This International Dateline episode includes three segments: The Girls of the Red Mosque, Xinran Xue Interview, and Poles Apart.
The Girls of the Red Mosque
For months now, students at one of Islamabad's most radical mosques have been on a campaign to 'Talibanise' Pakistan -- in other words, turn it into a state that enforces the strictest version of Islam as the country's law. The students have defied both the police and government authorities. Along the way, they have adopted violent vigilante tactics, including kidnapping and torture, and have even set up their own sharia courts, with mullahs performing the role of judge and jury. In his second Dateline report on the challenges currently facing Pakistan, Nick Lazaredes discovered that these new Islamic warriors are not only men, but also young women and girls who say they are prepared to die for their cause.
Xinran Xue Interview
They call her, affectionately, "China's first agony aunt", but Xinran Xue is actually a former teacher, writer, a Sino expert, and talkback radio host, hence that earlier strange label agony aunt. Bookworms out there may know her better as the author of the bestseller 'The Good Women of China' based on the harrowing tales she heard from her Chinese listeners. Last week on the program Dateline heard the provocative views of British journalist and economist Will Hutton on both the pluses and minuses of the rapidly emerging Chinese giant, so this week George Negus talked with Xinran -- these days London-based, but a regular visitor back to China -- to get her take on the state of the globe's next big thing.
Poles Apart
After the Berlin Wall came down -- now 17 years ago -- East Germans were horrified to discover how many of their fellow citizens had been spies for the notorious Stasi secret police. But now Poland is having its "Stasi moment" with plans to open hundreds of thousands of once-secret files, threatening to expose Poles who collaborated with the country's former Communist regime. Debate is currently raging over whether the process will turn into a full-blown witch-hunt. Even Poland's internationally acclaimed foreign correspondent, the recently deceased Richard Kapuchinski, has been labelled a collaborator.
About International Dateline
SBS Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program. It has a well-earned reputation for authoritative and incisive reporting. Dateline has taken the traditional way of producing TV current affairs and turned it on its head. Reporters who used to travel with a cameraperson and sound recordist now travel alone and have the responsibility of both filming and reporting their stories. The reporters became video-journalists, gaining access to people and places that the conventional camera crews cannot.
