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Jinnah’s Pakistan as a rallying cry
Yasser Latif Hamdani writing in Daily Times:
Salmaan Taseer was a man of great moral clarity whether his detractors care to admit as much or not. He was from an increasingly rare breed of idealists who believed in Pakistan as envisaged by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, i.e. a liberal democratic state where faith would be a personal matter. I submit that it was this belief in Pakistan’s destiny that drove Salmaan Taseer to stand up for the rights of minorities in Pakistan. Therefore, when his children write that their father died for Pakistan, Pakistan’s self-appointed guardians of ideology should take note and learn a thing or two. The need of the hour is for Pakistanis to stand up for that ideal, for this is our only homeland and if we do not save it, no one else will.
It is for these reasons that I found Ammar Rashid’s article ‘Moral medievalism and the state’ (Daily Times, January 13, 2011) to be most disturbing. At a time when Pakistanis should be united in realising that Salmaan Taseer’s death and the subsequent polarisation around the assassination is indicative of state failure and the state’s abdication of responsibility for its people, self-proclaimed intellectuals regurgitating a flawed interpretation of Marxist ideology are in the forefront of efforts to sabotage all attempts to gather the less fortunate on a platform against bigotry and hate. To begin with, the reasoning of the author is entirely muddled. Blaming modern information-age capitalism and its confluence with the historical memory and ‘logic’ of the Pakistani state is akin to making excuses for an abandonment of common sense and reason. The “historical memory” of the Pakistani state as it were is much warped and distorted. The great leftist historian Hamza Alavi examined the causes and the events leading to the creation of Pakistan in many of his works and rejected in entirety the state-sponsored narrative introduced largely during the Zia era. In his enlightening paper Pakistan and Islam: Ethnicity or Ideology, Hamza Alavi traced the formation of the ‘salariat’ or the secular Muslim middle-class, which became the engine for the Pakistan Movement. He showed how the basic ideas of Islamic modernism had moved into the sphere of conventional wisdom for this group. Therefore, far from arguing a moral superiority based on Pan-Islamic religious identity, Muslim nationalism as it emerged was the attempt of a nascent Muslim bourgeoisie in the subcontinent to secure a foothold economically and politically. It was also indicative of an internal struggle between the professional and secular-minded classes amongst Indian Muslims led by Jinnah and the clerical class that opposed them. This is what prompted Jinnah to declare in 1938, “What the League has done is to set you free from the reactionary elements of Muslims and to create the opinion that those who play their selfish game are traitors. It has certainly freed you from that undesirable element of maulvis and maulanas.”
Salmaan Taseer was the foremost symbol of the professional and secular-minded Muslim bourgeoisie that created Pakistan. He was a self-made man, a professional and a businessman. The late governor was the physical embodiment of the confluence of Pakistan’s genuine historical memory and modern, information age capitalism.
There is no reason why we should complicate a simple issue. I submit two points: a) all nationalisms are exclusionary and, as Eqbal Ahmad said, “the ideology of the other”, and b) states are duty bound to be above issues of identity and nationalism and this is precisely why we have constitutions. Secularism, historically, has developed from confessional societies, and pluralism is almost always a desired by-product. The example before Jinnah, as the creator and the first governor general of the new state, was Britain which he alluded to in his famous August 11 speech, which, mind you, was not the only speech he delivered where he outlined in clear terms his idea of what the Pakistani state should be. Great Britain’s history is defined by the protestant nature of its monarchy and the struggle between the clergy and the state. It has in its history seen gruesome violence on religious questions including blasphemy. In due course of time, however, the Protestants and Catholics did learn to live together as citizens of Great Britain.
So what is Jinnah’s Pakistan and why is it increasingly becoming the rallying cry of all Pakistanis who want to bring about a change? Jinnah’s Pakistan means a Pakistan where dialogue and constitutional means are the only available choice when resolving disagreements and discord. How then can today’s Pakistan be Jinnah’s Pakistan when the very essence of the man is sacrificed in the name of political expediency and the doctrine of necessity? Jinnah’s Pakistan will remain the only credible answer for positive social change because Jinnah represents something much more substantial than a dead secular politician. He is, for most Pakistanis, a deep structure of identity that remains on a higher pedestal for them. It is for this reason that Jinnah’s Pakistan remains the only viable option for this state to dig itself out of the hole it finds itself in. Without Jinnah, the liberals of Pakistan are like fish out of the pond.
The writer is a lawyer. He also blogs at http://pakteahouse.net and can be reached at yasser.hamdani@gmail.com
Filed under: Uncategorized · Tags: cry, Jinnah's Pakistan, lawyer, net
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i am surely not going to put my money of you YLH, no matter how great your intentions are. Decades of systematic brainwashing cannot be undone by a few English language blogs alone. Wish you luck but i’m not holding my breath.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HsumwDvM2M
The future of Pakistan looks uncertain mainly because the society is very deeply divided. It looks virtually impossible to achieve even a semblance of unity in a reasonable span of time.
The most worrying part is that those who carry guns and can be ruthless seem to have the upper hand. Logic does not seem to be an acceptable currency.
A tribute to Taseer from an American friend, posted on thewashingtonnote.
(posting it here is not an endorsement)
Quote:
Salman Taseer: An Indispensable Man
Saturday, Jan 15 2011, 11:06AM
This is a guest note by defense expert and businessman Harlan Ullman who serves as Chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of government and business and who also serves as Senior Advisor at Atlantic Council of the United States. Ullman was a close friend of Pakistan Punjab Province Governor Salman Taseer and hosted a recepton for the Governor in Washington in May 2010 that Steve Clemons was privileged to attend.
French President Charles DeGaulle cautioned the overly ambitious with the admonition that cemeteries are filled with the indispensable and irreplaceable. Regarding Pakistan, the good general was wrong. Punjab’s late governor, Salman Taseer, gunned down last week by a member of the provincial government’s Elite Police security unit, was as close to being indispensable to assuring Pakistan’s evolution to a democratic and secular state as anyone in that nation.
Salman was, and his family remains, close friends. Labeled Pakistan’s leading liberal voice, that description is akin to calling Beethoven and Mozart merely “musicians.” Taseer was an intellect of huge proportion. A realist, pragmatist and humanist, he would have found appropriate company in America’s leading intellectual founding fathers–Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.
Two of his virtues I particularly admired were his irreverent sense of humor and courage. In a discussion over the rise of America’s tea party, Taseer quipped its origins must have been from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and the Mad Hatter. Regarding courage, I have seen little equal in politics or in my own experiences in war. Dressed in his customary black sun glasses and attire, he had the charisma of a Hollywood star.
His self-admitted murderer, Mumtaz Qadri, acted on his radically distorted views of the Koran which the governor rejected publicly and often, calling Pakistan’s blasphemy laws “black” and urging clemency for Aasia Bebe, a Christian Pakistani woman sentenced to death for violations of that law. Hundreds of black bearded clergy and Pakistani lawyers called Qadri a hero and promised an acquittal at trial.
Even in a conspiracy obsessed nation such as Pakistan, the political overtones of this assassination mandate a high level and immediate investigation as the security detail was approved and selected by the elected government and not by the presidentially appointed governor who were from opposing political parties. But in our mourning over this immense loss, three overriding issues cannot be ignored.
First, in the United States and the West, this killing magnifies the paranoia over radical Islam, al Qaeda and global terror. In truth, virtually all religions have an evil, or to use Taseer’s phrase, “black” side. It was an ultra orthodox Jew who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin fifteen years ago virtually ending any chance of peace in the region. And today, ultra-right American Christians have bombed abortion clinics and killed physicians for murdering the unborn and unprotected. Stamping out these extreme and unacceptable aspects of religion is the issue, not blaming and holding accountable only one for all evil.
Second, as Taseer frequently reminded us, Pakistan has some 70-80 million youth eighteen and under without few prospects for jobs, education or the future. Bringing them the tools in terms of education, employment and a vision for a hopeful future was one of his highest priorities. He could hear this time bomb ticking. It still is.
Finally, the United States must get serious about Pakistan; what must and can be done; and then do it. The editorial pages of the New York Times and Washington Post not withstanding and despite the hue and cry of complaints from Congress about Pakistan corruption and apathy to fighting the war on terror, does the United States and the West wish to succeed or not in bringing stability to the region? If the answer is yes, then real action must be taken.
Critics argue that since September 11th, billions have already been sent to Pakistan. More will not help. But money is not the major issue although if emergency loans from the IMF do not continue, the nation will go bankrupt and collapse financially.
Crucial are, as Taseer argued, political, strategic, economic and psychological support. First is textile tariff relief that will not cost U.S. workers a single job. Second is agreeing to discussions on a nuclear treaty similar to the one signed with India. Third is using U.S. and other major powers to encourage negotiations between India and Pakistan to reduce tensions and flash points whether over Kashmir or Mumbai-style threats.
Last and the administration may be moving in this direction, the U.S. must decide how critical Pakistan military action in North Waziristan is to success in Afghanistan. If vital, then Pakistan needs the tools in terms of military equipment to do the job. After spending many hundreds of billions of dollars in oil rich Iraq and Afghanistan in equipping those security forces, several tens of billions of dollars for Pakistan seems a bargain despite our own financial hardships.
Make no mistake: without these actions, the current Pakistani government will fall. The opposition, headed by Nawaz Sharif, is no friend of the United States or our Afghan policy. If that happens, in 2012, many will ask “who lost Pakistan?” The answer will be the Pakistanis. But we will have allowed it to happen.
– Harlan Ullman
Why you seculars/liberals drag Quid’s name to promote your hatered of Mullahs?Give it a rest now.Just accept Pakistan is an Islamic State and will always will be.Majority is Muslims,therefore,honour Prophet PBUH.By your wills will not change.Become a true Muslim and you will find peace in your heart.
Blasphemy can not be repeeled at any cost.Therefore,accept it.You can campaighn for the proper way to impliment it.
@Sardar Khan,
What is the proper way to implement it? Do you then admit it is being implemented in a wrong way?
@YLH:
Dear, my sincere sympathies are with you. That is all i can give you. I have NO hope in your dreams.
Agree with Sardar Khan – Jinnah was as much an islamist as a mullah – just that his methods are different than and more polished than mullahs… Jinnah has made reference to koran and islam many times, has explicitly mentioned about islam being core of pakistan…
Jinnah as islmist in his outlook as any other paki, so this attempt to use his name to usher “secular” politics is just ridiculous and useless…
@Sardar Khan
Why do the conservative demanding no change in the man-made laws believe that Allah needs them to protect His honor and that of His beloved Prophet(SAW)? Is naauzobillah, Allah(SWT) not capable of protecting His honor and that of His Prophet (SAW)? What kind of Allah you do believe in, who depends on you to protect His honor? No by God, my Allah does not have any weakness like your god who needs you.
Do not pretend you find peace in your belief which incites to kill an innocent human, while hiding behind the pretext of safeguarding the honor of the Holy Prophet (SAW). The laws is disrespectful the Holy Prophet’s teaching of forgiveness and tolerance. The law incites to disobey Allah commandment to not kill. The law that makes the Honor of Allah and His Holy people dependent on lowly humans, is the real blasphemy.
Shame on you for finding peace in this calumny and supporting such grave transgression. You are indeed deaf, dumb, and blind if you don’t see the blasphemy in your warped belief!
^^^…which incites to kill an innocent human…
Actually, AFAIK, even killing in self-defence requires there to be a definite threat to life or of severe bodily harm. Otherwise, the right to violence in self-defence is limited to just sufficient violence to turn away the threat.
@ Sardar KHAN (January 17, 2011 at 8:05 pm)
Why do you drag religion into every issue to promote your hatred? You say Islam is a religion of peace and yet, you kill those who disagree with you. Pakistan is not an Islamic state. Pakistan, under your version of Islam, is an Islamic despotism, where a person is judged by man-made laws and not the laws of God.
The majority of the people in Pakistan may be Muslims, but that does not mean in any sense of the word that they are right. The majority of the Germans also supported Hitler and his policies of Nazism. Did that make Hitler and his Nazism right for Germany? Should the Germans have simply accepted his rule and not challenged it? When Hitler and his Nazi cohorts passsed the Nuremberg laws in 1934, was that right?
The decision of a majority, if not balanced with the rights of a minority, is a legal justification for trynny. Pakistan may be an Islamic republic today, but what happens tomorrow if there is a change in the Pakistani opinion and the majority votes for a secular Pakistan? Will you then accept the decision of the majority? What makes you believe that Pakistan will always be an Islamic republic? Have you seen the end of time that you can make such a claim?
All Muslims honor Prophet Muhummad (PBUH). The question is who gave you and your ilk the right to decide how other Muslims should honor Prophet Muhummad (PBUH) and force them to honor him only in the manner prescribed by you? Who gave you the right to tell other Muslims how to follow their religion?
You say that our will not change anything, but then when have you and your band of killers have ever bothered to listen to the will of those, who have dissented from your version of Islam? You have killed all those you have disagreed with you, because you have no arguments against their reason and so, you silence them with bullets and threats and lies. You and your bunch of religious thugs have denied the right to others to express their will and then you have the incredible audacity to come and inform that our will will not change anything?
For the last 64 years, you have tried and failed to impose your fanatical Islam upon us and the reason why you have failed is because it is our will that is resisting you and it is a will that will keep telling us to resist you, because this not your Pakistan and we do not want your Pakistan forced down our throats. Our will, even in the darkest times of dispair, is firmly rooted in the dream of a tolerant and a progressive Pakistan as envisioned by Mohammad Ali Jinnah and you may kill us as much as you wish in a physical sense, but you can never kill the dream and the idea of that dream in our hearts and minds.
Who gave you the right and the courage to tell us to be “good Muslims”? Who gave you the authority to judge us as Muslims? Who gave you the power to define who is and who is not a Muslim? When you and Muslims like you kill other Muslims in the very name of religion you and people like you profess, what makes you believe that you are a good Muslim yourself?
When in your actions, deeds and thoughts, you stand for everything which the religion you claim to represent rejects in its teachings, what makes you think you are good a Muslim and better than all other Muslims in the world?
Then, once more, in a brazen act of arrogance you lecture us to find peace by becoming a good Muslim. There can be no peace and there can be no good Muslims when narrow minded, bigoted, intolerant, rejectionist and morally nihilistic people like you and your blood thirsty supporters kill anyone who does not agree with you and your interpretations of Islam.
For Muslims to find peace and be considered as good, people like you and your intolerant mindsets have to be learn to be tolerant to the voices of dissent within Islam. It is people like you with insecure minds that are preventing Muslims from living in peace and as long as illiterates like you judge Muslims, there can be no good Muslim in this world because the real blasphemers are you and your compartiots who profane the religion by judging who is and who is not a Muslim.
Blasphemy laws are man made laws and they will be changed and they can and will be repealed, because they are imperfect, unjust and open to misuse and abuse by people like you and those who support views like yours.
Only a person, steeped in their own self-righteous sense of arrogance, ignorance and disdain will ask others to campaign for their proper implementation, but then encourage others to kill the very people who want to implement them in a proper way and prevent these laws from being abused.
The real blasphemers are people like you who use the blasphemy laws not to protect the honor and dignity of Prophet Muhummad (PBUH), but to protect your own political Machiavellianism justified in the name of Islam.
ciao
YLH wrote: Jinnah’s Pakistan will remain the only credible answer for positive social change because Jinnah represents something much more substantial than a dead secular politician.
Every cause needs a flag, and Jinnah is a good candidate for a flag. However this flag has been so used and abused by so many parties, that there is a historical din around his name. At any given time, there are hundreds of contrasting and conflicting images of him and denunciations of him. The truth about Jinnah is hidden behind almost a century of history of conflicting imaging of him. In the mean time, the fog around Jinnah is part of the dominating culture in Pakistan.
That is the reason why using Jinnah as a flag is useless. There is an oversupply of Jinnah flags in the market and the cannons used to shoot down the flags are manufactured in an industrial assembly line. A new Jinnah flag in the market does not make any mark, any difference. It is nothing new. The Jinnah Flag has become stale!
The problem may or may not lie in the persona and history of Jinnah, I am not going there. I speak of market acceptance.
Pan-Sun says: “The problem may or may not lie in the persona and history of Jinnah”…
Actually, problem DOES lie in the persona and history of Jinnah – he has made numerous references to islam and koran to be “core” pakistan, and he used “islam in danger” rhetoric – he freely used islam as a political tool as freely as mullahs or despots around the islamic world have done time and agains…
So jinnah as a “flag” for secularism is plain ridiculous and useless…
@Major
Your tactics sounds similar to that of the conservatives. You were perhaps taught to hate Islam and dislike Jinnah. Please don’t twist the facts to suit the picture painted in your mind.
To consciously continue to feed hatred is not good. Just remember , hate is a poison that you drink imaging that it kills the object you hate. No. It kills the soul of the hater. Hate oozes the humanity out of a human.
Please tend to your humanity and stay well!
In my opinion Pakistan needs a new narrative – a more realistic narrative representative of the land and the people of present day Pakistan. Without taking anything away from Mr. Jinnah for whom I have utmost respect and admiration, his Pakistan as envisioned by him was a Sub-continental liberal-secular Pakistan; a mirror image of India, the other half of the Indian equation. But unfortunately that never happened. Eastern Wing was deprived of West Bengal and Assam. Western Wing was deprived of East Punjab and Kashmir. And in the process Pakistan was deprived of its religious minorities; an essential component of Jinnah’s liberal-secular Sub-continental Pakistan. And with East Pakistan and Kashmir too gone for ever, today’s Pakistan has no resemblance to Jinnah’s Pakistan. It is a very different entity altogether compared to what The Great Leader had envisioned. With 97% of its population being Muslim Pakistan is nothing but a Muslim country. It is not the Muslim-majority country as envisioned by the Father of the Nation. Let us put Mr. Jinnah and the Two-nations Theory to rest and try to adjust with our present day realities. Let us stop defining ourselves as a Sub-continental South Asian nation and redefine ourselves as an Indus Valley nation that happens to be Muslim and stop using Jinnah or Islam to justify our existence as a country and as a nation. Let us develop laws and systems representative of our people. Let us openly declare ourselves as a Muslim country that safeguards Islamic Way of Life but does not favor one Islamic Sect over the other. Let us agree that anyone who professes to be Muslim is a Muslim. Let us stop the internal bleeding and make peace with ourselves.
@ PMA (January 18, 2011 at 1:32 am)
A slight amendment to your above post, with which I am in agreement.
It is not so much a quest for Jinnah’s Pakistan as it is a search reclaim Jinnah’s ideals about this nation.
Pakistan must find its narrative in the story of the land and it must nourish those roots, which hold it to this land. India and Pakistan are two countries seperated by a common history and a common culture and your comment is correct; Pakistan’s future resides in the rediscovery and acceptance of its past, which belongs to the Indian subcontinent (South Asia, Indus narrative or what ever or how ever you wish to label it) and not in the traditions of Arabia.
ciao
Mullah-Mafia has delusion that THIRD-CLASS PEOPLE like them can only protect honor of Holy Prophet Muhammad SAWS. In opinion of Mullah-Mafia, Allah SWT is very limited in His powers (nauzubilah), and needs to depend on THIRD-CLASS PAKISTANI NATION!!!
@PMA
“And in the process Pakistan was deprived of its religious minorities; ”
To put it very kindly, that is patently untrue. At the time of partition, pakistan in fact had a greater proportion of minorities than India. Current day Bangladesh had 30% Hindus in 1947 while West Pakistan had close to 20%. Those numbers, one would presume, are enough to build a base for a multi-religious society. The simple though unsavoury fact is that the Pakistani state has been completely brutal with its minorities – while it was a case of swift cleansing in Punjab and Sindh, East Bengal followed a more gradual but equally effective policy of getting rid of its minorities. Consequently, in the two decades post-partition, the proportion of Hindus had come down by more than half in East Bengal. This was even before the genocide in 1971 in which the minority Hindus suffered a major part of the casualties.
After all this, it is outrageous to complain that you did not have enough guinea pigs to conduct your secular experiments.
Disclaimer: I do not speak of the Pakistani Army, or some group of individuals at the time addressed as Government of Pakistan, or the territorial integrity of Pakistan when I speak of Pakistan below.
As the process of Islamization has advanced in Pakistani society and the Pakistani state has receded, initially only some sand was falling, and people in Pakistan were saying we need to fix the roof. But nobody fixed it. Then this process accelerated, and bigger chunks started falling down, and the Pakistanis said the roof needs to be fixed pronto. But nothing happened. Then whole bricks started falling down, and the liberals in Pakistan started feeling in their bones, that the roof will collapse, and they will be buried underneath. But Islamization continues apace.
I can’t say when the Pakistanis will know the roof has collapsed. Was Salman Taseer’s death, the falling roof? I can’t say! What I feel is, that there are already a lot of bricks piled up on the Pakistanis and many are gasping for air! For fresh air!
Jinnah as the rallying cry, is a sign of desperation! Which is not bad! Need is the mother of invention. Desperation brings the mother all the way to the delivery table! But it is important that whatever child is born or idea invented, that it is something thought through. Some half-baked idea, some straws in the wind, some old wine in a new bottle, just wouldn’t do.
Whatever idea comes, it has to be resilient, and cannot be susceptible to the same winds and forces which have brought Pakistan to this cul de sac.
Sai: “After all this, it is outrageous to complain that you did not have enough guinea pigs to conduct your secular experiments.”
Well said. Pakis never seem to run-out of ever exotic excuses for why they are they way they are… and this excuse “we never had enough minorities” takes the cake… LOL
@PMA: Let us openly declare ourselves as a Muslim country that safeguards Islamic Way of Life but does not favor one Islamic Sect over the other.
Two questions:
1. How do you get from here to there? Dreaming of rockets doesn’t get you to the moon.
2. What happens to your non-Muslim minorities?
Anything short of an militarily enforced secularism – as in Turkey – will likely fail.
@Feroz Khan: you mentioned that a solution was possible to the problems plaguing Pakistan today. Most of the “solutions” here are prescriptive but not very actionable. I assumed your proposal was actionable. Care to share? I’m eager to listen.
@Humanity
Truth is sometimes hard to accept… but you have to try… There is a reason why pakistan is messed up the way it is – and it goes all the way to Jinnah and the brand of religion-infected politics he practiced. You pakis have been beating around to bush to find the reason – where was the proverbial elephant is right in the middle of the room…
You are reaping the fruits of poisoned tree that Jinnah planted back in the hey days of “direct action” and “islam in danger” kind of politics…
PMA wrote –
“But unfortunately that never happened. Eastern Wing was deprived of West Bengal and Assam. Western Wing was deprived of East Punjab and Kashmir. And in the process Pakistan was deprived of its religious minorities; an essential component of Jinnah’s liberal-secular Sub-continental Pakistan”
Why do you need religious minorities? What will you do with them? So for Muslims to be successful and peaceful, they need a good and constant supply of non-muslims. What will happen when the entire world will be Islamic? Isn’t that the ultimate goal – to get everybody in Islam’s fold. In other words you need more Asia Bibi’s – what for? You had Bengal – what did you do with it? You have Balochistan – what are you doing with them? Excuses and more excuses…
Of late I have become less and less hopeful about Pakistan. I read a lot of articles and comments and I listen to a lot of Pakistani political discussion – and I am gradually coming to the conclusion that Pakistan is fast descending into more chaos. Be prepared and choose your side wisely.
and get ready to fight…
libertarian :
Here are some actionable solutions for you pakis-
1. Throw away existing text books – write new ones that has no mention of islam or jinnah.
2. Get a new narrative – Pakistan was created for people of punjab, sindh, balochis – not for muslims and not for islam.
@Major
Exactly -
1. Break Pakistan to break the back of extremism
2. Pakistan was created for Islam but Punjab/Sindh was not – they have been there for ages
3. Either create four smaller states – a) Punjab, b) Sindhudesh, c) Balochistan and d) Afghania (or some other name)
4. or rename Pakistan as IndusLand, the land of Indus Valley Civilazation
@ Sardar Khan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20111\18\story_18-1-2011_pg7_7
Is this what you had in mind, when you said Pakistan is a Islamic Republic of good Muslims? Is this your idea of Islam? Where are the good Muslims of Pakistan and why are they silent on this issue? Why are you not taking to the streets and protesting this blasphemy against Islam? Is this not a blasphemy? Where are the laws against this action? Is this the kind of Islam and good Muslims you want to see in Pakistan? Where in Islam is such an action allowed, condoned or justified?
When the clerics of Pakistan; those self-appointed self proclaimed moral guardians of Pakistan and the custodians of Islam can issue a fatwa saying that anyone who goes to the funeral of Salmaan Taseer will be a blasphemer, what are they going to say now? Why are they silent now? These same people, who commit this act also go the mosques and pray! Is it ok in Islam for a person to murder a child and go to a mosque and pray and think their prayers will be accepted !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Please speak up! Let us hear your thoughts on Islam! Please stand up and speak and defend all the blasphemers of Islam who do this act by your silence! Wait! This is a conspiracy! No good Pakistani Muslim can do such a dastardly act! Wait! It is the handiwork of the liberal facists of Pakistan to malign the good, pious Muslims of Pakistan! Wait! RAW and MOSSAD are doing this to bring a bad name to Islam!
Please speak up!
Indus Valley people were jahils as civilization came to Pakistan only from Arabia after the advent of Islam . Jahiliya and Islam cannot co-exist. the children of father Ishmael can have roots only in the Arabia. The dilemma of Pakistan is that of convert who have been in search of his identity in all the foreign land and rejected by all supposed fathers . The current narrative of not being sons of soil is good enough if applied with sincerity ,E.g have the holy Arabian language been adopted as language of the all Pakistani Musalman converts, present issue of real identity would not have arisen. IF you cannot find a solution in Al Kitab then you cant find solution in imaginary Jahil Kuffar roots. I am not sure that world’s only true Musalmans of Pakistan can ever welcome being degraded and called the Children of Indus Jahils/ Abu Jahil. This is one impossible journey to make . OTOH, is this new identity narrative the requirement of Punjabi Musalman only and not of the Sindhi, Baliuchi and others ?
The appetites should be satisfied by now for consuming the minorities to run the religiosity experiments. There is ample proof that experiments of mixing state and religion have failed at all fronts and with disastrous end result.
A discourse on the details of what Jinnah did or did not say ends up distracting from the issue at hand. People in favor of a progressive, tolerant outlook modeled after Jinnah’s vision of a secular country should work on a solution and start to walk the talk.
The reality on the ground requires a change of the mindset by convincing the masses of the failure of politicized Islamic system. They need to be shown the possibilities of a progressive future. The traumatized public needs help to regain hope and restore sanity. The generational change has to begin one day. Why not today?
A peaceful campaign ought to be launched through the social media avenues to humanize the despondent people. Humanity needs to be rekindled with volunteer services for small projects like clean up of the street corners, helping a neighbor, lending a small micro-loan if one can afford to help a needy stand on his/her feet. The goal is to demonstrate that all are worthy of love and that there is hope in unity. Nothing can be achieved until compassion becomes the common denominator in all that we do. The power of love is mightier than any industrial military complex and more potent than any militant ideology.
I am sure we all can tweak ourselves a notch or two
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Please make a change to become a better person and pass on the germ of kindness. Allah’s help will come in mysterious way, insh’Allah. The land of a gentle, tolerant, progressive nation is Jinnah’s road map for our beloved Pakistan. The sacrifice of people who believed in this vision will not be in vain!
“Aey Jihadi ja maar us Sikh Kuffar ko”
“Jee Janab Mar Aya”
“Sabash ab ja maar us Hindu Kuffar ko”
“Je Janab Mar Aya”
“Saabash, ab jaa marr us Bengali Kuffar ko”
“Je Janab Mar Aya”
“Saabash, ab jaa marr us Amreeki Kuffar ko”
“Je Janab Mar Aya”
“Saabash, ab tu aram kar, maine Katrina Kaif dekhne jana hai”
“Janab mein araam nahi kar sakta, ab mujhe aapko marna parega”
“Ye kya bakwas hai, main to Pakistani Kuffar hu, tum mujhe kaise maar sakte ho”
“Janab kuffar to kuffar hai, chahe Pakistani ho ya Hindustani – Kya aap tyaar hai?”
@ libertarian (January 18, 2011 at 3:18 am)
The only actionable solution to the problem is to allow the process to run its course and to accept what ever emerges from the ruins.
ciao
It is amazing to see historical Jinnah haters the Mullahs and the Indian ultra-nationalists ganging up together on a single point agenda on fitting Jinnah square peg in the Islamist circle.
“After all this, it is outrageous to complain that you did not have enough guinea pigs to conduct your secular experiments.”
Well said, Sai. PMA periodically comes up with such hair brained theories. I guess there are not many guinea pigs left for forced conversion via abduction and marriages. And to think, this dollop is served by a votary of liberal left in Pakistan.
@Feroz Khan: The only actionable solution to the problem is to allow the process to run its course and to accept what ever emerges from the ruins.
I hope you’re wrong – as I’m sure you hope you are too.
@Major: Here are some actionable solutions for you pakis-
I’m Indian – not Pakistani. And your prescriptions sound more like schadenfreude than solutions. I have no love lost for the State of Pakistan. But what’s happening there is increasingly alarming. Uncle Sam has a single-point-agenda: prevent future terror attacks. But Uncle Sam lounges 10,000 miles away. Uncle Shyam – and to lesser degree, Uncle Shen – have a lot more to worry about.
YLH
Even Jinnah used Islam to bring all muslims on a single platform. He may have personally secular believes and wanted secular state but his use of religion as rallying point makes him a man of profound contradictions. I think, today, Islam is the only slogan which can move ordinary pakistanis (thats what Jinnah did). So instead of using Jinnah as a rallying point why dont you liberals sell your version of Islam to the masses. If mullah can quote Quran to support their thesis, why dont you people can quote aayats of Quran to support your opinion. The problem is that while Mullah knows Quran at the back of his hand and can quote surahs and aayats in his sleep (like our own Dr Zakir Naik), liberals are unable to counter Mullah and beat him on his own turf. Majority of pakis may not be extremists, however deeply identify themselves with Islam and see Pakistan as a nation created for Islam. The only medicine which work in Pakistan is Islam and nothing else. You guys need to write in urdu media which is more widely read by ordinary masses and quote Quran to challenge Mullah. Only a better Mullah will be able to beat Mullah.
One problem one faces, when one uses Jinnah as a rallying cry or as a flag, is the same problem one faces using any ideology – a small difference is no difference at all. Nuances are no use if one wants to draw a thick fat line dividing the Islamists from the Liberals.
In any fight over degree of ideology, the hardliners would always win. One has to build sufficient distance to the undesirable ideology. One has to put on offer something so radical, that it is on the other side of the spectrum. It does not need to be anti-Islam. But it should be something refreshingly different.
Jinnah has been use for the last 63 years as a flag for moderation in Pakistan by some, and still it has not been able to push back the tide of Islamization of Pakistan. It is not as if Jinnah is being used for the first time in this way. Why would the results be any different this time in 2011? Why would Jinnah work now when it has failed earlier.
I am not advocating use of Jinnah as a Flag. All I say is, that is that it is only a stop-gap measure, that it does not harm but the returns on such a strategy are limited. In the mean time, it is important for the Pakistani Liberals to develop a new narrative, which offers ideologically a much bigger contrast to what the Islamists have on offer, something that is resilient.
Pakistan does have a “minority” – women. Work for the rights of women – for their right to education, to work, etc. – and the society will liberalize.
@YLH:
Jinnah used islam for political purpose, similar to how many politicians, dictators and mullahs across muslims world have done time and again. He is as much an islamist albeit with his own style and a polished interface.
@ Humanity (January 18, 2011 at 4:01 am)
Well said indeed.
YLH, a very well written article and no doubt shows your honest intentions. Surprisingly, your blog has also had a very productive response from muslims as well as non muslims! The best comments in my opinion are those from a non-muslim name ‘Sudhir’!!
Now some one should follow the advice of Sudhir and translate the word ‘secular’ in urdu language and mention it to a peasant( the majority) in Pakistan to experience the response? The guy would be labelled a ‘Kaffir’ and would most probably not be invited for a cup of tea in his house. There is no need to blame the clergy or radical elements, but to place a suitable version in urdu translation and change the Urdu-English language dictionary.
The current so called blasphemy law and many others from the colonialist time and those introduced by the military and the civilian Govts. including that of Mr Taseer’s mentor, are shabby and do not reflect human dignity, progress and are totaly unsuitable in modern times, Mr Taseer was a Governor of the country and had taken the oath to defend the countr’s laws and not play the opposition role and question them. His approach to say the least of a person of his intellect and reported knowledge of Machiavelli’s politics, was very naive.
Mr Taseer was executed by not one but other security guards as well, who accompanied the murderer and then stood by while he emptied his weapon. The use of sharia would allow the murderer to go free, unless Mr Taseer’s family opt to commit a second murder with the same weapon and using the same number of bullets.
Needless to remind us that the western constitutions are not secular per say, but based on and reflect the values of christianity. There is nothing to be ashamed of a constitution which is based on and reflect Islamic values. The Govt. needs to be a secular one and not get involved in running the religious affairs, nor should the Church or the the clergy get involved in running the Govt. affairs.
Ancient punishments such as stoning and loss of limbs and torso were designed to discourage and prevent crimes!! As a matter of info for an outsider, how many people have been have suffered the loss of their lives in Pakistan on account of the so talked about Blasphamey law?
Though shall not kill is God’s commandment and no conditions are laid down in Quraan. This must be the first action the Islamic Republic could take to imlement. Pakistan Parliament could immediately introduce a moritorium on execution of death penalties and I am sure the Govt would find a majority for this decision. With regard to the Blesphemy law, this could be resolved after review of all diabolic laws, including the one classifying muslims of a sect as non muslims, with appropriate resolutions.
Good luck!
Proleterion
Feroz Khan (January 18, 2011 at 2:22 am):
Let me ignore the monkeys and concentrate solely on serious people like yourself. I have never suggested Pakistan to be an extension of Arabia. But I have said that Pakistan sits at the periphery of three different geographical and cultural regions i.e Sub-continental India, Central Asia and, Persia. Pakistan occupies a unique geographic and cultural position. True Pakistan and North India share history at many points. Similarly there is certain degree of cultural overlap between North India and Pakistan particularly in the Punjab region. But Pakistan also shares its history and culture with her neighbors to the west and to the north. Let us not forget that. Our diversity requires that we develop our own narrative free of that of all of our neighbors. I concur with you that “Pakistan’s future resides in the rediscovery and acceptance of its past”. Pakistan of today is primarily an Indus Valley country. We must embrace all of our history including its pre-Islamic as well as Islamic periods. But unlike history culture changes with time. We in Pakistan have our own unique culture developed by the advent of Islam. Let us also develop a new Pakistan-centric narrative that reflects our history as well as our culture. We are an Indus Valley Muslim Nation. Let us expand that narrative.
Pakistan’s Islamic fixation – King Farouk / Faruq of Egypt on Pakistan‘s Islamic fixation quoted in “Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani foreign policies” by S. M. Burke (Pages 138 and 139) :
Quote:
King Faruq was reported to have ridiculed Pakistan’s devotion to Islamic causes by saying to his courtiers, “Don’t you know that Islam was born on 14 August 1947.”
@PMA
In this Indus Valley Muslim Nation narrative, is there anything to throw up against the steady Islamization of the country, some counter argument against Islamism, some resolution to the debate on form of government?
As the pre-Islamic part remains only in the history text books, to what extent does it play a part in molding of society and state.
This is no criticism or some smirking sarcasm! Simply an inquiry!
@PMA: Let me ignore the monkeys and concentrate solely on serious people like yourself.
Nice touch.
@libertarian: “And your prescriptions sound more like schadenfreude than solutions.”
A bit of “schadenfreude” is inevitable in this scenario – paki-watchers like me have told pakis time and again that this is exactly what’s going to happen if they keep on with islamist ideology. What is happening in pakistan is exactly has been foretold.
So, there is no point blaming and castigating those who predicted the outcome correctly. In fact, what would be useful from this crowd of head-in-sand individuals from pakistan is a bit of humility and acceptance that they have been wrong all along and folks who have opposed their theories has been right all along.
Regardless – the possible solution out of this quagmire is simple and has been staring at their faces all along – the solution would be what I have outlined in my previous post.
But I know – this suggestions for the solution would be lampooned and ignored just like pakis have lampooned and ignored warnings from opposition over the years. once again – they would bury their heads and revel in their fantastic theories inside their own mutual adimiration club of like-minded people. And once again – that would be a serious mistake. This time – they are already running out of time.
@PMA: [...Sub-continental India, Central Asia and, Persia. Pakistan occupies a unique geographic and cultural position...]
We have been hearing this “unique geographic and cultural position” for a long time. All we see in pakistan is islamism and wahabism and fundamentalism taking over all over your body politic and cultural norms and civil society.
Let me ask a question, what part of so called Pakistani culture has roots in IVC? You dont speak their language, do not follow their social custom, religion or dietary habits. You call your self with names which has roots in ME , do cousin marriages per ME tradition , the script is Persian , Scripture is Arabian and dresses of mix origin and essential identification rests in the Glory of some one who is totally alien to the land . Beside the air you breath and soil you occupy , there is hardly a trace of Kuffar IVC in daily life and now Pakistani children of Arab, Persian and CAR fathers want to make claim on IVC heritage! Being converts only ,There is nothing holy or inspirational for you in the very land you live in . The simple truth is all you have is Arabic Islam and destiny of Both Pakistan and Arabic Islam is intertwined . Better to intensify the islamic purification process than looking back at jahiliya of IVC for short term gain. Its not fair or honest that after centuries of spitting on the dead bodies and values of IVC people with the zeal of new faithful converts ,suddenly when dogma is not working ,you discover the ancestral , civilizational blood in your veins.
Pan-Subcontinentalism (January 18, 2011 at 11:00 pm):
Sir, your interest in the pre-Islamic history of the Indus Valley is understandable. As I have said before, history remains the same but the cultures change with time. The culture of the Indus Valley – the present day Pakistan – since the advent of Islam has gone through a gradual but persistent transformation. However in the past sixty years the change has been much rapid and even drastic. To your question, “to what extent does [pre-Islamic history of the Indus Valley] play a part in molding of society and state?” I would say, “very little”. In Indus Valley Islam remains the strongest force since the days of Mohammad bin Qasim. Islamisation of the Indus Valley is not a recent phenomenon. The difference is in the ferocity of it that has taken place in the last thirty or sixty years. There is a struggle going on between the Ultra-Islamists and the Mildly-Islamists over the control of the country. Therefore a new Pakistan Narrative that does not give religion an argumental center stage is needed to help country out of the present ideological deadlock. The new Narrative need not to be an anti-Islam counter argument. Instead a pro-Pakistan argument rooted to the land and the people that recognises Islam as a social and cultural base but not as the sole reason of its existence is needed.
Are we witnessing the failure of Pakistan, its adopted Narrative stemming from Arabia or the failure of Islam itself as Pakistani now want to relegate Islam to secondary or third position and discover that it is ancestral blood of IVC people in the veins and not that of carvamen from distant lands dropping for a night or two to populate the land now called Pakistan. Question is, how does this solve the problem when current values remain same feeding the same fasad ? Strange phenomenon is Pakistani Musalmans are not only running away from the fast approaching pure Islam in their life but also seeking protection and upliftment in all that have stood for Kuffar since time immemorial. Why did you convert and stood by invaders and not with the ancestor builders of IVC who made ultimate sacrifices in millions to protect the civilizational attack from outside ?
PMA, wouldn’t a narrative where Islam is not the sole reason for the creation of Pakistan sink the ideological basis of its strategic plays in the region? On what basis will it inspire the jehadis to head to Kashmir, for example? Isn’t it crucial for the establishment to keep the awaam distracted by constantly hollering “Islam is in danger”? I hope you do not take my query the wrong way.