Sana Haroon: The Taliban movement in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

Social acceptance of the Taliban movement in Pakistan’s north-west region rests upon an overlap between already existing gender norms and Taliban prescriptions. Yet there is a paradox here: the Taliban’s gender practices overturn the traditional order by interfering in the familial domain and, through their own depredations, create the very danger and insecurity that require further control of women.

As the religious right wing goes from strength to strength in Pakistan, it is increasingly urgent that we understand how the threat it poses to women is largely accepted, rather than meeting with recrimination or resistance.

FULL TEXT HERE: http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/sana-haroon/pakistan-talibans-successful-marriage-of-dogma-and-custom