Pak bloggers join hands to oppose Taliban,Shariat

“This group officially denounces all political parties that support Taliban,Shariah courts and violence against women. We also denounce mullahs of all denominations. We are tax-paying citizens of Pakistan and we say no to Taliban,” reads the introductory note on “A Voice Against Shariah Apologists” on Facebook.

So far,425 Pakistanis have joined the group created by Tazeen Jay,who lives in Karachi. Tazeen,an active blogger,has also hosted a blog voiceagainstshariahapologists.blogspot.com which is tagged as “Pehle Insaaniyat,Phir Shariyat” (First humanity and then Shariah or Islamic law).

“Lets work at mobilising as many people as possible to make this protest significant. The Talibans have got to go!” wrote Asma Shahab,the co-founder of the group.

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Ovais Quraishi,who joined the group last month,wrote,”Yes,enough! We want our Pakistan back! Taliban leadership (this includes anyone who claims to be either a ‘commander’ or an ‘enforcer’) should be prosecuted for human rights abuse.”

Imad Uddin Khawaja,who lives in Chicago,wants those imposing Shariah quizzed about the fundamentals of Islamic law.

Pakistani security forces recently launched operations against Taliban fighters who had occupied Buner and Dir districts,located near the federal capital.

Critics of the agreement have said it allowed the Taliban to regroup and emboldened them to demand the implementation of Shariah in other parts of Pakistan.

Ali Muqadas Babar,in his post on the Facebook group,wrote,”Taliban are indecent,brutal and ugly tribal warlords and mercenaries who are taking advantage of religion,showing it off as some hard written rules. They are threatened by modernity that will weaken their hold resulting in no drug or weapons trade.”

Babar said the “sad part” is that it was easy “for simple,gullible public to be swayed towards conspiracy theories”. He added,”We need to take religion out when talking about these barbaric hoards to show their real intent to the general Muslims.”

Ibrahim Nasar,a Pakistani living in Washington,too joined the group but suggested it should adopt a harder stance against the militants. “I have joined this group,but disagree with its slogan ‘pehley insaaniyat,phir shariyat’. Instead it should be replaced with these words: ‘Insaniyat,never shariyat’,” he wrote.