Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a Representative of Deobandi Tehreek, Pitting State Institutions against Religious Parties to Bring Down Imran Khan Government
By Syed Talat Hussain
October 05,
2020
General
Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiani, Pakistan’s two-term army chief (2007-2013) and a leading
defence and strategic thinker used to often justify his institution’s support
to Imran Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, on the grounds that
as a politician Khan was central to blunting the country’s swing to the extreme
right and limiting the expanding clout of religio-political parties, or, more
precisely, their problematic Taliban versions.
Maulana
Fazlur Rehman
Image
Credit: AFP
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There is
sweet irony in the fact that it is on Imran Khan’s watch that the head of
Jamaiat-Ulema-Islam (JUI for short) that commands one of the largest madrasa
(religious) schools networks in Pakistan has now become the consensus head of
the newly formed anti-government Pakistan Democratic Movement, which represents
more than 60 per cent of the national voters.
To be sure,
Maulana Fazlur Rehman is not a new entrant to politics. He is an old hand at
the game, who has successfully fought elections many times, and whose father, a
leading politician, was signatory to the 1973 Constitution. His party
represents a tradition of the 19th-century religion-based politics known as the
Deobandi Tehreek. Named after the place where it was founded in undivided
India, the powerful Deoband movement started during the British rule of the
subcontinent as a Sunni revivalist effort against “perversion of pure Islam by
the foreign rulers and their local supporters”. It soon grew into a resilient
and potent threat to the colonialists.
Also, a regional
religious leader heading a coalition comprising much-bigger national parties is
not new either. What is exceptional is how quickly Imran Khan’s party has lost
its appeal to the religious conservatives, who only three years ago were
abandoning their traditional platforms and joining the PTI in droves enamoured
by its anti-western and publicised Islamist leanings. While Fazulr Rehman’s
party cadres remained steadfast in their opposition to Khan, his ideological
brothers like the Jamat-e-Islami and a few others were politically pauperised
by the exodus from their ranks.
Scandalously Incorrect Pontification
For a while
it looked as if the General Kiani formula of backing Khan as a dyke against the
spread of hard-line religious parties was working as his party on the eve of
the 2018 elections took great pride in making the “beard coexist with the
blondes” — a slang reference to PTI’s vote-bank across the conservative and
liberal sections of society. Khan’s extravagant displays of public religiosity
(prayer beads, prayer-mat pictures) and his out-of-turn, cliched and at times
scandalously incorrect pontifications about religious morality also came in
handy as a propaganda tool in this regard.
But the
idea of a muscular centrist-nationalist steeped in traditional values leading
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan seems to be coming unstuck. The Opposition
coalition that Maulana Fazl now heads wants to see the back of Khan for many
reasons including their stand that he has ruined national economy. Casting the
Maulana in the lead role is therefore smart tactics. His base is in the rural
areas of the country’s poverty-stricken provinces or deprived constituencies in
Balochistan and the KP. He commands considerable influence in the small towns
and urban pockets of the more developed cities. His party’s ideological links
spread beyond class and clan lines. Over the past one year or so its
spokespersons have tried to connect with rising public anger over economic and
governance deterioration through their acerbic attacks against the Imran
government.
National Government and Fresh Elections
The party
even launched a sizeable march on the capital last year but abandoned it after
members of the ‘Establishment’ reportedly convinced them through interlocutors
that some of their demands would be addressed including perhaps formation of a
national government and fresh elections. The Opposition now thinks that the
Maulana’s party can be instrumental in mobilising the far-flung areas because
life has become particularly hard for ordinary Pakistanis. A survey released
two days ago captured the depressed spirits of the times: 4 in every 5
Pakistanis interviewed said the country was headed in the wrong direction; 3
out of 4 said the economic situation was bad.
But the
real reason the JUI now leads PDM is the fact that at present it is the only
party that can summon numbers on the streets and talk straight to the military
brass backing the Imran government. In one of the toughest messages to the
formidable Establishment — now largely in control of the reigns of actual power
as prime minister Imran dwindles in relevance — Maulana used the provocative
imagery of the Americans situation in Afghanistan to warn of violence and
conflict in Pakistan if the present political persecution in the name of
accountability continued. With him in charge of the anti-alliance, it is likely
that he would translate some of his hard words into actions and would steer his
colleagues in the same direction.
Sharif's Digital Campaign
In toe is
the Pakistan Muslim League-N whose head, Nawaz Sharif broke his silence with a
bang through a series of digital appearances from London addressing his party
leaders. Almost apocalyptic in tone, he spoke of the do-or-die struggle for the
supremacy of the constitution. In not-so-veiled references to the army chief
General Qamar Bajwa and the Director General of the ISI, General Faiz Hameed,
he explained all the national political woes on account of the generals’
interference in politics.
His party
has already banned all meetings with the army leaders and intelligence heads
without his approval after news broke out that General Bajwa had called a
constitutionally-questionable huddle with members of the parliament, and
reportedly read them the riot act on their actions to destabilise the system
(read Imran government).
Toughening Positions
Since then
a full-fledged media campaign has started accusing Sharif of being an “Indian
agent”. Minister after minster has decried his attempts to “malign the army” on
“behalf of Indian prime minister.” The courts have toughened their position on
his absence from Pakistan, earlier allowed by the government on medical
grounds, and have started the proceedings to formally declare him an absconder.
The media
regulatory authority, PEMRA, has put all media houses on notice about airing
his speeches using the plea that absconders from the law do not deserve full
legal rights. Another court has started to consider the possibility of
confiscating his businesses and personal properties and of freezing his bank
accounts. The Imran government and his backers, it is now clear, want to teach
Sharif an abiding lesson.
But Maulana
Fazlur Rehman remains an exception to the government’s policy of choking its
opponents into silence. While Khan’s spokespersons pour occasional scorn on
Maulana, he by and large remains unscathed by otherwise hyperactive
arm-twisting legal and administrative machine that the government manages. And
this is not because of any love for the man.
They all
hate him guts, and he returns the compliment with interest. It is because they
know that he commands religious zeal and appeal of his disciples who can fill
the streets at a call and also stare down the barrel of the gun. Pitting state
institutions against religious parties that hold sway over enthused political
constituencies has always been considered a nightmare scenario for the
‘Establishment’. Maulana Fazlur Rehman confronts them exactly the same
challenge they want to avoid.
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Syed Talat Hussain is
a prominent Pakistani journalist and writer.
Original Headline: Can Maulana Fazlur Rehman
bring down Imran Khan’s government?
Source: The Gulf News
URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/maulana-fazlur-rehman,-representative-deobandi/d/123082
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