Adil Najam
This was another bad week for Pakistanis. Our closest international ally continued bombing our territory. The self-style custodians of our morality kept up the indiscriminate killing of our citizen. One of our most popular television show anchors incited murder in the name of religion through television.
Once again, this was a week when Pakistanis died. Pakistanis cried.
The political machinations in the country continue to be a distraction that is keeping many, too many, glued to the soap opera quality twists and turns in the story of Pakistan’s tortured democratic experiment. But the real story in the country remains what it has for the last two years: a divided society which is at war. Niether the self-styled custodians of our internal identity nor our self-styled freinds abroad seem to be helping. Indeed, they keep making things worse for Pakistanis everywhere.
Meanwhile, Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.
Whether it is pre-US-election posturing or a deeper shift in US policy, it is clear that the American forces have increased their military incursions into Pakistani territory. Beyond the fact that this is clearly a violation of the sovereign territory of a country they claim to be their ‘closest all,’ one cannot even imagine what the strategic logic of these incursions could possibly be since each incursion only strengthens the hand of the extremist elements that are supposedly after, angers Pakistani public opinion, and pushes the Pakistan goevrnment into a tighter corner. There is no real evidence that they have hit any important militant target but innocent Pakistanis, including children, women and even Pakistani soldiers have certainly been killed; 15 killed this Wednesday; 12 more on Friday.
Meanwhile. Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.
Meanwhile, the merchants of murder and mayhem thrive even more in this condition and continue their war against Pakistan. Indeed, they seem now to be targetting the places of worship themselves. Only today an alleged suicide bomber was caught in Islamabad. On Thursday, 25 died in a grenade attack at a mosque in the Banai area of Dir during taraweeh prayers. Last Saturday, even as Asif Ali Zardari was being elected President, 31 people were killed and another 81 others injured as a suicide bomber blew himself and his vehicle up at the Zangali police post at Kohat Road, Peshawar.
Meanwhile. Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.
And those who one might have wanted to bring calm and lessons of peace, are themselves engrossed in preaching hate, and in this case murder, to mass audiences. On September 7, Aamir Liaquat Hussain – GEO TV’s popular religious talk-show anchor, former MQM Minister, a holder of multiple fake degrees, and religious instigator extraordinaire – in his GEO TV Show Alim Online presided over a long discussion instigating that those holding Ahmadiyya beliefs were ‘wajib ul qatl’ (i.e., liable to death). The next day, Dr. Abdul Mannan Siddiqi – a 46 year-old Ahmadi in Mirpurkhas and a US-trained cardiologist who had retruned to work in his community – was murdered in broad daylight while working at his local hospital. The next day, Seth Muhammad Yousuf of Nawabshah was also murdered brutally. Whether there is a direct link between the two or not, the preaching of hatred and the practice of hatred both thrive in our land of the pure.
Meanwhile. Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.
One sits here, shaken by sadness at this waste of human life, and wonders: at how many hands and for how many reasons should Pakistanis die? How long must Pakistan cry?
Quite frankly, these are the reasons why there is no progress in Pakistan. At the whim of a mullah, people start killing each other. Why is Pakistan quickly starting to resemble Afghanistan and Zimbabwe? Because people are behaving like bloodthirsty dogma-stricken fanatics who have no respect for life that Allah has given to them and their fellow humans.
You reap what you sow. If you are happy in the current situation then by all means carry on. Nature has a way of sorting out the mess.
Dear Ibrahim,
You might want to look at Islamic history from another angle as well. Just a couple of starting points might be helpful:
(1) Holy Prophet (sa) NEVER condemned anyone to death on account of apostasy/blasphemy. This, despite the fact that, (i) there are many verses in the Holy Quran informing the prophet about a group of people who had not believed in Islam (i.e. `munafiqeen’), (ii) there are recorded incidents of people openly giving up Islam AFTER having accepted it. And they did it right in front of the prophet, and (iii) no person was killed despite many abusing the prophet and one person openly throwing trash/filth on the prophet.
(2) Hazrat Abu Bakr did NOT order anyone killed because of their faith or claim to prophet hood. The often-cited incident of Mussailimah was a case of rebellion. He had actively recruited an army in the name of religion to undermine the state of the time, which was run by Hazrat Abu Bakr. I guess you could say that Musailimah was the `Tehrik e Taliban’ of his time. Ironic isn’t it?
@alveena
well i can answer ur few questions
1:yes govt can declare somebody non muslim based on the facts
2:and ahmedis is not a sect of islam
it is another religion
coz the key elements which are the base of islam,
ahmedis dont agree to that.
other than that i agree to u
that
what ever amir liaqat said on tv was definately wrong
in pakistan every citizen has the ryte to live peacefully
whether its a minority or majority
and abt the other issues
i dont know what the govt is doing allowing america to come and
kill pakistanis
i feel so bad for the lawyers the way govt is treating them
wen the movement of lawyers started i was hopeful that now things
gonna chnage but now govt is dividing them to make them weak
which is really hurting
coz it makes u feel that are things really gonna move towards betterment
in pakistan or not
Here are some answers for Aleevna so that he/she may learn something:
1. Yes. For example, the ‘government’ of Abu Bakr declared those who refused to pay zakat kuffar and proceeded to deal with them.
2. Yes, yes, yes. Was Abu Bakr wrong? Was the prophet himself wrong to declare the mushrikoon of Makkah kuffar? Was Umar wrong to declare the one who refused the prophet’s judgement against him a kafir?
3. Yes, very responsible of the TV channel to know what’s apostasy and what’s the punishment of apostasy in a Muslim country.
7. Well, actions speak louder than words. All of these kill Muslims. Also, Amir Liaquat didn’t say people of other religions are wajibul qatal (that would be wrong)…he is talking about those who have apostatized from Islam in a Muslim country. Wasn’t this simple point clear enough for you?
8. That time might be coming, Allahu Alam. Spain did it to Muslims some five hundred years ago. So, it’s not too far fetched to believe it would happen again. And, Muslims in Western countries didn’t apostatized from Christianity and still proceeded to call themselves Christians and preach their religion under the banner of Christianity…all the things that Qadiyanis do. So, you can’t compare the two.
Apparently Aamir Liaqat repeated his call to kill in the name of blasphemy on September 9th (2 days after his first program)
“On September 9, the anchor answered a query on a phone-in programme with the comment that those guilty of the alleged sin of blasphemy should be put to death, the statement said.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008 9\13\story_13-9-2008_pg7_39