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[HCDX] FM mullahs spread the Taliban's word
FM mullahs spread the Taliban's word
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KF04Df02.html
By Mukhtar A Khan
The scenic Swat Valley is thundering with aerial bombardments and fiery
Taliban FM radio sermons. In a large-scale military operation dubbed
Operation Rah-e-Raast (Operation Straight Path), the Pakistani army is
hitting Taliban targets with helicopter gunships while the Taliban respond
with AK-47s and their powerful propaganda radio broadcasts.
More than a million people have fled the scene of the battle and millions
more are trapped inside the valley. While the government has asked the
local people to help the military in identifying
Taliban hideouts, the Taliban have been broadcasting warnings against
supporting the military.
Through their pirate FM transmitters, the Taliban have demanded that local
parliamentarians, security forces and other government officials resign from
their positions as a mark of protest against the military operations; otherwise
they should be prepared for a jihad directed against them.
The Taliban radio broadcasters, popularly known as "FM Mullahs",
continuously transmit anti-American and anti-government sermons, calling
democracy "un-Islamic" and those practicing it "infidels".
In their fiery radio speeches, the Taliban preachers have demanded that the
non-Muslim minorities of Malakand pay jizya (protection tax) or face jihad. In
the same tone, they have issued warnings to local non-governmental
organizations, musicians and anybody else involved in "un-Islamic" activities.
Those defying their orders are butchered, and daily announcements of the
details of their deaths broadcast on FM channels.
The original FM mullah
It was the Swat Taliban leader, Maulana Fazlullah, who first gained
international attention through his FM radio broadcasts and earned the
nickname "FM Mullah". However, the use of pirate radio stations in the
region began in the Khyber Tribal Agency.
It was Haji Namdar, leader of Tanzim Amr bil Maroof wa Nehi Anil Munkir
(Suppression of Vice and the Promotion of Virtue), who established a local
extremist FM radio station in December 2003. Haji Namdar hired a firebrand
Deobandi Sunni cleric, Mufti Munir Shakir, who preached a strict version of
Islam on his radio which infuriated Muslims belonging to the Barelvi Sufi
order.
Consequently, the Sufis opened up a rival FM channel headed by Pir Saifur
Rahman. The opposing views on rival channels resulted in violent clashes in
the Bara Tehsil (county) of the Khyber tribal agency in early 2006. The war
of words in the air culminated into a battle on the ground in which scores of
people were killed and hundreds of others were displaced. The fighting
compelled the local people and government authorities to expel both
varieties of FM Mullahs from the region.
However, the proliferation of pirate FM radio stations did not stop. Several
other small FM channels propagating sectarian views emerged. The vacuum
left by Mufti Munir Shakir was soon filled by a more militant cleric known as
Mangal Bagh. He re-organized the Mufti's religious organization, Lashkar-e-
Islam, and started recruiting new fighters while terrorizing his opponents with
radio sermons. He started issuing fatwas (religious decrees) against his
opponents, demanding the implementation of his brand of Islam by force
when necessary. Mangal Bagh developed a parallel administration in the
region and openly challenged the writ of the government through his
influential broadcasts.
It was Maulana Fazlullah, however, who excelled in the effective use of radio
and ruled over the Swat Valley from his station in Mamdheri (also known as
Imam Dheri). In late 2005, he started his FM service and within the short
span of one year, Fazlullah was a household name throughout the Swat
Valley.
He was extremely popular amongst the local women, who donated cash and
jewelry for his madrassa (seminary) in Mamdheri. The common people of
the area looked to him for guidance and sought his resolution of their long-
standing disputes. The tide turned when he asked the people and the
government to consider his FM sermons as the only and final authority on
important questions.
Maulana Fazlullah politicized his broadcasts in order to gain maximum
power and influence in the area. Fighters were recruited and organized by
receiving instructions on the radio. Fazlullah sent a wave of terror through
opposing politicians and government functionaries and listening to his
broadcasts became mandatory for the local public. If someone missed a
broadcast, they often felt the need to ask others what the FM Mullah had
said that particular day. Who is to be flogged or beheaded next? Who was
forgiven and who was punished today?
Radicalizing the Pashtun
Maulana Shah Dauran is another FM Mullah in Swat who is famous for his
harsh and derogatory denunciations of Pakistani politicians, the United
States and the coalition of nations involved in the war on terrorism. He
typically parodies the Pakistani leadership and specializes in character
assassination.
A Taliban leader in Darra Adam Khel, commander Tariq Afridi, has recently
launched a pirate FM station which is also considered to be one of the most
influential in the area. It is a short-range broadcast that can be heard only
within a two-kilometer radius, but its words are taken very seriously. Tariq
Afrida has been threatening tribesmen with dire consequences if they dare
to raise a lashkar (tribal militia) against the Taliban or help the government
against the Taliban in any way.
Local Taliban leaders air their point-of-view on the same Darra channel
which is then transmitted through other media to the wider community,
enabling the radical preachers to control the area by spreading fear and
intimidation.
Besides the tribal areas and the Swat Valley, there is a growing tendency to
launch pirate FM stations in the urban centers of the North-West Frontier
Province (NWFP). Big cities like Charsadda, Mardan and Swabi have more
than 100 Islamist pirate radio stations. The Pakistan Electronic Media
Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) estimates the number of these FM Mullahs to
be around 300. Most of these Mullahs are highly influential; some of them
are even members of parliament. Maulana Abdullah Shah's FM station in
Charsadda and Maulana Tayyeb's radio station in Panj Pir are very popular.
These FM channels have served the cause of the Taliban in radicalizing
Pashtun society and winning them legitimacy for terrorist activities carried
out in the name of religion. They use the airwaves to incite people to jihad,
redefine the role of women and intimidate the public by announcing the
names of tribal elders, "spies" and security officials who are to be killed or
hanged.
FM as effective propaganda
Historically and culturally, Pashtuns are a radio society. Now they are an FM
society. To win over the hearts and minds of Pashtuns, one would have to
talk to them through the medium of FM radio. In the words of Marshall
McLuhan, the medium is the message, and the Taliban have been wisely
exploiting this medium.
These channels are cost effective in sending powerful messages to the
immediate local community. A 10-watt FM channel costing only US$200 is
good enough to be clearly heard across the village. Launching an FM
channel takes little technical skill. Semi-literate Taliban need only a
transmitter, amplifier and a car or bike battery to send their propaganda into
each home of a village. All this equipment is readily available in the local
market. FM radio sets are also very cheap compared to shortwave and
medium-wave brand radios.
Poor people in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and NWFP
prefer to buy a cheap FM transistor radio at a cost of only a dollar as
opposed to a shortwave receiver, which can cost 10 to 100 times as much.
And now people often don't need to buy an FM radio as most cell phones
have a built-in FM radio. These local FM broadcasts are regularly tuned in
by public transport vehicles. [1] The local Pashtun population prefers to
listen to and rely on the news contained in the local broadcast as compared
to broadcasts beamed from thousands of miles away. They want local
information in local dialects.
The Taliban are smart enough to have exploited these outlets in their
propaganda war against the US and foreign forces in Afghanistan. They
incite the local youth to rise up for jihad against the foreign armies and urge
elderly men and women to give their moral and financial support to the
cause of jihad. Typically, the broadcasts are made from mosques and
madrassas where hundreds of men are present to listen to the FM Mullahs
in person while women listen in their homes.
The broadcasts are highly interactive - not only do men ask questions of the
mullahs in these live broadcasts but women also send questions to be
answered by the mullahs, who have successfully won a majority of the
women over to their side by asking men to give women their legal share of
inheritances, especially land.
All the FM Mullahs' broadcasts start with the recitation of the Koran and its
interpretation. They soon switch to politics and hate sermons against the US
and Pakistani governments and their militaries. Their political and ideological
agenda is justified by their own interpretation of the religion. However, they
may refer to Pashtun culture or nationalism if it suits their goals and
ambitions.
The Taliban are not shy about exploiting other traditional and modern media
tools like night-letters (unsigned leaflets), pamphlets, CDs, DVDs and mobile
messaging. They also make efforts to appear live on other electronic media
to voice their unedited propaganda.
To give legitimacy to his far-fetched claim of responsibility for the April 3
murders of 14 people in Binghamton, New York, Baitullah Mahsud, chief of
the Pakistani Taliban, contacted the Pashto-language Deewa Radio, funded
by the US government's Voice of America. In the same week, Baitullah used
VOA to threaten attacks on the White House and other targets in
Washington DC.
How to challenge Taliban propaganda?
Homeopathy has a long-established principle of "Let likes cure likes". In the
same sense, the Taliban's FM propaganda can be challenged with the same
FM radio tools operated by local people unaffiliated with the Taliban.
Jamming the Taliban's FM transmitters can provide temporary relief but it is
not a solution, owing to the very nature of these channels. Jamming could
interfere with the intelligence system, as some of these FM transmitters
illegally use the same frequencies allocated for the police and security
agencies, ranging from 88.00 to 108.00 MHz. Confiscation of equipment is
also not a permanent solution.
The problem is that the broadcasters can easily resurface. An FM channel
can be operated even from a motorbike on the run. One can pack the whole
transmitter in a brief case and re-launch it from another location unless the
broadcasters lose support and popularity among the local people. PEMRA
officials confiscated 180 illegal FM transmitters in the NWFP last year, but
their number is still on the rise. [2] Confiscation or jamming may create
public anger which could further be exploited by the Taliban against the
Pakistani and American governments.
Conclusion
The best way to fight the illegal broadcasts is to launch local non-Taliban FM
stations, possibly housed in the traditional Pashtun hujras (community halls).
Ideally, there should be one small and simple FM channel for each village in
FATA and the NWFP, operated by respected local people who may handle
regional issues with cultural sensitivity. These stations could deal in an
interactive way with subject matters like farming, local trade and business,
health, education and employment. For women and youth, there could be
special programs related to their interests, such as embroidery, child care,
folklore, fashion, poetry, comedy, drama, traditional sports and quiz
competitions.
Once the local people are engaged positively and feel connected and
empowered, they will resist any temptation to cause destruction in the name
of religion or nationalism. Already some non-Taliban FM channels in both
the NWFP and FATA have demonstrated success. In fact, Radio Khyber in
the Jamrud area of the Khyber tribal agency has been so popular among the
local public that it has almost replaced Mangal Bagh's pro-Taliban FM
station.
It airs live discussion on issues ranging from politics and education to music
and culture. Radio Burraq is another such FM channel which is very popular
in Peshawar and Mardan. FM Dilbar is yet another example, headquartered
in Charsadda. Even Pakistan's military has established several FM
channels, including "Mera Swat" (My Swat) in the Swat Valley, but they
remain comparatively unsuccessful because local people want community
ownership and local labeling of these channels.
Notes
1. Author's interviews with public transport vehicle operators and
passengers.
2. Ibid.
(This article first appeared in The Jamestown Foundation. Used with
permission.)
Mukhtar A Khan is a Pashtun journalist based in Washington, DC, covering
the issues of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan-Afghanistan border
regions. Before shifting to Washington, Mukhtar closely monitored
Pakistan's tribal areas by paying frequent visits and interviewing top Taliban
leadership. Currently, he is working on a book on increasing trends of
militancy in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions and their spillover to
rest of the world.
(Copyright 2009 The Jamestown Foundation.)
Please read and distribute this 15 year research article
http://tinyurl.com/5vzg7e
Please read my article on SINPO at http://tinyurl.com/yt7qjd
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