What do Taliban really want? Power. To Turn Pakistan into their former Afghanistan!, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

What do Taliban really want? Power. To Turn Pakistan into their former Afghanistan!

By Irfan Husain

Jan 24 2010

Often, I am asked by readers or friends abroad what the Taliban want. Why, they ask, are they slaughtering hundreds of innocent people wherever they can? What is their purpose? What is their agenda? The short answer is, power. Other excuses for their murderous excesses are a fig-leaf: demands for the Sharia and the expulsion of foreign forces from the region are no more than window-dressing.

These terrorists realise that they cannot achieve power through peaceful, democratic means as they have no support. Even relatively moderate Islamic parties have been repeatedly trounced at the polls in Pakistan. So extremists reject democracy as it does not give them access to power.

Established religious parties in Pakistan have exploited the repeated bouts of Army rule to further their agenda. So far, they have been remarkably successful. But while jihadi groups might cut secret deals with intelligence agencies, even Pakistan’s Army is reluctant to enter into open, formal agreements with them.

This leaves only the path of terrorism open to them. Pakistani extremists watched enviously as the Afghan Taliban under Mullah Omar were propelled to power with help from Pakistan’s Army. Seeking to replicate this success, they have mounted a sustained campaign of destabilisation against the government.

http://newageislam.com/what-do-taliban-really-want?-power.-to-turn-pakistan-into-their-former-afghanistan!/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/2412

To wean people away from the siren call of militancy, the battle for hearts and minds must be won, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

To wean people away from the siren call of militancy, the battle for hearts and minds must be won

Losing the battle for hearts and minds

By Irfan Husain

30 Sep, 2009

While we are now used to the red tape involved in the exercise, the UK Border Agency has taken bureaucratic hurdles to a whole new level. Earlier this summer, my son was supposed to visit me in England on his way to the United States. However, when he was informed he might have to wait up to two months for a British visa, he told me he would have to defer the pleasure of bringing his wife and my little grandson to see me.

But he was lucky because he did not apply for a visa: thousands of Pakistanis who did found their passports and applications had been dumped somewhere in the UK embassy in Abu Dhabi. For some bizarre reason, the Brits now process Pakistani applications in the Gulf state.

A friend who found himself in this predicament was Masood Hasan, the well-known columnist and brother of the late Khalid Hasan. Apart from being a public figure by virtue of his popular column, Masood also broadcasts a weekly jazz programme on an FM channel, and runs a successful ad agency. His wife is Dr Ira Hasan, the eminent academic and ex-principal of Kinnaird College.

Although Masood needs no introduction from me, the reason I am giving some details about him is that he is just the kind of Pakistani the Brits should be encouraging to visit their country. In fact, he has been a regular visitor for 30 years, so he was understandably taken aback when his application for a visa was turned down.

Not only was Masood told he was unwelcome, but his son Meekal’s application was also rejected. For those who follow the Pakistani music scene, Meekal is even better known than his father. Considered one of the finest guitarists Pakistan has produced, young Meekal has established his own iconic pop group, and has performed at many concerts at home and abroad.

http://newageislam.com/to-wean-people-away-from-the-siren-call-of-militancy,-the-battle-for-hearts-and-minds-must-be-won/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1847

Pakistani surrender to Taliban is not justified by ‘quick justice’, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Pakistani surrender to Taliban is not justified by ‘quick justice’

Terms of surrender

By Irfan Husain

The Federal and Provincial Governments have tried to put a brave face on this stinging reversal. Everybody from President Asif Ali Zardari downwards has protested that far from being a defeat, the imposition of the Nizam-i-Adl, or shari’ah, is somehow a great blessing for the people of Swat. And it is true that for now, the possibility of peace is what the valley needs after months of bloody conflict that has seen hundreds of civilians killed.

Although the 10-day truce generously announced by the local Taliban led in Swat by Maulana Fazlullah may provide some relief to a hard-pressed Government, the insurgency is not going to disappear any time soon. The reality is that Pakistan is at the beginning of a very slippery slope. To imagine that the thugs who have been rampaging at will in Swat will meekly lay down their arms when the Pakistani state has rolled over is to delude ourselves.

A couple of years ago, when writing about Swat, I had used one of Lenin’s revolutionary maxims: “Probe with a bayonet: If you meet steel, stop. If you meet mush, then push.” Time and again, extremists, terrorists and just plain criminals have been meeting mush, and they have been pushing. The result of this aggressive probing is that the state’s writ now barely extends beyond the boundaries of Mingora.

http://newageislam.com/pakistani-surrender-to-taliban-is-not-justified-by-%E2%80%98quick-justice%E2%80%99--/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1211

Imran Khan’s view of Darwin’s life work captures the essence of Muslim backwardness, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Imran Khan’s view of Darwin’s life work captures the essence of Muslim backwardness

By Irfan Husain

January 17, 2009 Saturday Muharram 19, 1430

Titled Why the West craves materialism and why the East sticks to religion, the essay is dated Nov 8, 2008, and was sent to me via email by a reader. In this article, the politician and ex-cricketer describes his personal journey from the westernised, secular outlook of his youth to his present faith-based worldview.

In a sense, Imran Khan’s view of Darwin’s life work captures the essence of our backwardness. By rejecting a vast body of scientific research and analysis as ‘half-baked’, he exposes his own ignorance. He is, of course, entitled to his own opinion on any subject under the sun. But as he is a role model for many young Pakistanis, he has a duty to choose his words with greater care. He may refuse to accept the consensus behind Darwinian theory in the international scientific community, but to dismiss it out of hand risks influencing impressionable young minds into following him.

As it is, there is not a single world-class university or research institute in the Muslim world. The reason for this is not hard to find. By refusing to accept and internalise the rational method of empirical research and analysis, we discourage and suppress scientific and objective scholarship.

In Imran Khan’s mind, as in many others, reason is a western monopoly. So anyone using rational analysis as a tool is dismissed as ‘western’, a pejorative term deployed to undermine any argument. Unfortunately, this widespread trend has had profound significance over the centuries. By ceding scientific research and progress to the West, Muslims find themselves in their current predicament. By contrast, countries like China, Japan and Korea have made tremendous progress by accepting reason as the basis of their education and public discourse. So when Imran Khan says ‘the East sticks to religion’ in the title of his essay, he is effectively ignoring well over half the East.

http://newageislam.com/imran-khan%E2%80%99s-view-of-darwin%E2%80%99s-life-work-captures-the-essence-of-muslim-backwardness--/islamic-society/d/1139

Plight of a Hindu family in Pakistan: Conversion losses, Islam and Human Rights, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Human Rights

Plight of a Hindu family in Pakistan: Conversion losses

By Irfan Husain

After searching frantically for the girls, they went to the local police station where the SHO put them off without registering a case. A couple of days later, they met the deputy superintendent of police for Clifton. This proved to be the only bright spot in the entire tragic episode, for DSP Raza Shah went out of his way to help. He forced his subordinates to file an FIR, and his intervention was invaluable in ensuring the safety of the parents. And just for the record, the MQM ‘sector-in- charge’ also lent them his organisation’s support.

On October 22, a police FIR for kidnapping was duly prepared, naming three young men from the neighbourhood as the principal suspects. Immediately, Sanno and his wife started getting threats from their neighbours. Earlier they had never had any problems, although they were the only Hindu family in a predominantly Muslim locality. But now, the same people were pressuring them to remove the names of the local boys from the FIR.

http://newageislam.com/plight-of-a-hindu-family-in-pakistan--conversion-losses--/islam-and-human-rights/d/793

Pakistan: Growing no-go areas, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Pakistan: Growing no-go areas

By Irfan Husain

This is a truly sad reflection on the state of Pakistan today. Last year, we were bringing an English friend to Islamabad for a trip to Skardu, but then had to cancel at the last minute because of the government action in Lal Masjid and its bloody fallout. The truth is that Pakistan is not a foreigner-friendly country any more. Don’t get me wrong: at a personal level, Pakistanis are as hospitable as ever. But in public, reactions to the presence of foreigners range from outright hostility to rude, intrusive curiosity. Over the years, as the number of outsiders visiting Pakistan has dropped steadily, a generation has grown up without any contact with non-Pakistanis. This insularity and isolation, coupled with the anti-West sentiments whipped up by the media, has made our country a very dangerous place for foreigners. So instead of encouraging visitors, we tend to prepare them for the risks they face.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan--growing-no-go-areas/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/157

Samaosa, Chicken and Jihad

The War within Islam

14 Aug 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Samaosa, Chicken and Jihad

Living in the Respectorate By Irfan Husain 13 Aug, 2011 TRULY, we live in strange times. Of late, a spate of odd, purportedly Islamic injunctions have landed in my inbox. Let me start with the oddest: in Somalia, the group of Jihadi terrorists calling themselves al-Shabab have banned the humble samosa. What these holy warriors objected to was not some forbidden filling in the triangular savoury pastry, but its shape. Apparently, they consider its ancient, three-cornered design to be “too Christian”: according to them, the samosa symbolises the Holy Trinity. Never mind that the familiar snack first appeared in Central Asia in the 10th century, and made its way to India in the 13th. http://www.newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/samaosa,-chicken-and-jihad/d/5257