Some days ago I mailed a letter to one of the leading English language newspaper but they didn't publish it. After reading the letter, they must have thought I was a lunatic. In that letter, I had proposed implementation of Shariah in NWFP. I didn't propose that because of being a good Muslim myself but because, rationally speaking, it is the need of the hour in this part of the world. It is the only practical solution to the different problems being faced by the dwellers of this province, especially its bad law and order. After implementing Shariah, the government will have to limit the Taliban one way or the other blocking their approach into the settled area through use of Islamic jurisprudence. The Taliban can be converted into a Taliban Corps merged within the paramilitary Frontier Corps. It is a matter that must be immediately addressed because one of the major factors of conversion of simple, tribal men into militants is their endemic unemployment. I wish a philosopher like Allama Iqbal was among us at this time. He had once predicted that if there is no peace in Afghanistan, there will be no peace in Asia. I predict today that if there is no peace in the Pukhtun belt of the country, there will be no peace anywhere else. -AHMAD KAMAL KHATTAK, Peshawar via e-mail, July 6.