On the other hand, radicalised sections of urban Pakistani society, as well as backward areas, welcome this version of Sharia. Pakistan’s security managers are well aware of this. After 2002, heavy losses were incurred by the army when it established military bases in South Waziristan. This area had become a refuge for Taliban and Al Qaeda fleeing Afghanistan after 9/11. Fighting soon spread to North Waziristan.
The senior army leadership, safely removed from combat areas, officially ascribed the resistance to “a few hundred foreign militants and terrorists”. But the morale of ordinary sepoys continued to sink. They wondered why they were being asked to attack their ideological comrades — the Taliban and other Islamic groups. Defections and surrenders were reported.
theprint.in
