Adil Najam
I must confess that after our recent posts on the vigilantism by folks at Jamia Hafsa and the Lal Masjid I had hoped not to write about this issue yet again so soon.
This is not because I shun controversy or duck issues. It is merely because discussions on this issue tend to be prone to slogan-mongering from those holding extreme positions on all sides, they tend to drown out the more serious and more thoughtful deliberations that are so needed, and they quickly turn into mud-slinging matches which take up too much of our time in cleaning up the mess made by those who routinely ignore or are incapable of understanding and following our comment policy. Having said all that, let me also say that it is intellectually dishonest to simply ignore events and trends that are tearing apart the fabric of society.
With that rather long preamble, what has really prompted this post are two things I saw in today’s Dawn. The first is a set of two ads on behalf of ‘The Citizens of Karachi’ (clicking on the images will take you to larger and more readable versions). The first starts off with:
“Are You Ready? Do you want danda bardar and klashnikov shariat?
IF NOT THEN… come to attend the rally in lage number and show your solidarity against the danda bardar and klashnikov shariat.”
I found these ads to be yet more evidence of a polarized society. More than that, I wonder who put these ads? Any clues, readers? I also wonder how many - and who - will show up on the 15th at this rally (starting 2:00PM near the Mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam)?
The second item appears on the back page of Dawn (and most other papers) and is much more disturbing. Here is the story in full:
Militants Beat up Dancers
LAKKI MARWAT, April 12: Clashes between militants and villagers in the Dhoda-Shah Hasankhel area on Thursday morning left two people injured. About a dozen people were taken hostage by the militants.
Sources said a group of Taliban militants had beaten up some transvestite dancers, shaved their heads and broken their musical instruments near Abdulkhel as they were going to the Dhoda village to perform at a wedding on Wednesday night.
Villagers decided to take revenge by raising a Lashkar against the Taliban, the sources said. Light and heavy weapons were used and the Taliban also fired rockets during the clash which lasted for several hours. The Taliban took 12 villagers hostage. Five of them were later freed while the others were in the custody of the Taliban till late evening, according to the administrator of a seminary, Hafiz Amanullah Khan.
A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Constabulary personnel reached the area. A ceasefire was brokered by some local ulema who held talks with village elders and the Taliban. The sources said the situation was tense and additional contingents of the FC had been summoned.
What is common between both stories is that the battle lines in a divided society are being drawn. The only possible good that could come out of this is for the mainstream of the country to recognize the difference between being ‘religious’ and ‘religious extremism.’ Maybe it will take such actions to remind people that we can be religious without being religious extremists; that faith should help flourish a culture of caring, not of violence.
This should ba an opportunity for all of us to put aside our differences and collectively demonstrate against Mullahism and its desire to have a Mullahraj in Pakistan.
Already we have witnessed the paradise on earth that mullahism brought Afghanistan under the taliban.
We the silent majority of Pakistanis will not be silent anymore - we must unite - put away our differences for our nations interest - TOGETHER WE MUST GET OUT AND DEMONSTRATE!
Lets lead Pakistanis by uniting to defeat the threat to Pakistan of these Mullahs - enough is enough!
Lets Unite, Lets protect our Faith, Lets be Disciplined in our approach,
MULLAHRAJ MURDABAD - PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!
Altaf Hussain’s profound speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WxPsw4L3L4
Actually,it went like this. One person would shout:
[quote]Ghundagardi nahin chalay gi, nahin chalay gi[/quote]
And the crowd would respond with:
[quote]Mullahgardi nahin chalay gi, nahin chalay gi[/quote]
It created such a rhythm that that even Adnan Siddiqi would have danced with it if he were there.
The slogan I liked the best in Thursday’s rallies by the civil society groups against “kalshnikov Shariat” was:
[quote]Mullahgardi nahin chalay gi, nahin chalay gi[/quote]
Molvis turning on each other?
ÙÂ?ضل الرØÂمانکے گھر پر راکٹ ØÂملÛÂ?
صوبÛÂ? سرØÂد Ú©Û’ جنوبی Ø´ÛÂ?ر ڈیرÛÂ? اسمعیل خانمیں ØÂکام کا Ú©ÛÂ?نا ÛÂ?Û’ Ú©ÛÂ? جمعیت علماء اسلام Ú©Û’ سربراÛÂ? اور قومی اسمبلی میں قائد ØÂزب اختلاÙÂ? مولانا ÙÂ?ضل الرØÂمانکی رÛÂ?ائش گاÛÂ? پر نامعلوم اÙÂ?راد Ú©Û’ راکٹ ØÂملے میں ایک دیوار Ú©Ùˆ نقصانپÛÂ?نچا ÛÂ?Û’Ûâ€?
….
واضؠرÛÂ?Û’ Ú©ÛÂ? چار روز قبل پشاور میں جمعیت علماء اسلام Ú©Û’ زیراÛÂ?تمام ایک مدارس کنوشنمنعقد ÛÂ?وا تھا جس میں پارٹی Ù†Û’ جامعÛÂ? ØÂÙÂ?صÛÂ? اور جنوبی اضلاع میں مقامی طالبانکی کاروائیوں سے لاتعلقی کا اظÛÂ?ار کیا تھاÛâ€? اس کنونشنمیں مولانا ÙÂ?ضل الرØÂماننے بھی خطاب کیا تھاÛâ€?
BBC Urdu
‘Proud to be from Karachi’ has posted a link to the pictures of MQM rally held recently in Karachi apparently to protest against ‘klashinkov’ shariat. As regards to huge crowds there is no denying that MQM has capability of mobilising massive crowds and particularly in these times when once indicted terrorist is Governor of the state and their man is Nazim and utilised public resources for the glory of their leader.
MQM chief addressed the crowd from his throne in the ‘International Secretariat’ in London. I had never heard him before. I was focused on the events shown on Geo TV and ARYone TV related to the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry but then suddenly these channels switched to the address to the rally by firebrand leader. I was unimpressed by his speech partly because he was throwing the dust in the eyes of the people by uttering words like ‘we do not want klashinkov shariat’ and partly by his comical and hysterical outbursts. He tried to portray himslef as an scholar of Islam and was blubbering when reciting holy Quran.
Travel back a little distance in the memory lane when this man was an ally of the then late Jam Sadiq Ali. He held and is still holding Karachi at ransom. No one dares to refuse to pay contribution to his thugs. No media dares to not to give ‘due coverage’ to him and his representatives.
He was shouting against klashinkov culture but he was the one who advised his followers to sell the video and buy klashinkov.
I sincerely hope that the media in Pakistan gather courage to expose this man’s hypocrisies. He is like a Fuehrer.
I did ask the Allama and his answer was: “Deen-e-mullah fi-sabeelillah fasaad�
saif you have to give credit to the mullahs, they have never tried to prove allama wrong.
Adnan i would love to see the texts by jinnah or allama where they say that they needed a country so that they can promote the culture of danda bardar burqa posh ninjas and kabza group mullahs with their own crude and violent interpretation of our peaceful religion islam.
MQM did a fantastic job on this issue.
i fully agree with moula jat Lets join forces and Demonstrate against mullahism.
Pakistan Zindabad, Mullahraj Murdabad!
[quote]“you should have asked this question from Allama, Jinnah and others…”[/quote]
Adnan,
I did ask the Allama and his answer was: “Deen-e-mullah fi-sabeelillah fasaad”
Wa maa alaina illal balaagh
Saif