Muslim Khan, spokesman, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

“They come and tell us how to make latrines in mosques and homes. I’m sure we can do it ourselves. There is no need for foreigners to tell us this,” Muslim Khan, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), speaking to news agency IRIN in Pakistan’s volatile Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). “NGO is another name for vulgarity and obscenity. They don’t want us to remain Muslims and want to take away the veil from our women,” Khan claimed. He said NGOs hire women who work alongside men in the field and in offices. “That is totally un-Islamic and unacceptable,” he said. TPP insurgents, who had initially made a peace deal with the Pakistan government, wanted all NGOs to leave the Swat Valley.

Source: IRIN, 22 Mar 2009

Keywords

• South Asia
• Sanitation - On-site sanitation