Pakistan’s Interior Minister Ch Nisar made my day be declaring that 90 per cent of madrassas (religious seminaries) were not involved in promoting the militancy and terrorism in the country. When we will start the action plan to combat the cancer of terrorism by issuing such a reassuring message to madrassas, then it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to happen next. No one knows the exact number of madrassas in Pakistan, as most of them have bluntly refused to get registered and open their books for financial audit. Recovery of young tribal girls from an unknown madrassah in Karachi shows that the government has no idea how far the network of unregistered madrassas has spread. Then comes the other question: how come the honourable minister is sure that only 10 per cent madrassas are involved in terrorism? Even if this figure is accurate, that means we are talking of thousands of madrassas out of an estimated 20,000 madrassas) involved in terrorist activities.
I think it’s time for all of us to stop fooling ourselves. This cancer of terrorism in the name of religion will not go away with statements and press conferences, unless there is a genuine political will and courage to call a spade a spade. Who is not aware that a number of madrassas are openly siding with sectarian outfits, praise Taliban for fighting for the cause of religion, provide fodder for terrorism in form of volunteers and comrades, indulge in spewing hate speeches against other religions and sects. Intelligence and law enforcing agencies have complete record of those madrassas which are directly involved in terrorism but everyone’s hands and lips are tied, thanks to state’s own priorities such as the narrative of ‘good and bad Taliban’, strategic depths and causing irritants by playing proxy wars in neighbouring countries.
A mindset which fails to even mention Taliban in hour-long press conference by declaring “not every Talib is a terrorist” can’t lead this war on so-called jihadists. One should question how come few hundred madrassas in late 1970s have mushroomed to above 20,000 while these are not imparting any education which could help the students to get a job outside madrassas and mosques network. In fact madrassas target large-sized poor families by offering free boarding and lodging for their children. Obviously state can’t compete with madrassas on this count. Time has come to reverse this unbalance. Curriculum of madrassas shall also come under scrutiny as most of the time terrorists justify their actions per their interpretation of religious scriptures and hadiths (saying of prophet). If madrassas curriculum is not updated per modern world requirements, these religious students filled with hatred for other religions and sects will bracket with terrorist organisations to implement what’s being taught.
It’s time for action — leave aside far flung rural and tribal areas, let’s see what government can do against Lal Masjid clerics who are openly threatening the civil society of suicide attacks and condoning the Peshawar mayhem.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
I could not agree with you more. The interior minister is a man for all seaons. His press conferences are symbolic in nature rather than content.
As far as Lal Masjid cleric is concerned ,he is a wolf dressed in sheep clothes and pretends to be a sheep while acting as a wolf. Where in the world would you see a cleric openly challenging the writ of a state and threatning suicide and similar actions in the country in case he was arrested. How courageous he was was there to see when he tried escaping from the masjid wearing a burqa(pretending to be a woman!). The end justifies the means ! Self perseveration at it's best. Lal masjid was bilt in 1965 by Ayub(a secularist) as a place for worship and not a place for giving inflammatory sermons. This cleric has lost the moral right to lead prayers. Is it his born right to be there? At one time people used to go there to pray now the tourist go there to see where a violent confrontation took place and cost hundreds of death —thanks to this cleric. Now the interior minister has the chance to get rid of this menace. Will he do it? I doubt it because he is a appeaser and prefers to live in denial.
The human kind is its own enemy. We all are in trouble today just because we defy the laws laid down by the Creator (swt). The laws given to us to keep us out of trouble.
A time did come when some people restarted obeying the Lord as much as they could. That was 1400 years ago. They became winners as their behaviour towards fellow human kind was exactly as laid down by the Lord i.e. treat the fellow human kind exactly as you would like to be treated by others. Those people became something from being nothing. They became winners. Winners because they became masters of winning the hearts and minds of the fellow kind, the humankind through their exeplary behaviour. Through their such obedience to the Creator they also won His favours and glories.
So why is the humankind in so much trouble as we see them enduring today? Because they refuse to walk into the footsteps of those winners. The winners who obeyed the Lord to win His glories. Why do we not try to walk in the footsteps of those winners if we want to become winners? Why coming together to rally round no one but the Lord to join hands to unite to work to eradicate vice to replace it with virtue, so hard for us when it was not so for those winners 1400 years ago?
Do we want to remain losers for ever? If not then we must start learning to become like those winners. Are we not waiting for someone to come and do it for us? That day will never come. No one will come to do anything for us for what we all have do ourselves. It is our duty to come to rally round no one but the Lord. The benefits thus reaped will also be ours.
Fanciful figures quoted by the Interior Minister of 10% madressas involved in militancy just shows the man is incompetent and unsuitable to hold this job. Even accepting his words he fails to answer what action he has taken or proposes to take against that 10%.Fact is the entire government is made of amateurish bungling useless people who got into power thru illegal and illegitimate means such as Dhandli. As a result the country is falling from crisis into disasters
First, let us come out from the state of denial.
2) it is not cancer, it is monster with 100s heads
3) define " terrorist " ?, " terrorism ", extremists " ? only then we will be able to tackle this menace…
Dear Ishrat salim,
I partly agree with you. The most important thing is to come out of denial as i have earlier pointed out. It is painful in the short term but gainful in the long term .The approach has to be holistic in which each individual has to play his/her part. Let us move away from semantic words like terrorisim and terrorists. Even international law cannot define them but we all know who they are. Let us first take our mosques and madrassas back. Let us free ourselves from the mental slavery of the arabs( Iqbal) It is only then we will be able to lead normal lives. Life is not normal in traumatized Pakistan.
What more is needed to put this incompetent government to propel into action. It has lost lot of precious time in its indecisiveness.
It must gear up and girdle up its lions to take action against the terrorist spread all over the country. The War against terrorism must be extended and expanded to every nook and corner of the land. We must purify our land of this worst kind of menace. They have wrought devastation , destruction and ruined our society.
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