ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE WORLD… a special edition of FRONTLINE/World... Pakistan under siege.
First, correspondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy travels a country battling a growing Taliban insurgency….
SOT: The city is on high alert. The Taliban seem to be closing in//
ANNOUNCER: As fears rise of a nuclear state in the militants’ hands… can Pakistan's weak government survive?
Sharmeen: Do you think you can win this war?
SOT: It’s better to die than to live under an environment in which the Taliban are taking away your children.
ANNOUNCER: Next, in Pakistan’s embattled Swat Valley…
Montero: He was reporting on the hottest story in Pakistan for millions of people.
He reported the inside story of the Taliban’s rise… and the Army’s failures. Correspondent David Montero investigates the life and death of a journalist… and friend.
Finally tonight…
Sharmeen: Junaid's story haunted me....
ANNOUNCER: The war with the Taliban hits home for correspondent Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who finds the militants now gaining influence in the country's big cities.
PACKAGING LANGUAGE
Pakistan: Children of the Taliban
Reported by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY, Correspondent: [voice-over] This is Peshawar, a city of three million people on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal areas. Just a few miles from here, the Pakistani army is fighting the Pakistani Taliban, Islamic militants who share a hard-line ideology with their Afghan counterparts. The conflict has killed nearly 7,000 people in the last year alone.
[on camera] The city is on high alert. The Taliban seem to be closing in, regularly attacking police convoys, kidnapping diplomats, shooting foreigners.
[voice-over] The fighting has driven thousands of families from their homes in the conflict areas. Many of them are now sheltering here in Peshawar. This rehabilitation center treats people caught in the crossfire between the army and the militants.
Qainat is 10. She's been living here for the past two months. A mortar meant for the Taliban landed on her house. Her mother has a spinal cord injury. Her sister and most of her extended family were killed.
MOTHER: [subtitles] Do you miss your sister?
QAINAT: [subtitles] I miss her but there is nothing we can do.
MOTHER: [subtitles] God brought it upon us; what can we do?
QAINAT: [subtitles] I think of her all the time.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Who in your family was killed in that attack?
QAINAT: [subtitles] My sister, my aunt, my sister-in-law, my cousin, another aunt, my cousin's daughter, my second cousin and her sons.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Have you seen the Taliban in your area?
QAINAT: [subtitles] Yes, I've seen them. They wear masks. They're scary. When we see them, we run back home. One day we were walking to our village. We saw the dead body of a policeman tied to a pole. The Taliban don't spare government people or policemen. His head had been chopped off. It was hanging between his legs. There was a note saying if anyone moved the dead body, they would share its fate.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Before the Taliban took control of Qainat's village, the women in her family attended university and worked. But Qainat tells me the Taliban have now banned girls from going to school.
[subtitles] What would you like to be when you grow up?
QAINAT: [subtitles] A doctor.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Why do you want to be a doctor?
QAINAT: [subtitles] So I can give injections to people. And help my mother now that she's ill.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] But the Taliban say you can't become a doctor. So what will happen?
QAINAT: [subtitles] It's peaceful right here. I'll become a doctor here.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Her family's savings are running out. Soon Qainat will have to return to her village, where the Taliban are fighting the army. Qainat's from Swat, a 100-mile-long valley in the north of Pakistan, three hours' drive from Peshawar. Until recently, Swat was known as the Switzerland of the east and had a thriving tourist industry. But all that changed when the Pakistani Taliban arrived.
[on camera] We're about an hour outside of Swat, and even though the Taliban don't control this area, they do have influence here, so I have to cover up properly.
[www.pbs.org: An interview with the reporter]
[voice-over] Two years ago, hundreds of Taliban fighters moved into Swat from the adjoining tribal areas when their hideouts were attacked by the Pakistani army. Extremist preachers here gave them refuge.
Swati women never wore the burqa. Now the handful of women I see on the streets are all covered.
The Taliban create fear through their radio broadcasts.
TALIBAN PREACHER: [radio broadcast] [subtitles] Sharia law is our right, and we will exercise this right whatever happens. I swear to God we will shed our own blood to achieve this. We will make our sons suicide bombers! We will make ourselves suicide bombers! I swear to God, if our leader orders me, I will sacrifice myself and blow myself up in the middle of our enemies.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: I arrive in Qainat's village. The Taliban here have a new target, schools.
[on camera] The Taliban have destroyed over 200 government schools in Swat. And a few days ago, they declared that no girls were going to be allowed to go to school here.
[voice-over] Four hundred girls studied here. Most of them are too scared to talk about the Taliban, but two 9-year-olds want to tell me what happened.
ZARLASH: [subtitles] I am really angry.
RUKSAR: [subtitles] I'm really worried. Our school has been destroyed.
ZARLASH: [subtitles] It's completely unfair.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Why did you like school?
RUKSAR: [subtitles] Because education is like a ray of light, and I want that light.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] What will happen to girls if the Taliban come to power?
ZARLASH: [subtitles] We'll stay at home. My father bought me a burqa, so I'll have to wear that.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Do you like wearing a burqa?
ZARLASH: [subtitles] No. I always trip up in it.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Suddenly a reminder that Swat is on the front line.
[subtitles] What was that?
ZARLASH: [subtitles] An explosion, the sound of a mortar.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] A mortar? We can hear some firing.
[voice-over] Our local contact checks what's going on.
LOCAL CONTACT: [subtitles] We were just told the Taliban have surrounded the area. They came here. I just spoke to a Talib. He told us to get out of here as soon as possible.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [on camera] The girls wanted to give me a tour of their destroyed school, but because the Taliban have surrounded the area, we have to leave immediately.
[voice-over] We're told the Taliban are getting ready to attack an army convoy. One of the girls says we can shelter at her home until the fighting stops. We drive through the main square. Locals have renamed it Khooni Chowk — Bloody Square — because of the public beheadings the Taliban carry out here.
When we get inside, the father of one of the girls describes what Swat is like under the Taliban. It's very dangerous for him to speak out. In the past, the Taliban have killed those who openly defy them. But he insists.
[subtitles] Are people scared when they listen to the radio?
FATHER: [subtitles] Obviously, we are afraid, but you know why we listen? To know the latest Taliban edicts so we can obey them. The majority of people don't listen for fun, but they listen.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Is it affecting people?
FATHER: [subtitles] People are psychologically affected, deeply depressed. If you look at people's faces, you see a sadness. No one can say anything. Our mouths are locked up. Our thoughts are chained.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Three weeks after we filmed this, the Pakistani government signed a peace deal with the Taliban allowing the imposition of their brutal brand of Sharia law upon a million people across the valley. The government claimed it was the demand of the people. What was significant about this deal was that Swat lay outside the tribal area. Taliban influence was growing, and the militants now had a new safe haven.
In their strongholds near the Afghan border, the Taliban have been running their own schools for years. They target poor families and convince the parents to send their children. In return, they provide free food and shelter and sometimes pay the families a monthly stipend.
This is a propaganda video made by the Taliban. Young boys are taught justifications for suicide attacks and the execution of spies.
I make contact with a teenager from Swat who says schools like this are now opening in his area. Dealing with the Taliban is dangerous, but I've been assured the boy will come alone and unarmed.
Hazrat Ali is from a poor farming family in Swat. He joined the Taliban a year ago, when he was 13.
[subtitles] How do the Taliban in your area get people to join them?
HAZRAT ALI: [subtitles] They first call us to the mosque and preach to us. Then they take us to a madrassa and they teach us things from the Koran.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] He tells me the children are then given months of military training.
HAZRAT ALI: [subtitles] They teach us to use machine guns, Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers, grenades, bombs. They ask us to use them only against the infidels. Then they teach us how to do a suicide attack.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Would you like to carry out a suicide attack?
HAZRAT ALI: [subtitles] If God gives me the strength.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Do you think there are enough youngsters like you for the Taliban to win?
HAZRAT ALI: [subtitles] God willing. There are now thousands of us. The Taliban now have the power to defeat the army.
[www.pbs.org: More reporting on this region]
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Despite the peace deal in Swat, elsewhere in Pakistan, the army was still fighting the Taliban. These are the wild and lawless tribal areas right on the Afghan border. Militants move freely from here to Afghanistan to attack U.S. and NATO forces. Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding out in these mountains.
Under U.S. pressure, the Pakistani army is now trying to defeat the Taliban in this northern corner of the tribal belt. But even after a four-month battle, it's not completely secure.
[on camera] We're driving very fast to avoid ambush. I've been told that the militants hide up in the passes and take aim at the convoys as they pass through.
[voice-over] This is Bajaur. We're just 10 miles from the Afghan border. After 2001, hundreds of Taliban and al Qaeda arrived here after being driven from Afghanistan. They soon took control.
[on camera] This is one of the major towns in Bajaur. And as I look around, I see complete and utter destruction. All the buildings have been flattened. There are no civilians here at all.
[voice-over] The town of Loi Sam was once the trading center of the Bajaur valley, with a population of 7,000 people. The army say the only way to free the town from the militants was to destroy it. They claim to have killed more than 1,500 Taliban.
[on camera] I've just been told that this is the area where the fiercest fighting took place, that the army received heavy fire from all the houses over here, especially from the madrassa that's on that side, and that's why they demolished this entire town, they said.
[voice-over] One effect of this hard-line approach is to create hundreds of thousands of refugees. Civilians are not only fleeing the Taliban, but also the Pakistan army.
[Kachegori Camp, Northwest Pakistan]
Most of the displaced have ended up in makeshift camps on the edge of the tribal areas, like this one in Peshawar. This is the largest internal displacement Pakistan has ever seen. Almost a million people have been forced to leave their homes. Every day, new families arrive, and the camp continues to grow.
[on camera] One of the first things that hits you as you walk through this camp is the sheer number of children running around barefoot and playing out in the dirt.
[voice-over] There are 30,000 displaced people in this camp alone. More than half are children. Wasifullah and Abdurrahman are best friends. They fled their village when the Pakistani army started bombing it. Their district was also the target of American missile strikes. One of these strikes hit a local madrassa. Wasifullah remembers the moment he arrived at the scene and found his 12-year-old cousin dead.
WASIFULLAH: [subtitles] My cousin was one of the students killed in the madrassa. His body was being eaten by dogs. We brought his remains home in bags. We could only find his legs, so we buried them in our village.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: This is footage of Wasifullah and Abdurrahman's village the morning after the bombing. More than 80 people were killed. Locals say that many of them were children.
There have been more than 30 U.S. missile strikes in the tribal areas in the last year. They target Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, but civilians are often killed, as well. The militants are quick to make use of the destruction. A U.S. air strike becomes a recruitment rally for the Taliban.
TALIBAN LEADER: Oh, God, protect Osama! Oh, God, protect Mullah Omar! Are there any men equal to them in the world?
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: Wasifullah was in the crowd that day. The strike has left a lasting impact on him.
[subtitles] What do you want to be when you grow up?
WASIFULLAH: [subtitles] God willing, I will join the Taliban.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] But his best friend, Abdurrahman, blames al Qaeda for the destruction of their village.
[subtitles] What do you want to be when you grow up?
ABDURRAHMAN: [subtitles] I want to be a captain.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] In the Pakistan army?
ABDURRAHMAN: [subtitles] Yes. I want to be in the Pakistan army and kill all the terrorists in Pakistan.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] The army's campaign and the American missile strikes are helping push Pakistan towards civil war. One of these boys will join the army, the other will join the Taliban.
[subtitles] Your friend, Wasifullah, wants to join the Taliban. If you meet him when you are in the army, will you kill him?
ABDURRAHMAN: [subtitles] Yes. If he's attacking the army, I will retaliate fiercely.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] If you have to kill Abdurrahman, will you do it?
WASIFULLAH: [subtitles] Definitely. If he does wrong, I will fight him.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] In spite of the million displaced civilians, the Pakistani army believes its strategy to push the Taliban back is working. They've been reluctant to admit that Taliban influence is growing in other areas.
Major General Tariq Khan is commanding the campaign against the Taliban in the tribal region. I ask him if the military operations have been effective.
Maj. Gen. TARIQ KHAN, Pakistan Army: They've been very successful, very intense, very high casualty rates, but we have succeeded in what we wanted to do. The human cost is undeniably a very, very grievous kind of a thing. It's not something one would accept. It's not an acceptable kind of an issue. But why it's worth it is it's better to die than to live under an environment in which the Taliban are taking away your children.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [on camera] But I've spoken to a number of young boys who have come down from Bajaur to Peshawar, and they're very angry. Their homes have been destroyed. They've lost family members. And many of them would like to join the Taliban.
Maj. Gen. TARIQ KHAN: Yeah, they probably were the Taliban. And they ran away from there and are sitting out here, hiding in the refugee camps, because you can't tell who's where, like I say. But those people who complain about it are probably part of the problem and are not part of the solution.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: Do you think you can win this war?
Maj. Gen. TARIQ KHAN: I have no doubt in my mind. I think it's not that difficult as people think. I think we'll win it. Hands down.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] The campaign against the Taliban has taken its toll on the army. In the last five years, thousands of Pakistani soldiers have been wounded and more than 1,500 have been killed. Most of these soldiers come from the same villages and even families as the Taliban. This is a difficult war for them to fight.
Atif was shot in the stomach in an ambush but managed to drag himself to safety.
ATIF: [subtitles] I saved myself somehow, with great difficulty. Many of our brothers are dying in this way. They can never tell what's going to happen. They can be attacked at any time. But we're still determined.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: Sher Murad was wounded in a roadside bomb. He's lost one of his eyes.
[subtitles] Why do the Taliban hate the Pakistani Army so much?
SHER MURAD: [subtitles] The American policies we adopted. That's why the Taliban are angry at the army. That's why we're suffering.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Do you think you can win this war?
SHER MURAD: [subtitles] If we keep fighting like this, it will be very hard.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] The army may be winning some battles, but its own soldiers fear they are losing the war.
The Taliban meanwhile are growing bolder by the day. Their leadership in Pakistan are so confident, they are openly inviting journalists to the heart of the tribal areas for a show of strength.
But women are not welcome. We're warned that if I go, I'll be killed. A local cameraman sets out to film for us. He makes his way to a village six hours from Peshawar, in the tribal area of Orakzai.
This is the first time the new deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, has been filmed. He arrives in an American Humvee his men have just captured in an attack on a NATO convoy headed for Afghanistan.
They've closed down a school and turned it into an operations base. There's a sudden commotion. One of the Taliban thinks he's spotted a U.S. aircraft. There's no missile strike, for now. Hakimullah claims that American attacks are increasing the Taliban's resolve to fight.
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD: [subtitles] If America continues bombing the tribal areas and martyrs innocent people, then we are compelled to attack them.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: He then sends a warning. The Taliban are planning to topple the Pakistani state.
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD: [subtitles] If the Pakistani leaders and army maintain their stance, then we will take control of Peshawar and other cities.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: This is no empty threat. The Taliban offensive in the cities has already begun. Last year, they struck right across Pakistan, killing more than 800 people in suicide attacks.
The war has now arrived in the capital, Islamabad, and Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi. This is the city I grew up in. In the last year, the slums of Karachi have become a new safe haven for the Taliban, who use the criminal networks here to raise funds for their war. It's also become a recruiting ground for the next generation of Taliban fighters.
[on camera] This is one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city of Karachi. The police say this area is heavily Talibanized.
[voice-over] Most of the children in this part of the city study at small religious schools, or madrassas. Every day after their lessons, the students play cricket. I meet a 14-year-old called Shaheed. His name means "martyr.''
[subtitles] What do they teach you at your madrassa?
SHAHEED: [subtitles] They teach us how to recite the Koran, memorize it.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Have you memorized the Koran?
SHAHEED: [subtitles] Yes I have.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] This is Shaheed's madrassa. There are 200 students here. All are from poor families. Here they get free food and lodging.
The state education system in Pakistan has virtually collapsed, so now more than one and a half million children study at schools like this. They're not allowed to read anything but the Koran, which is written in Arabic, a language they don't understand. They're not taught maths or science, but Shaheed tells me they are taught about the place of women in Islam.
SHAHEED: [subtitles] Women are meant for domestic care, and that's what they should do. Sharia law says it, so why are women wandering around? The government should forbid women and girls from wandering around outside, just like the government banned plastic bags. No one uses them anymore. We should do the same with women.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: Shaheed thinks the only people who keep women in their proper place are the Taliban.
[subtitles] After you graduate from here, will you go to the Taliban?
SHAHEED: [subtitles] Yes, I will go them, and I intend to support them in their war. Not in Pakistan, though, but in a war outside of Pakistan.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Shaheed's teacher defends the madrassa's teachings.
MUFTI: [subtitles] Madrassas are playing a very positive role. They don't provide any space for terrorism and misunderstanding. The madrassas have always promoted peace, love and harmony.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: But once our camera moves further away, he tells another story.
[subtitles] Who do you think will win this war?
MUFTI: [subtitles] It's in our blood. No matter how many Muslims die, we will never run out of sacrificial lambs. Non-Muslims only think about this world, but Muslims consider this an opportunity to achieve martyrdom. Someone who sees death as a blessing, who can defeat him?
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Shaheed has absorbed his teacher's ideology.
[subtitles] Would you want to carry out a suicide attack?
SHAHEED: [subtitles] I would love to, but only if I get permission from my father. When I look at suicide bombers younger than me, or my age, I get so inspired by their terrific attacks.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] Taliban propaganda videos glorifying child suicide bombers are easy to get hold of in Karachi.
VIDEO: [song, subtitles] If you try to find me after I have died, you will never find my whole body. You will find me in little pieces.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: This boy is called Zainullah. He blew himself up, killing six. This boy is called Sadique. He killed 22. This boy is called Masood. He killed 28.
I leave Karachi and try to make contact with the Taliban leadership in the tribal areas. I want to meet the men who recruit madrassa children for suicide operations. After lengthy negotiations, I'm told I can meet a commander who's personally responsible for child recruitment.
Qari Abdullah makes no attempt to hide his face. He starts by telling me why the Taliban now have Pakistan in their sights.
QARI ABDULLAH: [subtitles] We never used to fight against Pakistan because we thought the army were Muslims. But when they started bombing us, we had to do jihad against them.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: Qari Abdullah says he was just a child when he started his fighting career. He was educated in a madrassa and then sent to Afghanistan to fight. He rocks back and forth, as madrassa students are taught to do when reciting the Koran. It's as if he's in a trance.
[subtitles] How do the Taliban invite or convince small children to join them?
QARI ABDULLAH: [subtitles] The kids want to join us because they like our weapons. They don't use weapons to begin with, they just carry them for us. And off we go. They follow us because they're just small kids.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Don't you think it's wrong to use kids to attack?
QARI ABDULLAH: [subtitles] If you're fighting, then God provides you with the means. Children are tools to achieve God's will. And whatever comes your way, you sacrifice it. So it's fine.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [subtitles] Have you seen this kind of training?
QARI ABDULLAH: [subtitles] These are all children. They're small young kids. These in the picture are quite grown up. My ones are younger. Ours are 5, 6 and 7 years old.
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY: [voice-over] There are eighty million children in Pakistan. More than a quarter of them live below the poverty line. If the militants continue to expand their war and recruit children freely, then Pakistan may soon belong to them.
Bumper #1
Next, in the Swat Valley... Correspondent David Montero reports on the life and mysterious death of a journalist-- and friend--who warned of the Taliban's rise.
PAKISTAN: A DEATH IN SWAT
Reported by David Montero
Swat establishers, montero driving,
When I last reported from Pakistan's Swat Valley, the Taliban had just begun their rise to power.
suicide bombing, bloody aftermath
It all began with a bloody campaign of violence that hit this once-peaceful valley hard.
bloody aftermath of bombing
Swat was fast becoming one of the toughest places to report in the world.
montero buying clothes, putting on contact lenses
My plan was to try to blend in with the locals... to pursue the story of the militants. But I needed help.
still of david and musa
That's when I was introduced to Musa Khan Khel.
Montero: 01:19:12 I'l l never forget the first time I met him.// He had a huge black beard, and he even made a joke. You know... he sort of pointed to his beard and said, you know... "Don't, I look like the Taliban, but don't worry."
Shot of Musa in Fazlullah's Madrassah, twirling the microphone wire, etc.
MONTERO: Musa was very well known in Pakistan. He was reporting on the hottest story, the most violent story in Pakistan for a national audience of millions of people for the most prominent news channel.
SOT: [subtitles] We're here in the Madrassah where Maulana Fazlullah....
MONTERO: And he, in my mind became the face of this war and how it had gone wrong.
SOT Musa in helmet:[subtitles] Eight decapitated bodies were found. Most of them belonging to the security services.
start of sequence of Taliban village takeover
As the Taliban swept through Swat, one village after another... it was Musa who was often there to report the story... and to shoot rare video like this of the Taliban on the march.
MONTERO: Musa had very good relations with the taliban.. he had incredible access. He was with them when they raided these government security bases and took over their weapons .// And that's Musa right there with them.
MUSA KHANKHEL SOT: Hand grenade
MONTERO: We have other footage of Musa walking with the Taliban. They want to show him what happened after the gov't sent these very poorly paid troops to fight them. And so you see Musa and his brother filming dead bodies of these security people who the Taliban had killed.
SOT Musa in a field
MONTERO: And there was Musa standing in a field with his microphone telling Pakistan and in a sense the world that, look, the military operation is not working. The Taliban are still here. They're still killing people.
But Musa's access to Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah made the government question the reporter's closeness to the militants.
Montero: Your work is based on having good relations with whoever is going to give you the story. So I think he was shrewd in the sense that i'm going to form really good relations with Maulana Fazlullah and his men and that's what's going to get me access. So I don't know that I could say he was sympathetic to the Taliban, but that was a view that a lot of people had.
triumphant Taliban ride into the peace deal
After I left Swat, the Taliban took control of the Valley.
It was February of this year when a peace deal with the government was signed... and the whole of Swat came out to celebrate.
But, for Musa, the celebration would be short lived.
He spent his last hours in the thick of the action… covering the story that had consumed him for almost two years. Musa wasn't sure the Taliban leaders would really put down their arms. So after the rally, he set off on one more reporting trip ... to the local Taliban stronghold.
Issa crossing the street
Musa's younger brother Issa stayed behind and waited for word from his brother.
A text message in mid-afternoon said Musa was with the Taliban leadership... but then communication went dead.
Issa: [Subtitled] I was in the office in the evening when I got a call that a man had been shot and killed by unidentified men.
Thirty to thirty-five minutes later, I got a call saying "this wasn't Musa, was it?" I said, "I don't know."
Locals said that the Taliban had brought him in a car, pushed him out and shot him.
I phoned my uncle and told him what had happened. I said that he should tell the family that it was an accident.
It seemed like an open and shut case against the Taliban.
But people here were just as likely to blame the Pakistani security services. It turned out, the government had been threatening Musa in the months before he died.
In this newspaper account, Musa claimed to have been beaten by men in uniform. They told him the government wasn't happy with his tough reporting on the military.
From that day, Musa told colleagues that he feared for his life.
start of funeral rally
SOT: Shout it out! musa khan!
Musa's death immediately touched off protest in Swat... especially among journalists.
SOT: [Subtitled] Musa, we’re ashamed your murderers are still alive.
Everyone here knew the murder would never be fully investigated, no matter who'd done it... It's one reason why Swat has been called one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.
establishers of funeral, start of burial scene, mourners
Not long after Musa was buried, the peace deal would fall apart... the Army would move back into the Valley... and many of these people would flee.
dip to black
Swat re-establishers, issa at his desk, writing
Recently, I checked in with Issa... and was surprised to find he was still there...
He'd taken over his brother's old job in journalism. He was now the Swat correspondent, pursuing the story his brother died trying to report.
walking to Musa's gravesite
Issa: [Subtitled] I won't leave. If things get bad again, I will move my family to a safe place. But I will not leave. I will be the last journalist in Swat. I will stay.
Bumper #2
Finally, the war with the Taliban comes home for correspondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
PAKISTAN: LETTER FROM KARACHI
Reported by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Super: Karachi , May 2009
ANNOUNCER:
The war against the Taliban is being fought hundreds of miles away in the northern valleys of Swat and Buner.
But even here in my home city of Karachi there is fear that the Taliban might take over.
I recently returned here to find a new sense of urgency.
For years the war against the Taliban was seen as America’s war. But no longer.
ANNOUNCER:
In Karachi, the police are on the frontline of the war against the militants.
They are stepping up their efforts against extremist groups who now have pakistan’s largest city in their sights.
For now, the Taliban are trying to stay below the radar…
But every so often the police flush them out, deputy superintendent in charge Raja Omar tells me.
Dep Supt. Raja Omar Khattab,
Crime Investigation Dept
RAJ OMAR: [Subtitled] These are all bullet-holes you can see
This was their hideout
All this rubble is what’s left of the terrorists’ house.
ANNOUNCER:
This house was the hideout for a gang who ran a lucrative kidnap for ransom operation that brought in tens of thousands of dollars a year for the Taliban.
When the police moved in after a tip-off, the militants put up a fight.
OMAR [Subtitled]
They fought us for about two and a half hours
We cordoned this entire area
When they saw there was no way out, we asked them to surrender.
But they didn’t want to.
So they blew themselves up.
SHARMEEN [Subtitled]
What kind of mentality do they have to sacrifice themselves like this?
OMAR [Subtitled]
They are convinced that what they are doing is absolutely right.
ANNOUNCER:
According to Omar, It’s not just Karachi’s poor slums where the militants are able to blend in. They have found a new and surprising recruiting ground…
This is the district of Malir.
Families here are relatively well off, and are able to send their children to government schools and colleges – not the radical madrassas which typically feed the Taliban.
Ferhan is a local businessman who has lived here all his life.
Last year his youngest brother fell under the influence of a local cleric. He suddenly joined the Taliban in the tribal belt. He was killed soon afterwards in an American attack.
Sharmeen
This is Junaid the youngest who was killed by a US missile in Waziristan
[Subtitled] So, he’s all dressed up in a western jacket, a suit.
What kind of a person was Junaid?
FERHAN [Subtitled]
Well he was certainly the most fashionable one in our family.
Everyone called him ‘little one’ since he was the youngest
ANNOUNCER:
Ferhan’s brother didn’t fit the stereotype of the madrassa-educated Taliban recruit.
Farhan: [Subtitled] He was very independent
He thought that this country in not in a good way
He met some new friends
They persuaded him, and off he went.
He thought he needed to defend his country
He thought he was defending Islam
ANNOUNCER:
Junaid's story haunted me.... When a well-off young member of the educated classes feels compelled to fight the Taliban’s fight...we should all take notice.
The more the central government has been perceived to be corrupt and allied with America... the more the Taliban has positioned itself as a righteous alternative.
FERHAN [Subtitled]
This isn’t just a problem of one neighbourhood
This is a problem of the entire country
If people don’t get justice, they will look for alternatives
And then anarchy will spread.
ANNOUNCER:
Recently, Ferhan's middle class family was pulled deeper into the conflict. Another brother, Sarfraz, disappeared...not killed, but snatched by Pakistan¹s powerful intelligence agency, the ISI.
Ferhan has joined a rally for the families of the disappeared in Karachi.
He tells me his brother is suspected of involvement in a terrorist plot. Ferhan swears he is innocent.
The ISI has rounded up over a thousand Pakistanis since 2001, and continues to arrest those suspected of militant sympathies. Many are held for years without charge
SARFRAZ’ SISTER [Subtitled]
Our brother has been missing for so long
O Allah! Please help us. There is no justice other than You.
SHARMEEN
What do you think the impact of this disappearance is going to be on the children?
ASFIA
They’re gonna get up some day, they’re gonna go, and they’re gonna do something. You know, if this government doesn’t do anything, these children will go some day and you know, just go and kill somebody. They'll just go crazy. I know that. And I make them go crazy. I make them do mad things if they don’t find my husband. I’ll make them do mad things.
ANNOUNCER:
Hundreds of miles north of Karachi, the army is launching a spring offensive to crush the Taliban... And the people now seem to have more will to fight this war to the end.
But the battle for hearts and minds will not be easily won.
Pakistan is the worlds' sixth most populous country...and armed with nuclear weapons.
A nervous world is watching for signs of success against the Taliban...the alternative is unthinkable.
WEB PROMO
THERE'S MORE OF THE WORLD TO EXPLORE ON OUR WEB SITE:
JOIN OUR CORRESPONDENTS IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SWAT
AND SEE AN IWITNESS INTERVIEW ABOUT PAKISTANS GHOST SCHOOLS.
VISIT US ONLINE FOR MORE ON-GOING IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF THIS VOLATILE REGION
DISCUSS THE WORLD AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK AT PBS.ORG.
CREDITS
PAKISTAN: CHILDREN OF THE TALIBAN
Produced, Directed and Filmed by
DAN EDGE
Reported and Produced by
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY
Executive Producer for October Films
JULIA BARRON
Editor
ALEX ARCHER
Senior Producer
KEN DORNSTEIN
Original Music
DAN EDGE
Assistant Producers
FAZEELAT ASLAM
ASAD FARUQI
Production Manager
JUSTINE FARAM
Archival Footage
ITN Source/Reuters
An October Films production for WGBH/Frontline
Copyright 2009
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION AND OCTOBER FILMS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PAKISTAN: A DEATH IN SWAT
Producer/Reporter
DAVID MONTERO
Editor
PETER RHODES
Additional Editing
DAVID RITSHER
Senior Producer
KEN DORNSTEIN
Camera
NADAB SHAMBER
Sound
SYED HUSNAIN SAFDAR
Field Producer
HIMRAN ALEXANDER
Fixer
CHAUDHRY KALID AIZIZ
Archival Footage
AP Archive
PAKISTAN: LETTER FROM KARACHI
Produced, Directed and Filmed by
DAN EDGE
Reported and Produced by
SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY
Executive Producer for October Films
JULIA BARRON
Editor
ALEX ARCHER
Senior Producer
KEN DORNSTEIN
Original Music
DAN EDGE
Assistant Producers
FAZEELET ASLAM
ASAD FARUQI
Production Manager
JUSTINE FARAM
Archival Footage
ITN Source/Reuters
Copyright 2009
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION AND OCTOBER FILMS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FOR FRONTLINE/WORLD
Coordinating Producer
DAVID RITSHER
Story Editor
AMANDA PIKE
Senior Associate Producer
MARJORIE MCAFEE
Associate Producer
ANDRES CEDIEL
Outreach Coordinator
CHARLOTTE BUCHEN
Production Assistants
MATT DURNING
N’JERI EATON
LYRA FREDERICK
JACOB SIMAS
Interactive Associate Producer
MATTHEW VREE
Interactive Producer, Special Projects
JOE RUBIN
Interactive Designer
REBECCA GRAY
Senior Interactive Producer
JACKIE BENNION
Business Manager
TOBEE PHIPPS
Unit Manager
MARY SULLIVAN
Compliance Manager
LISA PALONE
Contracts Manager
LISA SULLIVAN
Promotion
JESSICA SMITH
DIANE BUXTON
SANDY ST. LOUIS
ALISSA ROONEY
BETH LOWELL
Legal
ERIC BRASS
JAY FIALKOV
JANICE FLOOD
SCOTT KARDEL
Satellite Photos
GEOEYE
Theme Music
SUPREME BEINGS OF LEISURE
Director of New Media and Technology
SAM BAILEY
Online Editor
JIM FERGUSON
Sound Mix
JIM SULLIVAN
Post Production Director
CHRIS FOURNELLE
On-Air Promotion
MISSY FREDERICK
Assistant Editor
TYRRA TURNER
Post Production Assistant
MEGAN MCGOUGH
Series Design
JOHN MACGIBBON
FRONTLINE Coordinating Producer
ROBIN PARMELEE
FRONTLINE Director of Broadcast
TIM MANGINI
FRONTLINE Series Manager
JIM BRACCIALE
Senior Producer
KEN DORNSTEIN
Series Executive Director
SHARON TILLER
Executive Producer
DAVID FANNING
Copyright 2009
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FRONTLINE/World is a production of WGBH/Boston, which is solely
responsible for its content.
