{"id":144,"date":"2009-11-07T22:14:18","date_gmt":"2009-11-07T22:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/?p=144"},"modified":"2009-11-07T22:14:18","modified_gmt":"2009-11-07T22:14:18","slug":"pakistanis-back-assault-on-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/?p=144","title":{"rendered":"Pakistanis back assault on Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pakistani troop morale is high three weeks into the army’s assault against the Taliban.<\/strong>
\nThe military has made significant gains in its campaign in South Waziristan so far – and across the country there seems consensus that the operation is the right option at the moment.
\n“Yes, we feel very confident and sure. Whatever is being done is right,” says Maj Faizan Ali, an army officer involved in anti-Taliban operations.
\n“I think the operation was long overdue.”
\nThe military’s confidence is not without basis – despite a wave of militant attacks that has killed hundreds in recent weeks, most Pakistanis remain firmly behind the operation in South Waziristan.
\nBut opinion remains divided over its timing and consequences.<\/p>\n

‘Too much blood’<\/strong>
\n“The government is absolutely right to launch the operation,” says Ahmed Khan, a shopkeeper in Rawalpindi.
\n“Those people have too much blood on their hands. Our lives have been taken hostage – enough is enough.”
\nBut not everybody is as confident about the way the authorities are handling the situation.
\n“The operation in South Waziristan is only going to exacerbate the problem,” says Sohaib Mateen, a business analyst in Karachi.
\nMr Mateen closely follows the situation on the ground and believes the solution is not just a military one.
\n“Jihad [holy war] is not a tangible thing. It is an idea and needs to be dealt with on an ideological level as well,” he says.
\n“Just killing the militants is not going to help. The militancy was confined to the tribal regions, but now it will spread to towns and cities.”
\nBut he is in the minority, as most Pakistanis remain firmly behind military action.
\nTheir main issue remains the disruption of everyday lives due to the rising level of violence.
\n“I don’t have a problem with the operation,” says Nazish Mohsin, a young mother of three in Lahore.
\n“The operation appeared to have been inevitable. If the army had not done it the Americans would have.
\n“My issue is with the authorities not being prepared to defend ordinary citizens. Most of all it’s my children’s education I am worried about.<\/p>\n

“Every day my children ask whether they are going to school or not. Every second day the school shuts down.”
\nMrs Mohsin’s concerns are shared by most parents and students, not just in Lahore but across the country.
\n“Nobody is coming to school these days,” says Zainab Azhar, 16, who studies at a military-run college in the capital, Islamabad.
\n“There is a lot of security. Only official cars are allowed inside. We have to walk a long way and metal detectors have been installed at the entrances.
\n“We are told not to talk to strangers or take anything from them.”
\nShe says studies are greatly affected by school closures.
\n“Our teachers send us assignments on e-mail, but nobody takes them seriously. Nothing can replace school.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistani troop morale is high three weeks into the army’s assault against the Taliban. The military has made significant gains in its campaign in South Waziristan so far – and across the country there seems consensus that the operation is the right option at the moment. “Yes, we feel very confident and sure. Whatever is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mcccharity.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}