July 17, 2008 (Hangu, Pakistan)

During the renewed operation against Taliban and associated Islamic militants in the NWFP’s town of Hangu, a frightened dog named Gubba fled her home last night after showing frantic behavior in response to the reports of missiles and other heavy artillery used to target militant camps in the suburbs of Hangu city. The terror of war is equally felt by the townsfolk but they are unable to leave their homes, except for the comparatively well-off families that shifted to Kohat and Peshawar earlier this year.

Three-year-old Gubba has been brought up by writer and editor Karim Khan, alias Ernest Dempsey – lead writer at the World Audience Inc. (New York) and editor of the print quarterly The Audience Review. The news of Gubba’s escape from home was conveyed to Karim by his aunt who takes care of the pet as Karim serves at the NCE in Geology, University of Peshawar. ‘Before finding a chance to flee the home out of the door opened in the morning, she barked , ran about in the house, and jumped around for a long time as the blasts and reports of the fire weapons resonated in the town,’ told Karim’s aunt about the family pet. Though upset at the news, Karim assured the lady that Gubba would surely return home once things calm down. However, dogs in streets and paths are sometimes stolen by thieves or druggies who sell them for a little sum. In such a case, Gubba may be lost forever.

The escape of a dog is just a natural sign of the fear that rules the once-peaceful district of Hangu. Since 1998, Hangu has been a victim of intermittent cases of sectarian violence. Three main and a number of minor clashes between the two conflicting religious sects, the Shias and the Sunnis, have been witnessed so far by the town’s population. The recent onslaught of Taliban follows an increase in the concentration of Taliban in the Orakzai Agency – a tribal area surrounding Hangu as a bow-shaped geographic neighborhood on the north. After subduing populations of selected spots in the tribal land, Taliban and associated militants are seen roaming the streets of Hangu in broad daylight, always armed heavily. They are involved in kidnapping and bullying people, especially those who do not show fundamentalist Islamic values in their manners or who work for NGOs and other allegedly ‘heretic’ organizations. Ironically, the local people, who stand today in terror of Taliban, were the ones who expressed their moral support for Taliban when the US and allied forces bombarded Afghanistan for subduing Taliban. Now, these very people are witnessing the true face of Islamic fundamentalism and are helplessly crouching in their homes, waiting for the military to save them from the horrors of Islamic fundamentalists.