Is it America’s war or Pakistan’s?

War on Terror

06 Mar 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com

Is it America's war or Pakistan's?

Reflections on the bombing of the mausoleum of 17th century Pashto poet Abdul Rahman   What I see instead is an attempt to relinquish responsibility by blaming the "other" without, on the basis of that very logic, looking inside and taking care of those who might be carrying out such an agenda (I am, of course, going by the logic of the argument). This is most amazing and incredibly disturbing. Also, such an attitude can only be begotten of either utter naivety or deliberate perfidy. I suspect the latter is at work here since the logic of the argument of "othering", which supposes which supposes help from inside, is so obvious that it could not escape anyone save a village idiot. … It becomes our war not because America is fighting for its interests but because we are under threat ourselves (even if we accept that this is a foreign conspiracy against us). Posited thus, even if America were to pack up and leave, we would still be left holding the baby. Do we want that? -- Ejaz Haider URL for this Page: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1230 ----------------     Refusing responsibility Ejaz Haider in the Daily Times, Lahore Friday, March 06, 2009   Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\03\06\story_6-3-2009_pg3_2 It becomes our war not because America is fighting for its interests but because we are under threat ourselves (even if we accept that this is a foreign conspiracy against us). Posited thus, even if America were to pack up and leave, we would still be left holding the baby   How should one open the story of the bombing of the mausoleum of 17th century poet Abdul Rahman, affectionately and reverentially called Rahman Baba by the Pashtun. Let me try.   "Islamist warriors won a great victory Thursday in the ongoing global jihad against the satanic western powers, especially the United States, when they successfully bombed and damaged the mausoleum of Rahman Baba, a Pashto sufi poet."   I can see some readers shaking their heads in disapproval. How could the story begin thus; how could such an outrage be termed jihad?   Okay, how about this.   "Foreign intelligence agencies, inimical to Pakistan and Islam, hatched a conspiracy to get the mausoleum of Rahman Baba bombed as part of their nefarious agenda to discredit the Islamist warrior movement that is now coursing through the veins of the ummah."   No? Not specific enough? Well, I didn't give the full story. There is the sinister hand here of CIA, Mossad, and, yes, Indian R&AW. The second paragraph of the story runs thus:   "The bombing of Rahman Baba's mausoleum is part of the campaign by these intelligence agencies which has earlier seen them perpetrate such acts as bombing girls' schools, blasting CD and barber shops, threatening cinema houses and killing the Shia etc."   There are two versions here and you can take your pick.   Choosing the first could lead to two possible reactions. One, you accept what the warriors have done as correct. You could argue that the target was not Rahman Baba's mausoleum per se; that it was bombed because it was frequented by women and hence needed to be destroyed. It would have stayed unscathed if women had not conspired with the serpent to do mischief. This bit of sophistry could even absolve you of the blame for bombing and destroying the mausoleum.   If you believe this, you are "blessed". In fact, if you haven't already enlisted with the warriors, I suggest that you do so immediately. This choice also means that you reject everything Pakistan currently stands for despite its troubles. At least you are honest in your deadliness because those who don't agree with you must be killed.   The other possibility is that you consider the bombing an outrage; you also consider that the idea of pushing women to the periphery is not one that you could accept or condone. That the Legend of the Fall is not part of the Islamic discourse; in fact, as Allama Iqbal argued in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, eating the Forbidden Fruit was a transition from a state of simple consciousness to one of self-consciousness with all the complexities that such a transition entailed.   But such thinking must also lead you to reconsider any idea about this movement's credentials as Islamist and its exegesis as Islamic.   Moreover, you might begin to see the movement less in terms of its great resistance to the current "satanic" world order and more as a force that wants to tear asunder the social, economic and political fabric of Muslim society.   To quote Mao Tse-Tung, to do so, you would need to figure out where the principal contradiction lies. Does it lie between the West and Muslim societies or does it lie between what can be termed the normalcy of Muslim societies and the millenarianism of this movement?   But let's add a variable. You might praise the warriors, nonetheless, for giving fight to western imperialism. In that case, despite your anger at this outrage, you would likely support the warriors. You will probably ignore what they do within because they are doing something outside which you approve of. The benefit of what they do externally should then outweigh the cost of what they do internally.   But there is a problem with this thinking. What would you do once they are done on the outside; or even that in the course of their struggle against the West they continue to deprive you of what you might otherwise cherish and what makes life worth living. Do note that some of us, yourself included, respect our women and do not want to banish them from social and political spaces on the basis of some regressive ideology.   At the minimum, you will have to accept that much of what the warriors might be doing is not "reactive" but "proactive". I flag this point because sympathisers tend to ignore their actions — for instance chopping off of heads — by arguing that these excesses have to be contextualised and they are "reactive". You will have to accept that what the movement is doing internally is "proactive" cleansing. It is based on an ideology that brooks no opposition, no dialogue.   Whether you want to live with this is a decision you must take, as all of us have to take, and take quickly.   On the other hand, what does it mean if you believe that what is happening — the entire range of activities conducted by the warriors — is a grand foreign conspiracy? Does it mean that Muslims cannot commit such acts and atrocities? Are you abdicating any responsibility? Or is it simply self-denial?   It does seem to me, even if "we" were to choose this line of reasoning, that there are some in our midst, their numbers growing, who are doing the bidding of foreigners to destroy our society.   What does that make them: friends or foes? The question is crucial not only because the enemy-friend distinction is vital — and here I invoke Carl Schmitt again — but because it should be obvious that peoples cannot allow Trojan horses in their midst.   This is not happening, though. What I see instead is an attempt to relinquish responsibility by blaming the "other" without, on the basis of that very logic, looking inside and taking care of those who might be carrying out such an agenda (I am, of course, going by the logic of the argument). This is most amazing and incredibly disturbing. Also, such an attitude can only be begotten of either utter naivety or deliberate perfidy. I suspect the latter is at work here since the logic of the argument of "othering", which supposes help from inside, is so obvious that it could not escape anyone save a village idiot.   The point of convergence in these choices should therefore be clear: a threat we are unprepared or unwilling to address. Here's the rub. Are we going to live with it; or should we face this challenge squarely without hemming and hawing? It becomes our war not because America is fighting for its interests but because we are under threat ourselves (even if we accept that this is a foreign conspiracy against us). Posited thus, even if America were to pack up and leave, we would still be left holding the baby. Do we want that?   Ejaz Haider is Consulting Editor of The Friday Times and Op-Ed Editor of Daily Times. He can be reached at sapper@dailytimes.com.pk --- Abdul Rahman Baba 1651-1710   http://www.khyber.org/people/literary/AbdulRahmanBaba1651-1710.shtml At the dawn of seventeenth century, at the age of invasions from the West by Persians and East by Moghols, a the time when Afghans were in the mist of war in every corner of the nation, a the time when education was the last thing in peoples' mind, a legend was born.   In the high hills of the Afghan nation, in the provincial area of Mohmand, a child was born, by the name of Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman would become one of the greatest poet in the history of the Pashto literature. Abdul Rahman was a man of character and great charisma. As a child, he loved to study and always occupied himself in getting a good education, no matter what it took. He spent much time and effort trying to teach himself.   At a young age, he started studying and reading poetry and became fond of it. He had a gift, poetry, which he would not realize, until later in his life. As he grew older, he started having doubts upon what he was doing, which was studying and writing poetry. He felt lost and not sure about what he was writing, why he was writing and to whom he was writing. Because of this, he entirely abandoned material needs of this world and gave himself to the mercy of God.   The spiritual aspect of God's presents upon him, made him understand that the true way of life was through his religion, Islam. Living a life in solitude, he did not want anyone bothering him when he prayed to God. He had a unique and creative way of praying to God through the gift he had, poetry. He had a deep passion for God, which resulted in writing numerous poems in His honor. Through the understanding of his religion, he wrote magnificent poems, which made him famous in a short period of time.   People admired his work, from Afghanistan to Central Asia to the Indian Subcontinent. Religious scholars found the real meaning of life in his poems. National and political leaders used his poetry for independent uprisings. Musicians used his poetry in their songs. Soon everyone wanted his books, be it for political, religious or other interests and desires. Due to his popularity, Afghans gave him an honorable name "Baba" (Grand father of the nation).   One of the great religious scholar of Suwat(A city in current Pakistan), Suwat Saheeb, said:   "If any other then, the book of God, was permissible for prayer, I would have defiantly chosen Rahman's book."   Rahman Baba published two books from his collections of poetry, which were distributed all over the Afghan nation. Soon his work became a model for new poets, and as a result, many people started learning his way and his direction. A school of poetry was built in his honor and many people came to study in this schools. The Founding Father of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Baba, was one of the students of his school of poetry.   Shakespeare has mentioned that philosophers, poets and insane people are of one nature. A person cannot become one of these just by trying, but they are born that way and they have no choice other then to live by the nature of their life.   After looking through Rahman Baba's poetry, one comes to the conclusion that this great poet was born a poet and had brought the gift of poetry with him from eternal life. Readers will not understand his poetry unless they feel that what their reading is indeed their own thoughts. This might be hard to comprehend but poetry was never meant to be easy. When one opens Rahman Baba's book, they immediately realize that their heart is speaking to them. A reader might wonder how a book written more then four hundred years ago would have their feeling and thoughts of today. It seem as if Rahman Baba's books were written for today's need of literature and one can be sure, that is the case.   Rahman Baba has written difficult poetry in such a unique way that one can immediately grasp the meaning. He has put comprehensive subject into a very layman term. Rahman Baba wanted to teach Afghans and, through Afghans, the whole world the real meaning of life through the love and magnificence of God. He fought against humans' greediness and mischief and promptly explains this devilish worship in most of his poems.   Louis Dupree, in his book "Afghanistan", pointed out to Rahman Baba's teaching: "Rahman Baba was a mystic then warrior. But his mysticism, born of Sufism, also touches the Pashtun cultural essence. Not so proud and fiercely militant as Khushal Khan Khatak, Rahman Baba continually warned the ambitious and proud of their base earthly origin."   Rahman Baba himself explain here:   Live not with thy head showing in the clouds, Thou art by birth the offspring of this earth, The stream that passed the sluice cannot again flow back, Nor can again return the misspent time that sped, Consider well the deeds of the good and bad, Whether in this thy profit lieth or in that.   Rahman Baba loved music and dancing. He specially loved to play the Rabab (an Afghan musical instrument similar to a guitar). By loving beauty of every kind, no matter if it was a human, an animal, or nature, he would describe the eternal beauty of God as a final stage. Considering the beauty here on earth as merely small portion of the beauty to come, he always focused on eternal greatness and beauty which to him was his love, God.   Dr. Abdul Hay Habibi PHD, a great scholar of Afghanistan, described Rahman Baba's poetic structure in these terms. He stated the following:   In this structure a poet accepts eternal believes, which are completely dislodged with this world, and are speaking of a world, great and wonderful, with all its greatness. Poets are away from all the misery of this world and are speaking of peace and humanity, and are usually away from all the troubles of this world.   Feelings and presentation of this structure are pure and wonderful, and the words chosen are simple and to the point.   All types of poetry speaks of pure love and morals. Believe in the true love and avoid evil and use fantasy is a common theme.   Poets believe in love being the center of human life,which depends on intellectual wisdom.   Rahman Baba's poetry is still a great value to Pashto literature and still there are numerous student of his structure today. His fans and students of his school come to his grave side in Peshawar ( N.W.F.P) to remember him on his birth date each year. Poets from all over come to honor him in this special occasion by reciting poems and speeches on his honor, and this will continue for ages. ' --- Taliban bombed Pashtun poet Rehman Baba's mausoleum By Ali Hazrat Bacha (Source: Dawn) MARCH 05, 2009   PESHAWAR: The mausoleum of renowned Pashto mystic poet Abdur Rehman Baba was bombed by unidentified miscreants, badly damaging its structure and his grave in the Hazarkhwani area early on Thursday.   No one was hurt in the bombing, but the blast has left residents deeply shaken.   The shrine's watchman had received a threat from suspected militants on his cell phone three days ago. He told police that the attack took place to crack down on the tradition of women making pilgrimages to the site of the grave of Rehman baba; a 17th century poet, revered for his message of love and peace.   The high intensity device almost destroyed the grave of the Rehman Baba and the gates of a mosque, canteen and conference hall situated in the spacious Rehman Baba Complex.   Police said the bombers had tied explosives around the pillars of the tombs, to pull down the mausoleum.   Following the occurrence visibly shaken followers and volunteers were seen wielding sticks and forcing the visitors to leave the area, fearing that the badly damaged structure of the mausoleum might crumble down.   The police said they suspected the involvement of outlawed Lashkar-i-Islam chief, Mangal Bagh in the incident but were investigating the matter to ascertain the facts.   'We have been able to give them a black eye and this is their way of getting back at us. Its pure desperation,' a senior police official said.   The news of the occurrence soon spread like wildfire and a large number of his followers and other people visited the shrine.   A bomb disposal squad official said that five explosives each weighing around five kgs were planted at the shrine. The explosives, the official said were packed in containers which had been jointly connected and detonated simultaneously.   'The entire area was covered with thick smoke and dust soon after the blast,' said the president of the volunteers of the shrine association of the complex, Sardar Khan, who was busy in removing rubble of the damaged portions.   He told Dawn that he was the first one to reach the shrine after the blast. 'I saw major portion of the grave was blown up and the building was badly damaged but no one was present there,' he said and added that he informed the local police and some media persons about the incident.   He claimed that in past some groups of Taliban-like persons with long hair and beards used to come there and asked the caretaker of the shrine why they had not been forbidding women from visiting the shrine.   'Once two Taliban came and said that performing prayers in the complex mosque was harram and when I heard that I asked them to get lost,' the chief volunteer said.   He said that apparently the miscreants had entered the complex by scaling the boundary wall from the rear side and planted the explosives beneath the four main pillars and one in the grave by connecting them through an electric wire.   Provincial minister for culture and tourism, Syed Aqil Shah, visited the site and stated that although the said complex was attached to the archive department, but he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister regarding the repairing or reconstruction of the mausoleum.   He said that apparently the structure was damaged beyond repairing and had to be reconstructed.   The caretakers said that they had three watchmen who used to perform duties on rotation basis. The concerned watchman said that he was preparing himself for Fajr (morning) prayer when he heard a loud blast.   'I was puzzled and couldn't decide as to what I should do,' one of the caretakers said adding that he had no weapon to resist any attacker. The caretakers and other employees of the complex said that they had time and again informed the officials of Archives Library to beef up security at the complex but to no avail.   Malik Wazir a member of the Rehman Baba Adbi jirga said that there was only one watchman who couldn't check movement of the suspected people around such a vast area of the complex.   He suggested that there must be at least three watchmen armed with sophisticated weapons in each single shift.   The people demanded establishment of a police check post in area. They said that the nearby Akhun Baba graveyard had become a safe heaven for criminals and no one could safely pass through the Rehman Baba Road after evening in routine.   The tomb was a part of the spacious complex housing a conference hall, library, mosque, canteen, guest house, small shrines of some other saints, Tawoos Baba, Syed Sattar Bacha and Syed Sultan Bacha.   The work on construction of the complex was initiated on November 17, 1991 and completed in 1994 with an estimated cost of about 15 million rupees.   Police officials of Yakatut police station said they had no information about threats to the caretakers. They said it couldn't be ascertained as to who was behind the crime. The officials reported that a case against unidentified terrorists had been registered at the police station.   The local Nazim of Hazarkhwani Union Council Hidayatullah Khan Advocate told Dawn that it was a terrorist act and the local population had decided to stage a protest demonstration against it today (Friday).   The nazim said the building was not repairable and demanded of the government to reconstruct it as soon as possible. He said the local lashkar (volunteers) would devise strategy within a couple of days to protect lives and properties from the militants. URL for this Page: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1230