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?”
@ Sophaeyyah and Azra,
Tolerating Evil for the sake of Tolerance alone and for the sake of appearing tolerant is not tolerance….it is dellusional…..
A possible confrontation in Swat: HERE
This thread has now become utterly repetative. If people have anyting substantive to say on the specifics of the Lal Masjid issue that has not been said before they are most welcome. Otherwise all tangential comments will be moderated out. Personal discussions are, of course, best undertaken individually rather than on a public forum.
Once again, we humbly request people to respect our comment policy.
Adnan bhaijan, may I ask which mullah you regard as your parent? or any mullah would do?
And should this mullah of yours misbehaves and hurts others – then that does not give everyone else a right to defend the innocent and fight your mullah?
Also you mention ‘Islamic Clergy’ when did Islam begin to have a clergy?
Dan
read the Quraan people…read our history and understand why we became masters of our own destiny….read about our laws as they once were…the same laws that made the jewish population of Al-Andalus flock to tunisia and morocco and other arab lands when the catholics were wiping them out….
read and arm yourselves with knowledge so that you may fight the Mullah and shout back at him when he begins to spew his so called knowledge…for he has none..and the little that he does have is tainted by firqawaariyat and rejectionism….read and you will understand what made us great..powerful and strong..read and you will find out how we were once the source of all that was beautiful and good…..how we were once magnanmimous and tolerant and strong…there was no place for the Mullah as he is now…he must be sought out…de bunked…discredited…his power to divide taken away from him..his power to inspire hate removed…
Dan bhai – Islam teaches that we make the best of life for others and ourselves and trust in Allah SWT – the Mullah wants a position that is not allowed in Islam that of the go-between of Allah and the Human -( remember that blesphemous wretch Mullah Aziz he dreamed the prophet pbuh told him to do XYZ) is certainly very much like the termite or even the rat which is infecting the body of the nation and destroying it from within, we should tell the pakistani people about the truth of islam and falsehoods of mullahism – as i said above if sharia was established in Pakistan then probably 95% of these mullahs will get the death penalty!
Save the Mullahs? To hell with them Pakistan Bachao!
Pakistan Zindabad!