The militancy, which now plagues most of the NWFP, its proliferation would not have been possible without the manipulation of the radio waves by the hardliner clerics.The FM radio stations installed at the many of Madrassahs across the province and tribal areas have played a crucial role in the proliferation of militant doctrines.

These illegal FM stations with a small coverage area, (a single station costs Rs. 10,000 to 25,000), have been installed by the clerics at the Madrassahs to propagate their ideas to the locals and are running without any check.According to news reports during 2006 there 50 illegal FM radio stations functioning Malakand alone in addition to the NWFP and adjoining tribal areas .

Illegal radio station are operating in most of the areas in Frontier including Swabi, Charsadda, Lower and Upper Dir, Bunir, Mardan, Mansehra, Peshawar, Bannu, Batagram, Karak districts and Malakand and the tribal agencies of Bajaur, Khyber and Orakzai.

The masses under the sway of radical clerics who deem television as evil as it shows picture also banished it from their lives and the anti-TV campaign was launched during the days of Taliban in Afghanistan and these pictures of burning TV sets were splashed in the Pakistani militant press.Due to the unavailability of any other means of entertainment the transmissions of these FM radios are very much popular with the rural population in NWFP, especially with women as it is their only recourse of entertainment in the rural areas.

Another main reason of their growing popularity is due to the fact that the local know those people who make speeches on these radio stations.

The tragedy of Swat is a case in point, a tourist attraction known as the Switzerland of Pakistan came under the spell of militancy and now the government and a warlord cleric are warring for the control of the district. The illegal FM radio station installed by the Maulana Fazlullah also known as the ‘Radio Mullah’ due to his sermons, is the bedrock of the current insurgency in Swat and government has not been able to silence his FM station.Fazlullah, son-in-law of the banned Tahreek-Nifaz-Shiriat-Mohammadi (TNSM) leader Maulana Sufi Mohammad who launched a jihad against the government in 1994 and tried to capture the Saidu Sharif airport and government buildings and many people killed in these clashes. His father-in-law is at present languishing in the Dera Ismail Khan jail after his Afghan adventure when during US invasion of Afghanistan he took thousands of people to fight a holy war against the American and most of the people who followed him were either caught or killed in the war.

Fazlullah, who also fought besides Taliban in Afghanistan, some three years back established an FM radio station on which he started to criticize the policies of the western governments, TV, music, NGOs, girls education, polio vaccination and in the favor of jihad and mobilized militancy in the district.The radio station helped in strengthening his sway over the valley and the construction of the huge complex of his Madrassah at the Imam Dheri, when he appealed for the donations for the construction of Madrassah from his radio, he received huge amounts in donations and women donated their jewelry to the cleric.

Armed with the FM radio he has also formed a commando force by the name of Shaheen Commando Forces numbering around 300-400 armed-to-teeth volunteers.The Mutthida-Majlis-Amal (MMA) government, which ruled in the province for five years, let this menace unchecked fearing the curbs on the radio stations would antagonize the powerful clerics on whom it depends for mass support in the elections.

Interestingly the (MMA) led provincial government in the Frontier entered into an agreement with the controversial cleric on May 22 and allowed him to run his illegal FM radio in exchange for dropping his opposition to the girls schools, police vaccination in the district and stopping the production of arms by his followers in public. This proved to be a proverbial pouring oil on the fire as the cleric didn’t halted his missionary zeal and the agreement gave him a legal cover to propagate his deadly broadcasts with the same intensity. Later the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation in Islamabad in July ruffled the feathers of militancy in the district again and the situation started to deteriorate with each passing day and the government moved army to the troubled district but a jirga averted impending military operation against the Mullah. During July the suicide bombers in the Swat also attacked military and police became the prime target of the militants and the state machinery was virtually paralyzed in the face of growing incidents of lawlessness.

In the wake of the Lal Masjid operation Fazlullah announced to launch Jihad if government took action against the seminary and also turned down the agreement with the government which he has signed on May 22 and the first reaction against the operation occurred at Swat, where a mob attacked a police station in Matta Tehsil. Maulana Fazlullah also invited the slain Khateeb of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdur Rashid to make a speech on his FM. Earlier this year when police arrested Maulana Fazlullah, his associates gave a call on his FM and nearly 6,000 supporters took to the streets and released him from the custody.

Another hardliner cleric in the Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency installed a similar radio station in and has taken the whole area as a hostage. The opponent religious sect who has similar sway in the remote and mountainous Tirah area of the agency has also installed a similar radio station and so far hundreds of people of have died in clashes between the warring outfits.

Recently the cleric in Bara Tehsil banned the uncovering of head in the agency saying it is against the Islamic morality and started to fine people Rs 100 and shave their heads for not wearing caps and now all the people follow the dictates of the religious warlord and the agency where these two warring religious outfits could clash any time is a potential flashpoint due to their excess to the communication technology which could carry their message to the areas where otherwise they couldn’t reach.

Interestingly, the clerics who held these FM stations so dear, are how much averse to the other forms of cultural activities that in the most of the Frontier and tribal areas the CD shops were asked to close and those who dared to say nay were bombed and even barbers were not spared.

The MMA government, when it came to the power in 2002 banned the holding of cultural shows and singing contests in the province only theatre Nishtar Hall which rendered the most of the artists jobless and that is yet to be opened.

The radio has become an essential tool in the process of indoctrination and the government showed reluctance to curb this threat at the earlier stages and now this menace is threatening the very existence of the state.  

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