Author: Ishtiaq Ali
Mehkri
Publication: India Today
Date: August 7, 2000
Killing in the name of
Allah seems to be the modus operandi of the religious parties in Pakistan.
This is the Talibanisation phenomenon--a direct offshoot to our meddling
in the Afghan affairs to appease our erstwhile Cold War ally.
Pakistan today is no
more a safe place to live. A belief held by all and sundry.
Terrorism, corruption and a culture of intolerance have rented its social
fabric. Fanaticism in the disguise of Islam has become the new political
doctrine. Almost all religio-militant outfits are today obsessed
with the Taliban style of governance and are bent upon taking over the
reigns of the government by hook or crook. Of late, they have even
learnt to hoodwink and blackmail the government for everything they wish
under the sun. Surprisingly, the Establishment continues to nurse
the evil for reasons best known to it.
The social mosaic on
which the Talibanisation seeds have now taken their deep roots are the
madrassas (religious seminaries) stretched countrywide. They are
their breeding ground where everything from hate to sectarian prejudice
is taught. Students enrolled in these madrassas come from the poor
sections of the society where for their parents whatever is being offered
in lieu of two times meals is worth praising. And at the end of the
day they prove to be perfect souls to deliver anything. They think
from the barrel of the gun and believe in a Stone Age life.
With such madrassas being
run by Wahabis, Deobandis and Ahle Hadiths schools of thought, an uncompromising
and intolerant mode of religious zeal has come into being. Believers
in other sects of Islam are considered anything, but not Muslims.
Jehad, fighting in the name of God, remains their political weapon and
unfortunately their targets could be anybody: a liberal Sunni Muslim, a
Shia, a Jew or a Hindu. Though the government funds many of these
seminaries through the Zakat emoluments, yet the government has no control
over their conduct and syllabus affairs.
Most of these schools
are considered to be potential hideouts for terrorists with their strings
being pulled by their foreign mentors. Statistics say that around
30,000 students from various seminaries in Pakistan have of late joined
the Taliban movement. Thus begins the vicious circle of recruiting
men for Jehad to fight anywhere from Karachi to Kargil or even in Chechnya
and Xingziang at the cost of a civil society in Pakistan. All this
goes on as the government looks the other way round.
Maulana Samiul Haq's
love for Taliban style of governance is no secret. Recently, he had
the courage to advise the Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf to
"get liberal with the Taliban, and not to meddle in the affairs of religious
schools." Political analysts believe that institutions where these radical
students get training to participate in the Afghan Jehad are under the
control of Maulana Fazulur Rehman and his Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam party,
which has its own network of seminaries countrywide, especially in Balochistan.
But there are saner religious
elements, too. Though they boast a religious mantle, but disassociate
themselves from any sort of fanaticism. The Jamaat-e-Islami of Qazi
Hussain Ahmed is one such vibrant political voice. Though it itself
believes in Jehad and an Islamic government to its core, but shuns Talibanisation
from Pakistan's body politik. Recently, Qazi was seen convincing
the US authorities and think tanks to drive home the point that "whatever
Taliban do is not Islam."
Similarly, President
of Shias TJP, Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi had openly asked the army chief, Gen
Musharraf, to "undo the Talibanisation trend in Pakistan, if he wants to
preserve its territorial integrity." From behind the bars, ousted Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif too fears the catastrophic impact of Talibanisation
and has "blamed the military junta for appeasing them." A report presented
to him shortly before his dismissal said that there were about 100 madarssas
in Pakistan which impart militant training to their pupils, and that there
were about 10,000 foreign nationals studying in these so-called centers
of religious learning.
For Taliban, Pakistan
is their second home. Their activities originate here with the active
help of the local religious elements and are free enough to strike anywhere,
anytime. Today they number in millions and are beyond anybody's control.
Their only agenda is to 'react' in the name of Jehad in and outside Pakistan.
They have access to more influential lobbies and groups in Pakistan than
most Pakistanis. "At times they even defy the ISI, premier intelligence
agency, by enlisting the help of concerned in the corridors of power,"
writes Ahmed Rasheed in his best-selling book Oil, Islam and Taliban.Though
Pakistan is believed to be the mentor of Taliban movement, but it has lost
its writ. Kabul rebuffed a recent demand by Pakistan to shut down
training camps in Afghanistan and repatriate its outlaws. What is
euphemistically called the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) has become the biggest
smuggling racket in the world and has enmeshed the Taliban with Pakistani
smugglers, transporters, drug-barons, bureaucrats, politicians, police
and army officers. The power of drugs, arms and ammunition, and money-laundering
business has made the Taliban not only an unavoidable reality, but a political
might, too.
With the advent of Taliban,
the immediate threat to Pakistan is in the form of Pakhtunistan--endangering
its integrity with any change across the Durand Line. For long the
military and political establishments in Islamabad considered a friendly
Afghanistan to be their 'strategic depth.' The reality today is vice versa
with the Afghans calling the shots. Not only has the Taliban regime
refused to recognise the Durand Line as their international border, contrary
to the wishes of their mentors in Islamabad, but have also laid claims
on parts of NWFP and Balochistan. Ironically, Afghanistan and its
Taliban movement are turning out to be anybody's Nicaragua for Pakistan.
(The writer is a journalist
working with The Dawn, Karachi)
