From trainee suicide bomber to new life in Pakistan
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BARIKOT — Young Hazarat Bilal says he feels lucky to be embarking on a new life after escaping the clutches of the Taliban in the pristine surroundings of Pakistan’s Swat valley.
Just over a year ago, he says he fled a Taliban prison in Chuprial, 40 kilometers northwest of Mingora, the district’s main town.
Today, he tells journalists invited to inspect an army program to “de-radicalize” brainwashed youth, his hero is all-round cricketing star Shahid Afridi, and not Osama bin Laden.
The 24-year-old is one of hundreds, potentially thousands of youth who were kidnapped or handed over by their families to train as suicide bombers or Taliban fighters in northwest Pakistan..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110711com3.html
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