Can Religious Extremism Be Rooted Out In Pakistan? Part One

By Mujahid Hussain, New Age Islam

July 2, 2013

The Quetta blast has once again brought home the message for the Shias that if they agree to live in Pakistan without their religious identity, they may not be tracked down and killed for a few more days. In another case, they could be the target of extremist Muslims. Even if they get their names changed in the national identity card, they can hardly find a surgeon or doctor who can remove the marks of beating their back and chest with iron chains (during Muharram) and save them. Apart from that, they do not have any other option because Muslims baying for the blood of each other are now in a position to kill other Muslims along with their women and children with a lot of planning and by tying bombs to their bodies.

It is surprising that even today, there is a large number of Muslims from the media of Pakistan to the assemblies who do not tire of repeating the sentence ‘No Muslim can kill other Muslims’. No one asks them if they have witnessed the practical demonstration of the sentence in centuries. If someone asks such a question, you can rest assured only God can save him. Otherwise he cannot escape these blabber mouth Muslims. Even if they do not inflict a severe damage to him, at least they will make it sure that he cannot live a free life.

For example, renowned religious scholar Jawed Ahmad Ghamdi had no armed forces, nor did he have suicide bombers among his followers. What he used to say is that there was no room for communalism and religious extremism in Islam. He had to leave his country.  If he had not left it he would have left the world prematurely because devout Muslims were after his life. And if a devout Muslim vows to take someone’s life, even the angel of mercy cannot save him.

In Pakistan, the state is going through a painful destruction because it has taken its hands off the protection of the life and property of its citizens. Gangs of armed terrorists roam about freely in every city and every town and whenever they get an opportunity they bathe innocent people with blood. These killers know it very well that they can kill any number of people, they have their honorary advocates in newspapers, assemblies, offices, educational institutions, in short, everywhere in hordes. In fact, the supporters of state of Islam who had stuck to it soon after the establishment of Pakistan have destroyed the state. Initially they opposed this state and equated it with Kufr.

They even called Qaid-e-Azam, Kafir-e-Azam (the greatest infidel) and named Pakistan as Napakistan (unholy land). When they realised that all their efforts were going to be wasted and the establishment of a new state had become inevitable, they entered Pakistan with all their religious baggage and unholy being and started capturing the abandoned properties of the non-Muslims. They sneaked into government properties and built mosques on them to shield their illegitimate properties so that no one could drive them out of their properties by demolishing the mosques. The war in the most favourite place for the mullahs of today, Lal Masjid and its suburbs was merely a war between the mullahs for the control of these places which turned into a war of Islam and Kufr.

An ordinary Muslim gets infuriated at the conclusion that all the communal killers and Muslims involved in all kinds of terrorism culls the legitimacy of all his misdeeds from Islam. He shrugs his responsibility by simply saying that they are just misguided Muslims who have deviated from the true Islamic teachings. I can’t help laughing when it is said that these terrorists and communalists are misguided Muslims and do not know the true teachings of Islam. It is surprising that the person who says this could not go beyond worship and prayers and those about him he is saying this has religion as the axis of his life and the teachings of Islam are the assets of his life. They live for Islam and want to die for Islam. It is strange that they have not been able to grasp the true teachings of Islam though there life revolves round Islam and how Muslims like us who offer worships only on the festivals easily reject these devout followers.

Basically, it is a fatal ambiguity or a deliberate attempt to escape responsibility that either you should reject such elements or deny their existence. There are numerous people in Pakistan who deny the existence of Taliban and Al Qaida. They have the firm belief that they are imaginary characters created by the enemies of Islam to malign Islam. Those who do not have such a strong belief in the imaginary existence of Taliban and Al Qaida consider them a group prepared by the enemies of Islam and they declare the acts and claims of the two outfits false and fabricated. Those who have explored themselves as an intellectual and scholar call it a conspiracy against Islam and say that anti-Islam forces are behind this conspiracy.

They are of the view that all the Taliban are uncircumcised and are in fact they are Hindus and Christians and are being used against Pakistan and Islam. The rest of the remaining few know that all this is naked truth and Muslims are involved in all this bloodshed according to their understanding of Islam. They also know that they are the next target and therefore their silence may help them to live a few days longer. So, they keep themselves silent with all their force.

It is difficult to say if in Pakistan whoever runs the government, even Maulana Fazlur Rahman or Munawwar Hasan can stop this bloodshed in the name of Islam in Pakistan. On the contrary, these fictitious characters will name this bloodshed, a sacred cleansing. Mian Nawaz Sharif or honourable Imran Khan who were making so much noise in favour of dialogue before the elections know it very well that Taliban do not have a centre nor can they be brought to the mainstream.

Dialogue or war is held with those who have a clear identity or those whose factions can be identified and brought within a circle. At present, more than a dozen factions of Taliban are active in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in some places they even have the support of extremely important personalities and officials. They have their comrades in the security agencies who co-operate with them with information and planning.

Mujahid Hussain is Brussels Bureau Chief of New Age Islam.  He is author of nine books including the recently published book ‘Punjabi Taliban’. He has been writing for various newspapers as an investigative journalist for the last two decades. His writings cover a wide range of issues involving Pakistan. In recent years, local, regional and international affairs relating to terrorism and security have been the subject of his study.

URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/religious-extremism-be-rooted-pakistan/d/12396