The Core of the Problem
At present, the entire world is snowed under by a monstrosity called religious extremism. According to a significant number of top-notch analysts, the main reason behind this lies in economic exploitation of the poor by the rich. While some others are of the view that religious belief and their related ideas have role to play as well. Max Weber, the renowned economist and sociologist, have expounded on the aforementioned phenomenon in detail in his book “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, published in 1905. He explains in his book that the religious beliefs are reflected in the way people live and behave. However, in this book, Max Weber particularly tries to prove that the Protestant’s beliefs had the greatest role to play in the uprising of the capitalist system that exists today. Protestants believed that frugal living was what was desired by God. Affluence was considered to be a sign that God was pleased with them. Therefore, they set out to amass wealth and spent prudently. This attitude led to the rise of Capitalism in the Western society. If his observations are projected onto the current circumstances, the situation is more or less similar.
Similar to the aforesaid phenomenon, the wave of extremism currently plaguing the Muslim World has been brought up by a certain section of the Muslim society that vividly possesses extremist views. However, unfortunately, in our part of the world, the research on this particular issue is not being done through this perspective and there are several reasons behind it. People are afraid of criticizing extremist religious schools of thoughts for obvious reasons. Moreover, these extremist organizations are backed up by an extremely wealthy section of the Muslim world whose reach is not just confined to the Muslim world but the world as a whole. On the other hand, rather conveniently, we try to trace back extremism to either economic exploitation or external conspiracies while completely sidelining the religious aspect.
What needs to be understood at this point in time is that these reasons can help us in combating extremism only for the time being. For a sustainable solution, the issue at hand needs to be looked at objectively through the lens of ideologies for it is a known fact that people belonging to every religion are influenced by their religious teachings in terms of living, education and everyday matters. This often leads to the replacement of laws with religious teachings and this is where the actual problem comes in.
International forces aimed at eradicating extremism need to focus on the above-mentioned aspect as well. Let’s take the example of Pakistan. Pakistan has been dealing with extremism for quite some time now. Currently, the tragedy at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park Lahore took away 74 innocent lives with more than 150 severely injured. Unfortunately, we have learned to ignore all such heinous acts on account of the involvement of external powers. Even though, the presence of treacherous external forces cannot be neglected, the situation needs to be looked at objectively. How do these external forces get access to the country in the first place? Which sections of the society have become puppets in the hands of these external forces and why? Are these sections just doing it for the sake of money or is there any religious incentive involved? These questions need to be addressed in order to attain sustainable peace in the country. The army operation against the insurgency began decades ago in Baluchistan. KPK and Sindh underwent the operation afterwards and now it is being carried out in Punjab as well. Will these operations help in eradicating extremist forces completely? There is no argument whatsoever on whether or not the operation is important because it indeed is crucially important. However, we need to fight on ideological front as well, alongside.
Merely a few days ago, a joint press conference was held by the Minister of Information, Pervaiz Rasheed, and DG ISPR Major Genral Asim Bajwa. The conference was supposed to give this impression that the government and establishment are on the same page. Actually, PML N is considered a right winged party hence, the operation Zarb-e-Azb is an important step forward. However, there is still a room for improvement. First of all, the government needs to take control of all the suspicious educational institution and examine their curriculum thoroughly and anything that collides with national interest needs to be taken out of the curriculums immediately. Similarly, the sermons given at the local mosques need to be monitored as well. The public has the biggest role to play in this regard. They need to work in cooperation with the government and the Pakistan Army for the time has arrived to confront the extremist forces that have been destroying our country bit by bit. Moreover, the accurate facts need to be brought to the surface by the authorities so that people are able to distinguish the difference between external adversaries and our own local enemies, breeding and growing constantly amongst us. We need to change, as a nation, by not limiting our vision to blaming our neighbors for all the ill in our country and not to condone the virulent beliefs that exist in certain Islamic schools of thought. This is the only way forward. Otherwise, people will stay tangled up in warped realities, thereby not giving a chance to national unity which is the only required thing at the moment.
