AstanoshKhan
<b>PTI: NAYA PAKISTANI</b>
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Pakistan: Class War On The Cards
Hassan Saleemi
Despite the overt reasons given for the killing of Salman Taseer by his bodyguard, it seems that what he did represents more than just his personal motivations regarding a particular law, but with the backdrop of a groundswell of frustration that permeates throughout Pakistans working and middle classes against the rich ruling elites. Although the blasphemy laws could do with a review to ensure they are not used oppressively against minorities, there is a bigger question which the ruling elites need to ask themselves.
Consider this. A large number of the ruling elites, of literacy challenged, electricity deficient, dirty tap watered, globally in disrepute, poverty & flood stricken Pakistan are richer than the head of state (the Queen) of the developed, rich, 100% literate, electricity always-on, clean tap watered global power, Britain. And not just the Queen of England, but many of our ruling elites are richer than most of the kings and queens all over Europe, by a significant magnitude. How is this possible?
This is not to mention that Pakistan has huge potential, natural resources greater than many European nations, and a highly inventive, innovative population. Pakistans educated youth & graduates punch well above their weight.
Fed up with simply talking of the dream, the people want the reality of Islamic social & economic justice envisioned by the founders of Pakistan. With drone attacks practically approved by the elites, and wikileaks confirming what was already known; that the vast majority of them including the so called Islamic ministers, are sycophants willing to sell themselves and the sovereignty of the country to the US, is it any wonder that a once proud & united people are utterly alienated from their rulers and some even alienated from the very concept of Pakistan?
The now worn out narrative of the so called international community and our own elitist secularists is that the root of Pakistans problems is linked to religion and our relationship with it. However long before we had a Jihadi problem, we had a secularist capitalist elitist problem. And this despite some of their slogans of socialism, Islamism or Islamic socialism.
This secularist capitalist elite fed the retrogressive uneducated mullahs sitting in the mosques preaching a passive apolitical pseudo-Islam fixated on minor matters (such as wearing a hat in prayer) and fighting over them, or fed the reactionary hot headed frothing at the mouth mullahs who would declare other hot headed mullahs infidels for hair splitting issues. Are we surprised that we have sectarianism like no other Muslim country in the world? Even the common man argues with another of the necessity of wearing a hat in prayer or growing a beard, when these topics were elucidated and agreed to be disagreed upon a whole thousand years ago by our great classical Ulema, yes those classical and real Ulema incomparable to some of the rabble we have today in Pakistan who cant even speak the language of the Quran or law in Islam (Arabic) yet rest in their pieties. All this was encouraged by the elites and agencies while actively sidelining any true Islamic ideological revival, and the establishment of a nation based upon the Khilafat-ur-Rashida as envisioned and mentioned explicitly by both Iqbal and Jinnah.
Despite all of the above and to a certain extent, in addition to it, the jihadis biggest recruiting sergeant, is the corruption, decadence, sycophancy or servitude to global powers, and non-Islamic nature of the secularist capitalist ruling elites.
The masses love Islam (of whatever sect), and dream of a just Islamic state based on Shoora, but are fed up with these mullahs, and so they look for alternative Islamic groups. And why not? They offer a less rigid but politically and socially just approach albeit via radical means. These old-world mullahs are generally silent about forced marriage, tribalism, biraderi politics, riba, Islamic economics, a national health service, education, female inheritance rights, fair and proper division of estates of the deceased under Islam (preventing abuse by powerful relatives, concentrating wealth and feudalism), land reforms, the sovereignty of Pakistan and the whole Ummat with whom we are intimately, emotionally, religiously and culturally linked. So the masses are slowly looking elsewhere for their religion, including the middle class Internet generation, who will possibly lead any future social change.
What have the Pakistani people got to be loyal to their government or the current system for? The economic, political, and territorial sovereignty of the nation is willingly compromised, it provides no universal quality education or opportunity, actually leaving that alone it doesnt even provide electricity and clean water, or defend of the borders of the realm. Is it a wonder that even some of the elite class of youth are turning to the likes of Zaid Hamid, who looks like a 21st century Pakistani Che Guevara?
Why would you not expect some sort of anger and revolt at all of this failure, triggered by what would not have normally triggered sane, normal people to attack and kill members of our governing elites? Do we really think that the blasphemy law is the issue without considering the context and build up? After all the issue only became a real issue after pressure from the same foreign powers, the same so called international community who daily invade our airspace and kill our civilians via drones.
So the ruling elites should consider this. Get your act together and provide solutions based on the peoples desire for a truly Islamic political and economic system, or face a solution imposed upon you, ironically by a class war (a concept alien to Islam) where you will find more physical attacks against your persons, possibly culminating in a Khomeini style Islamic revolution (minus the notion of an infallible supreme leader which is an anathema to Sunni Islam which prefers Shoora). Or face the rise of a Saddam type brute who will come to power and will forcefully modernize the national infrastructure, education system and health service, providing the services the people deserve while brutally suppressing and killing the previous elites and their families. Either result will mean many of you will be hung or end up living in exile.
Alternatively if you do change and provide what the people dream of, you will not loose what you currently gain through corruption, and ineptitude; you will live in and lead a modern, globally powerful, rich, literate, modern Islamic state, making it an attractive proposition for other Islamic countries to form a federation of Islamic peoples, making Pakistan pivotal in being part of a world superpower en-par with America, Europe, Russia and China. Wouldnt you want that for your children? Then you wouldnt have to send them abroad for education, buy houses in London and California, buy electricity generators, and water purifiers for each of your properties, and spend so much time and money on personal body guards, bullet proof clothes and cars. Take heed of the following event in our history:
An ambassador from the Roman emperor arrived in Madinah on important diplomatic business with the Khaleef. When he asked where Umar (RA) was, he was directed to a man sleeping peacefully under a tree: with no bodyguards, no weapons, no fortifications and no security. The Roman messenger marveled at this sight: the sight of the leader of millions of people sleeping peacefully under a tree without a care in the world. He then remarked his famous words that remain etched into history until today: O Umar! You ruled. You were just. Thus you were safe. And thus you slept.
Hassan Saleemi
Despite the overt reasons given for the killing of Salman Taseer by his bodyguard, it seems that what he did represents more than just his personal motivations regarding a particular law, but with the backdrop of a groundswell of frustration that permeates throughout Pakistans working and middle classes against the rich ruling elites. Although the blasphemy laws could do with a review to ensure they are not used oppressively against minorities, there is a bigger question which the ruling elites need to ask themselves.
Consider this. A large number of the ruling elites, of literacy challenged, electricity deficient, dirty tap watered, globally in disrepute, poverty & flood stricken Pakistan are richer than the head of state (the Queen) of the developed, rich, 100% literate, electricity always-on, clean tap watered global power, Britain. And not just the Queen of England, but many of our ruling elites are richer than most of the kings and queens all over Europe, by a significant magnitude. How is this possible?
This is not to mention that Pakistan has huge potential, natural resources greater than many European nations, and a highly inventive, innovative population. Pakistans educated youth & graduates punch well above their weight.
Fed up with simply talking of the dream, the people want the reality of Islamic social & economic justice envisioned by the founders of Pakistan. With drone attacks practically approved by the elites, and wikileaks confirming what was already known; that the vast majority of them including the so called Islamic ministers, are sycophants willing to sell themselves and the sovereignty of the country to the US, is it any wonder that a once proud & united people are utterly alienated from their rulers and some even alienated from the very concept of Pakistan?
The now worn out narrative of the so called international community and our own elitist secularists is that the root of Pakistans problems is linked to religion and our relationship with it. However long before we had a Jihadi problem, we had a secularist capitalist elitist problem. And this despite some of their slogans of socialism, Islamism or Islamic socialism.
This secularist capitalist elite fed the retrogressive uneducated mullahs sitting in the mosques preaching a passive apolitical pseudo-Islam fixated on minor matters (such as wearing a hat in prayer) and fighting over them, or fed the reactionary hot headed frothing at the mouth mullahs who would declare other hot headed mullahs infidels for hair splitting issues. Are we surprised that we have sectarianism like no other Muslim country in the world? Even the common man argues with another of the necessity of wearing a hat in prayer or growing a beard, when these topics were elucidated and agreed to be disagreed upon a whole thousand years ago by our great classical Ulema, yes those classical and real Ulema incomparable to some of the rabble we have today in Pakistan who cant even speak the language of the Quran or law in Islam (Arabic) yet rest in their pieties. All this was encouraged by the elites and agencies while actively sidelining any true Islamic ideological revival, and the establishment of a nation based upon the Khilafat-ur-Rashida as envisioned and mentioned explicitly by both Iqbal and Jinnah.
Despite all of the above and to a certain extent, in addition to it, the jihadis biggest recruiting sergeant, is the corruption, decadence, sycophancy or servitude to global powers, and non-Islamic nature of the secularist capitalist ruling elites.
The masses love Islam (of whatever sect), and dream of a just Islamic state based on Shoora, but are fed up with these mullahs, and so they look for alternative Islamic groups. And why not? They offer a less rigid but politically and socially just approach albeit via radical means. These old-world mullahs are generally silent about forced marriage, tribalism, biraderi politics, riba, Islamic economics, a national health service, education, female inheritance rights, fair and proper division of estates of the deceased under Islam (preventing abuse by powerful relatives, concentrating wealth and feudalism), land reforms, the sovereignty of Pakistan and the whole Ummat with whom we are intimately, emotionally, religiously and culturally linked. So the masses are slowly looking elsewhere for their religion, including the middle class Internet generation, who will possibly lead any future social change.
What have the Pakistani people got to be loyal to their government or the current system for? The economic, political, and territorial sovereignty of the nation is willingly compromised, it provides no universal quality education or opportunity, actually leaving that alone it doesnt even provide electricity and clean water, or defend of the borders of the realm. Is it a wonder that even some of the elite class of youth are turning to the likes of Zaid Hamid, who looks like a 21st century Pakistani Che Guevara?
Why would you not expect some sort of anger and revolt at all of this failure, triggered by what would not have normally triggered sane, normal people to attack and kill members of our governing elites? Do we really think that the blasphemy law is the issue without considering the context and build up? After all the issue only became a real issue after pressure from the same foreign powers, the same so called international community who daily invade our airspace and kill our civilians via drones.
So the ruling elites should consider this. Get your act together and provide solutions based on the peoples desire for a truly Islamic political and economic system, or face a solution imposed upon you, ironically by a class war (a concept alien to Islam) where you will find more physical attacks against your persons, possibly culminating in a Khomeini style Islamic revolution (minus the notion of an infallible supreme leader which is an anathema to Sunni Islam which prefers Shoora). Or face the rise of a Saddam type brute who will come to power and will forcefully modernize the national infrastructure, education system and health service, providing the services the people deserve while brutally suppressing and killing the previous elites and their families. Either result will mean many of you will be hung or end up living in exile.
Alternatively if you do change and provide what the people dream of, you will not loose what you currently gain through corruption, and ineptitude; you will live in and lead a modern, globally powerful, rich, literate, modern Islamic state, making it an attractive proposition for other Islamic countries to form a federation of Islamic peoples, making Pakistan pivotal in being part of a world superpower en-par with America, Europe, Russia and China. Wouldnt you want that for your children? Then you wouldnt have to send them abroad for education, buy houses in London and California, buy electricity generators, and water purifiers for each of your properties, and spend so much time and money on personal body guards, bullet proof clothes and cars. Take heed of the following event in our history:
An ambassador from the Roman emperor arrived in Madinah on important diplomatic business with the Khaleef. When he asked where Umar (RA) was, he was directed to a man sleeping peacefully under a tree: with no bodyguards, no weapons, no fortifications and no security. The Roman messenger marveled at this sight: the sight of the leader of millions of people sleeping peacefully under a tree without a care in the world. He then remarked his famous words that remain etched into history until today: O Umar! You ruled. You were just. Thus you were safe. And thus you slept.
