The segmentation of society on religious, extremist lines
Thanks to the extremist lobbies entrenched in the media, right-wing political parties and educational institutions, intolerance has permeated Pakistani society. Extremist thinking has penetrated large sections of the establishment including judiciary, army and bureaucracy. This has badly affected internal governance and led to the formulation of a foreign policy which has isolated Pakistan.
Advocates of the extremist views claim that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam. Jinnah’s address to the constituent assembly on August 11, 1947 is ignored. Some go to the extreme of maintaining that the old man was off his rocker when he delivered the historic speech.
Declaration of Islam as the state religion has given birth to a number of problems. Islam is historically divided into numerous sects, many considering others non-Muslims. This has led a number of sects to claim that they alone are the true followers of the religion while others are apostates. They are keen to establish their version as the official religion of the state. First all sects joined hands to extradite the Ahmadis. The militant Wahabis now demand the Shia community to be declared apostate. Failing to get the demand accepted, sectarian militants resort to terrorist attacks on the community to eliminate them physically.
Ziaul Haq’s extremist policies led to the downgrading of the status of religious minorities as second rate citizens. The minorities still continue to be denied equal rights. They are still required to vote separately. Laws introduced to persecute the minorities have further spread intolerance in society.
Under Ziaul Haq religious persecution was legalized. The laws enacted by the military dictator still continue to remain on the statute book. Ahmadis publicly declaring themselves as Muslims are liable to be sent to jail. If found reading the Quranic texts in public, or using Islamic symbols they are tried for committing crimes. People accused of blasphemy are killed before the court declares them guilty. With millions of people belonging to minority sects and religions disaffected, can the country ever achieve its potential?
With Islam considered as the sole binding factor, the extremists have long negated the ethnic identities declaring that “we are all Muslims and not Punjabis, Sidhis Baloch or Pushtun.” This led to widespread resentment among people belonging to smaller provinces. Many accused Punjab of using Islam as a ploy to establish hegemony over other provinces. The Punjabis were in fact losers as their own language suffered neglect in the process. For decades the federal patronage was confined to the development of Urdu. It was after decades of struggle by Punjabi writers to get their language introduced in educational institutions as a subject. The denial of ethnic and linguistic identities by the state for decades strengthened rather than weakened the parochial tendencies.
With Islam, rather than nationalism, considered as the sole motivating force for the troops, ‘jihad fi sabilallah’ became the motto of the army under Ziaul Haq and continues to retain the position. Its immediate effect was an unprecedented spread of religiosity in the army with accompanying prejudices. This also ensured the exclusion of millions of non Muslim citizens from the armed forces, creating a perception that their patriotism was considered doubtful.
Fighting against the militants in the Tribal areas has raised questions about the effectiveness of jihad as a motivating factor. Disturbing questions continue to be e raised by clerics regarding which of the two sides was really conducting the jihad. First the Lal Masjid clerics and then JI chief Munawwar Hasan declared that the militants were the real martyrs.
The TTP claimed that its volunteers were fighting to enforce the Shariah and create a world Islamic state and died in the struggle as martyrs. With the war cry of “Allaho Akbar”raised from both sides confusion is the outcome.
During the entire human history people have fought aggressors with the sole motivation of saving their hearths and homes. They were led into fights by the instinct of self-preservation which was later enshrined in concepts of honour, bravery and chivalry. These were the concepts that warmed the hearts of those fighting the national liberation wars with outdated weapons and put to rout highly trained armies possessing state of art weaponry.
The extremists maintain that the entire world with the exception of Muslim countries is conspiring against Pakistan. Whenever Pakistanis or foreigners trained in the tribal areas are found indulging in terrorist activities abroad, this is rejected as propaganda ‘by the enemies of Pakistan’. For those in Pakistani media in a permanent state of denial, the 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy hatched with the support of the US administration to malign the Muslims. Three of the four suicide bombers who killed 52 civilians in London on 7 July 2005 were found to be British-born Muslims of Pakistani descent. This too was rejected by the extremist lobby who called it another attempt to malign Pakistan. The state of denial continues to characterize the present government and the many political parties.
The JI and the PTI leaders frequently deny that the TTP is responsible for attacks inside Pakistan. It is either Indian RAW or the defunct Blackwater who conduct terrorist attacks. Even when the TTP spokesman owns an attack, the JI wonders if it is the real spokesman or a fake one. The TTP sympathizers in the media have tried their best to create a soft corner for Hakimullah, a butcher behind the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians and scores of army personnel by projecting him as a patriot who was willing to lay down his life fighting India.
India is an enemy of Pakistan, always scheming to destroy us. Afghanistan is India’s stooge and therefore an enemy. So is Bangladesh under Hasina Wajid. According to another variety of extremists, Iran being a Shia state is also Pakistan’s enemy. The policy has led to the complete isolation of Pakistan. How long will we continue to annoy old friends and create new enemies?
The state of denial cannot change the facts. Throughout the 1971 bloody military operation in East Pakistan, the extremist lobby projected the lie that the army was keeping a firm hold over there and that it was a matter of days before the resistance was stamped out. Private vehicles carried stickers in the cities of Punjab, distributed by JI that read “Allaho Akbar ki Zarab Lagao”. Al Shams and Al Badr, JI’s militant wings in East Pakistan continued to be on the rampage, indulging in killing and arson under commanders like the recently hanged Abdul Quader Molla. Instead of closing the chapter with a sincere apology, the PML-N government has passed a resolution in praise of a man sentenced not for supporting Pakistan but on charges of murder and rape.
When the fall of Dacca was reported the entire country was shell-shocked as it had been fed on lies and was expecting a victory for the Pakistani troops. There were some who lost mental balance. Ranking army officers who were close to Yahya Khan were hooted down and insulted by their subordinates when they tried to calm them. The architect of Pakistan’s shame had to hand over power to the civilians.
But no lessons were learnt from the breakup of Pakistan. Within months of coming to power Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto launched a bloody military operation in Balochistan. This encouraged a Bonapartist to overthrow a civilian government which preferred to rely on military whereas differences with the NAP government could have been settled through talks.
As ZAB grew unpopular he sought to pacify the extremist lobby through concessions which further strengthened the extremists. Declaring the Ahmadis non-Muslim was followed by the ban on alcohol, Bhutto was an appeaser. As Churchill once put it, an appeaser is the one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
How long can the country survive with the extremist policies it continues to follow?
Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad is a political analyst and a former academic.
