Oedipal Taliban

My relation to Pakistan is a long and complex one. As a lawyer, I specialized (amongst other fields) in political asylum cases of people from India and Pakistan (and West Africa, but that is another story), so I had to acquire a solid knowledge of the subcontinent's history and problems... I was fascinated by both the cultural diversity and timeless continuity of India and its younger Muslim brothers, Pakistan & Bangladesh. So it was only natural, when I looked for wider horizons in the mid-eighties, to go there and have a closer look.
So, after quite a few adventures (including a brutally effective mugging) in India, I landed in Lahore, Pakistan on a hot August night in 1985, in possession of exactly 55 USD, with no return ticket (hence wearing an impeccable three-part business suit- it worked). Stayed in the YMCA for a week, then, with all my money spent on telegrams to Germany, I moved to sleep in a municipal park close to a night market. Where all the other do-no-goods lived. Strange enough I was accepted by that dropout community- if you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. Those few weeks are amidst the most intense, most interesting moments of my life. Later I walked and hitched to Islamabad to get a return ticket at the German Embassy - another story.
A few impressions from that time - men hugging each other and walking along holding hands, a brutal illegal homosexual scene, the total absence of the female element in daily life, hence the frequent cockfights, the social mechanism of family and clan preventing those cockfights from exceeding the verbal stage (two men facing each other, screaming at the top of their lungs, both held in place and controlled by their peers), the sudden conversion of an educated conversationalist into a sobbing wannabe rapist - an unveiled Christian woman had entered the tea stall where we were sitting, and the incredible friendliness and dignity of common Pakistan street construction workers who shared their breakfast with me as I was walking to Islamabad. The timelessness of the rural regions.
Just to make clear why I'm interested in what happens there.

Got the news this morning that (suspected) Taliban fighters raided a building of the Pakistan military secret service ISI in Lahore. Seems four gunmen opened fire with semi-automatic weapons and finally blew up a car bomb that wrecked their target and adjacent buildings. Victim numbers vary from 27 to 40 dead and 100 to 250 wounded. The usual "reliable sources" connect the assault to the Pakistan Army's progress in the Swat valley where Taliban forces are under heavy pressure and about to lose Mingora. This is the second assault in Lahore this year after a failed attempt to kill or abduct the Sri Lankan Cricket team in March which resulted in six dead and several wounded.

The 2009 Sri Lankan Cricket Team merely consisted of infidel Buddhists, so it was a prime target for the Taliban. Let's not forget the Qu'ran differentiates strictly between
- muslims who are full-bodied citizens (if male and not slaves),
- "religions of the book"- Jews and Christians, who are allowed to live and keep their faith, but are ghettoized and strictly second class and have to pay 10% tax (Djizya)or leave the country.
- all the rest, be they Hindu, Buddhist, Animist ( the "kafir") have the choice to convert to Islam or die. They may not leave the country and can be enslaved. Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan , Hindus had to wear yellow patches to mark them, and a yellow banner over their house.

There is a new quality in this last assault: It killed muslims only, and was directed against the IRS, the Pakistan joint forces intelligence agency.
Irony of history.
The Taliban were founded by the IRS (and funded by the US) as an infiltration element in the ongoing conflicts with India (Cashmere) and post-Soviet occupation Afghanistan. The Red Army had left the country in 1989, leaving the country in constant civil war, as local warlords competed for power. It is remarkable how often Islamic countries with no national identity go the Somali way... Well, the Taliban changed this and established an almost nationwide rule of an ultra-conservative "old men's Islam". Have a look at the list of "Taliban Don'ts" and don't giggle (flying a kite is "un-islamic")- offenders faced severe punishment, often death penalty.
Follows 9/11, the decision to bomb Bin Laden instead of buying him. Which was a realistic option then - Bin Laden, who devides the world in Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam, a distinction alien to Qu'ran or Hadith, was a heretic to the "Deobandis school" Taliban. He'd not have been the first to be delivered to the enemy for a ransom. All in all he was closer to the oppositional "Northern Alliance", the side which the "Coalition forces" chose as their beachhead in Afghanistan... History is an ironic bitch. Wish I could laugh.

Next thing was that the Afghan self defense mechanism against any occupation clicked, which, over the years, increased the influence of the Taliban. Looks like they are still the only nationwide religiously camouflaged political force, and attempting to organize resistance. They got support by warlords who wanted the good old Somali days back, and there were still close ties to Pakistan's border provinces, tribal and gov't ruled areas alike. Now with the new Afpak policy of the ISAF and the unwilling but still effective progress of the Pakistan Army in the Swat Valley, the Taliban feel betrayed by their foster-fathers and "retaliate". The classical Freudian patricide situation. We'll see who teaches whom a lesson...