Word: talibans
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...siege of the Red Mosque was a turning point in Pakistan's inexorable slide toward religious extremism and violence. Lal Masjid, as it is locally known, became a rallying cry for the Pakistani Taliban who have declared war on the central government. It is their Alamo, and as such Aziz's return to the pulpit after two years in jail marks an ominous victory for the forces that are determined to bring the secular government of this nuclear-armed nation to its knees. "This is the second coming of the Red Mosque," says columnist and politician Ayaz Amir. "It will...
Aziz's release (the Supreme Court ruled that it had insufficient evidence against him) comes on the heels of another Taliban victory: On April 13 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed an ordinance imposing Shari'a in the Swat Valley and its surrounding district, effectively ceding administrative and judicial control to the Taliban insurgents who have turned the one-time vacation destination into a war zone. The Nizam-e-Adl regulations, as they are known, were part of a controversial peace deal negotiated in February between the provincial government and an influential religious leader affiliated with the Taliban movement...
...only way to bring peace in the valley. "Islam is our religion and we are Muslims," he told reporters in Peshawar, the provincial capital. "The state is responding to the aspirations of the people." Yet more than 80,000 of the 1.5 million residents have fled the region. "The Taliban are taking Swat back to the Dark Ages and the Pakistani government is now complicit in their horrific abuses," said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Tossing out the rights of the people in the tribal areas reflects abysmally on both the government...
...sermon, Aziz took credit for the Taliban's successes in Swat, comparing himself to another prophet. "I sacrificed my son, my mother and my brother for Islam, following in the path of Abraham. What we have seen in Swat and the tribal areas is the result of the sacrifices at the Red Mosque," he told his rapt audience. "You too should be ready to make sacrifices. The day is not far away when Islam will be enforced in the whole of the country." The crowd erupted with a chant for Jihad...
...more than double our range and probably more than double our accuracy." Current sniper rifles can regularly hit trucks at 2,000 meters, but not bad guys. (The record kill is 2,430 meters, just over 1.5 miles. It was charted by Canadian army corporal Rob Furlong against a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan's Shah-i-kot valley during Operation Anaconda in March 2002 - but his first two shots missed.) "There's no limit as far as I can see so long as the bullet's stable - I think 2,000 or 2,500 meters is very attainable," Bell says...