Petition to Taleban chief

Published in The News on March 2009

Who will nab the smugglers?

This is a petition to the de facto ruler of Swat and Malakand, Maulana Sufi Mohammad: now that Sharia is being enforced in the areas under your kind control, I hope you will take action against the criminals who smuggle weapons, narcotics and other goods into Pakistan, as a result of which hundreds of innocent Muslims have been killed, more than a million have become addicted to heroin, while thousands have lost their jobs owing to closure of factories which cannot compete against smuggled goods.

I demand that not only the smugglers but the traders and the transporters of smuggled goods and narcotics in your realm should have their heads chopped off, if you are committed to imposing Islamic law in Swat and Malakand. I am confident that if this is done, every Pakistani will pray for Sharia to be imposed in the whole country.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi