If a recent analytical report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) (Taliban Propaganda: Winning the War of Words?) were any indicator, the Taliban managed to stage the same – at least in Peshawar also; instilling fear of advancing Taliban and creating an impression they are outsmarting the state machinery.

The ICG report dealt with the situation in Afghanistan and examines the Taliban communication apparatus, which is exploiting popular disillusionment with the government and the US and other foreign troops. Using the full range of media, the Taliban are successfully tapping into strains of Afghan nationalism. “Out of power and lacking control over territory, the Taliban has proved adept at projecting itself as stronger than it is in terms of numbers and resources,” according to Joanna Nathan, ICG’s senior analyst for South Asia.

“The Karzai government and its international supporters must become much better at countering sophisticated Taliban propaganda, if they are to defeat an insurgency that is driving a dangerous wedge between them and the Afghan people, the report said, adding that both Kabul and its international supporters need to respond in a timelier, co-ordinated manner, if they are to effectively counter Taliban allegations.”

ICG found out that the Taliban have created a “sophisticated communications apparatus that projects an increasingly confident movement, as it tries to wear out its opponents. Influencing perceptions at home and abroad is a vital component of their strategy” for which they are employing all possible tools such as language, ethnicity as well as various forms of communication i.e. Internet, print and electronic media.

“The Afghan and other governments engaged in Afghanistan have failed to communicate robustly and honestly with their populations in a way that would help build and sustain popular will for a long-term endeavour,” the ICG said.
Discussions with officials within the bureaucracy as well as the security apparatus in Peshawar, the provincial capital, also yield more or less similar inferences; despite a heavy presence of the army, para-military troops and a huge police force -- backed up by the ISI, Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and several other outfits -- the city experienced an unusual state of uncertainty in June and early part of July; a string of speculations about the advancing Taliban threw the entire city into uncertainty and eventually prompted the military to launch the “Sirate Mustaqeem Operation” in the Khyber Agency.

 

“When the IG Police told a high-level meeting in May that Taliban are knocking at the doors of the provincial metropolis and its periphery (Shabqadar, Charsadda, Darra Adamkhel and Mardan) everybody including intelligence officials appeared alarmed,” said an intelligence official.
It seemed as if a revelation had struck them all, although every informed person in the town knew how Taliban have been preying on common people and hunting them with psychological propaganda tactics, he said.
Quite true, said Dr Mazhar Durrani; people like Mangal Bagh (Lashkare Islami), and Haji Naamdar have created an aura about themselves, façade of justice delivery. Durrani recalled how his widowed Aunt also approached Mangal Bagh for justice after her in-laws refused to surrender her share of property left behind by her husband.
“Mangal Bagh summoned the brothers, rebuked them and asked them to be fair to her.”
The scared brothers agreed on the spot and promised to do the needful.
Similarly, recalled an intelligence official, Mangal Bagh and Naamdar’s people have created their own justice vigilantes, courts and jails.

 “Mangal Bagh sent his people to one of the spots notorious for drug-peddlers, and fixed them all within a few days,” said the official. The police used to watch on just because they also got their cut in the business, which thrived mainly because of young students and workshop workers.
  “If the police doesn’t help, I would certainly look up to Mangal Bagh for getting rid of criminals and drug–pushers,” remarked the official, who himself is wary of the corruption and indifference of the police and other government departments.
He was also skeptical of the operation, which he said, scared people but yielded little. Why?
Because people like Mangal Bagh and Haji Naamdar are back to their usual, calling the shots in Bara, Jamrud and other parts of the Khyber Agency.
  “Agreed that they are running a parallel government, but is that a solution? Conditions that gave rise to Taliban in Afghanistan were also more or less the same,” said another government official, who once served at the Fata Secretariat.
Peoples’ fears are also driven by perceptions – right or wrong; one of the most common perception revolves around the causes of the situation; the US and the ISI have created this situation to justify greater actions inside Fata and suspected centres in the province.
Everybody’s looking after his interest.

Another perception is that of a US administration that is out  denuclearise Pakistan, discredit Islam, and also cut Pakistan to side i.e. Balkanise Pakistan for easier management.
But essentially underlies all these perceptions – however misplaced they may be, is absence of good governance and of swift justice. Common people, already reeling under backbreaking food inflation and a tormenting energy crisis, feel that politicians, criminals and officials have ganged up against them to deprive them of an honourable living.
Taliban and the like-minded religious militants on their part, have successfully exploited these conditions; propagating against an inefficient and insincere government on the one hand, sowing fear in the minds of all government servants including the army and creating goodwill among the common hapless people on the other. Providing justice on the spot, fixing criminals and ensuring fair play to the affectees are effective tools for the Taliban, which make them look like a God-fearing, formidable force that is rearing to come to public rescue. Little attention, however, is paid to the consequences of such advances. Often, many frustrated as well as conservative people overlook the problems that arose out of the Taliban code of life. It was suppression of individual liberties in the name of a questionable puritan brand of ‘Islam’ that the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban practiced and are hoping to put it into practice again at some stage.
This situation obviously doesn’t augur well for the province as well as for the country. It works as a demoralising factor for the majority of people, who find themselves at the receiving end by an overbearing, but inefficient bureaucracy that is perceived as little helpful and more obstructive.