The sectarian issue, the biggest fear
So, finally, those who have been making efforts for decades now to incite sectarian riots among the Muslims of Pakistan have at long last succeeded. The complete details of the tragic slaughter committed near Raja Bazaar, Rawalpindi, on Ashura are yet to be known. Even as I pen down these lines in Islamabad on November 18, 2013, the markets in that part of Rawalpindi have been shut down again after opening shortly earlier.
Even when the stores were open, the sky rocketing prices of commodities did not permit many people to buy the desired food items. An egg, for instance, would cost Rs35. At the same time, curfew was imposed in Kohat and Hangu districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the army took control after two people were killed by gunmen on Monday at a rally in Kohat called to protest against sectarian clashes that left the major city of Rawalpindi under curfew all weekend.
The shooting happened in the city of Kohat while activists from the Sunni organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) were demonstrating against Friday’s violence in Rawalpindi which reportedly left nine people dead. The biggest fear, however, still remains: the spread of sectarian violence across the entire country.
Working as I have been at two think tanks in Islamabad for the past several years, one has had to repeatedly answer the question of sectarian differences in Pakistan posed by visitors from abroad. And, in all honesty, it has been possible to say that it is just the terrorists who commit sectarian attacks to incite large scale sectarian violence in the country. But, no, intolerance on this score exists at the social level.
Do these incidents which, touch wood, are at the moment confined to three places call for a review of that understanding? That is not a question to be answered hurriedly – only time will tell. Nevertheless, one thing is quite clear. It is no longer possible to blame other Muslim countries of playing their proxy war in Pakistan. Those killing their compatriots as also those being killed and injured all belong to this country.
I have been harping on the theme of the urgent need for Pakistan to improve its relations with Iran not only for politico-economic reasons but, more importantly, on religious-cultural grounds. Reverting to the Persian tradition is the only sure means of promoting and sustaining tolerance in society.
That would, in the first place, call for the revision of our textbooks which in many crucial areas are full of myths and outright lies. For example, the inhabitants of this land were converted to Islam by the invading armies from Arabia, Afghanistan and Central Asia. No, they embraced Islam at the hands of the holy men who had come from Persia.
That was pristine Islam; a belief system that taught human equality at birth, peace, tolerance and charity.
I still strongly believe that Pakistanis, by and large, are hospitable, kind, caring, hard working and helpful people. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to afford having a car, would surely agree that as and when they face a difficulty with their vehicles on road, people would voluntarily come to help them out.
They do not expect anything in return. The Americans may find it difficult, if not impossible to believe that there can be a free lunch in Pakistan. If somebody shows up at your door asking to be fed, it is inconceivable for most in this society to turn them away without giving them something to eat.
This writer is no fan of Gen Musharraf. If anything, I was obliged to proceed to London on a self-imposed exile in September 2007 and could return to Islamabad only after the 2008 general elections had been announced. Nevertheless, fair is fair. One remarkable achievement of his years in power was the revised textbooks that the then education minister Gen Qazi had supervised. They were to teach the true history of this part of the land and promote tolerance, peace and socio-religious harmony.
I am well aware of all that because Gen Qazi had been king enough to give me a set of the new textbooks when I had gone to meet him at his office. But, thanks to our pathetic tradition of each new government’s annulling the previous regime’s doings – good or bad – those textbooks never were introduced in schools.
It is never too late. If the present PML-N government of Punjab – as indeed all the provincial governments – are sincere in their protestations of advancing peace and tolerance, the first thing they need to do is dig out those textbooks which still must be lying in the archives of the federal education ministry and introduce them in schools.
Meanwhile, it is saddening to note that even three days after the Rawalpindi tragedy, the government of Punjab remains absent from public sight. If you proclaim to be a leader of the people who have voted your party to power in elections, it is your duty to step forward and lead from the front.
Ghani Jafar is a senior journalist and analyst. His latest book is on Iran’s nuclear programme, “Iran and the Bomb: Nuclear Club Busted”, which has recently been published. He can be reached at: [email protected].
