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?”
Do these politicians realize how much LOSS these strikes cause to the ECONOMY of the country before they open their mouth and call for STRIKES?
There are people in baluchistan suffering with poverty and in the whole country there is hunger and children dont have shoes to wear.
How selfish and stupid is that ????
Well good folks….
Rashid Ghazi is probably burning in the darkest corner of hell now…
and Lt.Col Haroon is enjoying Allahs unlimited favour in Paradise…
couple of things I read in the posts above which really made sense to me..
one was the fact that how confident these Mullahs are of attaining Paradise…and there we have stories of our Prophet crying in his tahajjud prayers asking Allah for forgiveness and that he may attain paradise..
My God…the greatest Human being….the reason why this earth was created…and then we have these Mullahs..confident of knowing Allahs will and take it for granted that only they will attain paradise..my God…Im reeling and trying to keep myself falling off my chair..
shows how deluded they are themselves…
as Tony Montana once wisely said..’dont get high off your own supply’….
guess there comes a time when…if you repeat your bullshit long enough then you’ll begin to believe it…
secondly…if you or I would make claims that the Prophet PBUH came and spoke to us in our dreams and passed on instructions to us, wed be lynched in a heartbeat…
but since a semi literate with a beard and a taaki on his shoulder says it its okay and credible….
seems like they feed off granting each other legitimacy…
reminds of the european clergy from medieval times…and we all know that cluminated in the spanish inquisition….
Pakistan Zindabad…
Preventing More Lal Masjids
Pervez Hoodbhoy
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00008144 &channel=civic%20center
Look at the conflicting statements of Ulema team and Govt reps regarding failure of last negotiations
We should use brain and find the answer without considering our personnel feelings
Loss of 70-80 people (Govt Stat) or more than 150 (Media sources) meant a loss of life.. Loss of hope for these families..
For us, value is life is equivalent to nothing!!! against the value of life in other parts of world!!! Why this is so?
Its bcoz we r a crowd of self oriented individuals who dont know how to behave like a NATION.
Last words
JAASAY LOG WAISAY HEE UN KAY LEADER!!
Adil Najam, thank you for the thoughtful post like always very well written.
I think you have done a service by not rushing to analysis while so much of the information is still missing. In many of the comments here and on TV people are just saying what they would have said anyhow. Those who were already against Musharraf are calling this his fault. Those against maulvis are calling it their fault. For regular readers the spin and these comments are predictable that not even worth reading. So I am glad you took the trouble of stepping back and focusing on the human tragedy for now and waiting to do real analysis when we have real information instead of just using this tragedy to justify the positions we already had.