Darwaish
In another dramatic development last night, dozens of armed Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa students stormed into a Chinese Beauty Parlor (massage centere) and kidnapped 9 people including 6 women and 3 men. All people are apparently of Chinese nationality. The incident occurred late Friday night.
According to Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa students, a brothel was being run under the name of massage centre and they have held Chinese men and women hostage for ‘Islah’.
I was watching Geo News just a few minutes ago and Chinese Government has strongly condemned this incident and demanded an appropriate action. Daily Times reports:
Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa students raided a Chinese massage centre in Sector F-8/3 and took hostage five Chinese nationals, including three women and two men, on late Saturday night in Islamabad, Geo television reported. According to the channel, two vehicles full of armed seminary students raided the massage centre, abducted the staff and brought them to the mosque. Geo reported Jamia Hafsa administration as alleging that a brothel was being run under the garb the massage centre. The Lal Masjid clerics could not be contacted as they had switched off their mobile phones. Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) officials reached the seminary and were trying to secure the release of the abducted Chinese through dialogue, it reported. Earlier, the students had abducted an alleged brothel owner and released her after a couple of days. They had also abducted and later released two police personnel.
This is another very serious act after holding policemen hostage for several weeks. I am really worried about this new trend of kidnappings. This is becoming ‘I don’t like you so I am going to kidnap you, beat the hell out of you and fix you (Islah)’. I wonder what is next? If government tries to settle this matter by force, the results could be a bloody clash and loss of life. Surely, this time a serious action will be taken.
I agree with the argument that brothels exist everywhere in today’s Pakistan. But is this the right way to do Islah? If our security and law enforcing agencies do their job properly, such incidents can never happen. Just blaming students of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa is no good. The failure and inability of State of Pakistan to act when most needed, is equally responsible for this embarrassing situation and making us all look like a nation of extremists (both ends), illiterate ignorants and a bunch of fools.
What is Government of Pakistan is going to do? Why can’t we have a permanent solution to this embarrassment? Tough question.
I agree with the above remarks about rule of law and the need to avoid taking the law into our hands.
But just to add another point, rule of law includes the state enforcing its laws consistently.
Among other things, that means no brothels should be allowed to operate in Pakistan since this is against the law. We all know how state authorities knowingly take no action against brothels.
Enforcing the law would also mean taking action against lal masjid for its land encroachments and other actions that amount to an open rebellion against the state.
Unless the state clearly acts on both fronts, it will not have any credibility. It will also lack credibility if it acts against lal masjid while allowing land encroachments by the ruling elite. Laws need to be applied uniformly otherwise we risk anarchy.
yar abbasi bhai …the issue is not one of the morality of society or of the moral decadence we see recently….
its not even a battle between liberal ‘burgers’ and hardline ‘fundos’…
i am proud to be a muslim and of course i abhor the recent slump in censorship, lawlessness and our increasing tolerance for sin…
the issue is supremacy of law…something stressed numerous times in our sharia….a lot rests on hakim e waqt….some ulema say that even jihad is void unless endorsed by the ruler of the land….
we are told to obey the law of the land unless it crosses islamic law….and encroachment, kidnap, extortion are not islamic law…
this, ladies and gents…is a classic case of what muslims are doing wrong….the niyat is pure…(which is why many people wholeheartedly support the red moque)….but the means is tainted….
the quran states and warns of people in sin who spread mischief , but who believe that they are on the right path….the litmus test of such people is their self rigteousness…..and one who believes themself to be a better muslim than others has in his lack of humbleness doomed themselves….the people of lal masjid are doing the same….they seem to say “we know islam better than anyone else, hence we have the right to impose it”
khuda ka khauf kero yar.
After having a keen eye at the whole argument, I can’t keep myself aside. I think that most of you people are looking at the issue with only a single perspective. You feel free to criticize Lal Masjid Clerics and students but why you don’t criticize the govt which is giving free hand to those who are spreading obscene culture in Pakistan and in Islamabad(look at the name of the city, ISLAMabad,). You pople are looking at the situation from a far place, if you inquire from those living in Islamabad you can understand the reality. Whole Islamabad knows about the obscenity centre of F-8/3 and Brothel opened by Shamim(I would not like to say her aunti).
As far as the question is concerned that who gave authority to Lal Masjid Ulemas and students to rectify the thoughts of the people and remove the immoralities, the answer is that Islam gave this authority, not only to them but also the every muslim. It is clearly stated in Hadith, that If you see a person commiting a sin, stop with your hands, if you can’t do so, stop with your tongue, if you can’t even do so, then atleast consider it bad in your heart which is the lowest degree of Eman.
So, it is really a sad thing that most of us are not even in the last category.
so girls and guys!!!! For God sake, if you can’t do a good thing, then atleast don’t criticize those who are doing so.
Inspite of my views against the admin of Lal Masjid and how they are going about doing things , i tend to agree with mr. Mazhar Butt …. “Unless some
Interesting analysis on Lal Masjid situation by Adil Najam here
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=6194 0