Good Taliban Vs Bad taliban

 The Manmohan Singh government may have expressed its willingness to try out the US’ “good Taliban, bad Taliban” differentiation,
but the Congress is just not buying into this argument.

Reacting to the beheading of two Sikhs by the Taliban in FATA of Pakistan, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the incident is reprehensible. “This unfortunate incident is a message to those forces who make a distinction between ‘good Taliban and bad Taliban’. There is nothing called good Taliban. They need to be crushed with a resolute resolve of the civilised world,” Mr Tewari said.

Reports from Pakistan had said that the Taliban mercenaries beheaded two Sikhs and threw their heads into a Peshawar gurudwara and that two more Sikhs were still in their custody. The Sikhs were kidnapped 34 days ago and were told to convert to Islam or face death. Intelligence sources here said that their heads were chopped when the two men refused and sent to Bhai Joga Singh Gurdwara in Peshawar. The Sikh community in NWFP and Afghanistan have been under pressure from the Taliban to embrace Islam.

The public outrage over the incident on Monday prompted external affairs minister S M Krishna to assert that the issue would be taken up at the Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks to be held later this week.
“The government condemns this barbaric act. Pakistan must ensure the safety of minorities. We are in touch with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and are looking into the matter,” Mr Krishna told reporters outside Parliament.

While assuring that the government will take up the matter with the Pakistani government, Mr Krishna said that all issues concerning the relations between the two countries will be discussed during the talks scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 25.

Meanwhile, BJP has asked the government to mount “diplomatic pressure” on Pakistan to ensure release of the abducted Sikh residents in that country. “Minorities are facing threats in Pakistan and terrorism presents the real picture of that country,” said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The government in Punjab has sought the central government’s intervention to ensure the safety of Sikhs in the restive tribal region in Pakistan. “The government should not sleep in this matter. Life of Sikhs should be protected,” Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said in Chandigarh. An estimated 10,000 Sikhs lived in the NWFP and in the tribal belt, particularly Aurakzai Agency, till the Taliban imposed ‘jiziya’ or religious tax on them last year. Most members of the community then fled to cities across Pakistan.