The path of least resistance

Unwilling, or unable, to win hearts and minds?

As succinctly discussed by Samuel P. Huntington in his 1993 article, “The Clash of Civilisations”, cultural fault lines are becoming more and more defined in our present milieu. Since 9/11 militant Islam is globally on the rise.

After being nurtured in Afghanistan and our badlands, the al Qaeda franchise has gone global. In Africa Boko Haram is playing havoc in Nigeria and bordering African countries.

In ‘US liberated’ Iraq, Islamic militants have captured swaths of territory and declared an Islamic caliphate. As for Syria the west, in its quest to oust Bashar al-Assad, has unwittingly strengthened al Qaeda to spearhead the campaign against the Syrian strongman.

The Pakistani state has not only acquiesced for too long in promoting jihadist culture, but in essence has virtually regenerated it. We decided to rise from our slumber only when the hydra-headed monster of terrorism eventually turned against its erstwhile mentors.

After years of procrastination the military and civilian leadership finally decided to launch a military operation in unison against terrorists of all hues and colours holed up in its badlands. But is it already too late?

False piety in the name of religion has become our societal norm. Apart from perfunctory condemnation in a small section of the media, persecution and discrimination against religious minorities, if not actually condoned, is benignly tolerated.

This is a far cry from the Pakistan envisaged by Iqbal and Jinnah and is more akin to late Islamic dictator Zia ul Haq’s ideological bent. Some of the important changes he made in the constitution in the name of Islam have not only survived him, but have remained on the statute books even during the so-called democratic eras of the PPP and the PML-N.

The present ruling party is itself an offshoot of general Zia’s party-less system. But perhaps because of the fear of backlash from the religious right even the liberal PPP desisted from tinkering with the discriminatory clauses inserted in the constitution by Zia.

Even Musharraf, the self-proclaimed ‘enlightened moderate’ general who ruled Pakistan with an iron fist for nine years, refused to tinker with these clauses. Obviously the military in the past has used the jihadists to feed its India-centric paradigm. Why would it fiddle with their bread and butter?

The present ruling party is itself an offshoot of general Zia’s party-less system. But perhaps because of the fear of backlash from the religious right even the liberal PPP desisted from tinkering with the discriminatory clauses inserted in the constitution by Zia.

Another factor that is eating away into the Pakistani ethos erstwhile more akin to the sub continental traditions is the Arabisation of Pakistani culture. Thanks to the large expatriate community working in the conservative Arab kingdoms and emirates, a peculiar brand of Arab/Islamic culture has been deliberately infused in the Pakistani society.

‘Khuda hafiz’ is being replaced by the Saudi ‘Allah hafiz’. It is more fashionable to pronounce ‘Ramzan’ as Ramadan. And on many illegal number plates on flashy cars owned by the upper crust, the name of the hapless republic is pronounced as ‘Al Bakisatn’ rather than Pakistan.

Of course it can be counter argued that if western dress and culture can be imbibed by our populace why not Arabic culture? Without sounding like an apologist for western culture or values, their saving grace is that they are secular unlike the so-called Islamic chic being imported from the Middle East.

Surgically speaking the military in the past two months has been largely successful in clearing the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan of militants and their outfits. Surprisingly during this period, the country has been spared the much-dreaded terrorist backlash.

It can be argued with some justification that the TTP is demoralised and on the run. But perhaps in Shakespearean terms our law enforcement forces have scorched the snake (of terrorism) but not killed it. The monster can strike again dealing a devastating blow.

Despite the fact the Pakistan army is fighting an existential war, for the rest of the stakeholders it seems business as usual. The prime minister, having a special bond with the Saudis since his years in exile in the kingdom, prefers to spend the last ten days of Ramazan performing Umra and rubbing shoulders with the royalty with Ishaq Dar, his finance minister and virtual deputy, in tow.

Imran Khan is too busy trying to force a mid term election down a beleaguered government’s throat through his threatened tsunami march on 14 August. As for the PPP, its co chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and his scion Bilawal are abroad now for over a month.

Surgically speaking the military in the past two months has been largely successful in clearing the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan of militants and their outfits. Surprisingly during this period, the country has been spared the much-dreaded terrorist backlash.

Meanwhile, clearing Pakistan of terrorism and to protect Islamabad through Article 245 of the constitution seems to solely lie with the military. Hence it can be justifiably argued that combating terrorists and managing the IDPs lacks the ownership of the civilians across the board.

The COAS general Raheel Sharif, while spending Eid with troops in Miranshah, claims terrorist can never return to NWA (North Waziristan Agency). But in the meanwhile efforts to wean Pakistan away from a fundamentalist frame of mind towards a more tolerant and pluralistic narrative are entirely lacking.

On the contrary an alien culture in the name of Islam is being deliberately foisted over the populace and promoted by our present leadership.Our ethos, curriculum and general narrative remains geared towards nurturing a jihadist Islamic culture rather than that of a tolerant democratic Pakistan.

In the meanwhile the liberal narrative, mostly confined to Facebook and Twitter, is more concerned about killings in Gaza than atrocities taking place in our own backyard. This is not to say that the present Israeli genocide against the Palestinians is any less abhorrent. But the state virtually capitulating to the religious right is being consistently buttressed by the criminal silence of the commentarati.

Killing of the Shi’a and Hazaras has become so common that apart from a cursory mention in the media and a few critical editorials in the liberal English language press it is hardly taken note of.

As for the Ahmedis they are not only persecuted but also killed and maimed in the heartland of Punjab with impunity. Leaving alone giving them protection as citizens there is hardly even a word of protest from the provincial leadership.

Acid attacks on women in Balochistan to prevent them from venturing out of their houses is the manifestation of rising Islamisation in the province. Thugs belonging to the so called Isalmic groups like the Ahl-e-Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), dressed in Arab garbs and armed to the teeth, roam the Sariab district of Quetta, some say under tacit state protection.

No one dare raise a finger against those who preach hatred from the pulpit and kill in the name of religion. Taking the path of least resistance has become a societal and a political malaise.

Some would argue that we might be winning the war against terror but are not willing to lift even a finger to win hearts and minds with an enlightened counter narrative.