Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: Organiser
Date: June 05, 2005
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=81&page=3
Gen. Pervez Musharraf's much-touted
initiative to showcase Islam's 'peaceful' face to the world has come a
cropper even before it could get off the ground. The Pakistani dictator
had entrusted Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain, Minister of State for Religious
Affairs, with the task of securing a unanimous fatwa (edict) from the clergy
of the various Islamic sects in the country to the effect that suicide
bombings in the name of Jehad were haraam (forbidden) (The News, May 18,
2005).
The move aimed at convincing the
General's American backers that Pakistan would no longer serve as the international
helipad of Islamic fundamentalism. But it backfired immediately, partly
on account of the incomplete nature of the original fatwa, and partly on
account of an immediate challenge launched by religious leaders who refused
to endorse the government-sponsored fatwa. As a result, the current Islamic
Jehad in Iraq, directed against American troops and the nationals of countries
that have committed troops in that country, has been further strengthened.
To his credit, Dr Aamir Liaquat
Hussain strove hard for six months to fulfill his assignment, and eventually
secured a decree from 58 Islamic scholars that, he claimed, "proved that
Islam is a religion of peace and non-violence which is not against any
sect, creed or ideology." According to the fatwa, Islam strictly prohibits
suicide attacks on Muslims and those committing such acts at places of
worship and public congregations cease to be Muslims. If this means that
henceforth there will be no violence against Shias praying in mosques,
the fatwa is a step forward for that besieged community. But even prima
facie, the fatwa excludes the country's Ahmediya (a declared non-Muslim
sect by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) and non-Muslim groups from its purview.
What is more, it is riddled with
qualifications, which render it useless to those hoping to change Pakistan's
embodiment as the paradise of Islamic fundamentalism. To begin with, the
fatwa makes it clear that it applies exclusively to Pakistan and does not
include those running 'freedom movements' in Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir.
Thus, while it prescribes the death penalty for killing innocents or fellow-Muslims
without Islamic and legal reasons, it leaves scope for sanctioning the
kind of killings that are so abhorrent to the civilised world. In this
way, it remains anti-Israel on account of Palestine, anti-India on account
of Kashmir, and anti-America on account of Iraq. This defeats the very
political objective behind securing the fatwa.
Actually, it was obvious from the
start that the Pakistani government exerted considerable pressure to procure
the fatwa, and that the Ulema who did sign the document were not at ease
doing so. At a hurriedly convened and highly select press conference, the
religious scholars admitted that they issued the fatwa because the growing
instances of suicide attacks at places of worship in Pakistan were giving
Islam a bad name as people said that religious bodies brainwashed the bombers
into becoming martyrs in return for an assured place in paradise. Since
the Islamic clergy was being blamed for sectarian killings in the country,
they wished to rectify this situation.
However, the absence of several
top Ulema denied credibility to the endeavour. Many scholars refused to
sign saying the timing was faulty and might be construed as support to
the United States' illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. They pointed
out that the officially-sponsored fatwa failed to even mention the crimes
committed by American troops against Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As if this was not bad enough, 40
religious groups in Pakistan immediately countered the fatwa by declaring
that suicide attacks by Muslim 'freedom fighters' were justified in Kashmir
(India), Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan (ANI, May 19, 2005). They even
said that suicide attacks were legitimate in countries where Jehad is already
being fought, but they were forbidden in countries where Jehad has not
been launched, even if these are non-Islamic countries. These scholars
insisted that as there was no domestic reason for such a fatwa on suicide
attacks, its purpose was solely to help Washington tide over the controversy
over the sacrilege of the Holy Quran.
To add to the General's discomfort,
a Pakistani in Guantanamo Bay, believed to be a member of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba,
has told a US tribunal that Islamabad officially sponsors terrorism. Exposing
America's 'frontline ally' in the war against terrorism, the prisoner said
Pakistan backed the violence in Kashmir and added "if you consider this
organisation a terrorist organisation, then you should consider Pakistan
a terrorist country," according to testimony procured by the Associated
Press news agency under a freedom of information lawsuit.
The prisoner's confession incriminating
Islamabad is significant as the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba ranks among the Pakistani
organisations that the US State Department has branded as Foreign Terrorist
Organisations (FTOs). Its sponsors can be taken to task under UN Security
Council Resolution No.1373 against terrorism. Indian intelligence has always
held that LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were essentially Pakistani outfits;
the prisoner's admission is proof that this is indeed the case. Regardless
of what Washington does in the wake of this testimony, New Delhi should
take off its red-tinted glasses and reconsider the mindless policy of open
borders and premature settlement of the international border.
