[Vision2020] FYI: Religion in the wrong hands

Tue Apr 3 06:52:06 PDT 2007

      Editor-in-Chief: Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman  

Religion in the wrong hands      

Pakistan became an Islamic Republic in 1953, six years after its inception despite the Quaid's secular vision. The Islamisation of Pakistan came full circle during the 11 dark years of Zia, who allowed religious zealots to use the country as their domain to do as they pleased. The situation deteriorated to the extent that Islam no longer remained a religion but became a lethal weapon in the hands of the dangerous factions that used it to justify murder, torture and vandalism against Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Unfortunately, Islam has been metamorphosed so many times over the decades in Pakistan, that it has become synonymous with terrorism, and 'Muslim' synonymous with 'terrorist'. The worst thing is that actions converse to Islam are being carried out in its name. Suicide bombings at religious sites, religious targeted killings and blatant misuse of laws in the name of Islam, and recruiting of students for jihad (read militancy) by extremists are just some of the examples of the misuse of religion. Now the latest misuse of Islam is seen with the introduction of the black burqa clad female students from Jamia Hafsa who have unleashed a string of military actions indulging in 'jihad' while the commando government stands by helplessly.

Every time a suicide bombing or a targeted killing is carried out, our president promises us that he will not allow anyone to take the country hostage. But what is the president doing to control the extremist frenzy carried out in the capital of the country by female students of a religious seminary? What new dimension is General Musharraf giving his proclaimed war against terrorists, by allowing a free hand to the Hafsa girls? What constitutes as extremism to the president: militants unleashing their force freely in the streets of Islamabad without any retaliation from authority, or lawyers protesting for the reinstatement of a suspended CJ and clashing with law enforcers in the same streets? 

Apparently the president is wary to take any strict action to curb the Jamia Hafsa girls, even though he keeps saying that extremism will be dealt with firmly, mainly because these illegal occupants are women! Does that mean that if you are a female, you can get away with anything except rape as was in the case of Mukhtaran Mai? And I don't think the women's protection bill mentions protection to women if they decide to take the law into their own hands and wreak disorder in the society. Secondly, the Jamia Hafsa girls say they will not back down until the president doesn't enforce an Islamic government in the country. And they will do the same to all those women, like Ms Shamim, who are immoral and indecent. That is fair enough, but who gave them the authority to ask Ms Shamim and her family to forsake their sect and convert. Who made them the guardians of religion. And if they think they have the right to this, where are they and their sticks and moralities when women and minors are raped, paraded naked in the streets or sold in the name of tradition?

Only if the lawyers had known that it only takes a group of stick-wielding seminary students to bring the 'government to bow down' (not once but twice), they wouldn't have clashed with authority. All they needed to do was hire a group of these female militants armed with staves to run over the presidency and parliament, and get the government to lay a foundation stone in honour of their occupation.

The increase in extremism in Pakistan cannot only be blamed on the situation in Afghanistan. Our society and all our governments are equally to blame for making circumstances inside the country such that has allowed manipulators from within and from outside to use our own people and our own religion against us.

The Jamia Hafsa theorem has proved that the government doesn't have the will or the muscle to support the rhetoric spewed by our dear information minister and his cronies, especially when confronted by religious zealots. Instead, use a little force in the name of religion and you are free to do as you will. President Musharraf boldly declares that an iron hand will be used to stop extremists in country, what has he done so far to stop the Jamia Hafsa girls and their partners from all but taking over the capital? Wouldn't it be better if the president focused on the growing problems of extremism at home before venturing aboard to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause? 

The Jamia Hafsa girls supported by the seminary's faculty and male students were first allowed to run amok, illegally encroaching land and camping there at their pleasure. And now they have used the absence of any authority to terrorise traders and to abduct three women from their home declaring them to be indecent, imprisoning them to 'purify their souls' and threatening the life of a six-month-old baby girl by keeping her in isolation. All these actions are unIslamic. The Jamia Hafsa girls should immediately drop out of the madressah since from their actions it is apparent that the curriculum taught at this seminary is in complete contradiction of what Islam teaches. Islam does not preach terrorism, abduction or illegal encroachment; these brainwashed girls are pawns in the hands of manipulators who are using religion to forward their own devious antics while hiding behind the burqas of the Jamia Hafsa students.

The girls have shown their strength once by taking over the library, threatening shopkeepers from selling indecent and vulgar ware, and abducting women and police personnel to negotiate the release of imprisoned activists. Now they have announced that women should start veiling themselves according to Islam or they will throw acid on them. These girls should ask themselves how they would feel if those with a different view of the matter one day decided to take a similarly extreme measure against them. It would be equally wrong but should it be so for the Jamia Hafsa girls going by their own insane logic.

Religious leaders like Qazi Hussain and his ilk should do their Islamic duty to find out who has disfigured Islam, instead of supporting such extreme behaviour. Qazi of all people should be careful not to say things like, "I salute the girls of the Jamia Hafsa who have showed the path of jihad to their brothers." If these are his feelings, he should act devoutly and contribute by showing his complete solidarity with the holy cause of vandalism and hooliganism of public property and life as displayed by these students, by calling back his own children from the safe havens of foreign lands to physically join the ranks of these activists to fight this holy war and get a cosy place in paradise.

If the religious leaders are nervous to take a step against the Hafsa girls, this vacuum should be filled by the ever vigilant NGOs and human activists. But not a murmur has been heard from these quarters. Doesn't Ms Shamim and others like her deserve protection from these elements? Or does this indifference mean that her case isn't as lucrative for the NGOs since their donors won't evoke the interest of the foreign investors?

Come to think of it, we should all salute the Jamia Hafsa students for they have managed to expose the inability of our leaders to do more than give speeches. Their hollow words ring clearer in our ears as we see that the state will fight against anyone demanding the whereabouts of missing relatives or the restoration of the CJ. But nothing will be done against misled brainwashed and dangerous people who believe they are the bastions of morality and religion threatening the existence of everyone else, and prove that they are mightier than the battalion sitting in the government.

The writer is a staff member. Email: lubnajnaqvi at yahoo.com
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