Extraordinary circumstances, indeed
Things might not be as smooth going forward as the prime minister thinks. Following the round of congratulations about the 21stConstitutional Amendment and Army Act 2015 – which was not without its share of irony – Nawaz might have underestimated Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s mood-swing by dismissing it with “he’s still with the national leadership”. Being the largest religious-political party in parliament, JUI-F’s politics on the matter echo sentiments of the collective religious-right, which was always going to have reservations with the manner ‘religion’ and ‘sect’ were used in the drafts. And now, as cases must be routed through the government on way to military courts, Maulana and the like will busy themselves with building brick walls wherever the road touches religious institutions, especially seminaries.
Whether out of frustration or strategy, Fazl also associated the Assembly session with an attempt to ‘secularise’ Pakistan, making sure there is a religious-vs-secular handle to pull when the need arises. These concerns are, of course, not new. In fact, at the time of the last election, militants were strong enough to keep secular parties from campaigning. So PPP, MQM and ANP were bombed and JUI-F, JI and the like were allowed an open field. That the conservative group expressed no sympathy for scores of deaths among secular parties was telling. Then, when the TTP problem peaked, the cleavage widened; with centre-right parties bulldozing a military action plan that was already in place. And the JI even accepted to advocate for the Taliban, when Imran Khan declined despite favouring the process.
On the matter of the medrassas, too, their position is clear. That is where they generate their votes from. And that is where they fall back on when they need to show numbers, gather crowds, agitate, etc. So there will be much friction in the coming days and months; especially since Fazl has now officially dubbed the government move a sin that he chose not to partake in. It is now for the government to prove its resolve. Expecting seminaries not to come into play is naïve, especially at this critical juncture. A big part of the problem is the terrorism narrative, and since the promise of exterminating the last terrorist has been made, the problem of dealing with the environment that glorifies militancy will finally have to be dealt with. These are extraordinary times indeed, and military courts are the least of it.
Fazl did and will do his best to erect barriers in the way of implementation of the amendment because he has no other option, this is a matter of life and death for his right wing conservative politics. Come what may but this time it seems that the time is right to deal the shady environment that glorifies and promote the ideology of hate against the citizens and especially the Hindu and Christian minorities who are no less Pakistanis by any standard or definition. Thanks to the COAS for his firm resolve against the terrorist narrative and now the trend is changing with common even illiterate citizens partaking in the national political issues by voicing their opinions, without mincing any words. Let the first person produced in the military court be Maulana Abdul Aziz who salted the wounds of millions with his irrational speech regarding the Peshawar School massacre. THAT WILL BE A GOOD START. Good luck
He is nonsense
madrissa, though few in number, is just one obvious factor of terrorism. there are many and more important factors involved. then why to point out molvis specifically. fazal is a clever politician who plays his cards well. he has other motives as well. perhaps there should be another apc with molvi saheban. nawaz is very found of such glamours gatherings and enjoys keeping nation busy in such matters instead of solving problems. the religous group most be reassured and involved against pakistani war on terror.
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