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?”
Anyone who has looked at US newspapers or media recently it is clear that the US did not like the
The US govt is run by people in DC rather Washington post or NYTImes. The same US media even wrote against Israel(read USA) Hezbollah(read IRAN) war. Seymour hersh wrote classic article on same issue but govt follow something else.
Mush once said right that US govt doesn’t take dictation from the media and they have their own policies.
The Lal masjid assault is a great victory for Media control and shows how Govt. used media to its advantage. Everything reported about Lal Masjid came from Govt sources. All the bodies were buried at night. In some cases, women and men were buried in the same place. The picture of a so called foriegner has turned out to be fake and BBC has the picture of the father. I don’t think anything reported is true.
If the coldwar ghosts are haunting Washington then the ghosts of Kashmir are haunting us here in Islamabad and NWFP. Does anybody have a number of youngster died in the name of Jihad in Kashmir?
We reap what the military sows. I never believed in Karma, but have started too.
Yes, the real question now is how Lal Masjid will play out with these terrorists in the Nortrern areas.
pakistan is not a right place for suicide bombings – mullah fazl ur rehman…
oh and what is the right place?
these political mullahs need to be exorcised from pakistan – can we just not throw them over the border in afghanistan – oops sorry i mean… damn where can we deport them to? hey how about madagascar? way away from pakistan…
oh and if in the process they wish to suicide bomb themselves (they will if they can start calling each other kafirs like they usually do) then they should be encouraged.
Pakistan Zindabad