Firstly, kidnapping or vigilantism by random individuals is never justified - these 'activists' should have been taken to court and dealt with lawfully. If agencies have done this (unlikely in my opinion), they'll hopefully be put through proper channels as soon as possible.
I won't comment further on the 'activist' disappearance scenario until more information surfaces, would just like to point out a few things:
The whole "left-wing, right-wing" does not apply to Pakistan in the same way it applies in other places - actually, even in the West, the meanings of these terms have completely changed.
What most people consider to be the Pakistani 'left wing' are characterised mainly by their social views - which are primarily pro-West and anti-religion. However, when it comes to economics and political or geopolitical views, these people might as well be the right wing. This ideology is more accurately described as 'neoliberalism', which is based on laissez-faire Capitalism and Liberal economics - the exact opposite of left-wing socialist economics.
Ironically, Pakistani "right-wing conservatives" tend to be more anti-Consumerism/Capitalism than our supposedly left-wing westernised elite.
Similarly, the PPP are supposed to be a left-wing party yet despite their ideas about nationalisation, both ZABhutto and Benazir were ridiculously elitist, and I'm not even going to comment on the current leadership. Being in favour of nationalisation is not left-wing if the government doesn't represent the people.
Right and Left mean nothing anymore in the West, and have never meant anything in Pakistan.
Secularism =/= left-wing
Pakistanis...extremely overwhelming majority of Pakistanis...do NOT want a secular, irreligious society and state. Why can't these Western educated, elitist, rich, uber liberal "activists" understand that? Why do they have to impose their vision and will on the normal people of Pakistan? This creates a certain resentment within Pakistani society.
Look, Pakistanis aren't fanatics but we aren't seculars either at heart. We want Islam in our life, culture, state, and society at large.
So why can't these liberal elitists let us live our lives the way we want?!
They, coming from rich background, have the privilege to go to western schools, dominate leadership sectors of Pakistani society, have disproportional representation on the media and news domain. Let's not even talk about entertainment industry and fashion empires they control. Despite all that, they want YOU to believe, act, and live like "they" feel you should. These people see common man as animal that needs to be "civilized" by secular liberalism.
We should all work to make Pakistan a model Islamic country and a great world nation. We can create a positive impact on billions of people if we are able to play our part in making Pakistan as an example to emulate for other Muslim nations as well. But alas, we are still fighting useless issues and wasting our energies.
You've said what needed to be said, thank you for this post.
This is what infuriates me the most about our pseudo-Liberals. The left wing is supposed to represent the common man - the working class. Yet these people have hijacked the banner, and in the name of liberalism they continue to propagate an ideology that reeks of Western imperialism and is primarily oriented around making Pakistanis more aligned towards accepting Western consumer culture and politics.
The West isn't something to blindly emulate and has never been a positive role-model for any nation. There are many things we can learn from them, true. But there are many more things we should avoid.
Anyone who follows American or British politics without the lens of an inferiority complex would realise how flawed their systems are and how much corruption they are plagued with (especially the US, which is
practically an oligarchy, but as the Panama Leaks have shown even Britain isn't spotless).
The only difference is that in the US, corruption and bribery are called 'campaign donations' and 'SuperPACs'.
We all saw
what they did to Bernie Sanders.
If anything, the election of Trump and the rise of the far-right (or 'alt-right' if that's the new label) in Europe should be enough to illustrate this.
Anyway, moving back to the question of secularism in Pakistan,
Aside from the fact that 95%+ of Pakistanis believe in Islam, and therefore enforcing secularism would be against the will of the people, my main objection to secularism is that
accepting it is tantamount to accepting that Islam is an intolerant religion.
That is the extremists' narrative.
Instead of reclaiming our religion from the extremists, we are planning to give it to them on a bloody silver platter!
By making the state secular, you force people to chose between their religious beliefs and the nation-state; which is illogical as the people
are the nation-state.
I do respect what Turkey tried to achieve by reducing the influence of political mullah-types on the state - but that hasn't eliminated extremism in Turkey. Neither has it resulted in the West accepting Turkey or treating it fairly on the geopolitical stage- they are trying to undermine the Turkish state to this day.
Iqbal's vision of Pakistan as a tolerant, united Islamic Republic with socialist elements is still a goal to strive towards. Misguided and shortsighted imitation of the West will only lead us further into chaos.