Subsequently, others have followed suit. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose claim to power is a tenuous one, is seeking to boost his flagging popularity by honoring celebrity televangelist Zakir Naik as a state guest in Pakistan. Former PM Imran Khan also sought to boost his popularity as PM by nurturing the fiery fundamentalist preacher, Tariq Jamil. Once known for his ubiquitous presence at officially sponsored events, Jamil is nowhere to be seen now that his sponsor languishes in jail. 

Is Sharif’s desperate stunt working? Certainly. Thousands are turning up to hear Naik. But wherever he has gone, negative and angry reactions to his preaching messages have surfaced. Even the mainstream Urdu press – which normally adores such self-appointed guardians of Islam – has commented critically on his role. Naik’s harshness at a girl’s orphanage was particularly noted; he refused to award them certificates on grounds that girls – even little ones – should never be seen by men not related to them. Sharif’s allies also do not seem to be vocally supporting their leader’s red carpet to Naik. 

Prominent among other instances of Naik’s overt misogyny was his thoughtless cookie-cutter response to the query of a young Pushtun woman. With her head appropriately covered, she asked why pedophilia and abuse of girl children are so rampant in a society that strictly separates men from women and where almost all men pray regularly and sport beards. Naik turned upon her with impatience, ridiculing her question. While he could have said something to the effect that pedophiles will go to hell and should be thoroughly prosecuted, he instead chose to gaslight her and demanded she apologize for the question. He then gave his answer: Pakistan just isn’t Islamic enough.

The mass following enjoyed by preachers owes to a groundswell of religiosity that originated in the Zia-ul-Haq era and maintained by later governments. On the one hand Pakistani students have a state-designed curriculum heavily loaded with religious materials and, on the other hand, their narrow vision is made narrower by officially-sponsored motivational speakers and preachers who hop from campus to campus. Remember Zaid Hamid, the lal-topi walla, who was also state-sponsored and to be seen every night on TV channels? His fiery rhetoric – and that of countless others – helped create countless Da’ish (Islamic State) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants.  

Religious preachers like Naik help deepen the vacuity of thought in young, propagandized minds. With little idea of how the rest of the world functions, they have been made to believe that all problems in Pakistan come from deviating from some idealized Islam. Daily atrocities by religious extremists who believe that the path to heaven lies in killing Pakistani soldiers and policemen are overlooked. While their mindsets were created by the unrelenting, constant state-sponsored propaganda, the explanation given is merely that they are “Kharji-ites”, i.e. misled followers of an ancient Islamic group with extremist ideals. 

Although its functionaries are being slaughtered daily, the government’s knee-jerk response to extremism has been to introduce yet more flavors of Islam in the hope that somehow these will cancel out the more violent variants. But, in fact, what the state is doing is adding fuel to the fire.

 Some say Pakistan may be honoring Naik as a state guest to spite India where he is a wanted fugitive on charges of terror financing, hate speech, inciting communal hatred, and money laundering. But if this is how Pakistan hopes to counter India, then it is to be pitied. Will it contribute to a rise in Pakistan’s status in the court of world opinion or will it go the other way? Help to rescue us from an economic abyss? 

Obvious as the answer is, the purist fantasy of a theological state – specifically that of Zia-ul-Haq’s “Nizam-e-Mustafa” or Imran Khan’s “Riyasat-e-Medina” – is very much alive in Pakistani society. Why demagogues can profitably use such slogans is easy to see. In a country that is deeply unequal, corrupt and plagued by huge class asymmetry, people yearn for an unblemished past when everything was perfect.

But, note! The present leaders of autocratic and authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, or Turkey are not peddling hype of some imagined past. While Recep Erdogan may privately ache for restoration of the caliphate abolished by Ataturk in 1924, only 8 percent of his supporters want this.  Prince Mohammed bin Salman has vowed to transform the hardline kingdom of Saudi Arabia into an open society that empowers citizens and lures investors.

Pakistani students have a state-designed curriculum heavily loaded with religious materials. And their narrow vision is made narrower by officially-sponsored motivational speakers and preachers who hop from campus to campus.

For good or for bad, the Saudis see orthodox Wahhabi Islam as a dead end. Instead they are choosing to opt for modernity, albeit Saudi-style oil-fueled modernity with a face-saving Islamic covering. Jihadist preachers like Zaid Hamid dare not go there anymore; he had to be rescued from a Saudi jail on his last visit there.

The Pakistani establishment – both political and military – is distressed at the cultural changes in the Middle East but does not have the guts to express an opinion lest the Saudis or Emiratis pull the rug from underneath them. Instead, by pushing conservative Islam, Pakistan now hopes to don the mantle of being Islam’s flag bearer and protector, as the only Muslim state with nuclear weapons. But this is delusional, empty boasting. An economically destitute and internally torn Pakistan can scarcely stand on its own two feet much less challenge Israel’s genocidal fury as it rampages across the Middle East.

Pervez Hoodbhoy

The author is an Islamabad-based physicist and writer

The post Pakistan Govt Is Hosting Televangelist Zakir Naik to Distract from its Unpopularity appeared first on Dissent Today.

But ask yourself whether this is why Imran Khan finds fault with the military. Obviously not! I cannot think of a single occasion where he has criticized the army’s business interests, land grabs, pursuance of enmities with our neighbors, or deplored the Taliban’s atrocities. Khan’s only gripe with the army is that after hoisting him into power it lost enthusiasm and turned “neutral”. Only animals are neutral, he famously said. We all know how earlier on he proudly would repeatedly declare that he and the army are – to quote his famous phrase – “on the same page”.

In a nutshell, Imran Khan will happily reconcile with the army as long as it will help return him to power. He hopes that they can be on the same page again. But that page is not one of democracy, more personal liberties, elimination of corruption, or economic equality through land reform. PTI’s protests are only about one thing – returning Khan to the throne which he believes rightly belongs to him. He has no manifesto for doing away with the systemic ills that have plagued Pakistan since its birth; in fact they are not even mentioned these days. Khan’s is a naked power grab. Democrats and progressives need to understand that.

Senior leaders leaving PTI – a case of coercion?

Meanwhile, senior PTI leader Shireen Mazari has announced she is quitting PTI and active politics after her release from jail. Many other leaders have left the party in the past few days. This is indeed a clear case of coercion. While Mazari and others have my sympathy – and I hope they do not get physically hurt – please note that these people didn’t stand for any principle and their stint in power was only to defend their boss and his policies. Never did they do anything to recover the thousands who went missing in Balochistan. Mazari has jumped parties countless times and was always very close to the army, but ultimately had to choose between that and her boss. Others like Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan have also been forced to jump off the bandwagon. Those who had enjoyed power – which is all that they wanted in any case – are unwilling to bet on Imran Khan anymore.

A superior force is getting its way. May 9 has become a rallying cry for the army. Imran Khan badly miscalculated the consequences of taking the army head-on in this way. His party will now be broken up and whittled down to a bunch of die-hards. Is this resurgence of the military good for Pakistan? No, not at all.

Still, in the larger scheme of things, it does not matter whether or not the army, PTI, and PDM negotiate it out. It’s the economic collapse which is more serious. And still more serious is the drift towards extremism of a large, religiously intoxicated population which, in the blink of an eye, can be whipped up into a frenzy and which lynches anyone accused of blasphemy. In all essential matters the army, PTI, and PDM are very much on the same page. What Pakistan needs to do is turn the page.

Failure of project Imran – any lessons learned?

The military establishment has learned no lessons from the failure of Project Imran. The army is too powerful, too entrenched, and too deeply imbued with the notion that it is the only savior of Pakistan. The retreat we are presently seeing is purely temporary, and the offence posture is coming back. Yes, Project Imran crashed and therefore last November we had outgoing General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s famous mea culpa where he confessed that for seven decades the army had “unconstitutionally interfered in politics”.

May 9 has become a rallying cry for the army. Imran Khan badly miscalculated the consequences of taking the army head-on in this way. His party will now be broken up and whittled down to a bunch of die-hards. But this resurgence of the military is not good for Pakistan.

Even with Project Imran’s failure, the army’s thinking is much as before: those “bloody civilians” will make a mess of things if given too much latitude and so the army sees itself remaining the final guardian of Pakistan’s national interest. Of course this “interest” is that which the army perceives. It does not coincide with that of the ordinary Pakistani. While many emerging countries have also suffered periods of military dictatorship – Indonesia and Argentina being examples – there was enough learning there, and military rule did not recur. Pakistan is different.

As things stand, the oligarchy that rules Pakistan is largely Punjabi and largely military with just a smattering of civilians. It sees no way to preserve its extraordinary privileges except through a large military which justifies its size by invoking Kashmir. Fortunately for them, Kashmir has no foreseeable resolution. The army wants to keep the country in a state of mind just short of war; and so Kashmir gives sanction to the military’s permanent dominance over every other institution. Civilian leadership is not allowed to challenge this basic, written-in-stone rule. Where and when needed, fanatical religious groups – Deobandi earlier and Barelvi later – are to be cultivated and used as per the need of the moment.

Even with Project Imran’s failure, the army’s thinking is much as before: those “bloody civilians” will make a mess of things if given too much latitude, and so the army sees itself remaining the final guardian of Pakistan’s “national interest”.

What triggered attacks on military installations?

A broader sense of frustration among the masses due to the economic crisis was surely part of the reason for the May 9 protests and ransacking of military installations. With a single naan costing 18+ Rs. and petrol hovering around 280 Rs. per liter, there would surely be anger at those at the top. But that’s not a good enough explanation for such extreme actions. There is also a strong sense of betrayal. Let’s remember that the vandalisation of the corps commander’s house happened in Lahore where every third street is named after some war hero. The PTI protesters were venting anger at the fact that the army had now turned against the greatest and most wonderful of their heroes, i.e. their party’s leader.

But this is still not the full explanation. Normally a sensible person does not go even near an army or ISI installation. One knows that their visible fortifications are supplemented with hidden surveillance cameras – and possibly snipers as well. So how did the rioters manage to pick up so much courage? Why was there no resistance? Could it be that there were people inside who had assured them of their cooperation? Many questions remain.

Drawing parallels with 1971

Imran Khan recently drew equivalence between the establishment’s treatment of PTI and atrocities committed against the people of East Pakistan in the lead up to the creation of Bangladesh. Following this, his supporters on social media have been pushing the narrative that PTI is being treated the way Awami League and its supporters were treated by the military in the 1970s. I wonder why it took Imran Khan 50 years to realize that East Pakistan had been wronged by West Pakistan. Never before had he made any such mention. Drawing parallels with 1971 couldn’t be more absurd. The Bengalis were not just against being ruled by the army but also by the entire political elite of West Pakistan. They were victims of ethnic prejudice by virtue of being shorter and darker. Their denigration started in 1948 with Mr. Jinnah seeking to impose Urdu upon Bengalis during his very first post-partition visit to Dacca. That went on with Bengalis becoming second-class citizens in their own land. Is Mr. Khan saying he and his supporters are being treated like Bengalis? There can’t be anything more absurd.

That Khan should attempt to equate the severity of the present repression with that of 1971 is even more nonsensical. Let’s remember that there were millions of Bengalis who fled to India, and that mass rape was used as a weapon of war. The infamous General Tikka Khan is on record of saying “hum in haramzadon ki nasl badl daengay” (We will alter the race of these bastards). And let’s not forget that the students of Dacca University were machine gunned while sleeping in their hostels. That’s not even remotely connected with the present.

Mobs as a form of political expression

There are basically only two ways by which any conflict can be handled. The first is by trying to outshout your opponent or, if that does not work, by using fists and then guns. The second is through exercise of reason, understanding your opponent’s position, and then seeking to either win him over or defeat him through the force of logic. Unfortunately the upbringing and education of Pakistanis is strongly anti-logic, so PTI and PDM are equally illogical. Our heroes are those who lived by the sword, not those who lived by the pen. Mohammed bin Qasim and Mahmood Ghazni are hugely admired but Al-Farabi and Ibn-e-Rushd are barely known. Imran Khan idolizes Ertugrul, remember?

That mobs have become an important form of political expression is proof of how faith overpowers reason within our culture. In the present case it is not religious craziness but, rather, it is faith in Imran Khan as the messiah who will deliver Pakistan from every evil.

Justice is the right of all humans, and PTI rioters should be tried as per rules of the criminal justice system. Trying civilians in a military court violates the basic principles of justice. Instead, they must be allowed to defend themselves in a fair, transparent trial with access to their legal counsels.

Pervez Hoodbhoy

The author is an Islamabad-based physicist and writer

The post Dismantling Of PTI And Lessons Unlearned appeared first on Dissent Today.

Equally, and perhaps more importantly, after a dismal 75 years we need to abandon the Two Nation Theory as the basis for Pakistan. Instead, Pakistan must embrace a Single Nation Theory – that which officially espouses equality before the law for all citizens of Pakistan. Much can flow from this simple principle. It does not mean the end of Pakistan, just a new beginning. Religious extremism flows naturally from the Two Nation Theory because it privileges one religious group over all others, after which one sub-group fights another over matters of faith. Religious minorities don’t stand a chance when the majority insists on a religious identity. India is now an ugly example of that.

Return of the Taliban

The dire state of Afghanistan should be enough for people to wake up and know what a Taliban rule does to a people. Pakistanis are still sleeping. The media has barely reported on the termination of female education, justice via limb-chopping, installing a shura system headed by an amir-ul-momineen in place of democracy, and cutting Afghanistan off from the modern world. Instead, Pakistani ire has been directed towards the western world. In actual fact, the Afghan people are starving and freezing to death because the Taliban fanatics are unyielding. What Pakistan’s civil society should be doing is underscoring the horrors of sharia under the Taliban. But Pakistan is so filled with brainwashed people, both in the ordinary public and in the civil-military elite, that facts are being swept under the carpet.

When religion is the currency of power, both the government and opposition will try to maximally exploit it to their advantage. What is being done to the Ahmadi community, for instance, is horrific. It is on the level of persecution that existed during Europe’s dark ages. We are on a de-civilizing trajectory with the addition of anti-Ahmadi clauses to the nikah-nama in Punjab being just another step downwards.

Radicalisation of the youth
In the civilized world, a key purpose of educational institutions is to produce leaders. This is through experience gained while one is in schools, colleges, and universities. Being involved in socially meaningful organizations is the way to create responsible individuals who know how to deal with important issues. Not having student unions opens up space for religious and ethnic organizations – and that’s exactly what happened in Pakistan after General Zia banned all unions, both for students and workers. The only group that was allowed to operate was the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba who now have been overtaken by still more radical and murderous groups.

Pervez Hoodbhoy

The author is an Islamabad-based physicist and writer

The post To ‘Reimagine Pakistan’, Abandon The Two-Nation Theory As The Basis For Country appeared first on Dissent Today.