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| India-Pakistan |
| The Punjab: The Geography of Fundamentalism |
| 2009-12-09 |
| What is the link between Ajmal Kasab (the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack), Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi (the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks) and Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (the former leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba)? The answer is geography. Apart from their shared militant backgrounds, and their links or alleged links to the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, all three men come from the Punjab region which is one of the wealthiest and most populated provinces in Pakistan. Since last year, the names of militant leaders from the Punjab have come to overshadow the dreaded Taliban icons from Pakistan's tribal regions, such as Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud. The reason for this is that Pakistani media has to provide balanced media coverage of the terrorist attacks that have been taking place in the Punjab and Islamabad (which is both culturally and geographically part of the Punjab), and in most cases these attacks take precedence in the media over the chaotic situation in the tribal areas. |
| Posted by:Fred |