Pak Tea House » Uncategorized » Are We Misunderstanding and Underestimating the Problem?
Are We Misunderstanding and Underestimating the Problem?
By Raza Habib Raja
Muhammad Hanif is one of the individuals I like most when it comes to journalism and writing. For those of you who have had the opportunity to read “A case of exploding mangoes” would agree on his amazing wit and exceptional story telling ability. Muhammad Hanif is also a true liberal journalist and his BBC columns provide incisive analysis.
I had the opportunity of listening to him on the electronic media. The anchor person asked him several questions about the recent murder of Salman Taseer and as usual he made some very pertinent observations. However, there was one point where I had to particularly disagree with him. Muhammad Hanif reiterated what I have heard a number of times that masses by and large are not bigoted because their first and foremost concern is to just make ends meet. Often this argument is supplemented by referring to electoral results which have generally shown that moderate parties like PPP, PML (N), ANP, MQM and lately PML (Q) take the bulk of the votes. I have read and heard for the zillionth time that religious parties do not get votes.
I think this dissection of the issue is overly simplistic. People may not be voting for religious parties but will nevertheless be sensitive to some of the issues which these parties try to project in the public sphere. For example, a person may be a voter of PPP or PML (N) and yet be in agreement with the current anti blasphemy law. This is in fact one of the reasons as to why literally NO party has taken a clear position about repealing the law. It is just not the clergy’s opposition which is preventing these parties. The fact is that their own electorate also holds the same point of view on issues like anti blasphemy law and status given to the Ahmedis through second amendment (which by the way was passed by the Parliament).
Even Altaf Hussain whose party virtually dominates and in fact rules Karachi had to retract his pro Ahmedi statements. The unfortunate fact is that religious conservatism is much more rampant than what electoral results suggest. Let us not delude ourselves by underestimating the problem. The road to rectification of any problem starts with admitting the EXTENT and NATURE of the problem. The fact is that religious conservatism and bigotry is much more prevalent than we assume it to be.
Why do you think that Prime Minister is reaffirming his pledge that anti blasphemy law won’t be touched despite the fact that his own party official literally gave his life for repealing it?
Let me ask a simple question: Can any party make repealing the anti blasphemy law a part of its manifesto and fight elections? Now this question is to all parties who claim to be secular or even liberal. Are they willing to do it? We all know the answer.
The fact is that masses by no stretch of imagination are numb to these issues. The stance that they just want to make ends meet ignores a reality that religious and sectarian rioting is more rampant in the lower income groups. In our desire to be politically correct and adopt the “superior virtue of the oppressed” stance, we are turning a blind eye to an uncomfortable reality.
But these masses do not come to the street and agitate on their own. They come through provocation by clergy and organizational apparatus of religious parties. For those of the readers who have had the opportunity of reading Justice Munir Kayani report, they would know that the report inferred that Ahrars despite being weak in numerical strength were able to provoke a critical mass of people into violence. The report explicitly mentions that one of the reasons as to why Ahrars were able to mobilize people was their appeal to the core anti Ahmedi sentiment of the common Muslims which was supplemented by Government’s lack of resolve to deal with them firmly. The Government instead of dealing with Ahrars firmly kept on weighing pros and cons and at times even tried to appease them. The last sentences of the report sum it best:
“And it is our deep conviction that if the Ahrar had been treated as a pure question of law and order, without any political considerations, one District Magistrate and one Superintendent of Police could have dealt with them. Consequently, we are prompted by something that they call a human conscience to enquire whether, in our present state of political development, the administrative problem of law and order cannot be divorced from a democratic bed fellow called a Ministerial Government, which is so remorselessly haunted by political nightmares. But if democracy means the subordination of law and order to political ends—then Allah knoweth best and we end the report.”
Frankly you have to define freedom of speech here. The kind of speech these so called men of faith indulge in is nothing but appeal to irrational instincts. In our region, religion carries an unquestionable reverence. What these clergy do is that they whip religiosity up and successfully fuse the existing controversial laws with religion. Since religion is revered therefore these inhuman laws become revered too. Since a critical mass of the populace believes in the “sanctity” of these laws, its dormant support turns active when provoked by the clergy and thus the “disproportionate” support on the streets when compared with the electoral share of the religious parties.
What has to be realized is that you cannot simply afford to give these people any freedom to breed. The normal rules of freedom of expression, which are essential for ensuring an informed and inclusive discourse, simply do not apply on these people. A lot of things can be prevented by simply denying them any freedom of speech and particularly which even remotely incites violence. These people are irrational and thrive on religious rioting and violence.
The government cannot win the battle through argument from them because they will successfully manoeuvre the situation in such a way that it is actually on the defensive. I find it as no surprise that even our interior minister despite being miles away from religion in his personal life has to start his statement on the murder of Taseer by first professing that he would personally kill anyone who is guilty of blasphemy. When senior political leaders of an apparently liberal and the most popular party start an argument by first attesting their own love for the Holy Prophet you know which way the wind is blowing.
And the wind is blowing towards conservatism and liberal forces are in retreat. Unless we are ready to crack down using instruments of violence, frankly it will continue to blow that way. No “street power” can stop these people. Yes there will be a price for that which we may have to pay but we know the alternative is the darkest possible scenario.
Filed under: Uncategorized · Tags: fact, parties, party, religious
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@RHR:
Neither political/religious parties nor politicians has have testicular fortitute to change 2nd constitutional ammendment, order XX, or PPC 295C.
I think Pakistan is speeding on its natural course:
Anarchy and Chios. Provinces breaking away. New countries with new constitution and laws taking place.
R.I.P. Pakistan!
Raza
As I said before, there is one option left but it needs to be seriously thought out.
The reality, as shown by the last few days is that the silent majority of Pakistanis are silent because they agree with direction in which the wind is blowing.
To those interested in questions of the state’s interests, religious loyalities and the role of the individual within them, I would highly recommend Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons.
ciao
I am surprized.. not sure if in Pakistan, do you teach about Kabir and Mirza Galib or not? I have read Kabir’s poems in my school which critisizes both Hindus and Muslim religions. I think thats the way forward.
Also.. One more thing.
I have used this website most of the time to understand our friends in Pakistan and did not miss the opportunity to blame and criticize. Today i want to share my success story and if anyone in Pakistan wants to replicate this i will be more than happy to share my experience.
I along with 8 friends have formed a trust and we run a private school in rural Bihar (there is no electricity there). We are using latest technology to provide “world class education at a very affordable price”. Recently Indian Express published our story and even wrote an editorial about our effort and how Indain Govt and implement our simple ideas.
Here is our story -
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/In-powerless-Bihar-village–a-school-by-innovation-and-Skype/735925
and here is Indian Express Editorial –
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/It-takes-a-school/736302
There is also another point of view in regards to the public that I have.
It’s not that they agree to what direction that is being pursued but they rather not speak as they have always thought of themselves as being weak and unable to bring change or challenge the power circles.
The people have tolerated some of the worst times, they still continue to suffer becuase of the status quo. Just becuase they do not oppose it, does not mean that they agree with this particular situation.
I believe the masses are easy to coerce and manipulate, always have been and always will be.
With the right leadership, much can be achieved and things can be set on the right path.
Maybe to try to amend the blasphemy law is to fight on the opponents’ strongest ground. Is there not some other issue where the first battle for justice can be fought?
@RHR Bhai,
One of these days I will do a tail piece to your arguments. As always I agree with you. One minor disagreement, the freedom of speech. The religious right has all the right to speak as much as secular left does. The only thing that government needs to do is to curb the hate speech. In other words, you have the freedom to express an opinion. But the moment you threaten a person or a group you are dealt with fullest extent of the law. Similarly, you cannot use religious speech to justify any form of violence against any other person or group.
I sensed the anger and pessimism in your write up. Don’t be discouraged. The days ahead will get better . PTH is trying to make a difference. The rust of so many years will take some time to disappear.
This new NRO (Namoos-i-Risalat Ordeal) has become an albatross around the neck of the whole nation.The first NRO was concocted by Americans and their henchmen, which has crippled the whole society, because the yoke of corrupt and incompetent rulers has been placed on Pakistani society.
This new NRO is the brainchild of those extremist elements whose only aim in life is to grab power by any means and then force their screwed up ideology on the masses.This NRO has already turned Pakistan into a ‘piranha’ nation amongst the family of nations.
RHR! Do not loose heart as this NRO is attributed to the ONE who is aware of its inventor’s real intentions, so He shall deal with all those who wrongfully and shamelessly make Him resposible for their false pretences.
Most of the people in Pakistan are corrupt regarless of their socio-economic status. Corrupt people dont sacrifice for anything because they are oppotunists and their sole purpose in life is to watch for their selfish self-interest.
one of the most candid admissions. Great way to go!!!
The ppp is not the most popular party in Pakistan. The contradiction within the ppp was startling. The federal ministers were supporting the law and the governor who was the representative of the center was speaking against it.
The ensuing confusion allowed the Islamist parties to play the whole thing up. Mullah Fazal had just come out of the govt. and he thought it was a good opportunity to establish his political base.
In 1953 it is true that Ahrar had no political support but they were encouraged by a section of bureaucracy, which egged them on to continue the anti ahmedi protest to bring the government down. There might be some folks in the bureaucracy now who might be behind the current situation to bring the ppp government down.
The author is right that Muslim victimhood has strong resonant in the lower middle class and that prevents many politicians to mess with issues that have some religious origins.
The right thing now is to press the government to investigate the murder and show results quickly instead of hushing up the matter.
Author //Can any party make repealing the anti blasphemy law a part of its manifesto and fight elections? Now this question is to all parties who claim to be secular or even liberal. Are they willing to do it? We all know the answer//
You need balls of steel to amend a society and make it more progressive. Ataturk had it way back in the 1900′s…Nehru had it for Hindu Society in the 1950′s….I dont think anyone apart from MAJ had / have the guts to fix the issues. Unfortunately the man died before fulfilling his mission.
I thought MJ Akbar and Premji are super representatives of the community in India. They are secular, absolutely intelligent and have a vision. Wish they were in politics. MJ Akbar in his latest book has come with his version of all that is wrong with Pakistan and how it impacts India today.
I will add here that Majlis-e-Ahrar was the leading party to oppose the creation of Pakistan.
I was also shocked to see that ANP and Asfandyar Wali were categorically against amendments to the blasphemy law.
@ Talha (January 14, 2011 at 1:46 am0
There is a very famous Latin legal maxim that says silence means consent.
As long as the people of Pakistan are silent on these matters, I will assume that they support this sort of behavior.
I was under the impression and used to argue that the silent majority of Pakistanis was moderate.
I no longer hold this view.
ciao
@ Feroz Khan
As you can easily see from the content of my article that I fully agree
@ Dasghar
Well there is every reason for me to be pessemistic. Ab kya karon, aap ko bhee pata hai ke hawa kis taraf chal rahee hai
“…..But if democracy means the subordination of law and order to political ends—then Allah knoweth best and we end the report…..”
These are insightful words of wisdom from Justices Munir and Kiyani. The drawing of Religion into Politics by democratic governments has established the wisdom of these words.
@ Naseem (January 14, 2011 at 12:38 pm)
The police was also involved in the agitation. The Rawalpindi police was well known to be supporting the rable-rousers and in fact, the hub of the rable rousers was at the Rawalpindi Civil Lines. According to my uncle, a police officer who was send there to investigate, there was no discipline and the cops were not in uniform in the civil lines. The “ring leader”, according to my uncle, was a cop who was running things from the civil lines and when my uncle went into his room, at the civil lines, he was out of uniform and did not salute, after which things became very interesting.
My uncle told me that me that was the only time in his life that he was unnerved and after he got over his shock at the insubordination, he said he had two choices: leave the room or take charge of the situation. He took charge by slapping the cop and started to literally kick him out of the room and out of the Civil Lines and once outside the Civil Lines, the cop was stripped of his clothes and left there undressed in front of the public. I guess, that must have put the fear into the cops, because they gave my uncle the nom d’ plume of Haluku Khan.
Both my dad, who was also a police officer and my uncle used to make public examples of cops. They would literally take the cop out into the street and order him to take off his uniform in front of the public, who would gather around to see what was the yelling and shouting all about.
When my brother was stopped by the cops and put into jail for not having his driving licence, he stayed there and never called my dad because he was too afraid to call! It was my mother who got worried when he did not come home, as those were the days of PPP-MQM fight in Karachi in the early 1990s and asked around, without telling my dad, and one of my dad’s subordinates located my brother and got him out and no one told my dad what had happened. We would all have been skinned alive! LOL
Once, I was stopped near Charing Cross in Lahore, because my driver had made a wrong turn and the cop stopped us. When the cop asked my dad’s name and his profession, he said we could go and it was ok. I told the cop that we were wrong and he should do his duty and give us the fine and seeing that he was not going to give the fine, because I really wanted the driver to be fined for making a wrong turn, I asked the cop if knew who Haluku Khan was and he said “yes” and then I asked him how long had been in uniform and he said 5-6 years . I told him that Haluku Khan was my uncle and if he did not fine us, I would call my uncle and have him fired from the police force for not doing his duty! LOL
Guess, what? We were given a fine!
The point of this rambling is that in Pakistan, people threaten with vengence and revenge and with their authority, but the real threat is when you threaten some one with justice!
The only way to reclaim our country is to become the very example of change we wish to see and to live by what we believe is right and to remind others, when they forget what is right and what is wrong.
ciao
I agree with the author “The fact is that religious conservatism and bigotry is much more prevalent than we assume it to be” but should we remain silent? I believe nobody is interested and nobody should be; to give away his life and have decrees stopping people from offering funeral prayers for him.
Very sadly the mess we are into is something our elders also contributed to; in our national life there were always people among us who opposed every move to convert this country into a theocratic state, but they never got the popular support and got failed every time. And nothing has been changed or being changed this time.
@ Raza
The good news is that a lot of topics are now being openly debated in Pakistan and as the comfort zone shrinks further, more people will be forced to take side.
Another reason why these topics are being discussed is because new ideas and thoughts only emerge once there is a believe that the old order has weakened. In many ways, the state of debate in Pakistan is what was happening in Europe at the onset of the era of enlightenment, where dicussions were taking place in salons (drawing rooms) and articles were being circulated for a small readership.
In Pakistan, the task is to move the debate outside of the living rooms into the street and that should be the next step. The state is too weak to stop the process of new ideas being exposed to the society. There is no need to open and set up expensive newspapers and magazines.
All the articles on PTH and other such cites, can be translated into Urdu and posted on the internet in Urdu script. Raza, when you are afraid of getting a rotten apple from the barrel; go to the tree and don’t go the barrel!
The point is, if you think the media is not projecting the correct facts, by-pass the media and go to the people directly and speak to them through internet. Even if the access is limited, people still have acess to printers and they can print and circulate the articles themselves and let them create webs of their own social and political networking.
May be, it will start from the neighborhood level and grow from there to something more big. At the early stage of social and political change, the need is never for a leader, but to identify the people who share a similar view and once such people organize, discuss and seek change, in an organized manner, a leader will emerge from within the group itself. This will also be a heirarchy of consensus and will not be imposed from the top down and more crucially, it will be grassroots activism with roots in the real concerns and hopes of the people demanding a change they want instead of being told what change is good for them – a populist democracy!
How many people on PTH can translate articles into Urdu and write them online in the Urdu script? Information is a commodity and it is also subject to the laws of supply and demand. Look at Express Tribune! It was the first online paper in Pakistan with a comment section and now all newspapers are following the lead! Ignore the state and do not rely on the state; the state is too weak to resist or even to help.
There is a demand for objective information in Pakistan and all you have to do is provide it as an alternative to the media and let people make their own choice! Create a Urdu version of PTH blog and spread the word by mouth and circulate a sms text to the effect.
Just push the ball downhill and let it gather its own momentum!
Anyways, this is my two cents in response to Ally for a possible solution to the problem; others are more than welcome to tinker tailor with this idea and make it better.
ciao
Malik orders blockage of anti-Islam websites
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Thursday took strong note of those websites and SMS which are propagating anti-Islam agenda and ordered an immediate blockage of such websites within 24 hours.
The minister ordered the interior secretary that all those websites should be traced out which were propagating against Islam and said that cases should be registered against the people who were involved in this act and residing in Pakistan.
Malik also asked the interior secretary to constitute a committee, comprising representatives of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and the Federal Investigation Agency, under the supervision of additional secretary interior, to take into consideration the anti-Islam propaganda. app
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20111\14\story_14-1-2011_pg7_5
Malik imagining to be the ameer-ul-momeen. He has exposed himeself to be a wolf disguised as a lamb.
Tactical retreat or total defeat? (of the liberal parties
)
“There is no brain trust, there are no thinkers, there is no thinking.
Knowing you want to go somewhere is only half of the problem; figuring out how to get there is the other half.
But if you don`t know where you want to go nor how to get there, don`t be surprised if the right wing hijacks you and takes you places you never knew existed.”
http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/14/tactical-retreat-or-total-defeat.html
I agree on the need of Urdu translation
@ Feroz Khan.
What made you assume that a clear majority of Pakistani’s were moderates.
After all these are the same people who have stayed silent for decades even when religiously regressive laws were being approved in our nation.
If silence meant consent then Pakistanis deserve every single thing they have gone through because clearly they never objected to anything.
I am not as rich, and I am not half-American, but in India I represent the same snooty English speaking class that used to turn its nose up at the hoi polloi in India. People of my ilk are the allies of Pakistani liberals who ignored the direction the mass in Pakistan was moving all these decades and are now hurt and surprised. Unsurprisingly, India’s Tavleen Singh who had a son by Salman Taseer weeps for the last vestiges of so called Pakistani liberalism.
But India empowered its dirty dhoti clad hoi polloi – long ago. Pakistanis, led by the elite, deluded themselves that the wealthy (“Brahmins and banias”) in India were subjugating Muslims, Sikhs, Tamils, Bodos, nagas, Dalits while they in Pakistan were upright and righteous. This was of course bullshit. When several generations bullshit themselves into a state of denial, you get Pakistan.
Stand back. Screw all this pretence of liberalism and fashion shows and vagina monologues. Let Average Abdul take over and impose sharia or whatever. When aid dries up – he will understand that the only morons in the world who will still be willing and forced to trade with idiot Pakis are kafir Indians. Made for each other. Except that you guys are rediscovering that now. Sorry about the shock. Your Jinnah was delusion number 1.
The elite in Pakistan are the problem. They must stand back or be eliminated. Note that your army is now scared of tilting in any direction. Tilt towards the Abduls, and Uncle Sam will do some ballsqueezing. Tilt towards the liberals and that wotzisname killer of Taseer will get his cousins to castrate the Army. Good riddance.