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.
Thanks Akif Sahab for your response. Now can you enlighten me further what do you think about Mr.Musharraf,our darling President? whether he’s a conservative or liberal?
what I think about him is not a hidden secret but since I am personally asking you, I would appreciate if you share your thoughts about Musharraf. Thanks.
A comment from BBC Urdu and response;
پنجاب يونيورسٹی ميں’انتÛ
can someone point out who is organising the ‘stand up to mullahraj’ event? i need to start emailing people and letting them know.
Another citizens rally against Mullah Raj today:
PEACEFUL RALLY
Twenty-odd years ago, a self-serving version of religion
was imposed without consensus on this country
to justify unilateral one-man rule
that divested us, especially women, of our fundamental rights.
Then, the WOMEN’s ACTION FORUM was the lone voice of protest
to speak up for a long time while secular political parties
were forced to go underground.
Despite occasional attempts at democracy and secularity,
we are back today to square one.
The freedom to worship in accordance with our personal beliefs
and conscience is once more threatened.
We call on all like-minded citizens and groups who wish to
retain this right, irrespective of faith or religious school of thought
or other ideology, to join
THE WOMEN’S ACTION FORUM
AND
THE JOINT ACTION COMMITTEE
(coalition of non-partisan civil society organisations and
women’s and human rights groups)
at a peaceful rally on Thursday, 19th April 2007, at 4 pm.
at the main gate of Quaid-e-azam’s Mazaar, to assert our rights.
“PU VC allowing musical festival where students comes to learn on the other hand he ban the bookfair in versity campus which is used to be largest in Lahore in a year”
Abdullah Saheb, I do not know what reasons the VC would give for not allowing a book fair, but I agree with you that a university shoudl be encouraging book fairs (but this is the same VC who gives promotions to plagiarists).
What I cannot understand in your message (and please help me here) is how this is linked to IJT people beating up and harrassing those at the music festival. Are you suggesting that because the book fair was not allowed therefore it is OK to go and beat up people at a music festival?
Is their love of books so great that being kept away from books forces them to do so? Or, maybe, these IJT mullahs are also like the madman in USA who opened fire in a Univeristy?