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.
Jabir mian…
How does opposing imposition of views on us by an assorted variety of beardoes necessarily mean supporting an illegal military government?
Ironic isn’t it that those trying to impose Sharia on us in Islamabad are the same people (the Hafsa Brothers) who call General Zia-ul-Haq a “Shaheed” and were actually very close to that Military dictator… and ironically were released by this one in 2004-2005 after being implicated in international terrorism…
So your point is, as usual, borne out of that very dangerous thing called “little knowledge”.
“tearing apart the fabric of society”
Not quite, at least I hope not. Despite its problems, I honestly think Pakistan is much less polarized than most countries, including the U.S.
Unfortunately, religiously-motivated parties the world over are obsessed with fringe issues and have little to no concern for the real problems. Religious groups in the U.S. are obsessed with gay marriage and abortion but don’t give a rat’s ass about things like poverty, etc.
An adviser of mine once said that fields that have the word “science” appended to them are not really sciences…such as computer science, for example. The same is probably true of religious groups…very little to do with religion.
I must say, however, that although these groups are absolutely wrong in what they’re trying to do, the government does need to enforce the laws it so proudly stands by…laws against alcohol, prostitution, drugs, etc are little more than a joke in terms of actual enforcement.
Jabir Sahab, Mohabbat aur Amriat mey sab kuch Jaiz hay :-)
Hope this rally ends peacefully. Wonder if there’s also an Urdu version of this poster (or are they targeting a very specific segment of the society?) Would like to see something similar happening in Islamabad as well.
Tranvestite dancers? In a remote corner of NWFP? Didn’t see that coming. But that’s less shocking than Taliban operating freely and boldly on this side of the border. Are these really “Taliban”, or supporters of Taliban? May be it doesn’t make a difference.
No you are absolutely right; we do not want to live under kashinkov shariat but rather under the tanks of an illegal military govt. The smell of leather of military boots is so good and refreshing. with all its gifts, the disappearance of people, the 200 Billion Rupees worth of Steel Mills going for 10 percent. The sight of police grabbing the hair or Chief Justice of Pakistan makes one chuckle. Really, I burst into laughter when I saw the picutre of a young man with is lowered shalwaar at the hands of police in public who was protesting for his missing father.
What an ungrateful lot we must have become.