The Pakistani Spectator

There is much talk for quite some months that Taliban are ready to strike in the South of Punjab, where hundreds of Madaris would act as basis and supporting pillars for the mysterious Talibs pouring in from the Swat and FATA through Mianwali area.

Southern Punjab is the part of the Seraiki belt and the one thing which is omnipresent everywhere throughout this belt is rampant poverty. With the growing water shortage and the mechanized farming and monoply over the Mango production and export, overwhelming majority of the people are jobless and have no alternative to earn their living, hence many of them have already moved to Multan or Lahore.

Though there are many Madaris in this area and some of them ultra-extremist, there is little chance of Taliban surge in this area. There is no Pukhtoonwali in South Punjab, which could bind the locals with the Taliban. Also there are no restriction over the womenfolk, and the women of the area work in fields, orchards and in other walks of lives and modernity is slowly coming over. Also this area is heavily marked by the army cantts and moreover, the terrain is not suitable for the guerilla fighting.

But unrest and frustration could make things ugly for the security forces, so government needs to announce mega projects which must reach to grass root level to alleviate the woes of the people. Oh, and the current Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also belongs to the South of Punjab, and so is our foreign minister and many other reps in parliament.