kahani LRE 1 5,607 05-05-2010 09:50 AM
Last Post: LRE
  Earth Day 2010 celebrated in city Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,469 04-23-2010 10:47 AM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  60th anniversary of UDHR celebrated Lahore_Real_Estate 0 3,281 04-16-2010 10:46 AM
Last Post: Lahore_Real_Estate
  Swat hoteliers seek govt support LahoreEstate 0 3,851 01-19-2010 10:15 AM
Last Post: LahoreEstate
  Progress made by Pakistan in Swat impressive: US LahoreEstate 0 3,879 01-19-2010 10:01 AM
Last Post: LahoreEstate
Sad My name is "Swat" LRE 5 13,273 01-14-2010 04:33 PM
Last Post: LRE
  Swat: Police return to former Taliban haven (BBC) LahoreEstate 0 3,594 11-17-2009 10:19 AM
Last Post: LahoreEstate
  Swat people happy with anti-Taliban banners appearing in towns Naveed Yaseen 0 3,107 11-17-2009 08:42 AM
Last Post: Naveed Yaseen
  Swat will be reopened to tourists by November Naveed Yaseen 0 3,196 10-09-2009 05:56 AM
Last Post: Naveed Yaseen
  Curfew lifted from most of Malakand Agency, Swat Naveed Yaseen 0 3,134 10-06-2009 06:06 AM
Last Post: Naveed Yaseen
  The return of the native to swat (Miangul Aurangzeb) LahoreEstate 0 3,654 10-05-2009 05:48 AM
Last Post: LahoreEstate
  Swat diary: Music and Culture have returned to the Swat valley. LahoreEstate 0 3,729 10-04-2009 06:06 AM
Last Post: LahoreEstate
  Pakistan absolutely successful in Swat: Hillary Clinton LahoreEstate 0 3,316 09-29-2009 08:18 AM
Last Post: LahoreEstate
  Tide turns in Swat: Hundreds of armed villagers patrol former militant strongholds Naveed Yaseen 0 3,306 09-26-2009 05:38 AM
Last Post: Naveed Yaseen

Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)