One step forward and two steps backward – that’s what today’s Pakistan’s dilemma is. On one side renewed attacks on law enforcing agencies are telling us that all is not well. Apparently terrorists are getting adjusted to operate from their underground holes. Same time radicalised religious leaders are joining hands to instigate general public sentiments on non-issues. One would wonder why Lal Masjid is once again getting heated up wherein Maulana Abdul Aziz has given two weeks’ notice to government to enforce Sharia in Pakistan. If outbursts from Lal Masjid were not sufficient, then came the dead horse of Milli Yakjehti Council (MYC) under resurrection. Speaker after speaker in its meeting in Islamabad threatened the federal government to abandon any attempts to ‘liberalise’ the country.
Obviously this is a deliberate effort to confuse the nation about the war on terror. Mind you, the religious terrorists mushroomed in the last three decades are the logical product of radicalisation of the society that started with the US-USSR war in Afghanistan. Earlier versions of MYC wholeheartedly supported Americans in that war and since then we haven’t seen any peace in the country. What’s the point for MYC to condemn the ‘liberalisation’ of society? Shouldn’t Pakistan take care of its religious minorities letting them practise their respective faiths without any fear and intimidation? Shouldn’t Pakistan clamp down on forced conversions? Shouldn’t Pakistan take action on the lawlessness in the name of blasphemy laws?
Shouldn’t Pakistan safeguard its future generations by enforcing minimum marriage age? Why should Pakistan allow discrimination against its citizens because of their caste, creed, religion, sect or language? Shouldn’t Pakistan take its women as equal human beings, not an asset/property? Why should a rape victim be liable for the crime committed on her and present poof against the rapist? Why Pakistan allow murderers to get out of prison by signing deals with victim families, generally under duress? Why the killers be protected under the dark shadow of ‘honour killing’?
I wonder why all the religious parties parrot the line to revive the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam but take go to lengths to discard Quaid’s speech of August 11, 1947, which sets the goals for a newly created state.
As the pressure on terrorists is being mounted, we will see such MYC circuses on an increased frequency. In short, you can’t eliminate the menace of terrorism without de-radicalising the society and that task should start from the MYC.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
