Dna issue 60

CMY K

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015 I Issue 60 I Pages 16 I rs 25

A FRESH NARRATIVE MORE OF THE SAME? OPInIOn: Arif Nizami

Page 03

FRUITS OF INCOMPETENCE THE PIGS AND THE PEOPLE

FAMILY, CRIMINAL MAFIAS, SYCOPHANTS, DONKEYS – JUST ABOUT EVERYONE COMES BEFORE THE STATE COver StOrY: Raoof Hasan

Page 04

‘ARE WE CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD?’ BALOCH TERRORISTS SHOULD NOT BE ROMANTICISED AS FREEDOM FIGHTERS IntervIew: Mir Sarfraz Bugti, Home Minister Balochistan

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C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

editorial

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Shahab Jafry

Joint Editor

Associate Editor

\

Asher John

Sajid Khan Lodhy

Chief News Editor

Senior Editor

Unnecessary Pak-China ties problems Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2818125 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Past and future

No lessons learnt

M

OST, if not all, of the government’s problems are either selfcreated or result from misgovernance. The recent fuel crisis is the perfect example. Despite many days of shortage, and investigations, there is little progress on ground. Both petroleum and finance ministers refused to take responsibility, and blaming it ultimately on OGRa found few takers. The party’s senior ministers, usually very vocal, suddenly find it difficult to explain their failure at basic governance. it was not surprising, therefore, to hear ishaq Dar speak of “deep conspiracies” against the government. What sort of conspiracy, after all, could cause fuel shortage when Brent crude is at record low?

The government’s failure is now leading people to question the effectiveness of democracy in conditions like Pakistan’s, where people are unable to hold leaders accountable. not long ago, the n-league postured as if it were the embodiment of

Rather than resort to talk of conspiracies, etc, the government should concentrate on doing its job. Dar sb should explain just where and why the circular debt broke down again, not the least because dolling out an unaudited Rs500 billion to clear it was one of his quicker decisions. And the petroleum minister should understand, like everybody else, that his ministry is concerned when oil is mysteriously unavailable. They should then make sure such problems are not repeated. democracy, equating attack against it with an assault on representative politics. yet not many people agree with this line anymore. a democracy that is unable to provide basic necessities – like electricity, gas and, remarkably, fuel – does not impress the common man.

He has seen far too many dishonoured promises to believe in anything less than action.

Rather than resort to talk of conspiracies, etc, the government should concentrate on doing its job. Dar sb should explain just where and why the circular debt broke down again,

not the least because dolling out an unaudited Rs500 billion to clear it was one of his quicker decisions. and the petroleum minister should understand, like everybody else, that his ministry is concerned when oil is mysteriously unavailable. They should then make sure such problems are not repeated. The prime minister, too, does not improve his fortunes by holding long meetings, making tall promises, yet delivering nothing time and again. The nleague is in a bind, but that is because it has not learnt its lessons. g

About banned outfits More clarity

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inally, it took the Supreme Court to suggest to the government to make the list of proscribed outfits public. it is common knowledge that many such groups continue to operate despite the ban, often describing themselves as charities, which facilitates raising funds. But reports that close to a hundred banned groups are active in Punjab alone, especially at this point in the war against terrorism, are alarming. This means the government machinery is far too behind the curve for comfort. Funds are the lifeline of groups that challenge the state’s writ. and the government has itself to blame for allowing many of them to continue deceiving the people into contributing funds. it is not just that the public should be aware who they are dealing with. The government must now ensure that outlawed groups are no longer able to hoodwink the government, and the people, by reorganising under new names and banners.

JuD is an interesting example. The government has not banned it, but frozen its funds. But its chief has publically announced setting up another religious organisation. How the government moves on such cases, and madaris red-flagged by the security establishment, will tell a lot about its real resolve against militancy.

02 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Much of the country, especially the periphery, is conservative, and openly makes donations to madaris and mosques. Militant groups should no longer be allowed to exploit this space.

And ensuring they don’t is the government’s responsibility.

This is, of course, a pivotal moment in the war.

Zarb-e-azb has hit the TTP heartland, but many of their sympathisers are far removed from that theatre of war. They operate in urban centres, and some have enjoyed patronage for quite a while.

But now that the fighting has escalated, they are desperate for more funds and arms. That is why cutting this lifeline is of the utmost importance.

Making people more aware is a logical step in this direction. Much of the country, especially the periphery, is conservative, and openly makes donations to madaris and mosques. Militant groups should no longer be allowed to exploit this space. and ensuring they don’t is the government’s responsibility. g

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akiSTan was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China soon after its establishment in 1949. The leadership on two sides realised early that their interests in the region coincided despite their different systems. in view of the hostility with india Pakistan needed a strong friend in the region. China which was subjected to encirclement by the US and its allies was keen to create a dent in it with the help of a friendly neighbour. For years the Pia was the sole airline of a noncommunist country flying to China. Pakistan helped break the ice between China and the US by facilitating the secret meeting in Beijing between the then US national Security adviser Henry kissinger and the Chinese leadership. The factor that kept Pak-China relations stable over decades was that the two countries conducted bilateral relations strictly in conformity with the principles of non interference.

Over the years China has helped Pakistan develop sectors where few were willing to invest on the terms that suited islamabad.

The projects include nuclear power plants and Gwadar deep seaport.

Recently an agreement has been brokered to construct a multibillion dollar Pak-China Economic Corridor to connect China’s northwestern autonomous region with Gwadar which is Xinjiang’s nearest sea port. With the US imposing sanctions on Pakistan in the 1990s Pakistan China cooperation gradually developed an

whiteLies Apollo

Terrorist attacks inside China by militants trained in North Waziristan were seen

by Beijing as a grave threat to its stability. The Chinese feared that delay in action against terrorists could provide them space to relocate themselves around the proposed economic corridor. The complaints from China were an important additional factor that strengthened Pakistan army’s resolve to launch operation Zarb-e-Azb. overarching strategic dimension.

Terrorist attacks inside China by militants trained in north Waziristan were seen by Beijing as a grave threat to its stability. The Chinese feared that delay in action against terrorists could provide them space to relocate themselves around the proposed economic corridor. The complaints from China were an important additional factor that strengthened Pakistan army’s resolve to launch operation Zarb-e-azb.

While further strengthening relations with China, Pakistan must give priority to its own national interests. These require improvement of relations with india and other neighbouring countries. Similarly, islamabad cannot afford to ignore its ties with the US and EU who support Pakistan’s democratic aspirations. g

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

The petroleum minister made it clear pretty early in the fuel crisis that he was not going to do the honourable thing – which would mean taking responsibility. Maybe he really believes beggars (really?) and media are to blame, maybe not, but that’s what he’s saying. Those that understand such things, but might not be well understood themselves, think this might be because it’s been a while since he went to the pump to ‘fill her up’. And minister sb definitely doesn’t take those clogged roads anymore. Best he can do is call it as he sees it. how’s it his fault if he’s not seeing it? g

********** The Sharifs dashed off to Riyadh as soon as they heard about Abdullah.

That was understandable. The al-Saud are like family, after all. But notice how Imran wanted to take the new bride to the funeral too? Now he’s been cross about the Sharifs’ closeness with the Saudis for a while, but he’s played politics long enough to know how much Riyadh matters.

And the umrah was a good start; press conference too. Only the alSaud don’t let you in without an invite. Musharraf wanted to go too, but it’s not like you just get up and go there, even if it’s on a private jet, which some say is exactly what took Imran to the holy land. Better luck next trip, though. g

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

opiNioN

A fresh narrative More of the same?

specifically mentioned the so-called India specific groups that needed to be proscribed

by Pakistan. If Islamabad had not moved against them now, India would certainly have riled up a storm during Obama’s visit.

Not that this will deter Narendra Modi from raking up the bogey of cross border terrorism. And judging from the US president’s State of the Union address, New Delhi will get a sympathetic hearing.

In this context Pakistan’s move to ban such outfits is well timed.

Notwithstanding Washington and New Delhi’s wish list, proscribing and combating terrorist of all hues and colours has become The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today. a matter of survival for Pakistan. Many such groups have demanded protection on the plea that they are India specific and he foreign office spokesperson engaged in ‘jihad-e-Kashmir’. was at pains to reject claims that But patronising such groups to further Jamaat ud Dawaa (JuD) and short term foreign policy and security gains haqqani Network had been in the past has been counter-productive targeted under US pressure. and led us nowhere. As such, instead of Islamabad insists that these steps, including furthering the Kashmir cause, today we freezing the funds of JuD and putting travel have to contend with a hardliner restrictions on its chief hafiz Saeed, have belligerent BJP government in New Delhi been taken in the ubiquitous national poised to annex Occupied Kashmir. interest and to fulfil UN obligations.

India offering its vast markets and But the timing of the move against potential seems like an attractive strategic specific brand of jihadists is ominous. The prospect, especially as a bulwark against ban came just before US President Barak rising China. In this context Pakistan is Obama was about to embark on a sojourn to seen as the enfant terrible of the region.

New Delhi for the second time in his tenure Being a nuclear power, strategically to attend India’s Republic Day celebrations located and having a professional and an and just after Secretary of State John Kerry, efficient army to boot, Islamabad can claim during his recent visit to Pakistan, had its due share in the comity of nations. The demanded that such organisations needed ISPR (Inter Services Public Relations) chief to be proscribed by Islamabad.

Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa rightly snubbed a CNN reporter in a recent interview that the Pakistani military had been more successful in combating terrorists ‘Islamabad insists that these than the US or ISAF forces in the region. steps, including freezing the On the eve of Obama’s visit to New Delhi, US Deputy National Security funds of JuD and putting travel Advisor Ben Rhodes has assured Islamabad restrictions on its chief Hafiz that ties with India are not at the expense Saeed, have been taken in the of Pakistan. Washington has urged for years now that relations with the two ubiquitous national interest belligerent neighbours of the subcontinent and to fulfil UN obligations’ was not a zero sum game. Nonetheless, it is Washington bowing to Indian sensibilities that it should not club with Pakistan while Some media reports fuelled by hemming dealing with New Delhi. and hawing by some government ministers Obsolete narratives and paradigms in suggest that there is still confusion about vogue since the Afghan jihad will have to be whether JuD has actually closed shop in discarded sooner rather than later. Pakistan Pakistan. The foreign office says that it is remained a hotbed of terrorists of all the job of the interior ministry to walk the brands for long. And after being in a state talk against such outfits. But Interior of denial it is being belatedly acknowledged Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan remains nonthat the menace of ISIS (Islamic State) is committal and Minister for Science and also raising its head from within.

Technology Rana Tanveer still believes that Thankfully the military under General there is no reason to ban JuD, as it had not Raheel Sharif is well aware of the broken any Pakistani law. existential danger to the state. After This is the kind of confusion worst decades of benign neglect a rare kind of confounded and double talk at the highest consensus is emerging on security issues. level that is largely responsible for the But is it enough to combat currents and world still doubting Pakistan’s motives to crosscurrents unleashed by successive combat all kinds of terrorists. The prime military strongmen since the late General minister and military spokesman have Zia-ul-haq blatantly used the name of been lately reiterating that there is no such Islam to perpetuate himself? Civilian thing as good or bad Taliban. All Taliban leaders since then have been either too are bad and the state is moving decisively weak or timid participants in jihadi politics. against them, they contend.

The so-called religious lobby, nurtured But scepticism unabated for decades, persists about these consider themselves a claims. had it not been force to reckon with.

‘Considering the religious lobby Top religious leaders so, President Obama would not have snubbed has been the ruling party’s from almost all schools Pakistan by not visiting of thought are angry Islamabad despite being bedrock since its inception to and think that Nawaz in the neighbourhood, some extent, it is understandable. Sharif has surrendered or not receiving the to ‘the global secular The PML-N and for that matter Pakistani prime forces’ by bracketing minister in Washington. multifarious Muslim League terrorism with religion, At the end of Indian groups have traditionally while PML-N’s so Prime Minister called ally in the espoused right wing religious Narendra Modi’s Parliament, Maulana politics rather than Jinnah’s summit with the US Fazlur Rehman, has president in threatened to fill jails if vision, destroying Pakistan’s Washington last raids against madaris real ethos in the process’ September, a joint are not stopped. communiqué The government is

Arif NizAmi

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being forced to embark on a fresh narrative. But at the same time it is becoming amply clear that the battle lines are being clearly drawn. Unfortunately the PML-N government is still confused and tentative about its goals.

Considering the religious lobby has been the ruling party’s bedrock since its inception to some extent, it is understandable. The PML-N and for that matter multifarious Muslim League groups have traditionally espoused right wing religious politics rather than Jinnah’s vision, destroying Pakistan’s real ethos in the process. Resultantly, at times the ruling party’s vision has not been at much variance from that of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

But now, by dint of circumstances, it is constrained to alter its traditional

ideological moorings. A clear-headed military chief has had no qualms in reinventing the military’s role against religious terrorism, showing the way to the civilian leadership.

The military, perhaps after the damaging six years of General Kayani, realises that it is its job description to combat external and internal existential threats to the state. It is neither America’s war nor India’s. It is our war against the hydra headed monster devouring us slowly but surely, is the new narrative.

In this context Mian Nawaz Sharif and his team need to reinvent themselves and take a few lessons about Pakistan’s future ideological moorings in the light of teachings of its founding fathers. g

www.pakistantoday.com.pk 03

C M YK

cover story: FrUIts oF INcoMPeteNce

the pigs and the people Family, criminal mafias, sycophants, donkeys – just about everyone comes before the state lacking in competence and integrity, but witnessed during the course of the holding stuffed with a surfeit of the baser elements of the joint session of the parliament when and a corrupt and shameless dispensation. representatives of all political parties These individuals are masters of the art of acknowledged that the last elections were sycophancy and won’t stop at anything in rigged, but no one wanted an enquiry to be their self-serving bid to ingratiate the master. conducted. Instead, they vowed to stand But Nawaz Sharif has gone a step together for sharing a slice of the loot. further. He has introduced the culture of The move to hoist the Sharif family family nepotism in a grossly undignified fiefdom on the country finds apt resonance manner. The ruling echelons are exploding in his recent criticism of the judiciary. He is with individuals who are directly and closely reported to have said: “The independence of related to the prime minister, and have judiciary was essential, but equally sworn personal allegiance to him. I have not important is the performance of judiciary. been able to find a parallel in contemporary The pendency of numerous cases has democracies of the world of a situation contributed towards law and order issues”.

The writer is a political analyst and the where the working of the government is so The effort is part of the larger strategy to Executive Director of the Regional totally dependent on the goodwill of the render dysfunctional all state institutions Peace Institute. He can be reached at members of just one and make them raoofhasan@hotmail.com family as is the case subservient to the will Twitter:@RaoofHasan in Pakistan. Can you of the prime minister ‘The move to hoist the Sharif imagine the leaders of and his appointed family fiefdom on the country “Comrades”, he cried. “You do not imagine, the UK, Germany, cronies. The Supreme finds apt resonance in his recent I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a France, or the USA Court was, however, spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of even contemplating quick to respond to criticism of the judiciary. He is us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike to induct a close the criticism. During reported to have said: “The them myself. Our sole object in taking these relation into the the hearing of a case, things is to preserve our health. Milk and annals of power? It Justice Khosa independence of judiciary was apples (this has been provided by Science, only happens in observed that “it is essential, but equally important is comrades) contain substances absolutely Pakistan, and under time that the the performance of judiciary. The necessary to the well being of a pig. We pigs the Sharifs. executive takes are brainworkers. The whole management There is no responsibility and pendency of numerous cases has and organisation of this farm depend on us. embarrassment, no does its duty which is contributed towards law and order also its constitutional Day and night we are watching over your shame. Family welfare. It is for your sake that we drink issues”. The effort is part of the members have been obligation”. Justice that milk and eat those apples. Do you hoisted to manage the Khawaja reminded larger strategy to render know what would happen if we pigs failed fate of the people, but the government that dysfunctional all state institutions “inefficient in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, they remain immune Jones would come back! Surely, comrades”, to being impacted by and make them subservient to the investigations and cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping even the worst weak prosecutions will of the prime minister and his from side to side and whisking his tail, catastrophe striking were the primary appointed cronies. The Supreme “surely, there is no one among you who the state. Take the reasons for delays wants to see Jones come back?” case of the finance and the rising backlog Court was, however, quick to minister who is the of cases in courts”.

–George Orwell, Animal Farm respond to the criticism. During father-in-law of the The prime number of issues beckon a prime minister’s minister’s intentions the hearing of a case, Justice comment, not the least the daughter. He has are clearly reflected in Khosa observed that “it is time abysmal manner in which the contributed in no the criminal absence that the executive takes shortage of petrol in the country mean terms to of a foreign minister has been handled and the way creating one crisis even after more than responsibility and does its duty the prime minister has provided the most after the other in the one-and-a-half-year which is also its constitutional convenient cover-up for the dereliction of country including the of the induction of the responsibility and the consequent existent petrol government. Two obligation”. Justice Khawaja accountability of people who are either conundrum, but no unelected individuals, reminded the government that related to him, or part of his complicit one dare touch him.

Sartaj Aziz and Tariq “inefficient investigations and coterie of associates. The enquiry There is also a whole Fatemi, are there to committee that was formulated to look into battalion comprising a weak prosecutions were the satiate the prime the unprecedented debacle proceeded probrother, daughter, minister’s bloated ego primary reasons for delays and the and take care of the haste to submit its findings even before the sons, nephews, rising backlog of cases in courts”’ 24-hour deadline had expired, obviously cousins and cousinsadministrative exonerating all individuals who are directly in-law who are lording matters. Similarly, responsible for the grave crisis that people over the fate of the defence ministry does have endured including the petroleum country beyond the realm of accountability. not have a full-time minister and one of the ministers, water and power ministers and Nepotism is generally acknowledged as cabinet members has been given the the finance minister. OGRA and its multiple the lowest and basest form of corruption. additional charge. Almost fifty key nonentities alone are held responsible.

With the Sharifs, it is not a question of institutions of the state remain without Ever since his induction into the annals promoting just an individual, but a whole permanent heads elected through a of power, Nawaz Sharif has systematically incompetent lot that comes infected with transparent process and the interim introduced and practiced a vile culture of the germs of looting and plundering. In this appointments are more often pleading for patronage that, even in a corruption-riddled ignoble pursuit, they are not alone any their extensions in service than discussing country like Pakistan, has no parallel. In the longer. They have induced partners from the issues confronting their organisations. process, all pretensions of good governance across the political divides to take their The brother chief minister of Punjab sits on have been divorced and replaced by an share for a price. The crudest almost all important meetings concerning infatuation with promoting individuals demonstration of this partnership was the ministries while those more relevant to their working are sidelined.

The government’s inordinate dependence ‘Nepotism is generally acknowledged as the lowest and basest form of on a few individuals, who also happen to be family members, is now also being criticised corruption. With the Sharifs, it is not a question of promoting just an within the PML-N and a number of individual, but a whole incompetent lot that comes infected with the parliamentarians take exception to this germs of looting and plundering. In this ignoble pursuit, they are not penchant. They construe this as the key cause of abdication of governance and its resultant alone any longer. They have induced partners from across the political crises. They also allege that most of the divides to take their share for a price. The crudest demonstration of this ministers, except for the chosen few, do not partnership was witnessed during the course of the holding of the joint have the powers and unrelated people take decisions in their place. However, they are the session of the parliament when representatives of all political parties ones who are blamed in the end and made to acknowledged that the last elections were rigged, but no one wanted an apologise. The Damocles sword hangs only enquiry to be conducted. Instead, they vowed to stand together for on the heads of the lowly, the powerless and those almost irrelevant to the crisis. The sharing a slice of the loot’ section officer for one! Or anyone else the

CANDID CORNER

raooF HasaN

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‘The Sharifs have virtually turned the country into an animal farm.

They have domineering power, but they lust for more. They have a number of their family members hoisted at key positions in the administration, but they dream of an empire that would be known by their name alone. The others would be serfs beholden to them for everything including their meagre existence on throwaway crumbs. They have refined and perfected the art of corruption through decades, but are conceiving ever more tricks to further their stranglehold on the state coffers. Their greed has no limit and their shamelessness no measure. They proclaim resolve to fight terror, but are joined with most of its perpetrators in an enterprise of political gains. They are sunk to the bottom of the pit, but claim they are the messiahs of deliverance. Their hypocrisy has no bounds and their evil intent no constraints’ prime minister does not like the face of.

The Sharifs have virtually turned the country into an animal farm. They have domineering power, but they lust for more. They have a number of their family members hoisted at key positions in the administration, but they dream of an empire that would be known by their name alone.

The others would be serfs beholden to them for everything including their meagre existence on throwaway crumbs. They have refined and perfected the art of corruption through decades, but are conceiving ever more tricks to further their stranglehold on the state coffers. Their greed has no limit and their shamelessness no measure. They proclaim resolve to fight terror, but are joined with most of its perpetrators in an enterprise of political gains. They are sunk to the bottom of the pit, but claim they are the messiahs of deliverance. Their hypocrisy has no bounds and their evil intent no constraints.

One is lost for words to describe the vile Sharif phenomenon. The more one thinks of it, the more one is troubled by their espousal of regression and degeneration as integral instruments of their thinking for further enslavement of the country. Moral depravity and an abominable paucity of intellect constitute the principal components of their rule. Muckraking is their strategy, criminal mafias their conduits and establishment of a theocracy their destination. Buying everything, most notably people’s conscience, is virtually their religion.

Wondering what had altered in the faces of the pigs, George Orwell concludes his masterpiece thus: “An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials.

The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” g

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

Political + Judicial Failure = Military Courts Is the fuel crisis and the possible cancellation of the military courts by the Supreme Court fashioned to immobilise the military in its war against terrorism?

Humayun GauHar

The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at: humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com.

J

esus was given a crown of thorns and put on the cross. He conquered the world. Barnabas is known only because he was preferred over Jesus by his own people and pardoned. He is reviled the world over. The progeny of those who made the choice are suffering to this day.

Pontius Pilot gave the people of Palestine a choice at a feast: pardon Jesus Christ for challenging the Jewish rabbis or Barnabas the thief. The people chose to pardon Barnabas and sent Jesus to the crucifix. Jesus’s mission to cleanse Judaism of clerical influence, misinterpretations, rituals and traditions that they had foisted on it was called ‘heresy’. If he prevailed it would end their overlordship, their livelihoods and high stations that they had created for themselves. The rabbis wanted Jesus dead because he was shaking up their self-serving status quo like a revolutionary.

While Christians believe that Jesus was crucified Muslims believe that Jesus was lifted up to heaven and someone of his likeness was put on the cross.

Both believe that he will return one day – “The second Coming” – to save Mankind. Both also believe in the Immaculate Conception. so what’s this kerfuffle between Islam and Christianity about? It is about clerical power still pervading minds, power that still prevails in the secular notion of freedom of speech and makes it license. The separation of church and state weakened that power somewhat in Christianity, but Muslims still await the separation of mullah from statecraft, but more about that next week.

People continue making wrong choices for which they suffer. Thrice have we offered the crown to Nawaz sharif and thrice has he accepted it, unlike Julius Caesar who thrice refused it. Four times have we offered the crown to the Bhutto-Zardari Combine and four times has it accepted it.

Between them they have ruled Pakistan like a conquered fief, denuded it of its wealth and left its people in penury. serves the people right for repeatedly making the wrong choices for hopefully their mistakes will make them learn lessons. The excuse that elections were rigged is getting worn. Rigged they certainly were but millions voted for Barnabas again and again anyway even though they had no

Jesus to vote for. Today we have nothing: no independence, no basic needs, no fundamental rights, no education, no gas or water, electricity or petrol, diminishing transport, no security, no justice, no government, only the pantomime of democracy with our chosen Mafiosi playing the governmentgovernment charade in turns.

Our simplicity makes us wonder why our ‘elected’ governments don’t come up to our expectations and achieve our objectives. Why do they degrade our country so and disappoint us?

It is because their objectives and ours are different, something we still have not realised. Our objectives are that our governments should improve our condition with incremental progress and prosperity. Their objectives are to improve their own condition, increase their wealth and ensure that their progeny rules Pakistan forever.

There can be no meeting point between our false expectations and their evil objectives. Thus delivery to us has been nil while rulers have achieved their objectives beautifully. Nawaz sharif and family started out with only one steel foundry. Today their wealth is beyond belief – and growing – while our credulity is still not strained enough to make us see our fault. Asif Zardari started life selling cinema tickets on the black market.

Today his wealth too defies credulity, but our credulity is still not strained enough to make us see our fault. The sharif and Bhutto-Zardari clans should be given special Nobel Prizes for wealth creation and entrepreneurship for converting politics into the most lucrative business in the world. Yes, we the people are at the root of our troubles because we are incapable of differentiating between right and wrong, good and evil. Our minds, such as they are, pickled by mullahs and blown by the rhetoric of predatory politicians, are unable to recognise what is good for us and what is bad. Thus we suffer and our suffering continues and increases.

It is because of such incompetent and corrupt political governments driven by evil intent that we have had military or army rule four times. Those who bleat that had the army not intervened and allowed the political process

‘Those who bleat that had the army not intervened and allowed the political process to evolve can’t think straight. Their minds are still colonised; their thought processes hostage to alien political and social constructs’ to evolve can’t think straight.

Their minds are still colonised; their thought processes hostage to alien political and social constructs. All they want is what they mistakenly think is democracy without understanding the creed. so what gets foisted on us is sham democracy of the worst and most rapacious kind. It is not a chicken and egg situation – which came first? Pakistan’s political chicken came first and its incompetence, malfeasance and corruption laid army eggs four times from which we have made an unpalatable omelette, so horrible that it would take unusual genius to unscramble it. so what do we do?

We try and convert the horrible omelette into a scrambled egg and make a bigger mess of it. The army brings back the same old political eggs and some new ones of the same kinds and our downward spiral continues. The challenge now is to turn our political chickens into tigers that beget more tigers, not lay eggs.

Can you believe it, petrol petrol everywhere and not a drop to drink? If this doesn’t expose stark system and systemic failure, what does? Why? For one thing, never rule out crass stupidity, gross incompetence and malfeasance. What else can one expect of governments rived with stupidity, corruption and ignorance that are short on substance but long on symbolism?

I don’t know what the military’s fuel reserves are and how much they have been depleted, but an unbelievable thought occurs to me, unlikely though it seems. Could it be that the government has deliberately caused a fuel shortage to immobilise our armed forces fighting a war against terrorism because some of our ‘elected’ politicians in and out of

government, clerical and otherwise, are sympathetic to terrorists? If true, this falls in the category of political suicide, which is their habit.

Today we have no branch of government or institution left, only hollow shells. All that remains are the armed forces.

Four times have the politicians lost their crown to the army and the best part of it for a fifth now.

Parliament has legislated the establishment of military courts and legally brought the army into politics because the judiciary has failed to bring terrorists, their aiders, abettors, sympathisers and funders to justice. To salvage its position, the supreme Court has admitted writ petitions challenging the constitutionality of the legislation allowing military courts. But the reality is that the army chief has become the de facto prime minister meeting other heads of government and also the foreign, defence, interior and part law minister while the de jure prime minister has been left to attend funerals. One slip up by the politicians or judiciary and the army chief could become chief executive made de jure by the supreme Court again. so let us understand: political failure plus judicial failure equals military courts, and if they are not careful, it will equal army rule yet again.

Back to square one. Well done, Nawaz sharif, you have achieved the impossible, not only made Asif Zardari look good but also lost power to your political father and now self-created nemesis the army. All that remains is the window dressing of civilian rule. suits the army fine, for they have power without responsibility and suits America fine for their charade of democracy continues while the people take the hindmost. such hypocrisy cannot last. something has to give.

When, only the gods know.

Thus it is that I am worried about the future of the military courts because an unlettered people wrongly think that military courts are equal to army rule that will exterminate terrorism. One fears that due to their limited mandate and the many restrictions placed on them coupled with politicians and fake democrats talking against them, the possible ‘failure’ of the military courts to end terrorism could lead to the perception of military failure and degrade our only remaining institution of last resort, after which there is the abyss. Obviously it will also work for the politicians fine if the army is defanged. Methinks the army accepted this with its mouth open and eyes closed. They should think again about the road they have agreed to tread upon, lest it leads to a cul-de-sac from where retreat would be a bloody mess. It would work for our enemies fine too were the army disabled, defiled and weakened by losing respect of the people – the best way to destroy a nation as Ghazi salahuddin Ayyubi said. soldiers, of all people, should realise that if you fire half cock the gun could injure your hand. Don’t try and be cleverer than you are. Realise that our parliament is just a

‘Today we have no branch of government or institution left, only hollow shells. All that remains are the armed forces. Four times have the politicians lost their crown to the army and the best part of it for a fifth now’ circus, our executive a Mafia and our courts full of hot air whose failure has led to military courts.

They have failed not only because their former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry politicised the judiciary woefully but also because of incompetent police investigation unable to provide evidence, outdated criminal laws, fewer judges than needed and the unavailability of good judges who would rather be lawyers and earn more. How can a police, badly paid, ill-equipped and understaffed with an unconscionable number of them detailed to useless ‘VIP’ duties do its job when it too is laden with criminals recruited from jails by criminal politicians to work for their criminal purposes?

The military courts have been charged with cutting only the leaves of the tree of terrorism, not its roots. The roots created militant minds: the madrassas, the mullahs of certain mosques and religious politicians and their sympathising politicians and political parties and our Muslim and non-Muslim ‘brethren’ and ‘allies’ who helped create them to exorcise their own demons.

Political clerics and their fake democrat political sympathisers would not have the military touch the seminaries that churn our terrorists or the religious political parties that encourage terrorism and sectarianism. How then can you destroy the terrorism tree by just plucking its leaves where more leaves will grow without destroying its roots? It took us 40 years to create terrorism. It will take at least two generations to kill this monster before it kills Dr Frankenstein who is badly wounded and bleeding the world over right now.

My wife sometimes says that I am a prophet of doom who causes gloom and sometimes praises me for seeing silver linings in the gloaming. Yes, I do see hope because the people are learning, but oh so slowly. More and more people are beginning to understand that the roots of our disease lie in our Constitution that begets our political, judicial and every other system that beget rapacious governments, that our systems are the roots of misgovernance, injustice and woes. That is a great leap forward. May we continue on the path of learning from our mistakes because election-afterelection and coup-after-coup won’t get us out of our nosedive and start rising. Only the people can when they get wisdom after getting a thrashing because of their own mistakes. They are the best pilots. But what a thrashing they are getting right now. g www.pakistantoday.com.pk 05

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

cover STory: frUITS of INcoMPeTeNce

Unable to govern Nawaz’s problem is not TTP or NaP, it’s inability to govern the opposition. Khaqan Abbasi tried put it on beggars and media – though didn’t explain how – but he soon got to know how differently the democracy slogan now sits with The writer is Associate Editor, the people. no electricity, no gas Pakistan Today. He can be and now no oil. That, unbelievably, reached at jafry.shahab@gmail.com when there is an international oil glut. The minister first said high T didn’t take very long for the demand because of low price was strategy of associating PML-n responsible. But then someone with survival of democracy to probably suggested that that made begin unravelling. All the party him look even sillier, because rising needed was for the pressure to demand, too, is an international wear off. And when dharna phenomenon, but we’re the only agitation subsided after Peshawar, country in this state. the n league simply paralysed itself.

Some say the price cut led to the And it was evident as early as the usual hoarding. Only they didn’t APC how things would unfold. There understand the mechanics of the was bound to be a show of unity, and international oil market, and got there was little the prime minister caught with their hand in the cookie could do except promise swift jar. But Abbasi runs an airline, and retribution. But what was Ijazul Haq, probably understands OPEC and some other ‘old friends’, doing economics better than most people on the stage? How would these in Pakistan. Still, not many people people build the bought blaming it new narrative? on OGRA, Since then, especially since ‘Some say the price cut led whatever forward there’s still no to the usual hoarding. Only solution and movement has been made was they didn’t understand the people are still squeezed by the suffering. mechanics of the military – And the Imran international oil market, hangings, 21st problem hasn’t amendment, etc. gone away either. and got caught with their The prime minister nawaz should hand in the cookie jar’ has held marathon have realised – meetings, yet even after the dharna at APS victims’ and successive chehlum the line out of his office jalsas – that Imran can go back to spoke of “resolve” and “intent” to street power to push him into a “take on all terrorists”. And despite corner again. It was wrong to repeated promises, the state assume Peshawar would keep him machinery is unable to move against quiet for long, especially since he madrassas, especially Lal Masjid. had no intention of honouring the Security agencies have formally judicial commission promise. It was informed the interior ministry of said then and it’s said again. nawaz LM’s threat level, yet the chief cleric will never order an inquiry that remains free despite an arrest might find fault with the election. It warrant. now the government has would have been better to quit at the more egg on its face after the Wah dharna. So, another unkept promise bomber last week turned out to be a and more pressure in the offing.

Lal Masjid student.

Already, what remains of nawaz But the war is the least of the after his third first year is not government’s worries. It’s long since impressive. He wanted to challenge ceded control to the military. nawaz the military but was quickly cut to came out chest size. He promised thumping into his overcoming third stint – trying energy shortage ‘It was said then and it’s Gen Musharraf, yet the power said again. Nawaz will taking control of crisis has COIn strategy – worsened. And never order an inquiry but it didn’t take now, of course, it that might find fault long for him to is unable to with the election. It blunder himself guarantee into a position of everyday gas and would have been better subservience. fuel. He will no to quit at the dharna’ Zardari was longer be able to smarter and play the allowed Kayani to democracy card oversee those important matters when his credibility is questioned, without much trouble. not as long as he’s unable to The government’s main guarantee even basic governance. problem is its inability to do its The military already runs the most basic job – govern. no matter how important ministries, perhaps it the party’s Marvi Memons spin it, should employ the lead-from-behind they cannot blame the fuel crisis on model on governance as well. g

Shahab Jafry

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06 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Symptom of a diseased whole

How has Pakistan’s civil democracy helped the country? ‘If foreign policy, national security, Taha NaJeeb KhaN

The writer is an engineering consultant in T-Mobile, NY. He is also a freelance writer/blogger. In addition to that, he is currently writing a novel about a young Pakistani man’s conflict with religion and modernity. He can be reached at tahanajeeb01@gmail.com.

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n 2012, a beast emerged from the agitated waters of the mighty Atlantic and went straight for America. Belied by its granny-ish name – “Sandy” – this giant maelstrom of raging and swirling winds struck the American shores like a battering ram. It brought with it heavy snow, hail, and vast quantities of water. Within hours of its descent, new York was flooding, cell phone carriers were down, and there were unprecedented power outages. Time Square, that unsleeping pageant of flash and colour, went completely dark and empty. Manhattan suddenly resembled a ghost town.

But that was not to be the case for too long.

Even though the beast pounded its fists over the coast line, sweeping and ravaging its way across the mainland with mad gusty 90 mph winds, Bloomberg’s disaster recovery teams were equal to the task. Within a few days, in spite of heavy infrastructural damages, blocked routes and deep flooding, most of the basic necessities of life – roads, electricity, and communication links — were repaired and salvaged. There was the regrettable loss of life, but it could have been far worse had the rescue teams not done their due diligence. Following the incident, there was talk of lessons learned and holding accountable those who could have done a better job.

This is what makes nations great, that when calamity strikes, they strip all denominational tags and stripes and get to work. Rising above the personal for the collective becomes their moral and national imperative. And those in authority and positions of power lead the way.

Because they understand that power without due responsibility is like a crown without a king – unworthy and useless.

The people of new York who rescued their cities from Sandy’s death-grip were not Enlightenment thinkers and philosophers, busily unpacking Kant and Voltaire. They were firemen, policemen, repairmen, technicians, etc, — regular people. They combined fierce diligence and effective planning to enable a return to the default – steady and calm – state of affairs.

The point is this: To be a successful nation does not require the hashing of complex political theories and untangling of the great conundrums of the human condition. That is doubtless important, but running the affairs of a country is more a matter of common sense, integrity and accountability than anything else; all three of which are endangered species at home in Pakistan.

While the world talks of teleportation and future Mars trips, Pakistan almost defiantly manages to backslide into human pre-history with its light-less cities, gas-less kitchens and now its fuel deprived pumps.

The current petrol crisis is just another symptom of a diseased whole. Yes we can blame the distributers for keeping the oil stocks low due to the falling petrol prices, just

crisis and control management, among other areas of civil governance, all fall under the military’s purview, then why at all stick to the pretense of a civil democracy?’ like we can blame Ogra for poor regulation, PSO for mismanagement, ministry of petroleum for incompetent supply chain handling, ministry of finance for stopping PSO from importing more oil last year, and the government for, well, just about everything, but the point is that how come, in this day and age, such self- generated catastrophes can transpire with such morbid regularity in our beloved crisis-hugging country?

This calls for a serious appraisal of the whole notion of civil governance in Pakistan.

Yes we all support democracy while equally condemning martial rule – a sinister legacy of the Colonial Raj – because in theory that is the right thing to do. But what about in practice?

How has Pakistan’s civil democracy helped the country? Has it introduced new players to the game? Any fresh faces and brilliant minds? new strategies and novel practices?

The fact, depressingly manifest all over TV and newsprint, is that nothing much has changed. The idea that democracy necessitates change may have found a stubborn and melancholy exception in Pakistan. What change, one might ask, is there when the man elected to the highest seat of power has previously occupied the same seat, twice, and that too a long time ago? And just as the faces have remained the same, so have the policies.

Today we see a similar “Lego” obsession with metro buses that one observed with the yellow cabs in the previous millennium. The foreign and domestic policy, governance strategy and national vision haven’t budged much either. It all seems eerily recursive — these haunting reruns of a forgettable past; an interminable fever dream that the entire country is seeing as one terrified whole.

So, yes, while many Pakistanis justifiably rant and rage over previous martial regimes, there is something to be said about the alternative on offer – civil democracy – that has for most of its history been much like a crippled man on crutches who can barely take a few steps forward without pleading for help from those very quarters that he rests all his woes on – the army. Every time there is a major calamity in the country, like the Earthquake that shook the Margallas in 2005 or the recent floods in 2010, the army is called in for help. Even the dispensation of swift justice is often outsourced to the army, as we see with the whole setting up of military courts in the aftermath of 12/16. If foreign policy, national security, crisis and control management, among other areas of civil governance, all fall under the military’s purview, then why at all stick to the pretense of a civil democracy? If the true spirit of democracy — reform and change — is woefully absent from the whole equation, and there is a real possibility that the same faces will hound and haunt us till the end of our days, then why was Musharraf’s regime so unacceptable? Why we did we take to the streets chanting “GoMusharraf-Go” slogans only to repeat the same for Zardari and Sharif; the former a chairperson of the party “we” voted into power and the latter a man re-elected by “us” for the third time over two decades.

More than petrol, we should be concerned about our mental health as a nation. And let’s not forget, dictatorship has many faces and it doesn’t always come wearing a military uniform. g

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

The narrative of identity Azizud-din AhmAd

The writer is a political analyst and a former academic.

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He rise of the jihadi narrative in Pakistan was nothing new though it became widespread through state patronage after General Zia-ul-Haq embraced the Us supported jihad against the soviet troops in Afghanistan.

The religious leadership and the seminaries in British India had long nurtured the jihadi narrative. Beginning with syed Ahmad Brelvi, a major section of the conservative ulema opposed modern education and western institutions and advocated launching of armed struggle against the colonial government.

The tradition was inherited by Deoband where prominent clerics declared jihad a religious duty.

They played with the sentiments of the Indian Muslims, wasting their energies and resources in pursuit of chimeras like Khilfat Movement and the Hijrat Movement.

The Wahabis, who were the predecessors of the modern day salafis, played a prominent role in the campaign. Lord Mayo was stabbed to death by a Wahabi

extremist while on a visit to the Andaman Islands. While the jihadi’s name has been forgotten Lord Mayo’s survives in the form the Mayo Hospital Lahore which was established in his memory through contributions raised by the British community.

The moderate Muslim leadership in British India, however, emphasised the need on the part of the community to seek modern education. It rightly maintained that this was needed to enable the Muslims of India to compete with other communities, especially the Hindus. The trend was initiated by sir syed Ahmad Khan who set up the Aligarh Muslim College, later upgraded to Aligarh Muslim University. The pioneer was maligned by the jihadi ulema. some declared him an apostate.

The moderate Muslims, following in the footsteps of sir syed Ahmad Khan, set up educational institutions imparting western education in many parts of India. The most prominent among these were the chain of schools and colleges set up by Anjuman-e-Himayat e-Islam in Lahore and Anjuman-e-Islamia in Amritsar. similarly Hasan Ali Afandi established sindh Madrassatul Islam in Karachi. The schools were established through donations from the Muslim community, which shows that large swathes of the community did not subscribe to the jihadi narrative. Instead they supported modern education.

The educational institutions set up by the enlightened sections of the community helped Muhammad Al Jinnah in spreading the message of the

‘Maulana Muhammad Ali Kasuri, the son of a prominent Wahabi cleric, joined the earliest jihadis in Waziristan in early 20th century after graduating from Cambridge’ Muslim League. Islamia College Lahore provided perhaps the largest number of volunteers who spread Jinnah’s message throughout India. The vast majority of the so-called nationalist ulema, belonging to both the Deobandi and Wahabi schools, like Jamaat-e-Islami founder syed Abul Ala Maudoodi, Hussain Ahmad Madani and Daud Ghanzavi opposed Pakistan movement. The colleges imparting modern education meanwhile became the strongholds of the Muslim League. Pakistan came into being despite opposition from the ulema running the seminaries.

The Muslim community whole heartedly supported a clean shaved, westernised lawyer-cumparliamentarian rather than the nationalist ulema, some of whom still advocated jihad while others supported the All India Congress.

During the British era a number of prominent Muslims got confused. Akbar Allahabadi poohpoohed modernist trends among the Muslims that included seeking western education and greater freedom for women. Those who tried to sit between the two stools included figures like Maulana Zafar Ali Khan. Maulana Muhammad Ali Kasuri, the son of a prominent Wahabi cleric, joined

The fuel crisis AbdullAh humAyun The writer can be reached at: abdullah.humayun@gmail.com, and on Twitter at: @ahshafi.

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s fuel across the country dried up, the natural inclination was to pin blame on the incumbents. The general sentiment would like to see some heads roll within the government, in addition to bureaucrats, however powerful they may be, but politicians because the population feels a greater sense of ownership of political power and hence a greater need to see that power holding itself responsible.

It seems that the minister for petroleum has finally accepted that his domain extends to the provision of petrol to the citizens of Pakistan. This realisation, although late and surprising for the minister himself, has prompted him to accept blame for the current crisis. That the government was caught so completely off guard as the crisis unfolded does not come as a surprise.

Flailing, choking, and falling, only to unapologetically get up to repeat the whole exercise in institutional clumsiness on another day, another event.

Out of this choking came a number of responses from the government regarding

opinion Time to roll back the jihadi narrative

the earliest jihadis in Waziristan in early 20th century after graduating from Cambridge. The shows that the idea of jihad even then lured individuals from the Muslim educated middle class.

Kasuri later described in his memoirs how he abandoned jihad to work for the All India Congress.

The poet Mohammad Iqbal represents best the confusion prevailing among the Indian Muslims as Jinnah emerged on the political scene. Iqbal was an Indian nationalist in his early days. Later he turned into a supporter of the revival of the ‘glorious’ past. Iqbal wrote several poems castigating the clerics and accepted knighthood from the British government. some of his most popular poetry however comprises pieces that support militancy and idealise jihad. No wonder why Iqbal’s poetry is the most quoted on TTP’s official site. In his later days Iqbal became the secretary general the Punjab Muslim League and a supporter of Jinnah.

Initially Jinnah too shared some of the confusion that characterised the community he was to represent and lead.

However he stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries as he never succumbed to the lure of jihad, nor did he yearn for reviving a mythical past. Jinnah dissociated himself from Khilafat and Hijrat movements, which he considered dangerous aberrations. Jinnah instead stuck to peaceful means during the struggle for Pakistan.

His vision for the future of Pakistan, a new multi-faith nation state, is outlined in his August 11, 1947 address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. For Jinnah

Pakistan was to be a pluralist modern state practicing democracy.

The Muslim League leadership after Jinnah showed little fondness for democracy. The party big wigs like Liaquat Ali Khan and Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman had left their constituencies back in India and were afraid of the majority from east Pakistan. They therefore decided to make a political use of Islam. An attempt was made to censor Jinnah’s speech before its publication.

Failing in the attempt they got the Objectives Resolution passed.

The myth of the “Founding Fathers” had to be created to bring in Iqbal who had lambasted democracy in his poetry as a lever against Jinnah who was an out and out democrat. With military dictators taking over, a democratic Jinnah was gradually ignored and Iqbal with his militaristic thinking promoted. The process started under Ayub Khan, particularly after Fatima Jinnah challenged the dictator. Being opposed by a section of the clergy also, it was considered useful to humiliate them with Iqbal’s anti-clergy poetry. Dr Khalifa Abdul Hakeem was commissioned to collect all the anti- clergy poems subsequently published as “Iqbal Aur Mullah”. The jihadi narrative received full support under Zia-ulHaq, who made it the official ‘ideology’ of the state.

It is time to roll back the jihadi narrative to save the country by creating a new narrative based on Jinnah’s address. It would be advisable to replace the Objective Resolution which was incorporated

by Zia into the constitution with portions of Jinnah’s address. g­

Was spike in demand the major reason for the crisis?

factors that caused and precipitated the crisis. vice versa. You’ll replace your old car for a The response was essentially binary in nature, new one only after a number of years and where two issues were important. First was certainly not as a monthly response to a the boiling over of PsO’s cash flow caused by change in oil prices. the circular debt issue, resulting in PsO being For most countries, the short term unable to honour its import liabilities. This elasticity of oil is less than one, meaning that led its suppliers to cut off its oil and break the for each percent change in price, the percent supply chain. The shutting of an oil refinery change in demand will be less than one comes up now and then but no one seems to percent. Research conducted by economists take that as the defining point of the crisis’. at the MIT suggests a price elasticity for oil The other explanation revolves around an between the range of -0.034 to -0.077, unexpected increase in demand caused by meaning that a one percent reduction in the lowering of petrol prices in October 2014. prices will increase demand by between From October 2014 as of now, the price of oil 0.034 and 0.077 percent. For Pakistan, little and related products has gone down by research has been conducted on the subject nearly a third. The tenets of supply/demand but conjecture would suggest an elasticity would suggest an increase in oil that is even lower than the Us, since there is consumption, the lending the government’s a lack of alternatives for transportation, thus claim some credibility. However, every good resulting in demand being more rigid. has a unique set of economic characteristics Going by the price elasticity mechanism, related to supply and demand. Does the fall the sustained demand for petrol cannot in price denote a similar rise in demand? have gone up by more than three percent. should a price fall of 30 percent result in Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that demand rising by a similar 30 percent? Given people are still buying petrol according to the nature of oil and its uses, the percentage the same denominations as before. Where demand for oil will rise by less than the once a thousand rupees got you around percentage price, an economic concept nine litres in June, the same amount gets known as price elasticity of demand. you around 12 litres now. In effect, people Oil is mostly used in machines that are could have been building up inventories hard to replace in the short term, which is since the decline in oil prices, resulting in why despite spikes and dips in the price of an unexpected surge in demand. In this oil, demand remains stubbornly consistent. case, demand should settle down back near Change in demand pre-crash levels. only occurs in the Unlike the long run when scenario above, for ‘Going by the price elasticity people and demand to sustain mechanism, the sustained demand corporations have our behaviours enough time to related to for petrol cannot have gone up by replace their consumption must more than three percent’ machines with more change to enable fuel efficient ones or demand to stay put

‘Oil is mostly used in machines that are hard to replace in the short term, which is why despite spikes and dips in the price of oil, demand remains stubbornly consistent’ at a higher level. The increased demand for hybrid vehicles in recent years was a consequence of higher petrol prices. similarly, the surge in CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) can also be attributed to higher petrol prices. In both cases, it took consumers some years before they invested in these technologies to counter the higher fuel prices.

The same mechanisms will be at play when prices fall. It will take consumers some time before they acclimatise their consumption patterns to lower petrol prices by perhaps buying less fuel efficient non-hybrid vehicles, driving more kilometres and preferring to live in suburban areas rather than city centres.

Changes at a behavioural level take time and the four month window since prices began falling is certainly not enough for us to attribute the crisis to this phenomenon. That consumers were building inventories through buying the same rupee value of petrol before could be one reason for a spike in demand.

While the spike in demand could have caused the issue to precipitate the fact that the crisis is still not over, yet is first and foremost a governance issue, a candid peak into the incumbent’s style of overlycentralised management of government and its contingent inefficiencies and incompetence. g­ www.pakistantoday.com.pk 07

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

opinion

Terrorism and pakistan Perhaps we deserve this

large neighbour, India, prompted it to try to develop friendly defence relations with large powers such as US and later on China.

Americans knew well that Pakistani rulers cannot live without dollars and they took full advantage. The policy makers went too far in the relationship with the Americans, getting Pakistan unnecessarily involved into US led alliances of SEATO, CEnTO and Baghdad pact against Soviet Union. This alliance with US and unnecessary acts of obedience brought the anger of the Soviet Union, whose early neutral stand on The writer is an IT Executive in Kashmir quickly changed to a pro-India financial industry, with extensive experience in technology innovation stance. A factor often ignored by historians for modern banking. He is currently is that during the period of 1951 to 1953, researching on Modern Monetary several high level meetings were held Theory and International Financing between Pakistanis and Indians, at highest for Third World Economies. levels, on the Kashmir Issue. India accepted Kashmir as the central issue between the two countries and during a meeting n the age of information, ignorance between two prime ministers in 1953, India is a choice and we as a nation have agreed in principle, about plebiscite. It was chosen to remain ignorant. Dumbeddecided that the plebiscite administrator down to the lowest common would be appointed by the end of 1954, denominator, devoid of any Pakistan’s association with US sponsored aspiration, we are swallowing the dominant pacts and consequent pro-India stance by myths and mindlessly repeating the Soviet Union on Kashmir, provided a mantras inserted into our skulls, derived golden opportunity for nehru to renege from a generation of cleverly crafted completely on all assurances. propaganda. Why else would we allow our Ayub Khan, who came into power in country to be destroyed? Why else would 1958 through a military coup, was obsessed we be rewarding its destroyers? The fact with modernisation of the armed forces in often disavowed that we are being directed, the shortest possible time. He saw the controlled, censured, commanded, relationship with US the only way to achieve preached at and indoctrinated by creatures his organisational and personal objectives. who neither have the rights, nor the He allowed America to use Peshawar objective merits to do so. The country that airbase for spying activities against Soviets was created for the people to enjoy their and establish a communication centre for freedom failed to serve electronic espionage at the purpose, because Badaber. In 1960, the people surrendered Soviet army shot down ‘“General Zia and DG-ISI their personal authority the U2 Spy plane that and moral integrity to a took off from Peshawar Akhtar Abdur Rahman had group of oligarchs, air base. Soviet Union very cordial relations with having no religion, demanded Pakistan to class, creed or race, but dismantle Peshawar CIA director William Casey. To vested interests. The based espionage offset that uncomfortable ruling class, the British facilities and closeness with Americans, Zia trained bureaucracy, threatened to attack if the military the demand was not and Akhtar were portrayed as establishment and the met. This is one holy warriors of Islam and elite civilians were example of the profoundly selfish, military’s superiority modern day Saladins”’ having lack of vision complex with respect to and in-depth analysis, civilians, where the to deal with defence soldiers while related matters and foreign policy. They considering themselves to be the soul of the turned the nation’s image into one of nation and ultimate guarantor of its security beggars asking for aid and mercenaries turned ambivalent in their relationship with fighting proxy wars for global powers. the rest of the citizenry. The falsified sense Here is a glimpse of our myopic of moral superiority over the civilians, and hedonistic leadership’s mindset despite having no training, knowledge and Governor General Ghulam Muhammad, analytical vision to deal with the complexity during his conversation with Vice President of economic and foreign affairs, developed nixon, pleading for military aid stated that, gradually from Ayub Khan’s era and got “... were the US not to grant aid now, transferred to the next generation of the especially in view of all publicity, it would officer corps under Gen Zia, who took the be like taking a poor girl for a walk and relationship with US to a new level by then walking out on her, leaving her only turning the country into a frontline state with a bad name”. (Ref: Memorandum of fighting America’s war against the Soviet conversation of Ghulam Muhammad and Union, to the disadvantage of its people.

Vice President of the United States, In an appearance before a December 7, 1953 in Karachi. Foreign subcommittee of the House Appropriations Relations of the United States (FRUS) Committee on April 24, 2009 secretary of 1952-1954, Volume XI, p1832). state Hilary Clinton officially admitted that Foreign Minister Zafrullah Khan, during the United States, in its zeal to beat the a meeting with Governor Stassen in 1953 Soviet Union, aligned itself with forces that said; “It was Pakistan’s belief that the today have grown into an existential threat beggar’s bowl should never be concealed”. to the world. She said; “But the problems (Ref: Memorandum of conversation June we face now to some extent we have to 22, 1954 in Washington. FRUS no 9281, take responsibility for, having contributed Volume XI, p1849). to it. Let’s remember here … the people we Dennis Kux, a former US ambassador to are fighting today, we funded them twenty Pakistan, in his book Disenchanted Allies, years ago … and we did it because we quotes Ayub Khan, who, getting frustrated were locked in a struggle with the Soviet with the slow pace of negotiations with US Union. We did not want to see them during his visit to Washington, went to control Central Asia and we went to work Henry Byroad’s office and told him, “I … and it was President Reagan in didn’t come here to look at barracks. Our partnership with Congress led by army can be your army if you want us. But Democrats who said you know what it let’s make a decision”. What about the sounds like a pretty good idea … let’s deal people of Pakistan, Mr Ayub Khan? with the ISI and the Pakistan military and Right from the beginning, Pakistan’s let’s go recruit these mujahideen. And apprehension about the designs of a hostile great, let them come from Saudi Arabia

Junaid Malik

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08 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

and other countries, importing their hundred interviews conducted between the Wahabi brand of Islam so that we can go autumn of 2001 and the summer of 2003 beat the Soviet Union. with numerous CIA officials as well as How did this happen? politicians, military officers, and spies from In his memoir published in 1996, the all the countries involved except Russia. In former CIA director Robert Gates made it his book, Coll has identified the culprits clear that the American intelligence services who created the monster. He writes; began to aid the mujahideen guerrillas not ‘’Carter, Brzezinski and their successors in after the Soviet invasion, but six months the Reagan and first Bush before it. In an interview two years later administrations, including Gates, Dick with Le nouvel Observateur, President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Brzezinski proudly confirmed Gates’s and Colin Powell, all bear some assertion. According to the official version responsibility for the 1.8 million Afghan of history,” Brzezinski said; “CIA aid to the casualties, 2.6 million refugees, and 10 mujahideen began during 1980, that’s to million unexploded land-mines that say, after the Soviet army invaded followed from their decisions. They must Afghanistan. But the reality, kept secret also share the blame for the blowback that until now, is completely different: on 3 struck New York and Washington on July 1979 President Carter signed the first September 11, 2001. After all, al Qaeda directive for secret aid to the opponents of was an organisation they helped create the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And on the and arm”. He also writes; “The CIA’s same day, I wrote a note to the president director William Casey knew next to in which I explained that in my opinion nothing about Islamic fundamentalism or this aid would lead to Soviet military the grievances of Middle Eastern nations intervention.” against Western imperialism. He saw George Crile, a renowned American political Islam and the Catholic Church as journalist wrote Charlie Wilson’s War (bestnatural allies in the counter-strategy of selling book 2003), which tells the story of covert action to thwart Soviet how the United States funded the only imperialism. The Muslim Brotherhood’s successful jihad in modern history, the CIA’s branch in Pakistan, the Jamaat-e-Islami, secret war in Afghanistan that gave the was strongly backed by the Pakistani Soviet Union their own Vietnam. army, and that Casey, more than any Congressman Charlie Wilson is best known other American, was responsible for for leading Congress into supporting welding the alliance of the CIA, Saudi Operation Cyclone, the largest-ever Central intelligence, and the army of General Intelligence Agency (CIA) covert operation Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s under the Carter and Reagan military dictator from 1977 to 1988.” administration. In his book Crile writes Gen Zia formed an alliance with religious about Charlie Wilson; “He told Zia about his organisations in Pakistan, establishing experience the previous madrassas all over year when the Israelis Punjab and nWFP to had shown him the vast recruit fighters. The ‘Right from the beginning, stores of Soviet religious leaders saw it Pakistan’s apprehension weapons they had as an opportunity to captured from the PLO press the military about the designs of a hostile in Lebanon. The dictator and introduce large neighbour, India, weapons were perfect shari’a, the Islamic law for the Mujahideen, he in Pakistan and Zia fully prompted it to try to develop told Zia. If Wilson could complied. He allowed friendly defence relations convince the CIA to buy the CIA to establish with large powers such as US them, would Zia have bases in Balochistan to any problems passing keep a check on Iran. and later on China’ them on to the He also supported the Afghans? Zia, ever the Saudi vision of creating pragmatist, smiled on a Sunni-Wahabi force of the proposal, adding, “Just don’t put any mujahideen to counter Shi’a Islam of Iran.

Stars of David on the boxes” {Page 131-132}.

Brigadier Muhammad Yusaf (former head of Gen Zia, DG ISI Akhtar Abdur Rahman, the Afghan Bureau at ISI) came up with CIA Director William Casey, Prince Turki some interesting remarks in his book Silent Bin Faisal (Director of Saudi General Soldier: The Man Behind The Afghan Jihad.

Intelligence) and Prince Bandar Bin Sultan He writes; “General Zia and DG-ISI Akhtar (Saudi Ambassador at US) were the main Abdur Rahman had very cordial relations architects behind the creation of the with CIA director William Casey. To offset Taliban. Bin Laden was hired by Prince that uncomfortable closeness with Turki Al Faisal in the late 70s to do the dirty Americans, Zia and Akhtar were portrayed work of Afghan jihad. From the moment as holy warriors of Islam and modern day agency money and weapons started to flow Saladins. According to one close associate to the mujahideen in late 1979, Saudi Arabia of Akhtar, ‘They (Casey and Akhtar) worked matched US payments dollar for dollar. together in harmony, and in an atmosphere They also bypassed the ISI and supplied of mutual trust’. The most interesting funds directly to the groups in Afghanistan remarks about the death of CIA Director they favoured, including the one led by their William Casey were made by Brigadier own pious young millionaire, Osama bin Yusaf. He states that, “It was a great blow Laden. According to Milton Bearden (A to the jihad when Casey died”. He did not former CIA Official, stationed in Pakistan elaborate whether by this definition one during Zia’s regime); “private Saudi and should count Casey as Shaheed.”

Arab funding of up to $25 million a month In the 80s, when the ruling group was flowed to Afghan Islamist armies since basking in the glory of unlimited gifts from 1979. Pakistan trained approximately around the world and a flurry of foreign 16000 to 18000 fresh Muslim recruits on visitors (including military personnel, the Afghan frontier every year, with the spies, arms dealers, journalists, academics, help of various religious groups, funded by diplomats, aid workers), the myopic Saudis and CIA.” leadership never thought of a day when Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve they will be running mad from one corner Coll has written a book Ghost Wars, an to another to try to avoid being declared a inside story based on extensive first-hand ‘rogue’ and ‘terrorist’ country. They failed accounts. What makes his book especially to recognise the limitations of the interesting is how he came to know what he relationship between two unequal partners. claims to know. He has read everything on They conveniently forgot that Kashmir and the Afghan insurgency and the civil wars India were problems of Pakistan, not of US that followed, and has been given access to and there will be very limited if any the original manuscript of Robert Gates’s support by US on this issue. memoir (Gates was CIA director from 1991 to 1993), but his main source is some two Continued on page 09...

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Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

opinion

President Obama can help bring peace in South Asia The need to settle Kashmir Dr Ghulam nabi Fai

The writer is secretary general, World Kashmir Awareness and can be reached at gnfai2003@yahoo.com

“We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis…” President Obama, October 30, 2008

Y

Dear President Obama,

OUR planned visit to India has inspired hopes, in the hearts of Americans of Kashmiri origin, that your global statesmanship may move the frozen dispute over the status of Kashmir towards a settlement based on justice and rationality.

We would hasten to add that while we are fully aware of the multiplicity of issues that you will be devoting your time and attention during your forthcoming visit to India, you may perhaps like to remember that Kashmir is not a new issue, having been on

the agenda of and in the cognizance of the United Nations for nearly 68 years. Ironically, it is the only entity in the region of South Asia which has so far been denied the opportunity to determine its political future.

It has been most unfortunate that throughout the pendency of the dispute and especially since the uprising in 1989, India has taken full advantage of United States policy, regardless of the intent of that policy. Pronouncements emanating from the highest levels of the US government to the effect that India and Pakistan must settle the dispute bilaterally have been taken by Indian policy-makers as endorsement of their stand. They may not like the balancing statement that the United States regards the whole of Kashmir as disputed territory but they consider it as immaterial.

Equally distressing has been

‘It has been most unfortunate that throughout the pendency of the dispute and especially since the uprising in 1989, India has taken full advantage of United States policy, regardless of the intent of that policy’

...continued from page 08 Even after the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988, the CIA continued to follow Pakistani initiatives, such as aiding Hekmatyar’s successor, Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban. What was the Pakistani initiative? According to Steve Coll; “Every Pakistani general, liberal or religious, believed in the jihadists by 1999, not from personal Islamic conviction, in most cases, but because the jihadists had proved themselves over many years as the one force able to frighten, flummox and bog down the Hindu-dominated Indian army.

About a dozen Indian divisions had been tied up in Kashmir during the late 1990s to suppress a few thousand well-trained, paradise-seeking Islamist guerrillas. What more could Pakistan ask? The jihadist guerrillas were a more practical day-today strategic defence against Indian hegemony than even a nuclear bomb. To the west, in Afghanistan, the Taliban provided geopolitical” strategic depth” against India and protection from rebellion by Pakistan’s own restive Pashtun population.” Where is Common man in this picture and what about his welfare and security?

After Zia’s death, Benazir Bhutto took charge as the civilian prime minister.

Pakistan’s military intelligence officers didn’t like Benazir Bhutto, but she supported the Taliban in pursuit of Zia’s dream of loyal Pashtun-led Islamist government in Kabul. She formed the Afghan cell and made ISI chief Gen Hamid Gul in-charge. The US ambassador

the reported canvassing by some Indian officials of the idea of autonomy for Kashmir within the Indian Union. Kashmiri leadership has the support of mass opinion for its stand that this idea is totally unacceptable as, in addition to its inherent defects, it would be liable to revision or repeal by the Indian legislature. Unless a settlement of the Kashmir dispute, other than what is embodied in the jointly accepted resolutions of the Security Council, is incorporated in an international treaty or agreement with the expressed support of all states neighbouring Kashmir, it will amount only to redesigning the dispute rather than settling it. Also in order for resolution of Kashmir dispute to be credible and lasting, the genuine leadership of the people of Jammu and Kashmir must be included in all future negotiations between India and Pakistan. We also believe that an appointment of a special envoy on Kashmir will go a long way to hasten the process of peace and stability in the region of South Asia – home to one fifth of total human race.

Our plea is based on confidence that the United States is sensitive to human rights situations regardless of the location of their occurrence. We have been deeply moved by reports of almost the entire population of major towns in Kashmir coming out on the streets demanding the fulfilment by the world community of the pledge embodied in the resolutions of the Security Council that they will be enabled to determine their own

future. This massive, indigenous and peaceful upsurge defying suppression cannot be seen other than unmistakable expression of resentment by Kashmiris of the neglect of the human tragedy caused by the international community’s failure to resolve the dispute. We also view this as yet another indication of the yearning

by Kashmiris for an amicable

‘Our hope that the Kashmir dispute will not be allowed to lead to a massive tragedy has been strengthened by statements you made in October, 2008. It underscored the United States’ interest in working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir issue in a “serious way”’

Terrorism and pakistan regularly attended the Afghan cell’s meetings and Benazir Bhutto lied to American officials for two years about Pakistan’s aid to the Taliban, which she admitted in her interview to Steve Coll.

Nawaz Sharif, who succeeded Benazir as prime minister, was a creation of Gen Zia and knew everything inside out. He had a special relationship with the Saudis and supported their vision of creating a force to counter the Shi’a Islam of Iran and guard Saudi interests in the region. Saudis, in pursuit of dominance of the Wahabi ideology and their hatred for Iran, turned Pakistan into a battleground for sectarian wars. All post-Zia regimes supported the Taliban, provided them financial aid and manpower till September 2001, when 9/11 happened. Gen Musharraf, in his obedience to the US, went even further and turned everything upside down. He created the dominant myth of “Pakistan First”, and turned the country into a frontline state once again, this time for US war against al Qaeda. ‘Pakistan first’ sounds good enough but what about Pakistanis, their welfare and security, Mr Musharraf?

Lt Gen Shahid Aziz (Chief of General Staff during the Musharraf regime), in live interviews on several media channels on 6th and 8th December 2009, revealed that the army as an institution was kept in complete dark about what was going on between

Washington and Islamabad after 9 / 11 and on ‘war on terror’ deals. He said; “Gen Musharraf had also allowed US drones to use Pakistani airspace for intelligence sharing besides permitting the American intelligence agencies, the CIA and the FBI, to recruit their agents in the tribal belt of Pakistan. Despite strong opposition from the GHQ, Gen Musharraf granted this permission in the name of intelligence sharing. The same drones had then carried out strikes inside Pakistan, killing hundreds of people, including innocent women and children”. Lt Gen Shahid Aziz felt no hesitation to disclose that when initially consulted after 9/11, the top commanders had decided to stay out of the conflict. However, later because of compromises by Gen Musharraf, the army was dragged in that odd situation. He also told the media that while Pakistan army used to catch targeted foreigners and locals, handing them over to the ISI for interrogation, they were passed on to the Americans without the knowledge of the army. It caused a lot of resentment in the top echelons of the military when they found this was happening. Gen Musharraf kept the ISI engaged to collaborate with American CIA without the knowledge of other commanders.

And then some wonder where the terrorists are coming from? Professor

settlement of dispute so they can live in peace and prosperity.

Our hope that the Kashmir dispute will not be allowed to lead to a massive tragedy has been strengthened by statements you made in October, 2008. It underscored the United States’ interest in working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir issue in a “serious way” and as a result, remove the basis of militant extremism in South Asia, and also the cause of the arms race between India and Pakistan.

We place our trust in the statesmanship of our president. It is not imaginable to us that you will in any way countenance any attempt to ignore or bypass the wishes of the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Their determination has to be made by giving the people right to self-determination. It is obvious, that, if the people of any region of Jammu and Kashmir wish to stay either with India or with Pakistan or to choose to be independent of both, their will has to be fully respected. g

Ghafoor Ahmed, former head of JI said; “You pick four or five retired ISI generals and you will come to know who these terrorists are.” This monster has been created by our own myopic establishment which still continues its support to terrorist organisations. In their obedience to US and Saudis, they have turned Pakistan into safe haven for religious extremists and terrorists.

Asif Zardari succeeded Gen Musharraf as president. After joining the office, the first thing he did was to issue a moratorium for terrorists on death row.

The ban expired on 30th June 2013 but death sentences were not carried out until the recent attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. On what moral or legal grounds was this moratorium issued? The public, as always, has been duped into believing the dominant myths and contradictory dogma.

The questions, quite relevant to the situation, but never asked are: Are we really a free nation? What about the freedom, welfare and security of the common man? Perhaps the ignorant people, unaware of their rights, deserve to be ruled by the least meritorious, taken hostage by the extremists and looked upon as a rogue nation. g Note: Human Rights Watch has conducted a systematic Investigation on History of Afghan War and Human rights violations during post Soviet Invasion era. The report was published in 2005 with the title BloodStained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Legacy of Impunity. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 09

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IntervIew: MIr Sarfraz BugtI, HoMe MInISter BalocHIStan

‘are we cHIldren of a leSSer god?’

Baloch terrorists should not be romanticised as freedom fighters

By MIan aBrar

B

alochistan’s home minister, Mir sarfraz Bugti, has been prominent in the press since taking office after last year’s election. his family is known for standing up to tribal chiefs, who have literally ruled over the province since time immemorial. since taking the ministry, he has been vocal against remnants of the old akbar Bugti empire, and openly blames indian intelligence for stoking rebellion in his province. his watch over the interior ministry comes at a time of transition for the province as well as the country. if followed in letter and spirit, the prime minister’s national action Plan will uproot the present power structure in the troubled province. Religious and sectarian militias, who were allegedly created to suppress nationalist forces, will now face the anvil, as will ttP and al Qaeda elements reportedly sheltering there. he talked exclusively to Dna about the most pressing issues that cross his desk these days.

Question: The recent review meetings chaired by Prime Minister on implementation of National Action Plan (NA) suggest that Balochistan is lagging far behind other provinces in implementation of NAP. Can you share the steps taken by the provincial government in this regard?

Sarfraz Bugti: the majority of the people of Balochistan are against terrorist elements and they also rejected these forces in the recent general elections. today, the entire nation is united against the terrorists and the people of Balochistan also have the same feelings. no terrorist can seek refuge among the people of Balochistan. as far as the action by Balochistan government on the recommendations of national action Plan is concerned, we have adopted a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. security forces have conducted operations against all terrorist outfits across the province. several terrorists and suspected militants have been arrested during operations in

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Qilla saifullah, Zhob, Ziarat, sanjavi, and other parts of the province. the security forces also killed one of the top commanders of the banned tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (ttP), who was second in command to the chief of the banned outfit in Balochistan.

Moreover, action has been taken against the sectarian outfits as well as hate speech. operatives of the intelligence agencies and police officials in plain clothes are monitoring mosques and madaris.

We have also decided to review the procedure of registration of the seminaries and a committee has been formed to look into the registration of the previous seminaries as well. the committee comprises home secretary, secretary law and secretary industries. the committee would

‘It’s a shame that the national leadership during the recently held All Parties Conference (APC) gave a clean chit to the Baloch insurgents who are being funded by Raw, Mossad and other intelligence forces and are active to disintegrate the federation of Pakistan’ also revisit the procedures involved in registration of seminaries and would come up with its recommendations.

Q: Has the provincial government decided how many cases would be tried by military courts in Balochistan? Also would you explain whether the terrorists of BLA, BRA, and other militant organisations also be tried by military courts?

SB: the apex committee for Balochistan has held its first meeting. the meeting recommend the federal government to greenlight execution of 14 cases sentenced for capital punishment by anti-terrorist courts here. however, none of these cases

relate to banned outfits and all the accused are involved in tribal feuds. still it is important to execute the punishment so it could prove a deterrent to curb violence.

We are working on a recommendation for other cases to be tried by military courts in Balochistan, but let me share with you that there are another 99 cases of terrorism in which terrorists of Baloch insurgent outfits are involved. it’s a shame that the national leadership during the recently held all Parties conference (aPc) gave a clean chit to the Baloch insurgents who are being funded by Raw, Mossad and other intelligence forces and are active to disintegrate the federation of Pakistan. though i stand by the decision taken by my party, but in my personal view, there should be no discrimination between terrorists. the question which shakes up the people of Balochistan is when will the romance of Punjabi politicians, media and civil society end with the Baloch terrorists?

Why is the blood of a poor labourer, a teacher, a doctor or any other professional so much cheaper? Why do the elites of Punjab have sympathy for Baloch insurgents? are the leftists of this country waiting for an incident like aPs Peshawar to happen in Balochistan? are you people waiting for another incident in which another 400 kids are slaughtered in Quetta? i think that a terrorist is a terrorist whether he is Punjabi, Pashtun, Baloch or any other caste, creed, colour or religion. in Quetta, Punjabi labourers were gunned down but no voice was raised. then teachers, doctors and professionals were gunned down for no crime. What was the crime of Professor nazima talib? Why did the conscience of the world not speak up when a woman teacher who was a poet and a preacher of love was brutally murdered? though the entire west calls Pakistan a hideout for terrorists, i think that the Us, UK, switzerland and other western countries are actually the dens of terrorists. they have not only funded, nurtured, armed and trained Baloch terrorists but they are also providing them safe heavens despite the fact that

these cold-blooded terrorists have ordered killings of thousands of our innocent people. if the federal government believes that Baloch insurgents have a license to kill poor Punjabi labourers, parliament should also pass a law that killings of dogs and poor Punjabi labourers is legitimised. in my view, wars are not fought by the military alone, rather whole nations fight wars.

Unfortunately, the Balochistan issue has been confused in Punjab, sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. no one has ever tried to understand this problem.

You people in Punjab think that only three Baloch nawabs are entire Balochistan, so you gave power to this trio of tribal chieftains to make decisions for the people of Balochistan on their economic, social and judicial aspects.

‘There is no better solution to a conflict than talks. I also support the prime minister’s decision to give dialogue a chance.

However, there must be some timeframe to this dialogue offer’ however, situation on ground is different. i fear if this mindset of the political and social elite does not change, the people of Balochistan may rise to take their decisions on their own.

Q: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during the APC, had empowered Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik to hold dialogue with the estranged Baloch leadership. Is there any development in talks?

SB: there is no better solution to a conflict than talks. i also support the prime minister’s decision to give dialogue a chance. however, there must be some timeframe to this dialogue offer. the chief minister also told the Balochistan cabinet that he was going to hold talks with the Baloch terrorists. We also

supported the idea, however, there should be a timeframe. We have no idea on any development yet. now Dr Malik is empowered to hold talks and he would tell the nation about any achievement.

Q: The prime minister has failed to finalise the power sharing formula between coalition partners in the Balochistan government and the decision about the next mayor of Quetta has been deferred. Do you think the new Mayor would be from Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) as they have been claiming?

SB: i respect whatever decision is taken by Prime Minister nawaz sharif and other leadership of Balochistan province. the prime minister has a visionary approach and he strongly believes in sacrificing personal interests for larger national interests. however, whenever you try to turn a majority into a minority, such decisions would backfire. the smaller parties in Balochistan were given chief ministership. later, they were given governorship. now they want the mayorship of Quetta. But the PMl workers here in Balochistan ask whether we are sons of a lesser God? if the mayorship of Quetta is also gifted to the minor party, the Balochistan chapter of the Muslims league may make its own decisions.

Q: Do you think that despite fighting terrorism in a hostile environment in Balochistan, the morale of security forces in high?

SB: security forces and the people of Balochistan have been fighting against terrorists for long. their will and determination is strong enough to defeat the terrorists. however, the indifferent behaviour by the federal government and the political elite at times badly hurts their morale.

Forces have been sacrificing their lives but the federal government and the political elites have sympathies with the enemy who kills them. our media and civil society dubs terrorists as “estranged Baloch leaders”. this also hurts them a lot. g

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Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

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Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

opinion

Xi’s quest for global peace Make peace to make progress

strategy carries the vision of President Xi for peace and normalisation across the world including chronic issues of the Middle East and afghanistan.

With resources drying up in the west, the US and its allies have shifted their focus on the untapped rich resources of asia. The west is also playing up conflicts between asian states as conflicts may encourage US role in asia.

The writer is an Islamabad based journalist. analysts say that despite the He can be reached at failure of the US and allied forces hussainmian@gmail.com. in afghanistan, the west would soon shift its focus on asia, though the immediate attention for them hina used to hit the is the Middle East. headlines in the it seems that President Xi is international media due aware of the fact that the US and to its economic boom its allies are concerned about both at the domestic as China’s rise as an economic giant. well as at international fronts. its Policymakers in Beijing also leadership had no appetite for understand that Washington is conflict or political debates where quietly pitting india against China it was not directly involved. in asia. Moreover, the immediate Consider afghanistan: the rugged neighbours of Beijing may also be neighbouring country has been a encouraged to take strong positions. hotspot for decades for Pakistan, in a pre-emptive move, China india, iran, Soviet Union, arab last year took the most crucial role region, US and naTO. of peacemaking – to settle the Those who have an eye on the mess left behind by the allied affairs of the asian continent are forces in afghanistan. not only did keenly watching the situation Beijing decide to engage the though. China has been least afghan Taliban but Chinese bothered about the happenings leaders also quietly held meetings across the world and its leadership with Taliban leaders to help has always been focusing on normalise the troubled region. domestic affairs.

Ukraine is the more recent Whenever there was conflict, example where Beijing has offered China remained a reluctant to play its role to ease tensions spectator and avoided taking sides between Russia and the west. Only strictly last week, on adhering to its January 21, policy of non2015, Chinese ‘Africa was the first region interference. help was where Beijing put its foot Whether it was offered during the Cold War a meeting down to help resolve or the between longstanding conflicts Palestinian Chinese conflict, China Premier Li without taking sides. Since kept its focus Keqiang and Beijing had no favourites, more on its Ukrainian these initiatives helped domestic President affairs while Petro bring peace in Tanzania, watching Poroshenko in Darfur and Sudan’ homegrown Davos, insurgencies Switzerland. inspired by the Premier Li said militancy in the neighbourhood – that Beijing stands for a “political especially in afghanistan. in the settlement” of the Ukraine crisis past, Beijing also never made an and it will continue to play an effort to lend a hand for peace in “active and constructive role” in other countries. peace efforts. however, under the vision of The move reflected that President Xi Jinping, China has Beijing now wanted an immediate changed this policy. Cautiously but end to anarchy in Ukraine, as it surely, now it is poised to adopt an encouraged all parties of the assertive foreign policy: taking conflict, the Ukraine government, initiatives to help settle conflicts in the rebels, and the Russian friendly countries across the globe, government, by initiating a fresh especially in the region. dialogue to settle the matter. africa was the first region Senator Mushahid hussain where Beijing put its foot down to Syed, the only Pakistani expert help resolve longstanding conflicts who has deep insight into Chinese without taking sides. Since Beijing policies, says Beijing is had no favourites, these initiatives transforming itself from a regional helped bring peace in Tanzania, player to a global power.

Darfur and Sudan.

“China is going through a China also encouraged the historic transition from a regional warring factions by assuring them to a global power, and it is it would invest heavily in their accordingly endeavouring to countries if they allowed peace leverage its role in the emerging and reconciliation. Moreover, international order as an equal Chinese bid to ease tensions stakeholder to the US, seeking to between north and South Korea regain its rightful role in the also endured positive results and comity of nations,” he said. diplomacy helped avert war Mushahid hussain, who is also between the neighbours. chairman of Pakistan-China The president changed gears in institute, the only prominent 2014, rolling over the country’s Pakistani think-tank on China, decades-old policy into an believes that the new leadership of assertive quest for peace through China, under the leadership of efforts of conflict resolution and President Xi Jinping, is both sharing of development. This “confident and assertive”,

Mian abrar

C

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‘Trade with India is, however, is a bumpy road for the US because of Indian conflicts with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. China’s edge over India is its friendly relations with its neighbours’ reflecting the new global ground realities with China as the world’s second-biggest economy after the US, with the likelihood of becoming number one within the next decade.

“China is promoting peace and reconciliation in afghanistan. For the first time, Beijing has proposed a plan for peace in the Middle East and China has clear policies on the situation in Syria and on relations with Russia. With the US, too, China is cooperating on such areas as cyber security and climate change while being seen also as a competitor for leadership in asia,” he added.

Since war and conflicts are enemies of economic stability and development, there is a method behind the Beijing’s assertive policy to work for peace and normalisation in the South asia, South East asia and even in the Middle East.

There is Chinese proverb that if you have to pursue development, you would have to ensure peace and stability which is precondition for economic development.

The rapid surge of China on the economic horizon is an ultimate source of concern and worries for western powers, led by the US. Policymakers in Beijing also understand that the Washington may pit india as a major contender against China in asia.

The recent trip of indian premier narendra Modi to Washington is a clear indication to the fact that the US want more trade with india, leaving nominal chances for Beijing to have its trade share in the indian market.

President Obama is also arriving in new Delhi, ignoring the old friend – Pakistan – just to please the indian audience. he is likely to announce another attractive package for Modi’s india.

Last week, the iMF also predicted that india was emerging as the fastest growing large economy of the world and it would overtake China by 2016.

Trade with india is, however, is a bumpy road for the US because of indian conflicts with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. China’s edge over india is its friendly relations with its neighbours. Will the US broker peace between Pakistan and india is a million dollar question.

Besides india, some other challenges against

Chinese rise can be Japan, South Korea, Russia, and Vietnam. any conflict of China with its neighbours may result into an intense security competition with considerable potential for war. So the Chinese leadership has preempted this possibility by offering help in resolving conflicts and offering development in its neighbouring countries. President Xi is working to sort out issues with these countries.

President Xi has also reached out to the Japanese leadership to settle the long-standing dispute on Senkaku island. in October last year, Japan agreed on a meeting between President Xi and Japanese Premier Shinzo abe.

Though the meeting could not make a breakthrough, at least it helped start melting the ice between the archrivals. in a bid to ease tensions Vietnam over the disputed oil rig in the South China Sea, President Xi held a meeting with the visiting Vietnamese Special envoy Le hong anh in august last year. “a neighbouring nation cannot be moved, and it is in the common interest of both countries to be

friendly to each other,” Xi was quoted after the crucial meeting.

China has already played a key role in resolving the afghan war and its leaders have held quiet meetings with the afghan Taliban and afghan President Dr ashraf Ghani to help the peace process.

Beijing has also pledged afghanistan to help rebuild the war-ravaged afghanistan, committing itself to sending ‘hundreds of thousands of investors’ into afghanistan to rebuild the war-ravaged state if peace talks are successful.

The Chinese offers for mediation also hint at its quest for peaceful resolution of conflicts through efforts by regional players, outplaying the interference by outsiders, keeping in view the concerns of Russia, which blames US and its western allies for ‘destabilising’ the region. now Beijing and islamabad are trying to help bring peace in the conflict-hit country as a peaceful afghanistan can also guarantee peace in Pakistan and China. This joint effort may also be termed as a pursuit for peace in the entire asia region. g

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

INTeRNATIoNAl

Islamic history is full of free thinkers The West’s best hope of dealing with the rise of Islamic extremism is to challenge the doctrines manufactured by religious scholars past and present

ZIAUDDIN SARDAR

“T

Independent

his has nothing to do with islam,” say the imams. “These callous and fanatic murders have nothing to do with us,” say the mullahs. “islam means peace,” say the worshippers. These disclaimers, and variations on them, have been repeated countless times by Muslim commentators since the Charlie hebdo killings. They are designed to distance people from guilt by association with those who kill and maim in the name of islam.

But what about the sentence recently handed down to the (mildly) liberal blogger Raif Badawi in the islamic state of saudi Arabia? Ten years in jail, a massive fine, 1,000 lashes over 20 weeks (currently suspended because the first 50 lashes have rendered him “medically unfit”)?

Does this have “nothing to do with islam”? Does the hashtag “Je suis un couteau” – referring to this week’s stabbing of 11 israelis on a bus – have “nothing to do with islam”? Not to mention the 10 Christians killed during Charlie protests in Niger last week, or the ongoing depredations of al-Qaeda, isis, Boko haram, the Taliban and the Laskar Jihad of indonesia?

The psychotic followers of these organisations all think that they are Muslims, and their islam is based on beliefs that millions who subscribe to Wahabism, the saudi version of the religion – and its kin, salafism – accept as essential ingredients of their faith.

For example, that sharia, or islamic law, is divinely ordained and immutable; that apostates and blasphemers should be killed; that women should be shrouded and confined to four walls and that men are their guardians.

This is a widespread version of islam, made more so by modern communications; increasingly gaining followers in Europe, it can be, and is, used to justify all manner of atrocities. Yet this is an islam of manufactured dogma which relies on neither the Koran nor the example of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUh). so where do these beliefs come from? From today’s extremist leaders, of course. But also, historically, from caliphs and clerics who realised that religion could perform a very useful function: it could keep the masses in their place and ensure that power remained in the hands of a select few.

The prime example of this thought-control is that sharia law is divinely ordained and must be accepted in its totality without

question. in fact, its ordinances were invented in the 9th century CE – about two centuries after the Prophet Mohamed’s (PBUh) death– during the Abbasid rule of the Muslim Empire. The law of apostasy, for example, was formulated to discourage revolt against the imperial state.

As for state-sanctioned blasphemy laws – now regarded as sacrosanct in Pakistan, Egypt and other Muslim counties – they were actually first introduced by the colonial powers in the 19th century, to keep the peace between the different religious communities that they ruled. in Pakistan, for example, blasphemy became a crime in 1860, when the territory was still part of a greater india. inherited after partition in 1947, in 1982 the statutes were expanded and their penalties made harsher by the military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-haq to bolster support from ultra-conservative religious parties. Now they are seen as divine revelation!

But tightening the screws has long been the way in the Muslim heartlands. For example, in a highly influential decree from the 10th century CE, the Abbasid caliph Abdul Qadir, denounced critical thought as “counter to islam” and ordered his subjects to dissociate from philosophers and freethinkers, who were required “to repent”, despite the fact that numerous verses in the Koran exhort believers to think, reflect and raise questions.

Four hundred years later, when power had shifted from Abbasid Baghdad to Mamaluk Cairo, religious scholars banned independent reasoning on issues of faith – or as the formula has it, “closed the gates of ijtihad”. in doing so, they laid claim to have solved all the problems of humanity. in fact, they shut the door on the Enlightenment, which alreadyestablished Arab scholarship would do so much to kick-start.

And still it goes on, with recent attempts to suppress critical thought verging on the absurd. in

september 2011, a saudi cleric called for astronomy to be banned, and astronomers punished, because it encouraged scepticism about sharia. (This despite the fact that astronomy, regarded as an “original Muslim science”, has a distinguished history in islamic civilisation.) This month, a saudi cleric issued a fatwa forbidding the building of snowmen because they represented human beings and are therefore forbidden by sharia law.

The essential message of these historic and contemporary decrees is clear: the self-appointed guardians of islam must be revered not cross-examined. The rules handed down and conjured up today must be accepted, not interrogated. The pronouncements of imams and sheikhs, mullahs and ayatollahs – whether educated or semi-literate – are both the word and will of God. But despite what these religious despots would have their followers think, in fact islamic history is full of free thinkers who have stood up to such authoritarianism. During the 8th century CE, when sharia law was being shaped, the Persian writer and thinker ibn al-Muqaffa’ declared that it had the potential of becoming a political tool in the hands of kings and clerics manipulating the rough and credulous. And during the 9th and 10th centuries, a host of writers, satirist and free thinkers joined him in denouncing dogmatism.

The accomplished theologian ibn al-Rawandi mocked religious who peddled about a Paradise full of virgins. (Could it be pleasing to anyone but a rustic, he wondered.) his contemporary, the polymath and natural scientist Abu Bakr alRazi, insisted that islam without reason had no value. The renowned blind poet Abul “Ala” al-Ma’arri sought to correct “what established religion took for God’s criteria”.

Their contemporary, the scientist Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni, who is regarded by some as a free thinker not only of his age but across all ages, insisted that it was essential to question everything –

from religion to philosophy – and to respect criticism, including of one’s religion, in order to benefit from its arguments. And the 12thcentury philosopher ibn Rushd, who later had huge influence on European thought, argued that matters of belief should be decided only on the basis of reason and evidence – a position deemed so dangerous that his numerous books were banned, and ibn Rushd himself was briefly banished.

From their different perspectives, these and numerous other free thinkers of islamic history arrived at a common conclusion: state-sponsored islam is full of edicts and rituals that are absurd and insulting to reason.

Free thought was the only way to cut through this nonsense and take us closer to God. so why don’t we hear more about these great thinkers and questioners today? Because concentrated attempts have been made, and continue to be made, to stifle free thinking and wipe its record from islam’s history. The traditional curriculum, unchanged for centuries, in most madrassas, seminaries and “islamic universities” is devoted solely to the works of “approved” imams and scholars, and even the minutest critical thought is ruthlessly expunged. (in saudi Arabia and most Gulf states, for example, it is forbidden to teach the ideas and works of ibn alRawandi, ibn Rushd, and al-Biruni.) in recent years, saudi Arabia’s rulers have spent £70bn in attempts to suppress critical thought – funding mosques, madrassas, universities and teleevangelicals – with the result that generations of Muslims around the world, including Britain, now imbibe the Wahabi ideology.

Luckily, though, not all. There are still some contemporary thinkers following in the footsteps of the classical intellectuals. The late Nasr hamid Abu Zayd, an Egyptian who died in July 2010, declared that the Koran was deliberately manipulated by religious scholars to

Muslims in Istanbul protest against a Turkish newspaper’s publication of anti-jihadist cartoons from the French satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo'

justify their unquestionable authority. For wanting a more humanistic and contemporary interpretation of the Koran, he was labelled an apostate, required to divorce his wife and hounded out of his country. similarly, the 69-yearold Abdolkarim soroush – who has argued that islam cannot rely on the dogmatic certainties of the past and urgently requires rethinking – has been forced into exile from iran.

Again, the great syrian poet Adonis, 85, has been declared a heretic and imprisoned for his beliefs, simply because he wants to re-frame the whole notion of God in islam. Today, as in history, all attempts to rethink our understanding and relationship with God, to interrogate orthodox belief, to bring reason back to islam, are shunned – not just by the fanatics but by the vast majority of Muslims. The manufactured articles of faith seem to have an unassailable hold on Muslim minds. And so the moderate free thinkers’ legacy, so vital at this time of sectarian warfare within islam, is swept collectively under the carpet of accepted, if artificial, doctrine.

This phenomenon is the central problem in all varieties of islam. in the absence of reason and criticism, the heritage has become toxic. At best, it promotes intolerance and bigotry; at worse, it manifests itself as fanaticism and violent jihadism. And until more Muslims question it, they cannot claim that its manifestations have “nothing to do with islam”.

Our best hope of dealing with extremism is to challenge the doctrines manufactured by religious scholars, from the past and present. The distinguished history of critical thought in islam must be brought back from the periphery to the centre. And if its spread is hindered in the Muslim heartlands, then it must be exported back from the West. in Britain, for example, it should be an essential part of the curriculum whenever and wherever islam is taught – including faith schools and seminaries such as the Darul Ulum in Birmingham – as well as in any comparative religion classes. There should be a proper system of certifying imams, who clearly need much more than a traditional education that simply perpetuates uncritical acceptance.

What’s more, British Muslims need to create and defend the freedom to question and, if necessary, reject religious authorities of the past and present.

And why can’t we see this theme explored on television, instead of the usual programmes about terrorism and the hajj? if nothing else, a TV series on free thought in islam would supply some material to Westerners, so that they could engage with Muslims in a discourse based on mutual respect.

Finally, let us be heard. No doubt many Muslims want to protest against jihad. But, at the very least, we should also be rallying against the saudi hijacking of islam. g Ziauddin Sardar is editor of the quarterly journal ‘Critical Muslim’. His book, ‘Mecca: The Sacred City’, is published by Bloomsbury. www.pakistantoday.com.pk 13

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

inteRnational

lebanon’s Dar al-fatwa and the search for moderation

Raphaël lefèvRe

i

Carnegie

n August 2014, Lebanon’s Sunni authority, Dar alFatwa, elected as its new head the Muslim cleric Abdel-Latif Derian, who through this process also became mufti of the republic. Dar al-Fatwa is a government institution that was created in 1922 and charged with issuing legal rulings specific to the Sunni community, administering religious schools, and overseeing mosques, all in the context of a Lebanese confessional system in which each sect deals with its own internal affairs.

As the Sunnis’ new religious leader, Derian faces daunting challenges. In recent years, the lack of Sunni leadership in public affairs helped lay the groundwork for the growth of Islamic radicalism in Lebanon. Derian’s main task is to reassert Dar alFatwa’s moderating voice in the Sunni community.

Derian replaced Mohamed Rashid Qabbani, who had become a polarising figure in Lebanon’s Sunni community. In his inaugural speech, the new mufti pledged to fight against “extremism and terrorism.” Since then, Derian has quickly become a prominent public figure. He organised a Christian-Muslim summit in Beirut, reached out to various political parties to facilitate the election of a new Lebanese president, and attended a highlevel antiterrorism conference in Cairo in December 2014.

But the mufti’s activism has not pleased everyone in Lebanon’s Sunni community. A group of influential clerics has spoken out against him, charging that he does not represent the true mood of the Sunni street and acts under the influence of politicians. Others see him as a puppet for regional powers like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Much of his ability to restore Dar al-Fatwa’s moderating influence will depend on whether he reaches out to his critics and invites them to participate in a genuine process to reform the body and enhance its representativeness.

A History of PoliticAl influence The election of Abdel-Latif Derian to the post of mufti of the republic was marred by protests led by a group of Sunni clerics who denounced what they said was political interference in the religious institution’s matters.

These clerics had a point: Sunni

14 www.pakistantoday.com.pk

politicians accounted for nearly a third of the 109-member electoral college that selected Derian— including the current prime minister, four former prime ministers, four cabinet members, and 27 members of parliament.

But political influence over the country’s Sunni affairs isn’t a new development.

Since its creation, Dar alFatwa has been under the sway of Sunni notables who repeatedly used the body’s religious authority to bolster their own credentials and gain some political advantage.

This wasn’t always a one-way process.

In 1943, then Sunni prime minister Riad el-Solh rewarded mufti Mohammed Tawfiq Khalid for his political loyalty by granting him funds that were used to build the Dar al-Fatwa compound in the Beirut district of Aisha Bakkar. In 1966, former Lebanese president Fouad Chehab supported another cleric to become the new mufti, Hassan Khalid; once elected, Khalid worked relentlessly to give a degree of religious legitimacy to the president’s wide-ranging reform agenda. His successor, Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, however, pushed this pattern to the extreme.

While Qabbani was initially supported by then prime minister Rafik Hariri, he had a falling out with the Future Movement, Hariri’s party, in 2012 over financial issues and his administrative powers as head of Dar al-Fatwa. In order to retain his position, Qabbani allied himself with politicians on the other side of the political spectrum: the Sunni supporters of the Shia Hezbollah party and the Syrian regime, such as al-Ahbash, a Sufi movement known for its ties to Syrian intelligence. This resulted in a sharp split in Dar alFatwa between a faction close to the Future Movement that opposed the mufti’s authority and a wing close to Hezbollah that supported Qabbani—a dynamic that effectively undermined the body’s credibility and paralyzed it to a great extent.

Abdel-Latif Derian was, in many ways, the ideal compromise candidate for both of these factions.

A regionAl comPromise The regional powers of Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt all have an interest in—and, in some cases, a long-standing tradition of— meddling in the internal affairs of Lebanese Sunnis.

With its base in Syria’s Alawite community, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, like that of his father, former president Hafez al-Assad, has always been wary of the rise of a powerful Sunni current in neighbouring Lebanon with the potential to influence events inside Syria—and the ongoing conflict there makes this even more the case.

Riyadh, for its part, has in past decades played the role of patron of Lebanon’s Sunni community: it supported Rafik Hariri’s leadership when he was prime minister and, today, it may want the new mufti to lend religious legitimacy to the political agenda of his son, Saad Hariri. Since Derian became mufti of the

republic, he has repeatedly praised Saad Hariri’s leadership as a model of moderation and generosity and lauded his political initiatives, which Derian said are based on “an Islamic and national roadmap.” More recently, Derian provided religious cover for Hariri’s desire to begin a dialogue with Hezbollah.

The stakes were different for Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. For the new Egyptian president, the Dar alFatwa elections represented a unique opportunity to mediate between the interests of Saudi Arabia and Syria and, thus, to boost his credentials as an increasingly powerful head of state who matters in the region. The election of Derian can even be seen as the Egyptian ruler’s first major foreign policy achievement since becoming president in June 2014.

Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt all share an interest in bolstering the role of Sunni religious institutions in Lebanon, and more generally throughout the region, in order to promote politically accommodating clerics and sideline as much as possible the politicised Islamists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, who have emerged as powerful voices since the Arab Spring. This is what Egypt’s military-backed regime did in late 2013 by restructuring al-Azhar, Egypt’s leading religious institution, to eliminate Brotherhood sympathisers within its ranks, and give it greater powers to regulate mosques and promote a type of religious discourse in tune with the country’s new rulers.

In Lebanon, the election of Derian as the new mufti of the republic has the potential to marginalise the al-Jamaa alIslamiya, Lebanon’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which in recent years has started to compete seriously with the Future Movement for votes in the Sunni community.

An AlternAtive to DAr Al-fAtwA? But being a compromise candidate among various political factions and regional powers also means that Derian does not have a lot of room to manoeuvre to take bold positions on issues seen as crucial in the Sunni community, including the conflict in Syria, the dominant role played by Hezbollah in Lebanese politics, and the fighting between Sunni extremist groups and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) that erupted in the northern port city of Tripoli in late 2014. As Derian wrestles with those constraints, the League of Muslim

Scholars (Hayat al-Ulama alMuslimin) has emerged as the most powerful voice challenging his authority.

The league was created in the wake of the Syrian uprisings to take advantage of the void left in the Sunni community by Dar alFatwa, which was then roiled by severe infighting. Its aim was to gather all Lebanese Sunni scholars—those with a degree in Islamic law—who opposed the Syrian regime and to act as a Sunni authority, lobbying on a wide range of issues. In effect, the body united many members of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, the Salafist trend, and some clerics from Dar al-Fatwa who were frustrated by the weakness of the institution.

It rapidly gained traction in the Sunni community and, with the backing of Qatar, it progressively evolved from an informal body into a sophisticated structure with its own institutions, decision-making process, and charity arm. To further increase its profile, the league announced in the summer of 2014 that cleric Ahmad Darwish al-Kurdi would run against Derian for the position of mufti of the republic on “a platform to transform Dar alFatwa and abandon the political authority over it.” Unsurprisingly, he lost the elections, but the message of defiance the league sent was clear. From then on, the body continued to take important political positions on a range of issues. In late September, as fighting raged between the LAF and Sunni militants in the historical souks of Tripoli and in the city’s impoverished Sunni neighbourhood of Bab alTabbaneh, the league issued a statement condemning “the excesses of the security forces,” and the “arbitrary detentions” of suspected Sunni militants. It also compared the LAF’s “unfair and abusive” operation to a bloody 1985 crackdown by the Syrian regime on Sunni Islamist militants in Tripoli, an episode that still evokes bitter memories among Lebanon’s Sunnis. The league’s bold declarations contrasted starkly with the mufti’s silence on the issue.

The league’s success in highlighting its differences with Dar al-Fatwa have helped it to increase its influence in Tripoli.

The league’s current head, Salafi cleric Salem al-Rafei, as well as many other members of the group, hail from northern Lebanon, the stronghold of Lebanon’s Sunnis; they often present themselves as the last bulwark in the defence of Tripoli—indirectly hinting at the Beirut origins of Abdel-Latif

Derian and his lack of a popular base in the city. This and other factors have weakened Dar alFatwa in northern Lebanon, where the institution has sometimes struggled to fulfil its duties. A senior official in Dar al-Fatwa suggests that, in late 2014, the body was only able to oversee a third of Tripoli’s mosques, with the rest in the hands of preachers who lack proper Islamic qualifications and may be close to extremists. towArD sunni moDerAtion To counter his perceived lack of legitimacy in Tripoli, Derian has made use of his extensive powers as head of Dar al-Fatwa to secure funds and kick-start an ambitious charity campaign in the city. In november 2014, the mufti donated 3,000 free meals to residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh—a media stunt designed to increase Dar al-Fatwa’s influence in the neighbourhood, where, according to the senior official, it controls only one of the area’s twelve mosques and prayer rooms. This seems to be part of a broader strategy aimed at reasserting the presence of Dar al-Fatwa through charity activities. Derian recently met with the Lebanese Central Bank governor, Riad Salamé, to discuss the best ways to assist the needy and the poor, and the potential for cooperation with Dar al-Fatwa.

The new mufti has also played a prominent public role in the months following his election. He earned the respect of the Christian community by holding a major interfaith summit at the Dar alFatwa compound in Beirut. This subsequently encouraged him to attempt to mediate the thorny issue of Lebanese presidential elections among wary Christian factions such as Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces.

He also met with Shia dignitaries, including a delegation from Hezbollah, called for the rejection of sectarianism, and underlined the importance of Islamic unity in the face of tensions between Lebanon’s Sunni and Shia communities.

In virtually all of his speeches since his inauguration in September, the mufti of the republic has spoken out against Sunni extremism. He has stressed that, under his leadership, the Sunni community would serve as a “guarantee of moderation, nationalism, and allegiance to the state.” These stances may not have earned him much praise from the radical corners of the Sunni community, but they helped secure his position as an important figure to be reckoned with on the Lebanese stage.

However, to be truly effective in reviving Dar al-Fatwa’s long tradition of Islamic moderation, Abdel-Latif Derian must go beyond grand speeches and move to unite the whole of Lebanon’s Sunni community, and particularly the country’s many clerics, behind his leadership. g Lefèvre is a Gates Scholar and a doctoral candidate in politics and international relations at the University of Cambridge.

C M YK

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

booKs/opinion

Of Auraq and Adabiyaat literAry men And mAtters

syed AfsAr sAjid

The writer is a Faisalabad based former bureaucrat, poet, literary and cultural analyst, and an academic. He can be reached at afsar.sajid@hotmail.com.

A

URAQ (1966-2005) was a prestigious Urdu literary journal.

Renowned litterateur Dr Wazir Agha was its founding editor. Dr Mehmood Aseer has compiled an exhaustive but searching thesis (originally meant for his M Phil degree in Urdu) on its contribution to the world of literature.

Adabiyaat, a quarterly literary magazine, launched by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in the year 1987, comprises prose and verse contributions (both original and translated) from Pakistani writers. Its April-June’13 issue contains a wide selection of fiction (including folklore) and drama meant for children. This review seeks to touch the merits of the two publications.

Auraq ki Adabi Khidmaat

Adabiyaat (April-June 2013)

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter relates the role of journals and magazines in the evolution and advancement of Urdu literature.

The periodicals mentioned here include Ihsas, Akhbar-e-Urdu, Adab-e-Lateef, Adabiyaat, Adabi Dunya, Urdu Adab (Lahore and Rawalpindi), Afkaar, Iqbal Review, Pakistani Adab, TehreeraiN, Tehqeeq, Takhleeq, Jareeda, Dastango, Daairay, Dastaveez, Saat Rang, Saqi, Sab Ras, Sufaid Chari, Sang-e-Meel, Savera, Sayyara, Seep, Saheefa, Alamgir, Alamat, Funoon, Qaumi Zaban, Kitab, Maah-e-Nau, Mehfil, Makhzan, Naqoosh, Nigar, Nai TehreeraiN, Nai NaslaiN, Nairang-e-Khayal, and Humayun besides, of course, Auraq.

The second chapter carries a detailed introduction of Auraq and its history. In the next chapter, the author highlights the cultural, conceptual, and analytical dimensions of the magazine in the backdrop of the ideology of literature, phenomenology of culture, and pragmatics of applied criticism.

In the fourth chapter, the writer focuses on the special features written on the person and art of select litterateurs, published in Auraq from time to time, the

The journal has been serving the cause of literature in a befitting way ever since its inception. It caters not only for the national language i.e., Urdu, but also for the regional languages like Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi et al.

The present issue carries material on literature for children in the series bearing on the prose portion of Pakistani literature (Vol. III). Picking the thread from the first two volumes consisting of selections from the global literature for children and the Pakistani poetry, the instant work is comprised of stories, plays, articles, and folklore for children written in the Pakistani languages aside from the translated version (Urdu) of some stories for children in the Brahvi, Balochi, Pashto, Sindhi, Hindko, Punjabi, Saraiki, Potohari, Pahari, Shina and Kashmiri languages.

The authorship of the journal’s contents is shared by a discreet mix of veteran and young writers like Ashfaq Ahmad, Hafeez Hoshiarpuri, Hameed Akhtar, Hanif Ramay, Khadeeja Mastoor, Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Saadat Hassa Manto, Shaukat Thanvi, Salahuddin Ahmad, Maulvi Abdul Haq, Ata Shad, Farkhanda Lodhi, Meerza Adeeb, Meeraji, Noon Meem Rashid, Bano Qudsia, Bapsi Sidhwa, Saqiba Rahimuddin, Haseena Moeen, Shoaib Hashmi, Zafar Iqbal, Dr Faqir Hussain Saga, Masood Mufti, Syed Wiqar Azim, Dr Tauseef Tabassum, Mujtaba Hussain, Syed Ahmad Pitras Bukhari, I A Rahman, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Anwar Sadeed, Shafqat Tanvir

Inshaiya ‘movement’, and the promotion of the poetic genres of Haiku and Mahiya. The fifth chapter highlights the contribution of Auraq to different literary movements in the transcontinental perspective. Editorials of Auraq constitute the crux of this part vis-à-vis the familiar paradigms of structuralism, poststructuralism, modernism, symbolism and impressionism.

In the penultimate chapter, the author aptly summarises the theme and substance of the work whereas the concluding chapter brings out a concise introduction of the editorial team of the magazine headed by its founding editor, Dr Wazir Agha (a renowned poet, critic, and fiction and Inshaiya writer) assisted by his eminent deputies namely Arif Abdul Mateen, Sajjad Naqvi, and Dr Anwar Sadeed.

The work bespeaks Dr Mehmood Aseer’s brilliance as a research scholar. It will hopefully be acknowledged as a memento in the Urdu literary annals. g Title: Auraq ki Adabi Khidmaat Author: Dr Mehmood Aseer Publisher: Abid Khurshid, 58-A, Wazir Agha Road, Civil Lines, Sargodha Pages: 432; Price: Rs500/-

Mirza, Taufiq Rafat, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Muzaffar Ali Syed, Masood Hassan, Mian Bashisr Ahmad, Jabbar Tauqir, Saeed Lakht, Sheema Majeed, Tahir Naqvi, Neelofar Iqbal, Hamad-urRahman Goraya, Zeeshan Bin Safdar, Shoaib Khaliq, Maalik Ashtar, Muhammad Asim Butt, Nighat Saleem, Saima Ilahi, Muhammad Faheem Alam, Afzal Murad, Ajab Khan Sa’il, Meer Aqil Mengal, Mehnaz Ghani, Wahid Bakhsh Buzdar, Hafiz Muhammad Idrees, Syed Wali Khayal Mohmand, Ilyas Ghumman, Zahid Hassan, Qamar Mehmood Abdullah, Sagheer Khan, Hamza Hassan Sheikh, Khadeeja Kubra, Shaukat Moghul, Nasim Akhtar, Fazal-ur-Rahman Memon, Leela Ram Rochandani, Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch, Habib-urRahman Mushtaq, Shahid Nadeem, and Bashir Ahmad Soze.

The editorial team of the Pakistan Academy of Letters headed by Abdul Hamid and assisted by Zaheer-ud-Din Malik, Muhammad Asim Butt, Akhtar Raza Saleemi, and Syeda Ta’zeem Imran, has rendered a commendable job by selecting, editing, and compiling the present issue from an assortment of widely scattered material on the subject, transforming it into a veritable ‘thing of beauty’. g Title: Quarterly Adabiyaat (AprilJune 2013) Bachon ka Adab (Jild Som: Qaumi Adab-Hissa-e-Nasr) Publisher: Academy Adabiyaat Pakistan. Pages: 768; Price: Rs300/-

narrative building in pashtun society Erosion of a proud and enduring culture HurmAt Ali sHAH

The writer is a Computer Engineer and pursuing a PhD degree. He is interested in geopolitics, social studies and history of region. He can be reached at: hurmat_engr@yahoo.com

i

T is ominous to make predictions these days. Predictions aside, detecting the currents and threads that underlie events and analysing causation and consequences is a futile exercise. But events needs to be dissected and the behaviour it generates should be gauged in order to update our perceptions.

The popular narratives about the conditions of the Pashtun should be deconstructed. Such accounts are often a product of propaganda, sometimes of naivety and bewilderment caused by inability to connect and make sense of apparently disparate events. They are often a blend of grievances, angst and conspiracies. Unfortunately, any discussion of the Pashtun belt is more or less a manifestation of a mind-frame that is informed by these three factors. The

the capacity to give it more Islamic legitimacy rather than authority on decisions and exposing caveats of the matter from the Islamic perspective, the history of this area is blurred by varied and mullah with state-sponsorship came out of divergent vested interests, so is the current the pulpit to which he was traditionally understanding of events and behaviourassigned. He became an institution with its shifts, if any. set of rules and precedents and associated The role religion plays in this belt behaviour. It will be a transgression to cannot be ignored because it has been blame this institution for all the afflictions ingrained in the social and political fabric the Pashtun society currently finds itself in, of the society. Due to radicalisation of the but when looked at through a historical previous few decades, religion now also lens, the role of the mullah in exploiting plays a pivotal role even in familial lives of the love of Pashtun for religion is immense. the Pashtuns. Let’s not be apologetic of how The pulpit played a role in the formation the people understand religion there. Yes, it of the Pashtuns’ world view, which is may have been utilitarian and some edicts normally appreciated. Be it jihad in of the faith may have been consistent with Afghanistan or Kashmir, the swift rise of the Pashtun honour code, and because of Fazlullah in Swat or the mindlessness in these factors religion may have won Fata, the complacency and sometimes even popular acceptance in the area centuries active involvement of mullah is ago. But the perception and understanding overshadowed by the alleged involvement of of religion has now been changed for too state in militancy in these areas. In a settled long. The penal aspect of religion has area, where there was no recourse even to overshadowed the more utilitarian aspects. jirga, imagination of such a prospect To start with, Pashtun culture never had a watered their mouths. First they sided with penal code that was harsh or which Fazlullah on all theological issues (the rendered the convict a burden on society issues to surface first were the innocuous and ruined its life. The penal code was more ones like Eidgah, Wasta [intercession] and conciliatory than revengeful. Sadly, with the visit to graveyards), although the issues erosion of Jirga system and corrosion of were trivial, yet it deeply troubled the traditional values, the revengeful penal people, as mullahs at once left their code is now readily acceptable in popular previously held beliefs and started to preach narrative in Pashtun culture. the Fazlullah version. It was a symbiotic The mullah once had a traditional role, relationship which benefited both. more an honorary Such symbiotic one than a decision relationships some maker. The jihadtime ago between ‘The role religion plays in this belt ensued the state and radicalisation cannot be ignored because it has mullahs and now required changing between extremists been ingrained in the social and of this rule. and mullahs are political fabric of the society’ Traditionally a part political in nature of the jirga, only in and serve to

The mullah once had a traditional role, more an honorary one than a decision maker. The jihad-ensued radicalisation required changing of this rule entrench role of the mullah, advertently or inadvertently, but to the detriment of traditional more utilitarian values. As discussed earlier, rather than emphasising the conciliatory role of traditional penal justice, the new establishment has proclivity towards harsh pronouncements that are meant to instil fear in hearts of those punished. Yes, the powers that be were interested in radicalising the area for their pet militancy but the role played by the mullah as in institution in narrative building is deeper than actually acknowledged.

The need of the hour is challenging such monopoly over interpretation of sacred texts and enforcing the conciliatory aspects of Shari’a rather than the penal ones. The narrative of ‘Islam in danger’ is rather deeply ingrained in Pashtun society and can’t be easily dispelled by showing facts and figures. A conscious effort needs to be made to expose which part of the social establishment is benefitting the most from such a xenophobic and populist narrative. Pashtuns used to love their culture, but with onslaught of Wahabist global pan-Islamism, the culture has now receded to be the enforcer of the ideology rather than a driving force for ideology.

This needs to be challenged. Pashtun culture needs to be revitalised, it is the only way forward to fight the menace of extremism in the Pashtun belt. g­ www.pakistantoday.com.pk 15

C M YK

oPinion

Sunday, 25 - 31 January, 2015

state and communists in Pakistan

Memoirs of a Pakistani communist

Basharat hussain QizilBash The writer is an academic and a journalist. He can be reached at qizilbash2000@yahoo.com.

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efore the rise of religious extremism, communism was considered as the greatest threat to Pakistan. As the western world led by the United States is urging and supporting Pakistan today to root out the evil of militancy; with similar zeal and zest it convinced us to combat communism in the past. Pakistan’s ongoing struggle against extremism is history in the making; its fight against communism is history, now. As so often happens in the battle of ideas, one narrative eventually dominates the other: in the case of Pakistan, the state’s narrative against communism remained victorious, nevertheless it is equally important to know how Pakistani communists evaluate their defeat. Unlike why did it stagnate and ultimately become the Communist Party of India that set up a redundant in Pakistani politics? Primarily History Commission tasked to write a because the Pakistani communists were multi-volume history of the Party, there successfully presented as pro-India and are only bits and pieces of hidden and notanti-Islam. The pro-India allegation stuck so-known evidences that shed some light because the CPP had reservations about on the history of the Communist Party of the “Two Nation Theory” — the official Pakistan (CPP). In such a situation, the narrative behind the creation of Pakistan recently published autobiography entitled — but it did not mean that it was pro“Leaving the Left behind” by Professor India. Moreover, Indian communists Syed Jamaluddin Naqvi, who served both across the border, who were suspected to as a member of the ten-member decisionbe a hidden source of strength to the CPP, making Central Committee as well as the were actually least bothered as to “what four-man Politburo, the ultimate decisionwas happening with or within the CPP.” making body of the CPP, is a first-hand Similarly, Pakistani communists were not account and thus a rare piece of primary anti-Islam because one should not forget historical evidence for those interested in the fact that there were quite a few “red communist politics.

Maulanas” among them. At best they were The biggest charge against the CPP was secular but the clear line between that it was anti-state which it never was. secularism and atheism was masterly Was it then anti-government? Yes, “it was blurred by their opponents who painted all anti-government for most part of its the Pakistani communists as atheists just existence but that is what politics is all because religious practice was banned in about.” Could the Party bring a “red Soviet Union — the “Mecca of the revolution” here as the Commies had done Communists.” Despite the fact that the under Lenin in russia and Mao in China? communists had a minuscule presence in “Nothing could be farther from truth” is the country, they were projected to be the disclosure of Naqvi, however, the Party much bigger than their actual size because did make the grave mistake of allowing the author thinks that the establishment people to assume that “it was out to take wanted “to sell the ‘threat by the extreme over the country,” for which it had to pay a Left’ to the West and seek aid and very heavy price in the sense that it assistance in the name of having to fight allowed its opponents “to paint it in the communist threat, which was a fastwhatever colour” they liked. Although the selling commodity in the bipolar world of “red Menace” was propagated as a potent that time.” threat to the governments of the day yet The CPP was formed around 1948 at neither the CPP had the electoral numbers the height of the Cold War politics and the to win any election to form a government moment Pakistan signed a bilateral treaty nor did it have the muscle to overthrow with the US, the CPP was banned in 1954 any government because while it did win a which forced the Leftists to first form a few seats in the 1954 elections and though new party, the Azad Pakistan Party under the March 1968 issue of “The American Mian Iftikharuddin and later merged it Political Science review” quoting a US with the National Awami Party (NAP) in State Department estimate put the CPP 1957 in which the communists had a little membership to be approximately 3000; it say because the shots were called by Wali was an inflated figure because when the Khan, about whom the author is quite Party was at the peak of its popularity, its critical: “Wali Khan had his way of dealing membership was only between two to with electoral three thousand politics. Like most and its total others he was not sympathisers ‘The CPP was formed around 1948 averse to the idea throughout the of getting country were not at the height of the Cold War politics ‘permits’ and more than and the moment Pakistan signed a ‘licenses’ for 150,000. bilateral treaty with the US, the CPP himself and his While followers to keep communism was was banned in 1954 which forced them satisfied” (p on the march in the Leftists to first form a new party, 72). the world in the the Azad Pakistan Party’ equally bitter latter half of the is Naqvi about the twentieth century,

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wrong kind on Zia” (pp 79-80).

During the Bhutto years, the communists had just ‘suffered’; under Zia, the CPP was ‘tattered’ and ‘destroyed’ as the only place left for the committed communists was either jail or exile.

Though the six-year Ziaist imprisonment could not shake the resolve of the author, the break-up of the Berlin Wall and the winds of change in the Soviet Union caused an ideological disillusionment that culminated in his resignation from the CPP in late 1990.

The commitment of over forty years with the communist ideology vanished in thin air when the russians invited him to visit Moscow after his release. As “the reddest of the red”, he believed that whatever negative was said about communism was nothing but mere propaganda of the imperialists and in the process failed to realise that the Pakistani communists had themselves become the victims of the communist propaganda being unleashed by Moscow. The Bolshevik revolution had promised a classless society free of social divisions but the author was shocked to see a three tier shopping system in Moscow. The top tier of the communist leadership shopped from shops that offered the best of the local produce as well as the imported goods including the stuff imported from “the crooked capitalist states”; the workers of the Communist Party could shop from the shops which had local produce but no PPP founding chairman Zulfikar Ali imported items whereas a third category of Bhutto whom he dubs a ‘trickster’ and the shops catered the common man, who had blue-eyed boy of the establishment under to stand up in queues to buy essential whom the entire Left suffered a lot in spite goods which were often in short supplies. of the fact that it was he who lifted the ban Such a plight can be hard to carry on in place on the CPP for almost two the daily human existence; nonetheless, decades. His reminiscences of the Bhutto the pain becomes bearable if the common years are quite revealing. Not only the CPP man enjoys basic rights and freedoms even knew that Bhutto had the backing of the in such trying circumstances. The powers-that-be in the 1970 general introduction of ‘glasnost’ by Gorbachev elections; the CPP also bore unrelenting just before the disintegration of the pressure from Moscow to support his erstwhile Soviet Union clearly showed that election campaign which was very difficult the socialist system as practiced by Soviet keeping in view the fact that CPP was communists and their henchmen in the using the political platform of NAP, which satellite states was devoid of these high in turn was the archrival of the PPP in ideals during all these decades. In other West Pakistan. words, even a Communist revolution once Bhutto was elected, there was cannot guarantee human liberation constant pressure from Moscow that the because communist leaders can also be Pakistani communists must extend full dictatorial or even worse and their use of support to his government because words such as ‘democracy’, ‘people’, through the Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito, rights’, ‘equality’, etc, can be nothing more Bhutto had communicated to Moscow that than a façade to dupe the masses. for if the russians would support his example, the defunct east German state government, he would shift Pakistan from called itself German Democratic republic the American to the Soviet camp (p 72). but everyone knows that neither was it And when the chips were down for Bhutto democratic nor republic. Similarly, the still during the PNA agitation, he called Nazeer surviving North Korean state boasts itself Abbasi, one of the leading communist Democratic People’s republic of Korea but leaders from his cell and sought open who does not know that it has no support, to which the latter replied: “How democracy. In sum, all these socialist can I do any sort of campaigning sitting in states were nothing more than puppets prison?” (p 78). Although Nazeer was not whose strings were pulled either from released, the CPP did decide to support Moscow or Beijing — depending in which Bhutto in principle because the PNA was communist camp you were — to pursue a an unnatural alliance of the extreme right particular foreign policy agenda in the and the ultra Left that was manipulated global maelstrom of the Cold War politics. from behind by invisible forces. In order to Just like the puppet masters in Moscow put pressure on Zia to release the who brooked no independent action from incarcerated Bhutto, implicated in a their lackeys, the lackeys in turn lord over controversial murder case, the CPP their own respective communist parties by designed a four-Point pro-democracy plan acting as the “Little Tsars”, and so which included street agitation and shunned open debate and independent handed it to Benazir for the approval of thinking. Comparing Pakistan with these Bhutto, who rejected the idea because he “Communist Paradises” of europe, Naqvi was sure that only he could manage the laments, “We always condemned our Afghan crisis caused by the Soviet governments for denying freedom of intervention to expression the satisfaction without of the global realising that in ‘While communism was on the march in powers and our communist sooner than the world in the latter half of the backyard, such later Zia would a freedom was twentieth century, why did it stagnate come running to non-existent. and ultimately become redundant in seek his We were much support, and better off Pakistani politics? Primarily because the thus “wanted no compared to Pakistani communists were successfully street protest our friends in presented as pro-India and anti-Islam’ that might put the communist pressure of the world.” g