Is it too late already?
By Zubeida Mustafa
Wednesday, 04 Aug, 2010
THERE was a time when political analysts described Pakistanis as being moderate in their religious beliefs and practices.
It was the Islam of the Sufis and the saints rather than the orthodox view that had greater appeal. That is why, observers pointed out, religious parties in Pakistan had never won more than five per cent of the popular vote in general elections. Gen Musharraf is alleged to have manipulated the 2002 elections to help the MMA win a respectable presence in some assemblies.
Can one say the same thing about the mindset of the youth in Pakistan today? There are three examples that have come to my notice of late that I find disturbing. It appears the process of the religious radicalisation of Pakistanis is now a fait accompli. There is a story on the news website of Asia Times Online, a successor to the prestigious Hong Kong-based Asia Times magazine that ceased publication in 1997. According to Syed Saleem Shahzad, atonline.comscorrespondent in Pakistan, several hundred students, members of the Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba in Karachi, have left for Waziristan to join Al Qaeda training camps in Fata. If true, this is food for thought.
Yet another example of extremism came through an email I received in response to my write-up on Education and bigotry (July 14) from a person describing himself as a retired naval officer who does not wish to be named here.
He had this to say, The most worrisome part of our current education system may perhaps be this. As member of the faculty at Pakistan Navys premier institute, over a period I observed (much to my horror), the upcoming generation of officers imbued with a fanatical desire to go to war with India. Not only that, these officers are intolerant in mundane academic discussions, some even feel elated when acts of violence take place against minorities. This then is the trend that seems to be gathering momentum .
Another indication I received of our youths thinking was several months ago from Pervez Hoodbhoy, associated with the physics department at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. One of our most rational and sensible academics, Hoodbhoy found himself facing an angry mob of young students in a university auditorium after a lecture he gave on one of the issues that confront Pakistan today. Hoodbhoys pacifist views on the nuclear bomb and India-Pakistan friendship are well-known and unpopular with the apostles of war. They do not go down well with a huge chunk of the youth on campuses it appears.
Although all this is worrying, it is not surprising. We could see it coming given the direction education, politics and strategic planning has taken in Pakistan. Gen Ziaul Haq with his Islamisation policy is held to be the main culprit. But the roots of this phenomenon go back deeper into the past. It was no coincidence that politics, education, strategic planning and religion were closely coordinated by an establishment that controlled Pakistans national life.
Once Pakistan was born, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the major representative of the religious right, switched sides. From a major opponent of the concept of Pakistan it moved into the country to become a major player here. And how did it do it? By championing the cause of theocracy and more importantly by projecting the spectre of an Islamic revolution backed by the Muslim masses. Maulana Maududi, the founder of the Jamaat, received wholehearted backing from the West, especially the US. Islam was seen by an America under the spell of McCarthyism as a powerful weapon to be used against another spectre that of the Red revolution.
How did the political leadership in Pakistan react to this so-called threat? It went on the defensive, believing that the people were religious minded and would support the party that stood for Islam. Political leaders lacked the confidence to follow the path of moderate Islam of the pre-1947 years. Besides, Jinnah, the leader who had led the struggle for Pakistan, died in 1948. In the pre-partition years, the Muslim League did not face a challenge from the religious right on the definition of an Islamic state.
Hence all crucial political decisions in Pakistan after 1948 were the outcome of a government remorselessly haunted by political nightmares. The Objectives Resolution of 1949, the inept handling by the administration of the anti-Ahmadi agitation in Lahore in 1953, President Ayub Khans backtracking on his decision to call Pakistan a republic without Islamic being prefixed to it, Z.A. Bhuttos move to declare the Ahmadis non-Muslims. The list could go on.
What about the third player the army? It co-opted the religious right. As Dr Mubashir Hasan reminded me once, the army had adopted a typically Islamic battle cry from the start. It was not Gen Ziaul Haqs innovation. Religion, it is believed, came in handy to promote the security agencies aims in Kashmir and later in Afghanistan. Indias hard-line stance proved to be helpful.
One may well ask, how does all this impact on the youth? The three forces the army, political governments lacking confidence if not popular support and the religious right have throughout Pakistans history been the key decision-makers with the weight of each shifting from time to time as happens in a game of musical chairs.
Different actors have played the role of front man at different times. In one respect they have acted in unison. It has suited each of them to exploit the youth. This has been done by installing a curriculum of hatred in the education system that teaches students to regard non-Muslims as enemies, India as an irreconcilable foe, and a government that does not pay lip service to the virtues of theocracy as un-Islamic.
But here comes the snag. The three actors have never been comfortable bedfellows. Now that the endgame has begun it has turned into a three-cornered fight. They are now locked in an open war as each tries to woo the youth. But it may already be too late.
zubeidam2@gmail.com
By Zubeida Mustafa
Wednesday, 04 Aug, 2010
THERE was a time when political analysts described Pakistanis as being moderate in their religious beliefs and practices.
It was the Islam of the Sufis and the saints rather than the orthodox view that had greater appeal. That is why, observers pointed out, religious parties in Pakistan had never won more than five per cent of the popular vote in general elections. Gen Musharraf is alleged to have manipulated the 2002 elections to help the MMA win a respectable presence in some assemblies.
Can one say the same thing about the mindset of the youth in Pakistan today? There are three examples that have come to my notice of late that I find disturbing. It appears the process of the religious radicalisation of Pakistanis is now a fait accompli. There is a story on the news website of Asia Times Online, a successor to the prestigious Hong Kong-based Asia Times magazine that ceased publication in 1997. According to Syed Saleem Shahzad, atonline.comscorrespondent in Pakistan, several hundred students, members of the Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba in Karachi, have left for Waziristan to join Al Qaeda training camps in Fata. If true, this is food for thought.
Yet another example of extremism came through an email I received in response to my write-up on Education and bigotry (July 14) from a person describing himself as a retired naval officer who does not wish to be named here.
He had this to say, The most worrisome part of our current education system may perhaps be this. As member of the faculty at Pakistan Navys premier institute, over a period I observed (much to my horror), the upcoming generation of officers imbued with a fanatical desire to go to war with India. Not only that, these officers are intolerant in mundane academic discussions, some even feel elated when acts of violence take place against minorities. This then is the trend that seems to be gathering momentum .
Another indication I received of our youths thinking was several months ago from Pervez Hoodbhoy, associated with the physics department at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. One of our most rational and sensible academics, Hoodbhoy found himself facing an angry mob of young students in a university auditorium after a lecture he gave on one of the issues that confront Pakistan today. Hoodbhoys pacifist views on the nuclear bomb and India-Pakistan friendship are well-known and unpopular with the apostles of war. They do not go down well with a huge chunk of the youth on campuses it appears.
Although all this is worrying, it is not surprising. We could see it coming given the direction education, politics and strategic planning has taken in Pakistan. Gen Ziaul Haq with his Islamisation policy is held to be the main culprit. But the roots of this phenomenon go back deeper into the past. It was no coincidence that politics, education, strategic planning and religion were closely coordinated by an establishment that controlled Pakistans national life.
Once Pakistan was born, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the major representative of the religious right, switched sides. From a major opponent of the concept of Pakistan it moved into the country to become a major player here. And how did it do it? By championing the cause of theocracy and more importantly by projecting the spectre of an Islamic revolution backed by the Muslim masses. Maulana Maududi, the founder of the Jamaat, received wholehearted backing from the West, especially the US. Islam was seen by an America under the spell of McCarthyism as a powerful weapon to be used against another spectre that of the Red revolution.
How did the political leadership in Pakistan react to this so-called threat? It went on the defensive, believing that the people were religious minded and would support the party that stood for Islam. Political leaders lacked the confidence to follow the path of moderate Islam of the pre-1947 years. Besides, Jinnah, the leader who had led the struggle for Pakistan, died in 1948. In the pre-partition years, the Muslim League did not face a challenge from the religious right on the definition of an Islamic state.
Hence all crucial political decisions in Pakistan after 1948 were the outcome of a government remorselessly haunted by political nightmares. The Objectives Resolution of 1949, the inept handling by the administration of the anti-Ahmadi agitation in Lahore in 1953, President Ayub Khans backtracking on his decision to call Pakistan a republic without Islamic being prefixed to it, Z.A. Bhuttos move to declare the Ahmadis non-Muslims. The list could go on.
What about the third player the army? It co-opted the religious right. As Dr Mubashir Hasan reminded me once, the army had adopted a typically Islamic battle cry from the start. It was not Gen Ziaul Haqs innovation. Religion, it is believed, came in handy to promote the security agencies aims in Kashmir and later in Afghanistan. Indias hard-line stance proved to be helpful.
One may well ask, how does all this impact on the youth? The three forces the army, political governments lacking confidence if not popular support and the religious right have throughout Pakistans history been the key decision-makers with the weight of each shifting from time to time as happens in a game of musical chairs.
Different actors have played the role of front man at different times. In one respect they have acted in unison. It has suited each of them to exploit the youth. This has been done by installing a curriculum of hatred in the education system that teaches students to regard non-Muslims as enemies, India as an irreconcilable foe, and a government that does not pay lip service to the virtues of theocracy as un-Islamic.
But here comes the snag. The three actors have never been comfortable bedfellows. Now that the endgame has begun it has turned into a three-cornered fight. They are now locked in an open war as each tries to woo the youth. But it may already be too late.
zubeidam2@gmail.com
