Finally Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid appeared in an Islamabad court to seek bail in two cases of inciting sectarian hatred and threatening civil society protesters. Needless to mention that Abdul Aziz himself proved his most dedicated supporter. Ch Nisar wrong, who used to defend his inaction against the cleric claiming that there were no cases against him. We shall congratulate civil society for their persistent follow up on this open wound in the heart of the capital. They preferred to call a spade a spade, didn’t prefer to hide behind shameless excuses and laughable justifications.
But for me, issue is not limited to just these two cases only; and for that we shall be grateful to Maulana Aziz himself for being quite truthful. In an interview, end January, he accepted that both Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa were illegally constructed on government land but for him there’s no issue as all the land belongs to God. He informed that under Lal Masjid 28 seminaries are working, employing 550 teachers and other staff, spending around 2.8 million rupees a month on salaries only. He didn’t elaborate how these expenses are met. He felt no reluctance in declaring that Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa are on the forefront in teaching and enhancing the need for Jihad and see no retreat from the jihadi doctrine.
As said, you can’t eliminate the terrorists by bullets and bombs, you need to eliminate the mindset which brain washes and naturalizes the terrorists. Is it not a joke in the name of NAP that no one can even touch those who openly and proudly teaches hatred and glorifies the killings in the name of God?
One may presume NAP stands for National Action Plan, not for nap.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
