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?”
13 more killed in another suicide blast ! I guess it’s the work of another intelligent youth disenchanted with the breakdown of institutions in Pakistan ( as the analysts explain it). Amazes me how readily we are able to produce person upon person willing to blow themselves up to make political statements.
Of course it has nothing to do with the indoctrination that goes on in the madrasahs. God forbid someone points a finger there.
Suicide Mullahs struck in Islamabad a couple hours ago….
did you see the body of the woman who was killed? they were showing that continusously…..
she probably had kids…a husband…parents at least…they will never see her again….
the body was mangled beyond recongnition…
I wonder…are these bearers of misrey and sickness the ‘true faithful’ that some people keep talking about?…
A bomb blast in the kachehri on the occassion of CJP’s address to Islamabad bar.
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Adnan Siddiqui,,,,,,,,Was there any need to relate this verse to the point in issue? Modernity is nothing but advance in material sciences. Any religion is not responsible for failure or success of scientific growth. It is the environmental influence which provides the impetus. Muslims are lagging behind in science because of a hypocritical ambiance self-created and self-inflicted by them. You cannot blame any religion including Islam for the failures of its adherents
They are simply trying to derogate their own religion and its teachings under the cover of Mullas
mazhar butt sb, i came across this translation in the morning and it’s very relevant to answer you:
He will say, “Remain despised therein and do not speak to Me.Indeed, there was a party of My servants who said, ‘Our Lord, we have believed, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of the merciful.’But you took them in mockery to the point that they made you forget My remembrance, and you used to laugh at them. Indeed, I have rewarded them this Day for their patient endurance – that they are the attainers [of success].” (Quran 23:108-111)
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So let them enjoy!. Who says QUran is not compatible with modernity? *grin*