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Thursday, June 30, 2011



How Indian Muslims see Pakistan

How is Pakistan seen by India's Muslims? Since 2001, the view has turned increasingly negative. Let's have a look at such views in three very different Indian publications. One is the conservative Urdu daily Inquilab, read almost exclusively by Muslims. The second, the liberal online paper New Age Islam, published in Urdu and English. Lastly, the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's organ Panchjanya, published in Hindi and read almost exclusively by Hindus. – Aakar Patel in Friday Times, Lahore.
Radical Islamism & Jihad
18 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com
How Indian Muslims see Pakistan

By Aakar Patel
Concerns about growing religious extremism in the neighbouring Islamic republic have been growing since 2001
How is Pakistan seen by India's Muslims? Since 2001, the view has turned increasingly negative. Let's have a look at such views in three very different Indian publications. One is the conservative Urdu daily Inquilab, read almost exclusively by Muslims. The second, the liberal online paper New Age Islam,published in Urdu and English. Lastly, the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's organ Panchjanya, published in Hindi and read almost exclusively by Hindus.
"The nation should have known the consequences of using terror to combat India. The world was not unaware of its breeding of Al Qaeda and the Taliban (sanpolon ko doodh pilaya). Now the snakes are poised to swallow Pakistan (nigalne ke dar pe hain)"
In India's biggest Urdu newspaper Inquilab, Khalid Sheikh wrote under the headline ' Pakistan ka kya hoga?' He felt Pakistan's current problems were the result of its own doing (" jaisi karni waisi bharni"). The nation should have known the consequences of using terror to combat India, he said. The world was not unaware of its breeding of Al Qaeda and the Taliban(" sanpolon ko doodh pilaya"). Now the snakes were poised to swallow Pakistan (" nigalne ke dar pe hain").
Pakistan's leaders were unconcerned (" kaanon par joon tak nahin rengi"). But the world was watching it. The ease with which the Taliban had attacked and destroyed the P3C Orions in Karachi had worried America, Sheikh wrote. It was now concerned about how safe Pakistan's atom bombs, which numbered between 70 and 120, were.
In 2001 Pakistan was viewed as a failed state (" nakaam riasat"). After Osama bin Laden's killing, it won't be long before it is seen as a rogue state (" badmaash riasat mein tabdeel hote dair nahin lagegi").
At the time of Partition, it had been predicted by the wise (" sahib-e-baseerat") that Pakistan would find it difficult to exist (" apna wajood rakhna dushwar hoga"). Sheikh quoted Maulana Azad as writing in 'India Wins Freedom' that Pakistan would be unable to find its bearings (" Pakistan kabhi paedar aur mustahkam na reh sakega"). Its foreign policy consisted of hating India (" Hindustan dushmani") and pleasing America (" Amrika khushnudi").
"A market research company surveyed Pakistanis to ask them what sort of government they wanted. The results were unsurprising. The majority of Pakistanis picked khilafat, for which the Taliban are also agitating. How is it possible, then, that anybody could defy the Taliban?"
The writer thought Pakistan's insistence that relations with India would improve if the Kashmir issue was settled was untrue (" dhakosla hai"). Pakistan was an unreliable neighbour (" ghair-mu'atbar padosi") which was a master of creating tension. If Kashmir was resolved, something else would be conjured up.
Sheikh praised Nawaz Sharif's statement that Pakistan had to stop hating India if it had to progress. US President Barack Obama had said the same thing and America ought to, as France had, terminate military assistance to Pakistan.
Answering the question he had first raised, Sheikh said it was difficult to say what would become of Pakistan because it seemed beyond redemption (" aise mulk ke bare mein kya kaha jaye jahan aawe ka aawa hi bigda hua hai").
In New Age Islam, Dr Shabbir Ahmed wrote on the blasphemy law under the headline 'Pakistan mein tauhin-e-Rasul (PBUH) ka wahshiana qanoon'. Ahmed said Pakistan was obsessed by this issue (" hysteria mein jakda hua hai"). Narrow sectarianism had divided the nation, and every sect thought of others as faithless and hated them.
This frenzy was plunging Pakistan into a state of barbarism (" jahiliyat mein ghota zan hai"). Ahmed feared Pakistan might succumb to civil war (" aisa na ho ke Pakistan khana jangi mein gharq ho jae").
He said Pakistanis had divided Islam (" deen ko tukdon mein baant diya hai"), and quoted verses from the Holy Quran on the Romans (30:32) to support his argument. It was unfortunate that the majority of Pakistanis, including the educated, were in agreement with disagreeable mullahs. Even intellectuals and lawyers had signed on (" scholars aur wukla ne tauhin-e-Rasul (PBUH) qanoon ki puri himayat ki hai").
People believed that punishing blasphemy with death was law in five out of 54 Islamic states, but when asked, only two could be named: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It was difficult to name other states with such harsh laws, though Afghanistan, Sudan and Iran came to mind.
Ahmed wrote that the Holy Quran prescribed no punishment for blasphemy. No one could be ignorant of the clarity of the ayat “la ikraha fi ad-deen" (there is no compulsion in religion) because Allah had sent this message to all humanity. This principle was independent and absolute (" is usool mein kisi tarah ki ki riayyat bhi nahin hai"). With many examples, Ahmed pointed to the pardoning and gentle nature of Islam and of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which he felt was being distorted by Pakistan's law.
In Panchjanya, the RSS Hindi weekly, Muzaffar Hussain wrote on May 22 under the headline“Adhikansh Pakistani Islami khilafat ke paksh mein" (A majority of Pakistanis favours khilafat).
He reported the findings of an opinion poll. The market research company MEMRB had surveyed Pakistanis to ask them what sort of government they wanted. Did they want khilafat as prescribed by Islam? They were also offered the option of tyranny (" anya vikalpon mein janta se poocha hai ke kya woh tanashahi pasand karenge?"). Hussain wrote that by this was meant martial law, and it was related to something found commonly in Muslim nations. This was the presence of sheikhs and kings (" Islami deshon mein aaj bhi raja aur sheikh hain") who ruled through lineage for generations. The last option offered was democracy "as the world knew it".
The results were unsurprising to Hussain. The majority of Pakistanis picked khilafat, for which the Taliban were also agitating. How was it possible, then, that anybody could defy the Taliban?
Neutral Pakistanis (" Tattastha log") were merely being realistic in staying silent against extremism. Why should anyone endanger their life by opposing khilafat? (" Islami khilafat ka virodh karne ki himmat kaun kar sakta hai?")
The survey was conducted in 30 cities and 60 villages. Those in favour of khilafat were 56%. These people said that Pakistan's creation was rooted in religion and the state should therefore be Islamic. Those favouring dictatorship were 22%. They felt Pakistan had progressed only under military strongmen (" jo pragati hui hai woh keval sainik tanashahon ke karan hui hai"). Only 11% of Pakistanis preferred secular democracy. These figures did not vary significantly between urban respondents and those in villages, those who conducted the survey said. There was some difference however with respect to the residents of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. In these cities, 40% preferred martial law and 39% preferred khilafat. In Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, those who wanted khilafat were 60%. In Balochistan and Sindh, about 35% preferred martial law.
The survey did not vary much by age. Those between 16 and 60 preferred khilafat by 66%. Surprisingly, both the illiterate and the very literate approved of khilafat.
Hussain felt that the collapse of the Turkish caliphate had left Muslim nations in disarray (" Islami jagat titar-bitar ho gaya hai"). Both Bhutto and Gen Zia had wanted Saudi Arabia's king to be crowned caliph of all Muslims.
Aakar Patel is a director with Hill Road Media, Mumbai
Source: The Friday Times, Lahore


Radical Islamism & Jihad
30 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Extremists Need a Dose of Reality

Innovations always would be initially resisted and labelled as “Bidaa,” meaning an un-Islamic practice, before finally being accepted by society. For example, the introduction of photography, and television were met with great resistance before they were accepted or tolerated in the 1960s. They perceive any change as a threat that would undermine their authority and control. Their ideology still remains the same — intolerant of any change. The resistance to modernize Saudi Arabia by the religious scholars during the early rule of King Faisal was far greater than it is today, yet he continued to modernize the country and defied the fundamentalists without compromising Islamic values and principles. During the 1990s, satellite dishes, cellular phones and the Internet were strongly attacked before they became popular and adopted for religious affairs. -- Samar Fatany
Extremists Need a Dose of Reality

By Samar Fatany
We can’t be a global leader and medieval backwater at the same time.
The Saudi leadership has pushed for modernizing the country since the 1950s. However, what slows progress always is the religious extremists who resist any change in the traditional lifestyle.
Innovations always would be initially resisted and labelled as “Bidaa,” meaning an un-Islamic practice, before finally being accepted by society. For example, the introduction of photography, and television were met with great resistance before they were accepted or tolerated in the 1960s. They perceive any change as a threat that would undermine their authority and control. Their ideology still remains the same — intolerant of any change.
The resistance to modernize Saudi Arabia by the religious scholars during the early rule of King Faisal was far greater than it is today, yet he continued to modernize the country and defied the fundamentalists without compromising Islamic values and principles.
King Faisal had several major encounters with the extremists including introducing education for women and girls, establishing the first television station, lifting the ban on music and songs and introducing pension and social insurance programs.
In 1964 King Faisal launched the first television station. The TV station was met with even stronger condemnation to the extent that there was an armed attack on the station. However, the encounter with art lasted longer. Art was never encouraged. Photography, sculpture, painting, theatre and film were prohibited. Cameras were confiscated and destroyed. It was only during King Fahd's rule in the 1970s that attempts were made to raise the cultural and artistic standards in the Kingdom.
The 1976 attack on the Grand Mosque in Makkah by extremists created a major setback for Saudi reforms and attempts to modernize the country. The militants advocated a return to medieval days and stricter religious laws, in particular an end to education for women and the abolition of television. Unfortunately, after that incident more rigid Islamic policies were imposed, and the path of progress was delayed for many years.
The struggle to preserve archaeological sites and Saudi antiquities is another conflict between reformers and hard-liners and it still goes on until this day. Extremists have destroyed much of our valuable heritage and continue to resist government initiatives to protect our sacred and historical sites in Makkah and Medina.
During the 1990s, satellite dishes, cellular phones and the Internet were strongly attacked before they became popular and adopted for religious affairs. Common fatwas stated that a person who watched TV, listened to music, or whose family did not cover their faces was a sinner. Some fatwas even made it permissible to kill the owner of satellite TV networks because they broadcast immoral content. Today there are many networks funded and supported for Islamic programs.
King Abdullah University for Science and Technology is another example of extremist scholars' resistance to change. KAUST, King Abdullah's coeducational, world-class research center, has been openly condemned by one senior religious official and other extremist scholars who issued a fatwa stating that the lack of segregation in the university is forbidden in Islam. That senior religious official was later fired, and all voices against the beacon of knowledge were silenced once and for all.
King Abdullah's personal involvement in supporting this project stems from his desire to serve humanity and promote the true spirit of Islam. It has been his dream for many years. In his inaugural speech, the king said, “Humanity has been the target of vicious attacks from extremists who speak the language of hatred ... undoubtedly; scientific centers that embrace all peoples are the first line of defence against extremists. And today this university will become a house of wisdom to all its peers around the world, a beacon of tolerance.”
Source: Arab News


Islamic Society
30 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Death of a language, Urdu, that Pakistanis call India's Stepchild

Every morning I open the Urdu newspapers with dread. Will I have to read yet another regressive rant by those who call themselves the custodians of Islam, or one more litany on the wrongs done to the Muslim community worldwide? Sadly, the answer is yes. What better example of this kind of bigotry than the headline in the Urdu Times on January 9: 'Sharon ki maut par jashn manaya jayega' (Sharon's death will be celebrated)? Muslims, madrassas, reservations in a Muslim university, a mosque under threat, another lavish one being built, Muslims being oppressed from Kashmir to Kandahar and Baghdad to Bradford, Bosnia, Palestine, Afghanistan. These are the staples that Urdu dailies thrive on. It appears as if nothing else in the world is newsworthy unless it has Muslims at its centre, preferably in a situation of victimhood. -- Mohammed Wajihuddin
Death of a language, Urdu, that Pakistanis call India's Stepchild

By Mohammed Wajihuddin,
Jan 13, 2006,
Every morning I open the Urdu newspapers with dread. Will I have to read yet another regressive rant by those who call themselves the custodians of Islam, or one more litany on the wrongs done to the Muslim community worldwide?
Sadly, the answer is yes. What better example of this kind of bigotry than the headline in the Urdu Times on January 9: 'Sharon ki maut par jashn manaya jayega' (Sharon's death will be celebrated)?
Muslims, madrassas, reservations in a Muslim university, a mosque under threat, another lavish one being built, Muslims being oppressed from Kashmir to Kandahar and Baghdad to Bradford, Bosnia, Palestine, Afghanistan.
These are the staples that Urdu dailies thrive on. It appears as if nothing else in the world is newsworthy unless it has Muslims at its centre, preferably in a situation of victimhood.
But a paper is a hard habit to break, no matter how parochial, bland or offensive. And it is also unfair to tar all the Urdu dailies with the same green brush.
But since Hyderabad's leading Urdu daily Siasat is hosting the World Urdu Conference between January 14 and 16, it is an excellent opportunity for leading dailies and their readership to do some introspection and take a hard look at the fare being dished out everyday.
This exercise might be more constructive than breast beating about the tardy treatment meted out to the Urdu language by an apathetic government.
Urdu, the epitome of our 'Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb' (composite culture), is in its death throes. And nowhere is the decay more pronounced than its press, once the sentinel of freedom of thought and speech, mores and conduct. Urdu journalism prided itself on its glorious past.
If Maulvi Mohammed Baqar, an Urdu editor in Delhi, became the first Indian journalist who was martyred during the 1857 rising, Urdu journalists and writers like Maulana Azad, Maulana Mohammed Ali and Maulana Hasrat Mohani suffered rigorous imprisonment for opposing the British raj.
The spirit of Urdu, and its press, before it was trussed into a religious achkan, was secular, its tone revolutionary and progressive. It was never a language of the Muslims.
Munshi Prem Chand, Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar, Krishen Chandar, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Josh Malsiyani were leading exponents of the language. How many Hindus does Urdu need to flaunt to prove its appeal across religions?


Islam, Women and Feminism
30 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Harassment: Fact, Perception and Law

The honourable judges also held that “girls are as much entitled to fresh air as boys and that by permitting them to go unescorted and without purdah they are fostering in them a feeling of independence, confidence and self-reliance. A substantial number of incidents of harassment occur in schools, colleges, universities and academies, as well as on the Internet. Second, the amendment has failed to address the issue of procedure and its accessibility for women in relation to the offence. -- Hina Hafeezullah Ishaq

Harassment: Fact, Perception and Law

By Hina Hafeezullah Ishaq
“The fact that a girl old enough to look after herself decides to walk in a public place without someone to look after her and without purdah can never be a ground for a miscreant to tease or annoy her for that reason”
In 1957, a five-member bench of the honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan gave a landmark judgment, which sadly has sat in the archives of case law for more than half a century, without being cited much in recent years. In 1954, a group of girls from a college in Lahore went to the Hiran Minar, Sheikhupura, for a picnic, with the permission of their principal. Whilst they were there they were hounded and followed by a group of boys, who uttered obscene words and made indecent gestures at them. The girls reported the incident to the Sheikhupura police, who, after investigation, filed a report, among others, under Section 509 PPC. The additional district magistrate convicted three boys under Section 509. An appeal was preferred to the learned additional sessions judge, Sheikhupura, who acquitted them, holding that no offence had been committed. He also held that boys had an equal right to be in the park and that the girls were ‘rowdy’, unaccompanied and without purdah (veil) and the college administration had been imprudent in letting them go unsupervised.
The government appealed to the high court where the matter was heard by a division bench. The order of acquittal was set aside and that of the trial court restored. The boys then appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The honourable Supreme Court observed: “The learned additional sessions judge displayed a serious lack of judicial equilibrium in preaching a sermon to the management of the college that girls should not be permitted to go unescorted and without purdah and that the conduct attributed to the young men who followed and pestered them was perfectly natural.”
The honourable judges also held that “girls are as much entitled to fresh air as boys and that by permitting them to go unescorted and without purdah they are fostering in them a feeling of independence, confidence and self-reliance. The fact that a girl old enough to look after herself decides to walk in a public place without someone to look after her and without purdah can never be a ground for a miscreant to tease or annoy her for that reason. If the learned judge thought that the appearance of educated girls in public places furnishes excusable provocation to young men who come or happen to be in that place, then he was propounding an extremely pernicious doctrine.”
The convictions were upheld.
Harassment of women has been cropping up as an issue, forcing the government to introduce The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 and also to make amendments in Section 509 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
‘Harass’ in the legal lexicon is defined as “injure” with its synonyms being “to weary, tire, perplex, distress, tease, vex, molest, trouble, disturb”, relating to mental annoyance and troubling of the spirit. In the context of the Workplace Act, harassment has been defined as: “Any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours or other verbal or written communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature, or sexually demeaning attitudes, causing interference with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, or the attempt to punish the complainant for refusal to comply to such a request or is made a condition for employment. The above is unacceptable behaviour in the organisation and at the workplace, including in any interaction or situation that is linked to official work or official activity outside the office.”
Sexual harassment at the workplace has been covered as abuse of authority, creating a hostile environment and retaliation. Also, the definition of ‘complainant’ includes men as well as women, despite the title of the act. Sexual harassment, as explained in the Pakistan Penal Code, is almost the same as above but in addition to the workplace, it also covers public places like parks, markets, streets, public transport, as well as private places, including homes.
What the amendment to Section 509 PPC has failed to specifically address is the issue of harassment at educational institutions (though covered in the Workplace Act 2010) and cyber-stalking (previously covered in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2008, currently lapsed). A substantial number of incidents of harassment occur in schools, colleges, universities and academies, as well as on the Internet. Second, the amendment has failed to address the issue of procedure and its accessibility for women in relation to the offence. As regards educational institutions, stricter laws with committees within the institutions, maybe with an independent member, possibly a female lawyer or a psychologist, need to be put in place. Also, stricter punishments need to be implemented against aggressors who are in a position of duty, protection or care including, but not limited to, guardians, educators, trainers, health providers and public officials. Further, the fact of non-availability of independent evidence in such cases needs to be kept in mind and a confidence-inspiring sole testimony of the victim taken into account.
There appears to be no application of mind in amending Section 509 of the Pakistan Penal Code. First of all, sexual harassment included therein is a non-cognizable offence, which means that an FIR cannot be registered without the permission of the magistrate, nor can the offence be investigated without the same, nor can the accused be arrested without a warrant. The law fails to address the hurdles and impossibility of women getting relief under the said provision as well as the probability of re-victimisation upon complaint by the police, the aggressor as well as our lower judicial system. If a woman is harassed in a public place or transport, first she has to locate the police station, which can exercise jurisdiction in order to make a report; further, no procedure has been laid down how unknown persons would be identified and taken to task. One possibility is to make a prompt call to 15, the police emergency, but again our cultural biases and attitudes may come into play, resulting in further hardship for the complainant.
If we were to sincerely address the miseries of women in our country and also uphold the protection of equality given to them by our constitution, the first step would be easy and speedy access to justice. Special laws for protection against harassment in all spheres need to be made instead of practically unenforceable amendments. The law protecting women against harassment at the workplace and the mandatory code of conduct need to be strictly enforced. Prevention of retaliation by the aggressor needs to be implemented in letter and spirit.
Most of all, we need to educate the masses, the law enforcement agencies, our legal practitioners as well as the judiciary. We need to empower our girls to use their rights not in a slipshod manner, but to exercise prudence and make informed choices. We urgently need to stop blaming the victim and instead focus on the aggressor so that such acts are not repeated. It needs to be remembered that the most vulnerable are girls from the middle and low socio-economic status, who have limited choices in life, travel in public transport, and do not have the luxury of relying on their background and contacts to be able to take a stand or make a complaint. We need to ensure that such victims do not suffer in silence. There is a need for a sustained collaborative effort by all segments of society and not just a temporary hype.
The writer is an advocate of Pakistan high court.
Source: The Daily Times, Lahore


Spiritual Meditations
30 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

How I Met Tagore’s Kabuliwala at Khyber Pass!

I halted at the State Tourism Guest House outside Taxila Museum. Archaeological sites dating back to the 5th century B.C. offers a glimpse of rich Gandhara arts, architecture, sculpture and learning of the Buddhist heritage of the central Asian civilization. Entire site of this great historical vintage was well preserved and protected by armed guards. Security officer’s room was echoing with popular Indian songs. Looking at the artefacts of the ancient heritage one wonders what had gone wrong with the people of this great civilisation. Just a few kms. away, beyond the Khyber Pass, monumental structures of the great civilization, 5 storey tall, mountain statues of Bamian Buddhas were, inside Afghanistan, blown to dust by the Taliban government. A young curator confirmed unnecessary hostility prevailing towards “Indian civilization”. No Pakistani visits the site of Taxila, nor had any Indian visited Taxila confirmed the curator. Has he visited the Buddhist sites in India? -- Dhirendra Sharma

How I Met Tagore’s Kabuliwala at Khyber Pass!

By Dhirendra Sharma
Having overthrown an elected government, General Pervez Musharraf had, at the gunpoint, declared himself President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. But Musharraf was not the first dictator of Pakistan. When I crossed over Wagah border, the people of Pakistan had been under seize for well over 55 years. And I was visiting my childhood land after six decades. For all practical purposes I was not in an alien country. The people spoke familiar dialect, wore the same dress and ate the same food. After visiting Karachi, I was heading to Peshawar from Lahore via Islamabad and Rawalpindi
American presence in Pakistan notwithstanding, the motor highway to Peshawar was ditto copy of the U.S. Motorways – built by South Korean engineers. Military Raj had produced Atom Bombs but in a Third World country the motorway was the symbol of modernity. The bus too was made in South Korea but the video playing was an Indian Bollywood hit.
I halted at the State Tourism Guest House outside Taxila Museum. Archaeological sites dating back to the 5th century B.C. offers a glimpse of rich Gandhara arts, architecture, sculpture and learning of the Buddhist heritage of the central Asian civilization. Entire site of this great historical vintage was well preserved and protected by armed guards. Security officer’s room was echoing with popular Indian songs.
Looking at the artefacts of the ancient heritage one wonders what had gone wrong with the people of this great civilisation. Just a few kms. away, beyond the Khyber Pass, monumental structures of the great civilization, 5 storey tall, mountain statues of Bamian Buddhas were, inside Afghanistan, blown to dust by the Taliban government. A young curator confirmed unnecessary hostility prevailing towards “Indian civilization”. No Pakistani visits the site of Taxila, nor had any Indian visited Taxila confirmed the curator. Has he visited the Buddhist sites in India?
“I am working here for 20 years, but have not been to Sanchi, Vaishali or Bodh Gaya.
No Indian scholar had visited us. Nor have we in touch with any Buddhist centre in India,” he lamented, but assured me that many western, European and American Indologists– do frequently visit Taxila to study the ancient Indian history.
In Peshawar, we collected permit to visit the Khyber Pass and a gunman escort was provided for personal safety. The Gateway to the sub-continent, which Alexander took around 350 BC., is the Khyber Pass –through which came Babar and Tamur Lang, and the route that allowed the British to colonize India.
At the height of Khyber, today, every stone is witness of human tragedy: The vast Refugee camps where over two million Afghan people-mingling, quarreling, living out with peddling drugs, guns and prostitution. Two teenage boys offered us bundles of thousands of Taliban currency for one-US dollar baksheesh! They don’t go to school, and had been orphaned during the tragic civil war. Mother and sister had disappeared during the Islamic Taliban revolution.
Three local Pathans were enjoying mid-day meal, crossed legs on a clean spread of duree. “Our Indian guest must break roti with us”, insisted friendly Kabuliwalas. Being a vegetarian, politely I excused. But “Tumko kaun bola gosht khane KO?’ one Pathan roared and I floored to eat “Chane ki daal, mooli and Peshawri nan”. They were opposed to Talibanisation of the region and very angry with Musharraf’s friendship with the Yankee bully Bush. Nearby was an international gun market where one could openly purchase high-powered guns and missiles, Made in USA, Russia and China.
At the Frontier Gandhi’s Abode:
Returning to Peshawar, I visited “Wali Bagh” – the country residency of Dr. Wali Khan, the illustrious son of the late Frontier Gandhi, Abdul Gaffar Khan.
Dr.and Mrs. Wali Khan narrated atrocities committed by the Pakistani military dictators upon the helpless Pakhtoon nation of the North West Frontier. Cry for Freedom in Bangladesh was helped by India but the struggle of the Pakhtoons was lost in the cold-war strategy of the western powers (US and UK) who used Islamabad to crush aspiration of the Pakhtoon nationalism. But the Frontier Gandhi refused to recognize the Islamic Republic and had willed not to be buried in the na-Pak soil. His last resting place is across the Khyber, in the Pakhtoon soil of Afghanistan.
“India had abandoned us to the wolves”, wailed the Khan. He listed Pakhtoon families who on Mahatma Gandhi’s call gave up guns; becoming “Unarmed Volunteers” (khudai-khidmadgar) led by the Frontier Gandhi. More than 15,000 of them were imprisoned during the Indian Freedom Struggle 1942. But they had carried the Gandhi an Torch of Freedom inside the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier. But at the Mid Night hour of Independence, (1946), the Indian Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru accepted the Partition. No one considered the future of the Pakhtoom people. Nehru did not consult the Frontier Gandhi. No-reward, or recognition was given to the sacrifices of the Pakhtoon people. They received no Freedom Fighters’ pension. Tagore had written a play “Kabuliwala” made into a film.
But New Delhi government had thrown the Pakhtoons to the wolfs. During the British Raj the Frontier Gandhi had spent eight years in prison But he was kept in prison for eighteen years by the Military rulers of Islamabad. His son Dr. Wali Khan too had spent three years under the British but Pakistani dictators kept him in prison for eight years. In the residency of Wali Khan, I visited the Saga of the Indian Freedom Struggle. Thousands of photographs of 1942 Quit India years of our last Battle of Independence led by Mahatma Gandhi were spread over all the walls of the Khan’s house. Outside was playing the Kabuliwala film song …aye mere pyaare vatan…un havaon ko Salaam!
Let a joined statue of Gandhi and Khan be placed at the India Gate!


Current affairs
30 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Chinese Mining Companies Make Inroads into Gilgit's Mineral-rich Region

At a time when the distance between American and Pakistani priorities in the post-Osama period continues to grow, China is passionately vouching for Pakistan's entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is seen as the upcoming Asian NATO. For some time now, China and Pakistan have aspired to create a regional alliance comprising the Arab countries, Central Asian Republics, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, and SCO could most likely help that dream come true. But there is more to it than meets the eye. The lynchpin connecting these countries will be Gilgit Baltistan, a disputed region rivaling Serbia in area. Although constitutionally a part of India and bordering China's Xinjiang province, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Gilgit Baltistan remains in Pakistani control since 1947. Today, Chinese miners and their affiliates are everywhere in Gilgit Baltistan especially in the Hunza-Nagar district, which is rich in uranium and certain minerals used in space technology. -- Senge Hasnan Sering,

Chinese Mining Companies Make Inroads into Gilgit's Mineral-rich Region

By Senge Hasnan Sering,
29 Jun, 2011,
China rejects reports of presence of Chinese troops in PoK
At a time when the distance between American and Pakistani priorities in the post-Osama period continues to grow, China is passionately vouching for Pakistan's entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is seen as the upcoming Asian NATO. For some time now, China and Pakistan have aspired to create a regional alliance comprising the Arab countries, Central Asian Republics, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, and SCO could most likely help that dream come true.
But there is more to it than meets the eye. The lynchpin connecting these countries will be Gilgit Baltistan, a disputed region rivaling Serbia in area. Although constitutionally a part of India and bordering China's Xinjiang province, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Gilgit Baltistan remains in Pakistani control since 1947.
The political uncertainty owing to India's claim to the region is especially worrisome for China, which currently depends on her southern neighbour for two reasons. Firstly, China uses transit routes of Gilgit Baltistan to reach Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and the ports along the coastline of Arabian Sea; and secondly, Chinese mining companies control the region's much valued mineral deposits of uranium, gold, copper, marble and precious stones.
However the locals continue to resist China's ambitions. In 2008, for instance, a local person was killed when the residents of uranium-rich Gindai valley in Ghizer district clashed with Chinese miners. A Pakistani company called Mohmand Minerals met the same fate in 2010 in Nasirabad valley of Hunza district where the infamous Babajan Hunzai of Progressive Youth Front spearheads the resistance against Pakistani and Chinese expansionism. Today, more than a 100 local right defenders are locked up in Pakistani jails and face sedition charges for denying space to the Chinese and Pakistani mining companies in their valleys.
But the person, making the headlines in local newspapers for criticizing foreign miners, is Advocate Shahbaz Khan, the chairperson of Metals, Minerals and Gems Association of Gilgit Baltistan , who has recently accused some individuals of acquiring 35 tonnes of certain mineral deposits from uranium-rich Karkalti village of Ghizer district, and smuggling to China.
Shahbaz is also critical of a uranium exploration company called Mohsin Industries, which has sought partnership with the locals as well as Chinese and Korean miners. Last year, Mohsin Industries was banned for attempting to smuggle uranium outside Pakistan. However, the company has recently been awarded exploration licenses in the uranium-rich areas of Sakwar, Minawar, Pari Bangla and Bonji, as well as parts of Shigar district and Skardo.
Locals accuse Mohsin Industries of bypassing standard procedures to obtain licenses. Mirza Hussain, a member of the Gilgit Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) from Nagar, believes that the owner of the Mohsin Industries receives special treatment due to his close links with the director general of the Federal Mineral Development Agency and Syed Mehdi Shah, who is currently the chief minister of Gilgit Baltistan. Hussain also suspects that its owner has established links with members of pro-Taliban groups such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Today, Chinese miners and their affiliates are everywhere in Gilgit Baltistan especially in the Hunza-Nagar district, which is rich in uranium and certain minerals used in space technology. Some areas in upper Hunza, for instance, like the Chapursan valley have become no-go areas, where the Chinese continue their work on tunnel building and mineral exploration.
Source: The Economic Times, New Delhi


Radical Islamism & Jihad
18 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

How Indian Muslims see Pakistan

How is Pakistan seen by India's Muslims? Since 2001, the view has turned increasingly negative. Let's have a look at such views in three very different Indian publications. One is the conservative Urdu daily Inquilab, read almost exclusively by Muslims. The second, the liberal online paper New Age Islam, published in Urdu and English. Lastly, the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's organ Panchjanya, published in Hindi and read almost exclusively by Hindus. – Aakar Patel in Friday Times, Lahore.
How Indian Muslims see Pakistan

By Aakar Patel
Concerns about growing religious extremism in the neighbouring Islamic republic have been growing since 2001
How is Pakistan seen by India's Muslims? Since 2001, the view has turned increasingly negative. Let's have a look at such views in three very different Indian publications. One is the conservative Urdu daily Inquilab, read almost exclusively by Muslims. The second, the liberal online paper New Age Islam,published in Urdu and English. Lastly, the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's organ Panchjanya, published in Hindi and read almost exclusively by Hindus.
"The nation should have known the consequences of using terror to combat India. The world was not unaware of its breeding of Al Qaeda and the Taliban (sanpolon ko doodh pilaya). Now the snakes are poised to swallow Pakistan (nigalne ke dar pe hain)"
In India's biggest Urdu newspaper Inquilab, Khalid Sheikh wrote under the headline ' Pakistan ka kya hoga?' He felt Pakistan's current problems were the result of its own doing (" jaisi karni waisi bharni"). The nation should have known the consequences of using terror to combat India, he said. The world was not unaware of its breeding of Al Qaeda and the Taliban(" sanpolon ko doodh pilaya"). Now the snakes were poised to swallow Pakistan (" nigalne ke dar pe hain").
Pakistan's leaders were unconcerned (" kaanon par joon tak nahin rengi"). But the world was watching it. The ease with which the Taliban had attacked and destroyed the P3C Orions in Karachi had worried America, Sheikh wrote. It was now concerned about how safe Pakistan's atom bombs, which numbered between 70 and 120, were.
In 2001 Pakistan was viewed as a failed state (" nakaam riasat"). After Osama bin Laden's killing, it won't be long before it is seen as a rogue state (" badmaash riasat mein tabdeel hote dair nahin lagegi").
At the time of Partition, it had been predicted by the wise (" sahib-e-baseerat") that Pakistan would find it difficult to exist (" apna wajood rakhna dushwar hoga"). Sheikh quoted Maulana Azad as writing in 'India Wins Freedom' that Pakistan would be unable to find its bearings (" Pakistan kabhi paedar aur mustahkam na reh sakega"). Its foreign policy consisted of hating India (" Hindustan dushmani") and pleasing America (" Amrika khushnudi").
"A market research company surveyed Pakistanis to ask them what sort of government they wanted. The results were unsurprising. The majority of Pakistanis picked khilafat, for which the Taliban are also agitating. How is it possible, then, that anybody could defy the Taliban?"
The writer thought Pakistan's insistence that relations with India would improve if the Kashmir issue was settled was untrue (" dhakosla hai"). Pakistan was an unreliable neighbour (" ghair-mu'atbar padosi") which was a master of creating tension. If Kashmir was resolved, something else would be conjured up.
Sheikh praised Nawaz Sharif's statement that Pakistan had to stop hating India if it had to progress. US President Barack Obama had said the same thing and America ought to, as France had, terminate military assistance to Pakistan.
Answering the question he had first raised, Sheikh said it was difficult to say what would become of Pakistan because it seemed beyond redemption (" aise mulk ke bare mein kya kaha jaye jahan aawe ka aawa hi bigda hua hai").
In New Age Islam, Dr Shabbir Ahmed wrote on the blasphemy law under the headline 'Pakistan mein tauhin-e-Rasul (PBUH) ka wahshiana qanoon'. Ahmed said Pakistan was obsessed by this issue (" hysteria mein jakda hua hai"). Narrow sectarianism had divided the nation, and every sect thought of others as faithless and hated them.
This frenzy was plunging Pakistan into a state of barbarism (" jahiliyat mein ghota zan hai"). Ahmed feared Pakistan might succumb to civil war (" aisa na ho ke Pakistan khana jangi mein gharq ho jae").
He said Pakistanis had divided Islam (" deen ko tukdon mein baant diya hai"), and quoted verses from the Holy Quran on the Romans (30:32) to support his argument. It was unfortunate that the majority of Pakistanis, including the educated, were in agreement with disagreeable mullahs. Even intellectuals and lawyers had signed on (" scholars aur wukla ne tauhin-e-Rasul (PBUH) qanoon ki puri himayat ki hai").
People believed that punishing blasphemy with death was law in five out of 54 Islamic states, but when asked, only two could be named: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It was difficult to name other states with such harsh laws, though Afghanistan, Sudan and Iran came to mind.
Ahmed wrote that the Holy Quran prescribed no punishment for blasphemy. No one could be ignorant of the clarity of the ayat “la ikraha fi ad-deen" (there is no compulsion in religion) because Allah had sent this message to all humanity. This principle was independent and absolute (" is usool mein kisi tarah ki ki riayyat bhi nahin hai"). With many examples, Ahmed pointed to the pardoning and gentle nature of Islam and of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which he felt was being distorted by Pakistan's law.
In Panchjanya, the RSS Hindi weekly, Muzaffar Hussain wrote on May 22 under the headline“Adhikansh Pakistani Islami khilafat ke paksh mein" (A majority of Pakistanis favours khilafat).
He reported the findings of an opinion poll. The market research company MEMRB had surveyed Pakistanis to ask them what sort of government they wanted. Did they want khilafat as prescribed by Islam? They were also offered the option of tyranny (" anya vikalpon mein janta se poocha hai ke kya woh tanashahi pasand karenge?"). Hussain wrote that by this was meant martial law, and it was related to something found commonly in Muslim nations. This was the presence of sheikhs and kings (" Islami deshon mein aaj bhi raja aur sheikh hain") who ruled through lineage for generations. The last option offered was democracy "as the world knew it".
The results were unsurprising to Hussain. The majority of Pakistanis picked khilafat, for which the Taliban were also agitating. How was it possible, then, that anybody could defy the Taliban?
Neutral Pakistanis (" Tattastha log") were merely being realistic in staying silent against extremism. Why should anyone endanger their life by opposing khilafat? (" Islami khilafat ka virodh karne ki himmat kaun kar sakta hai?")
The survey was conducted in 30 cities and 60 villages. Those in favour of khilafat were 56%. These people said that Pakistan's creation was rooted in religion and the state should therefore be Islamic. Those favouring dictatorship were 22%. They felt Pakistan had progressed only under military strongmen (" jo pragati hui hai woh keval sainik tanashahon ke karan hui hai"). Only 11% of Pakistanis preferred secular democracy. These figures did not vary significantly between urban respondents and those in villages, those who conducted the survey said. There was some difference however with respect to the residents of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. In these cities, 40% preferred martial law and 39% preferred khilafat. In Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, those who wanted khilafat were 60%. In Balochistan and Sindh, about 35% preferred martial law.
The survey did not vary much by age. Those between 16 and 60 preferred khilafat by 66%. Surprisingly, both the illiterate and the very literate approved of khilafat.
Hussain felt that the collapse of the Turkish caliphate had left Muslim nations in disarray (" Islami jagat titar-bitar ho gaya hai"). Both Bhutto and Gen Zia had wanted Saudi Arabia's king to be crowned caliph of all Muslims.
Aakar Patel is a director with Hill Road Media, Mumbai
Source: The Friday Times, Lahore


Islam and Sectarianism
29 Jun 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

PAKISTAN: Legitimizing Murder

On June 10, 2011, the All Pakistan Students Khatm-e-Nubuwat (End of Prophethood) Federation issued pamphlets branding members of the Ahmadiyya community as "wajib-ul-qatl" (obligatory to be killed). The pamphlet, circulated in Faisalabad District of Punjab Province, read, "To shoot such people is an act of jihad and to kill such people is an act of sawab (blessing)." To identify 1,468 news articles and editorials promoting hate, intolerance and discrimination against Ahmadis in 2010. The monthly Persecution Report for March 2011 stated that the figure of hate literature increased from 1,033 news items in 2008, to 1,116 items in 2009. For instance, Ilyas Chinioti, a member of the mainstream political formation, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who visited Bangladesh as a lecturer on the "End of Prophethood" in 2005, condemned the Ahmadiyyas as the deviant sect. On January 14, 2010, he was quoted by Daily Ausaf as stating, "Qadianis (Ahmadiyas) are rebels of the country and the millat (Islamic society)." On September 7, 2010, Daily Nawa-i-Waqt, a competitor of the Daily Ausaf in obscurantism, quoted Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, a maulvi in Faisalabad District, declaring, "The penalty of death for apostasy should be imposed (on the Ahmadiyyas)." -- Ambreen Agha

PAKISTAN: Legitimizing Murder

By Ambreen Agha
27 June 2011
The only cure for Qadianis (Ahmadis): Al Jihad Al Jihad...
Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwat calendar, 2010
On June 10, 2011, the All Pakistan Students Khatm-e-Nubuwat (End of Prophethood) Federation issued pamphlets branding members of the Ahmadiyya community as "wajib-ul-qatl" (obligatory to be killed). The pamphlet, circulated in Faisalabad District of Punjab Province, read, "To shoot such people is an act of jihad and to kill such people is an act of sawab (blessing)."
On June 13, 2011, reports revealed that terrorists were chalking out a plan to attack prominent members of the Ahmadi community in the country, starting from Faisalabad. Sources in the local Law Enforcement Agencies also revealed that different terrorist outfits have joined together in this mission and had initiated the campaign with the distribution of pamphlets and organization of meetings in local seminaries against the Ahmadis, claiming that the Ahmadi citizens of the country were involved in conspiracies against Islam and Pakistan.
There is little that is new here. According to partial data in a report titled, The Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the Year 2010, 203 Ahmadis have been killed since 1984, ninety-nine of these during 2010 alone. It was in 1984 that the then military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq promulgated the anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance XX which added Sections 298-B and 298-C to the Pakistan Penal Code. Through this ordinance, the religious rights of Ahmadis were directly curtailed: Ahmadis could be imprisoned for three years and fined an arbitrary amount for ordinary expression of their faith. In addition to prohibiting them from proselytizing, the ordinance expressly forbade them from certain religious practices and usage of Islamic terminology. This ordinance effectively makes a criminal out of every Ahmadi by including the broad provision of "posing as a Muslim" a cognizable offence, giving the extremists a carte blanche to terrorize Ahmadis with the backing of the state apparatus.
Fatalities among Ahmadiyyas: 2001-2011
Years No. of Incidents Killed
2001 6 12
2002 6 9
2003 4 3
2004 2 1
2005 11 11
2006 7 3
2007 5 5
2008 5 6
2009 11 11
2010 13 99
2011* 3 1
Total 73 161
Source: The Persecution of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community [*Data till April 30, 2011]
Since 1984, the number of attempts to murder Ahmadis stands at 234. 119 incidents of violence targeting Ahmadiyya Mosques were also reported over this period. 3,816 faith related Police cases have been registered against Ahmadis, including 434 cases for 'posing' as Muslims and 298 under the country's extreme blasphemy law, which carries a mandatory death sentence.
In the most lethal attack targeting Ahmadiyyas, at least 86 worshippers of Ahmadiyya community were killed and 98 severely injured in a suicide attack at Darul Zikr and Baitul Noor mosques in Model Town and Garhi Shahu areas of Lahore District in Punjab Province on May 28, 2010. Later, claiming responsibility for the attack, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) congratulated Pakistanis for the attacks and called people of the Ahmadiyya and Shia communities "the enemies of Islam and common people" and urged Pakistanis to take the "initiative" and kill every such person in "rage". An elderly (Ahmadi) doctor who witnessed the attacks said, "Prior to the event, we had written several letters to the Punjab Government regarding threats from TTP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). The Punjab Government's reaction was to ignore this or do nothing at all." Significantly, no more than two Policemen were stationed at the Model Town mosque and four at the Garhi Shahu mosque, despite clear and repeated warning from intelligence agencies that Ahmadis were now a priority target of terrorists.
The radicalized media in Pakistan openly provokes violence against the Ahmadis. On September 7, 2008, for instance, the host of the religious talk show Alim Online, Liaquat Hussain declared the murder of Ahmadis to be obligatory (wajib-ul-qatl) according to Islamic teachings. Hussain stressed this several times, urging fellow Muslims to "kill without fear." Within next 24 hours, two persons belonging to the Ahmadiyya community were killed in Mirpurkhas District of Sindh Province. Unsurprisingly, no arrests were made and the Police registered the killers as 'unknown'.
Describing 2010 as a particularly bad year for minorities, the Annual Report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released on April 15, 2011, highlighted a growing spread of hate literature and noted that it had monitored mainstream Urdu newspapers. To identify 1,468 news articles and editorials promoting hate, intolerance and discrimination against Ahmadis in 2010. The monthly Persecution Report for March 2011 stated that the figure of hate literature increased from 1,033 news items in 2008, to 1,116 items in 2009. For instance, Ilyas Chinioti, a member of the mainstream political formation, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who visited Bangladesh as a lecturer on the "End of Prophethood" in 2005, condemned the Ahmadiyyas as the deviant sect. On January 14, 2010, he was quoted by Daily Ausaf as stating, "Qadianis (Ahmadiyas) are rebels of the country and the millat (Islamic society)." On September 7, 2010, Daily Nawa-i-Waqt, a competitor of the Daily Ausaf in obscurantism, quoted Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, a maulvi in Faisalabad District, declaring, "The penalty of death for apostasy should be imposed (on the Ahmadiyyas)."
Historically, the Pakistani establishment has played a pivotal role in creating challenges for the country's minorities. The militarization of Pakistan, the instrumentalisation of Islam for politics, and the radicalization of an already weak civil society has inflicted cumulative wrongs on minority communities. It is within this broad trend that the political history of Pakistan gives a startling account of the marginalization of the Ahmadiyya community who, on September 6, 1974, were declared a 'non-Muslim minority' by the Pakistan National Assembly.
For more than five decades, Ahmadis, who differ with other Muslims over the finality of Prophet Muhammad as the last monotheist Prophet, have endured discrimination and violent persecution; their identity criminalized, mosques brought down to rubble and graves desecrated. The campaign started early after Independence, when the clerics wanted the regime to declare Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority and to remove Pakistan's first Foreign Minister, the Ahmadi Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, from the cabinet for adopting Articles 18 and 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), providing for the freedom of conscience and freedom to change one's religion. Khan had then argued that these articles were compatible with and recognized under Islamic Law (Shari'ah), and declared the adoption of the provisions of the UDHR as an "epoch making event." Article 18 of UDHR influenced Article 20 of the then Pakistan Constitution, which read:
Subject to law, public order and morality: --(a) every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion; (b) every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions.
Article 20 remained unpopular not only among the ulema but also among the politico-military leadership of Pakistan. The process to dilute its provisions was, in fact, initiated by an elected political leader, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in 1974. Later, in an attempt to consolidate selective elements of the Shari'ah within Pakistan's legal structure, President Zia-ul-Haq issued an ordinance to amend the Objectives Resolution of 1949, which placated the Muslim clerics and established the principal of religious conformity in Pakistan. Under this resolution Pakistan was to be modeled on the ideology and democratic faith of Islam and all rules and regulations were to be framed in consonance with Islam, allowing a greater role to the ulema, who felt emboldened by this recognition. Thereafter, five Criminal Ordinances explicitly or principally targeting religious minorities were passed by the Parliament in 1984. The five ordinances included a law against blasphemy; a law punishing the defiling of the Qur'an; a prohibition against insulting the wives, family or companions of the Prophet of Islam; and two laws specifically restricting the activities of Ahmadis. General Zia-ul-Haq issued the last two laws as part of Martial Law Ordinance XX, on April 26, 1984, suppressing the activities of religious minorities, specifically Ahmadis, by prohibiting them from "directly or indirectly posing as a Muslims."
The persecution of Ahmadiyyas was legalized and given further encouragement with the passage of the Criminal Law Act of 1986, later referred to as the 'Blasphemy Law', which impacted directly on the Ahmadi community because of their belief in the prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The passing of several Amendments and Criminal Acts, both under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's regime (1974 Ordinance) and General Zia-ul-Haq's rule, have thus challenged and undermined Article 20, though this continues to exist nominally in the Constitution.
Thus, Khan's support for Article 20 made him unpopular among the upholders of fundamentalist Islam, who were not only against other non-Muslim minorities but also rose against other Muslim sects, including the Ahmadiyyas - also known as the members of a "fake Muslim community."
By early May 1949, a radical Muslim movement, the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (Ahrar), opposing the right to religious freedom, initiated an anti-Ahmadi agitation. Increasingly, Muslim fundamentalists became hostile to Ahmadiyyas and it was Maulana Abu Ala Maududi, the head of the revivalist Jama'at-e-Islami (JeI), who sought to unify Muslims in Pakistan under the common cause of excommunicating the Ahmadis. The then ruling Muslim League stood in opposition to Maududi's idea of excommunicating the Ahmadis. The Government's opposition led to a violent anti-Ahmadiyya movement, in 1953, resulting in the death of over 200 Ahmadis. It was after the 1953 riots that the religious fundamentalists used Ahrar propaganda as a basis to launch and sustain anti-Ahmadi campaigns. The next two decades led to the progressive reformation of Pakistani laws in accordance with selective elements of the Shari'ah, and the National Assembly approved a new Constitution in 1973, which was deeply influenced by the orthodox clergy. In 1974, a new wave of anti-Ahmadi disturbances spread across the country. It was at this juncture that the ulema pressurized the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Government to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Under Bhutto's leadership, the Pakistan Parliament introduced Articles 260(3)(a) and (b) to the Constitution, which was later put into effect on September 6, 1974, explicitly depriving Ahmadis of their Islamic identity. The Amended Article 260 read:
[(3) In the Constitution and all enactments and other legal instruments, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context
(a) "Muslim" means a person who believes in the unity and oneness of Almighty Allah, in the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the last of the prophets, and does not believe in, or recognize as a prophet or religious reformer, any person who claimed or claims to be a prophet, in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever, after Muhammad (peace be upon him); and
(b) "non-Muslim" means a person who is not a Muslim and includes a person belonging to the Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist or Parsi community, a person of the Quadiani Group or the Lahori Group who call themselves 'Ahmadis' or by any other name or a Bahai, and a person belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes.]
The anti-Ahmadiyya movement during Pakistan's formative years was enormously influential in shaping the growth of violent sectarianism in Pakistan. Conspicuously, there is either benign neglect by the State or, more often, active collusion, in incidents targeting the Ahmadis and other religious minorities.
The Ahmadis can only look to worse times ahead, with a proliferation of hate literature published by a multiplicity of extremist formations, and open incitement to greater violence against what are regarded by the extremists as 'deviant sects'. A notice issued by Baruz Jama'at al-Mubarak after the May 28, 2010 bombing at Garhi Sahu, declared, Lahore ki zameen Ahmadiyyo ke khoon se nahayegi, Yeh khoon rang laayega aur babar ghubaar hoga (Lahore will witness the bloodshed of Ahmadis, this bloodbath will bring the community to dust). With a progressively radicalized and intolerant society, various extremist majoritarian religious formations contending to establish their 'true' Islamic credentials, discriminatory laws, and state agencies that throw their weight behind majoritarian extremism, there is little hope of any relief to the country's beleaguered minorities.
Ambreen Agha is a Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi.
Source: Eurasia Review