Swat valley: Transition from Buddha to Radio Mullah

[My addition: Stop these people who nourish a dangerous ideology or else one day our mother India will be an extension of Talibanistan. These kinds of people (or should we call invaders) who started invading India from 11th Century, already destroyed the demography of this country by forceful conversions, destroying the places of worship and looting of India in the process.

It is to be noted here that, Mahmud Ghazni (November 2, 971 - April 30, 1030) discovering that Rajput Confederacy were rich, and that their temples were great repositories of wealth, set out on regular expeditions against them, leaving the conquered kingdoms in the hands of Hindu vassals annexing only the Punjab region.

He also vowed to raid India every year. The later invasions of Mahmud were specifically directed to temple towns as Indian temples were depositories of great wealth, in cash, golden idols, diamonds, and jewellery; Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, Kanauj, Kalinjar and Somnath were all thus raided. Mahmud's armies stripped the temples of their wealth and then destroyed them at Varanasi, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jwalamukhi, and Dwarka. This is the history of one such invador.

Also do you know that Ghaznavi is the name given to a Pakistani missile. It is named after the 11th century Muslim conqueror Mahmud of Ghazni (Yāmīn al-Dawlah Maḥmūd)??!! The Ghaznavi Missile is a short-range ballistic missile. A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital, ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering a warhead with an optimal range of 290 km. The Ghaznavi Missile has a CEP (Circular error probable or probability) of 250 meters.

What friendship is Mahesh Bhatt and some treacherous (or should we say illiterate and ignorant) Indians speaking of with Pakistan, who can name their missile in the name of such a ruthless invader who destroyed and looted India??!!

These people do not believe in pluralism and are barbaric in their thoughts and belief. They only want their religion (Better word is " dangerous ideology") to survive---according to these wretched people others who hold a different view, should perish.

Resist any such kind of dangerous move before the time runs out and speak out boldly. India is a democratic country and there is freedom of expression not like Islamic countries. Defeat the forces in the coming election who support or who gives passive support to these kinds of dangerous ideologies. Boycott any Television Channel who you think gives slightest encouragement to these kinds of dangerous ideology. I will not tell you at present whom to vote but please use your conscience to vote. Don't get confused by the tall talks of cricketer-turned or film-star turned politicians.

Defeat the filmster turned politicians like Jaya Prada, Govinda, etc. who are just good for nothing---most of them won by the votes of Muslims (both moderate and staunch) but virtually did nothing for them. Show your strength in this election and give a fitting reply to all those vampires who were/are sucking your blood.

If you want to bring in a change you should go out and vote the candidate of your choice. "Jago Indians Jago" there is no time to sleep now.....Enemy is near our door and they can invade India any time from now.....]

New Delhi: Celebrated in the Hindu scriptures as 'udyan' (garden), it's a stunningly picturesque place where the Buddha once walked, cultures intersected, poets sang and mystics came in search of peace. But, sadly, Swat valley in northwest Pakistan has now become synonymous with unrest, bloodshed and Talibanisation.

Not many know that the Swat valley, which is in the news now for the local government's much-criticised peace deal that allows the Taliban to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in return for surrendering arms, has an unbroken history of over 2,000 years that has seen many religions and civilisations come and go.

'The Swat river is mentioned in the Rig Veda as Suvashtu which literally means the river on which settlements can be made,' Kumkum Roy, professor of ancient Indian history at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the author of 'Historical Dictionary of Ancient India', told a news agency.

'Kushan rulers also had connections with the Swat valley,' she said.

Centuries later, the scenic river, which flows from the majestic Hindukush mountains into the Kabul river in the Peshawar valley, is a magnet for Pakistani tourists who love to flaunt the Swat valley as the Switzerland of Pakistan.

Some historical accounts also mention that in 327 BC Alexander the Great crossed the Swat river with part of his army and before going south to conquer the locals at what are now Barikoot and Odegram.

The region has also played host to a succession of dynasties like the Mauryans, the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Syphians, the Kushans, the Turk-Shahis and the Hindu-Shahis down the ages before the invasion by Mahmud of Ghazni who brought Islam to the valley in the 11th century.

Buddhism thrived in the region that was once the centre of the Gandhara civilisation. The Swat museum has the footprints of the Buddha, who, as legend has it, came to Swat during his last reincarnation as the Gautama Buddha.

Statues of the Buddha, stupas, monasteries, rock carvings, art, coins, pottery and other artefacts can be found everywhere in the valley. Emperor Ashoka is also said to have ordered the erection of a stupa in the region.

In 403 AD, the famous Chinese pilgrim, Fa-Hien, counted 6,000 monasteries in the valley. Two centuries later, Hsuan Tsang, another itinerant monk, saw around 1,400 monasteries.This splendid multi-layered heritage now stands imperilled with a resurgent Taliban determined to impose its austere version of the ideal Islamic society based on Sharia that has no place for music or other niceties of life and scorns sending girls to school.

Although the restive Swat valley has been known for anarchy and lawlessness for some time, the process of Talibanisation started acquiring a sinister ring in July 2006 when Maulana Fazlullah, a firebrand cleric-turned Taliban ideologue and commander, started broadcasting his Wahhabi interpretation of the Quran and preaching extremist messages to people in the valley.

'Radio Mullah', as he came to be known, soon became a local legend and acquired an army of volunteers who pillaged and burnt girls' schools, CD shops, the famous ski resort and Buddha statues to turn his dream of installing an Islamic emirate into reality.

Not surprisingly, much after their ideological fellow travellers across the border in Afghanistan who brutally destroyed the famous Buddha statues in Bamiyan, they have also turned their ire on what they consider remnants of an infidel culture.

Nearly one and a half years ago, Fazlullah's informal army defaced a 23-foot-high, 7th century Meditating Buddha, carved in a rock in the lap of a mountain in Jehandabad village, in Swat, triggering protests among conservationists and Buddhists all over the world.Things can only get worse with the Islamabad-backed provincial government striking a deal with the local Taliban represented by Sufi Muhammad, the father-in-law of 'FM Mullah.'