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<TD class=small_txt vAlign=bottom align=right>Editor-in-Chief: Mir
Shakil-ur-Rahman </TD></TR>
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<DIV></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#f4faff"><TD class=heading_txt
height="20"><STRONG><FONT size=4>Religion in the wrong
hands</FONT></STRONG></TD> </TR><TR><TD><IMG height=5
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<DIV></TR><TR><TD class=small_txt>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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? <BR><BR>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?<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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? <BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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?<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR><BR><BR>The writer is a staff
member. Email: lubnajnaqvi@yahoo.com<BR></DIV></TD></TR></BODY></HTML>