This was not jihad, it was fitna
The federal minister for inter-provincial coordination, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, occupies a crucial place in the government setup, especially as the focus of the war on terror comes to main cities. We have been told that provincial governments will have to play a more active role than before, which makes the only forum of coordination between the federation and provinces one of the most important links in the chain. Not only does he have an impressive political resume, he has also been personally scarred by terrorism, which makes him the right man for the job in more ways than one. His father, Shahnawaz Pirzada, was killed by Lashkar e Jhangvi gunmen in Lahore.
He is from Khairpur Tamewali, Bahawalpur, from where he first got elected to the Punjab Assembly. He served as Prisons Minister of Punjab under Nawaz Sharif. He made the news, back then, by being one of the few top politicians to speak out against allegations of corruption against Benazir Bhutto. Later, when Farooq Leghari launched the Millat Party in 1998, Pirzada joined and was elected to the National Assembly in 2002. When the Millat Party merged with the Q-League, he hopped over too, winning his 2008 NA seat on the Q ticket. He returned to the N-League in 2013, at the request of Nawaz Sharif, and was elected again to the Assembly.
He talked exclusively to DNA about his charge and war against terrorism.
Question: What role can the ministry for inter-provincial coordination (IPC) play in the campaign against terrorism, especially now since the provinces must shoulder greater burden?
Riaz Pirzada: Being the only forum for coordination between the federal government and provinces, the ministry of IPC has been active in coordinating between the federating units (provinces) for the NFC award, water distribution, convening of Council of Common Interests (CCI), and other relevant issues. However, after the government’s onslaught against terrorists, the significance of IPC ministry has doubled.
We have played our role for sensitising provincial governments for taking advance measures to counter calamities and challenges like floods, climate change, drought, etc. However, due to some hazards, the IPC ministry has not yet become fully operational. There is a dire need for establishment of CCI secretariat, while all the provincial governments have also not yet paid heed to our request for establishing IPC offices in their capital cities for ensuring better coordination with the federal government.
Now, since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken the biggest challenge of his political career to destroy the terrorist apparatus and launch an offensive against terrorist hideouts and nurseries, the IPC would have to play a key role to ensure effective implementation of the decisions approved by the government and the parliament.
We have already started working and an agenda is ready for convening the inter-provincial coordination committee (IPCC) and soon we will hold the IPCC moot. I have talked to the chief ministers of the four provinces and they have agreed to attend the meeting. After agreeing to a date, we will hold this meeting. Now the IPC ministry would play its role to coordinate with the provincial governments as the parliament has already passed the necessary legislation.
Q: Is there any possibility that the chief executives of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Kashmir (AJK) would also attend the IPCC meeting?
RP: Since AJK and GB have their own independent structures, we have floated a proposal to give both the units ‘non-voting member’ status. Once all stakeholders agree to the idea, the chief executives of GB and AJK would also attend the meeting as members.
Q: Since you come from South Punjab and your family has also been a victim of terrorism from sectarian terrorists, where do you trace the roots of terrorism into Pakistan?
RP: Yes, the sectarian monsters targeted my father Shaheed Shahnawaz Pirzada, among some other incidents of terrorism against top politicians, professionals, scholars and educationists across South Punjab.
Actually, sectarian terrorism has deep roots and it started when the government of Pakistan issued hunting licenses to Arab monarchs in South Punjab. The Arabs, however, started huge funding of religious elements which were active on sectarian lines and a nursery of religious seminaries was constructed, which taught hate on sectarian basis. People like Hameed Gul, Colonel Imam and Khalid Khawaja pushed the army into the dogma of ‘strategic depth doctrine’ and the army started to support these bloodsucking terrorists. Later, Arab terrorists led by Osama bin Laden joined in and a comprehensive terror infrastructure was established, which then took part in the fight against Soviets and later against the US.
But this monster later turned towards Pakistan and unleashed a reign of terror in Fata, KP and Seraiki areas. Pashtuns, who could not be subjugated by Russia, US or even India, were specifically targeted by these monsters.
In Pakistan, the state machinery also failed to act due to the approach adopted by some generals to seek strategic depth in Afghanistan. With law enforcement agencies avoided taking action against the so-called ‘mujahideen’, courts feared to sentence the terrorists. Those attacking and slaughtering the faithful in mosques, churches and imambargahs were roaming freely, and the state literally surrendered rather than nabbing them; the constitution and courts protected the butchers.
A lot of blood was spilt in the name of jihad to defame Islam. This was not jihad, rather it was fitna. Who can legitimise kidnapping for ransom, attacks on religious places, or even at schools?
However, I salute Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and offer prayers from the core of my heart as he has decided to challenge these criminals and decided to rein them in. He is working for the humanity in line with the teachings of Quran. I also laud the role of the army chief General Raheel Sharif and his team, who are restoring the image of the armed forces among the public.
The rollback of the strategic depth doctrine was only possible by a general from a family that has already sacrificed for the cause of country and whose youth have already won the country’s top award for gallantry, Nishan-e-Haider. Now, after necessary legislation, there is an opportunity for the judiciary to also act against terrorists to restore its public image. The nation wants justice as according to the saying of Hazrat Ali (AS), a government of infidels can sustain if it delivers justice but a Muslim state can’t continue if justice is missing.
Now we will see a Pakistan where no terrorist would find sanctuary as the state, its machinery and the people in the streets, all are united against terrorism.
Q: What about those elected members of assemblies who allegedly have strong links with terrorists or banned groups? Reports say such lawmakers are even present in the PML-N ranks. Do you see a contradiction in PML-N’s stance?
RP: Since the credit of purging the country of terrorists goes to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he should lead the way by purging his party of such elements if there are any. Moreover, all politicians should follow suite as the nation and its leadership have stand up to fight the menace of terror. Moreover, there is a dire need to stop funding of terrorists as funding is oxygen for fanatics. If funding and media glorification of terrorists is stopped, they can’t even breathe.
Q: Do you feel parliamentarians, top government office-bearers and judges are still influenced by extremists?
PR: Yes, there are individuals within the government who still have sympathies for terrorists or they have fears. But the bold and blunt steps taken by the prime minister and the army chief are encouraging. The civil society also has come out against terrorists and the way the people surrounded the Red Mosque cleric was really magical. Now the terrorists feel threatened and they have been isolated. Now every individual and the heads of the state institutions would have to get rid of fears as no one is ready to see their children slaughtered in their schools.
Now we would have to stop hate speech and destroy hate literature. We would also have to disallow secret or open funding to terrorists and their sympathisers. We would have to stop money-laundering. If the world can isolate and confiscate funds of Iran, why can’t we stop funding of terrorists? We would have to do it if we want to stop the bloodshed of innocent Muslims from Chechnya to Mindanao.
Q: How much as the sports sector suffered due to terrorism? What steps is your ministry taking to revive international sports competitions in Pakistan?
RP: Terrorists have badly damaged sports competitions in Pakistan. Not only the TTP goons attacked the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, but the overall image of Pakistan was also damaged due to this incident.
Moreover, when I took over as IPC minister, the International Olympic Organisation was planning to ban Pakistan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed me to take immediate measures to convince the international body not to do it. So we engaged with the IOO and finally convinced them against it. This process also hit the sports industry badly.
Now, Lahore and Karachi have been the resource-base for new talent in cricket, hockey and other sports. The industry needs economic support for revival. We are engaging educational institutions to launch talent hunt programs. We have also approached the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to help urge universities to focus on revival of sports.
We also want to launch a sports university. The Punjab government is also planning to launch its own sports university. So there is a need for taking steps across country to create nurseries of sports so we can revive our games.
The change in international laws has also hurt this process and now more funding is needed to develop sports infrastructure on modern trends. Sports are now based on scientific methods and we need to develop an enabling environment for modern sports by developing state-of-the-art facilities. A special focus would have to be laid on women players as we have been left far behind in that area.