Making hard times harder
Once again the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) provokes its way into the news. And it seems determined to continue the irrational discourse set in motion earlier by its observations on marrying girls as young as 13, ruling out DNA evidence in rape cases, etc. In fact Maulana Sherani, the Council chairman and a JUI-F MNA, seems to enjoy the attention his controversial remarks, and intentions, create. So much so that he’s pushed lesser extremist members of the Council to run for cover. If it weren’t for their reluctance, the Maulana implied, he’d move far more quickly on some of the deepest religious cleavages in society.
For now, though, CII (whose findings are not legally binding) wants an immediate end to co-education before anything else. At least Maulana sb is kind enough to allow girls segregated education. In that he’s better than his friends the Taliban, especially those that ran Afghanistan for some years. They did not allow girls to study, and didn’t now allow women to visit male doctors. And with no female doctors (because of no female education) their own families suffered. But, just as seriously, CII wants an end to the Ahmedi debate, too, once and for all. Time has come, finally, to decide whether they are simply non-Muslims or murtad (those who have denounced Islam). And while CII is (mercifully) not mandated with bringing closure to such riddles, it did not care to explain which body might be either.
Then there’s the bit about taxing non-Muslims, the jizya. And, of course, the subtle matter of sectarianism. While we are solving the Ahmedi case, why not settle all sectarian minorities, goes the thinking. Perhaps somebody in the government can explain the merit of having the CII in place – when it is bent upon creating needless religious controversy – when there is an existential war under way of which subverting religious doctrines is an essential enemy component. It seems the government might have more than just the tribal badlands to deal with as the fight against extremism moves forward. It must ensure no institution, government or otherwise, is allowed to muddy the situation by leveraging illogically on religion. Let’s not make hard times any harder.
