Poppy fields, Opium, Taliban, Mujahadeen, Russians and Americans
Following is an extraction from Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie
The Russians were in Afghanistan and consuqently many Afghans had fled to Pakistan, and were even to be found at forward camp number 22 in the “free”-Azad-sector of Kashmir. In spite of the enormous numbers of refugees occupying huge, town-sized camps in the Pak northwest, the Afghans were not poor. There were extensive opium fields in the vicinity of the camps and the refugee chieftains brought their way into the poppy business, using the gold and jewelry they had brought across the border for capital and backing it up with menaces and guns. Once they had gained the control of poppy fields they instituted a system of double cropping so that they could produce heroin as well as opium. The income from the heroin is large enough to pay off the Pak authorities and to pay for the costs of the refugee camps as well. The authorities turned a blind eye to what was going on in the poppy fields because it prevented the refugees from becoming a burden on the state and besides there were the payoffs, which were generous.
The Afghans had freedom fighters of their own, and the United States decided to support these freedom fighters against its own great enemy, which had occupied their country. U. S. operatives in the field-CIA, Counter-Terrorism and Special Units personal-took to referring to these fighters as the Muj, which sounded mysterious and exciting and concealed the fact that the word mujahid meant the same thing as the word jihadi, “holy warrior”. Weapons, blankets and cash poured into northern Pakistan, and some of this aid did reach the Muj. Much of it ended up in the arms bazaars of the wild frontier zone, and a percentage of it reached Azad Kashmir. After a while the fighters gathering in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir started calling themelves the Kashmiri Muj. The ISI provided them with powerful long-range missiles which had been intended for the Afghan front, but had unfortunately been diverted along the way. Other high-quality arms also began to appear at FC-22: automatic grenade launchers of Soviet and Chinese origin, rocket pods with solar-powered timing devices that made possible delayed-firing rocket barrages, 60-mm mortars. At a certain point Stringer missiles, SAMs, were also made available to the “Kashmiri Muj”. Weapons training took up much everyday. The chief instructor was an Afghan war buddy of Janjalani the Filipino’s, a black-turbaned warrior from Kandahar who called himself simply Talib, meaning “the student”. The word for knowledge was taleem. Those who acquired knowledge were scholars; Taliban. Talib the student was a mullah of a sort, or, at least, had been trained at a religious school, madrasa.
Like the iron mullah Bulbul Fakh, however, he never mentioned the name of his seminary. Talib the Afghan had lost an eye in battle [in Afghanistan] and wore a black patch. As a result he had been temporarily withdrawn from the front line, but he was determined to return to combat duties as soon as possible. “In the meanwhile,” he said, “God’s work can be done here [Kahmir] also.”
Talib the Afghan’s one eye bored through Shalimar the clown and seemed to read his thoughts, to see the pretence there as Janjalani had, the untold, forbidden secret. Janjalani understood his reasons but Shalimar the clown feared Talib would not. He felt like a fraud and feared exposure constantly. He had not surrendered his self as he had been required to do, had hidden it deep beneath a performance of abnegation, the greatest performance he had ever given. He had his own goals in life and he would not give them up. I am ready to kill but I am not ready to stop being myself, he repeated many times in his heart. I will kill readily but I will not give myself up. But his goals did not officially exist, not in this dangerous place.
“You were an actor,” Talib the Afghan said scornfully in bad, heavily accented Urdu. “God spits on actors. God spits on dancing and singing. Maybe you are acting now. Maybe you are a traitor and a spy. You are fortunate I am not the one in charge of this camp. I would immediately order the execution of entertainers. God spits on entertainment. I would also order execution of dentists, professors, sportsmen and whores. God spits on intellectualism and licentious and games. If you hold the rocket launcher like that it will break your shoulder. This is the way to do it.”
“The Americans bring us weapons to kill the Russians,” Zahir said. “Thus even the infidel can be made to do the work of God. They send their important people to deal with us and think of us as allies. It is amusing.” Ambassador Max Ophuls, who these days was supporting terror activities while calling himself an ambassador of counterterrorism, had been in chare of liaison with Talib the Afghan branch of the Muj.
He was ready for battle. Winter was dissolving into spring and the mountain pathways were becoming passable. The forward bases were filling up with men. FC-22 was bursting at the seams with men with the snarling, spittle-flecked manner of attack dogs straining to be unleashed. New groups were appearing everyday, or so it seemed: Harakas, Lashkars [1], Hizabs of this or that, martyrdom or faith or glory. The word was that Amanullah Khan had come to Pakistan from England to assume command of the JKLF. Shalimar the clown went through his daily routine, the fitness regimen, the commando training, the weapons work, and wondered what it would be like to kill a man. Then the iron mullah asked him if he would like to go abroad.
Footnotes by bunpeiris
[1] Lashkars
Sri Lanka too had its painful share of Lashkars or Lascarins (or Lascareen) (Sinhala: laskirigngna) during the colonial era of Portuguese (1505-1656), Dutch (1656-1805), British (1805-1948). Those militias of Lascarins had been composed of Europeans, Malabar Sipahis Indonesians, Javans and Malays, Chinese or even Criminals from Batavia. They were involved in numerous battles of European colonial powers against the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. In the year 1795, during the little known brief occupation of Kandy, then impregnable domain of the Sinhalese king, by the Dutch lead by Van Eck too was strengthened by a militia of Lascarins (or Lascareen). Today Kandy (the cultural capital and gateway to the Central Highlands) is, one of 8 UNESCO World Heritage Site is a major tourist attraction of Sri Lanka Holidays.
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