Adil Najam
The news is developing by the moment. But the bottom-line is clear. The security forces have taken control of the Lal Masjid from militants after a severe gun-battle. But the story is far from over.
It will continue to unfold. There are too many unanswered questions. They will certainly be asked and discussed threadbare; here at ATP and elsewhere. But the real story of tomorrow remains the same as the real story of yesterday. Can a society that is so deeply divided against itself learn the lessons of tolerance? This question will continue to haunt us well into the future, in multiple shapes, in multiple forms, in multiple contexts.
This is a question that we at ATP have confronted from our very beginning and will continue to confront. But now is not the time to ponder on this. Even though what has happened had become inevitable over the last many days, I am too heartbroken to be able to do so.
Right now I can think only of Muzammil Shah (photo, from Associated Press, above). This photo was taken as he waited for his son who was inside the Lal Masjid. I do not know whether his son was there voluntarily, or as hostage. But I do know what the look of Muzammil Shah’s face means. The more important question is whether his son came out alive or not. I pray that he did.
Analysts – me included – will discuss what happened at length. They will try to understand the meaning of all this. What does this mean for Pakistan politics? What does this mean for Gen. Musharraf’s future? What does this mean for Islam? For Democracy? Does the fault lie with Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his militant supporters for creating a situation that could only end this way? Why did he not surrender? Is the blood of everyone who died not on his head for his stubboness and arrogance? Or, maybe, it is the government that is to blame because it did not act earlier? Act differently? Waited just a few days more for a negotiated solution?
Right now all these questions seem really petty and small. This is not the time for scoring cheap political points. This is not the time for spin.
Moreover, there are too many questions to ask. To answer. The head hurts as you think of them. But the heart hurts even more as you look at the face of Muzammil Shah.
Maybe the only really important question is the one that you can read between his wrinkles: “Why? Oh God, why? Why must things happen this way?”
wasi zafar should be forced to wear a very tight jeans.
(some of you might understand what im trying to say)
Good point! The blasphemy law has been used by everyone including Charlie’s aunt (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Kamran Shafi) to settle personal scores… its true, like you said, that if any of us had gone around claiming to have seen the Prophet PBUH in a dream and then gone around wearing a burqa, the mullah brigade would definitely have executed a lynching… in fact, they’ve lynched people for far lesser “crimes”… but it will never occur to these hypocrites to do the same to one of their own kind…
As a matter of fact, Auntie Aziz will definitely re-emerge as a hero one day for these creatures, as the other burqa maulvi from the 50’s did by becoming one of Zia’s go-to guys in the 80’s…
May Allah grant paradise to Lt Colonel Haroon Islam, all the members of security forces who tried to defend and rescue the innocents in the Lal Masjid.
May Allah grant ‘PAKISTANI MUSLIMS THE WISDOM’ to see and hear the ‘BLASPHEMIES’ uttered by these evil scum mullahs – especially when one of them said Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) told him to so in his dreams (if others where to have these they surely would by lynched by the pious sheep – but hey this is a mullah so thats okah…)
May Allah grant us the people of Pakistan to collective power to strip the mullahism away from our Islam.
Pakistan Zindabad – And may that vermin Ghazi burn in hell!
“Who creates these policies in Pakistan by the way?”
Short answer: The Army
Long answer: The Army… the other “institutions” just toe the army line… even a liberal PM like BB could only watch as the Taliban were created and took over Afghanistan during her premiership… leave aside the obvious corruption and incompetence of her administration, but this is an issue which she would normally not have allowed to happen, unless of course she knew that if she did interfere, there will be a coup the next day… same goes for the nuclear issue… I fail to believe that AQ Khan went around peddling his nuclear know-how without the top brass knowing all about it… I also fail to believe that Taliban activity from our side of the border into Afghanistan did not have at least the tacit if not outright support of the ISI… as for the Lal Masjid thing, the less said the better… the ISI headquarters is but a stone’s throw away… the ISI, which will tap your phone for no reason at all, was unaware that these people were hoarding weapons and terrorists? Gimme a break, as they say here in the US…
Roshan its the mentality of Pakistanies (some in power)…they think …lathon kay booth bathoon say nahi mantay…the fact is they don’t know how to talk….good example..wasi zafar and many more like him. This mentality has to change….