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.
Adnan, I hope MQM has no roots in other parts of the country. Tragedy is Altaf claims to be the leader of a community which is very highly educated. As soon as they are back, the crime rate has rocketed up again.
As far as MQM’s crowds are concerned, even thousands can be gathered on the news of Altaf Bhai’s gas problem after having some daal chanaa. They are political party after all.
The point is, the above ad is misleading at best and was not from those it claims to be from. Adil made a mistake here; he has to say something now.
Jabar, no he’s afraid enough to face people on Pakistani land.
Is this not the same Altaf who was the biggest anti of Punjabis and their misuse of power in Past? Is this not the same altaf who once chanted the slogan of Jinnah pur and recently he once again threatened about sepration. Now same altaf is being accepted by punjabis and by those who abused altaf due to his sepration movement.
Somebody must redefine Irony. *grin*
Musharraf, Mullah and MQM they all start with an M.
I wish someone other than MQM had organized this but I am glad that at least they did. Sad that our other political forces in PPP and PML do not have the conviction to take on these thugs. From the pictures it is clear that very large crowds showed up. Proves the lie of the mullahs about how the people are with them…. whoever is with them is only there because they come with dandas and beat up anyone who disagrees. This still does not make me forgive MQM for all the violence they have brought to society, but I am glad so many showed up to speakout against this ghunda gardi.
Somebody is cashing islam, some body is cashing the nation…This is also a political drama:)