Crawling out of the woodwork

Whatever else may transpire during the days ahead, the short-lived attempt at a ‘lockdown’ of Islamabad planned by Imran Khan has taught us many things. One of these is that many unpleasant creatures still lurk in the framework of our society, gnawing away at an already weakened structure from the inside and damaging it further, perhaps to a point where it can no longer be repaired.

Even now repair seems difficult, given the amount of time over which we have permitted the decay to continue without undertaking any measures to halt it. These measures should have been applied years, even decades, ago.

Imran’s call and his desperate search for allies to support his action have brought such groups out into the open. They include the Shuhada Foundation affiliated with the hard-line Lal Masjid which had inflicted violence across Islamabad. Then there is also the shadowy Difaa-e-Pakistan Council, which includes the Ahle Sunnat Wal-Jamaat, previously the fiercely sectarian Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Jamaatud Da’awa, linked with Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

Then there is also the Darul Uloom Haqqania from Akora Khattak, the massive seminary run by Maulana Samiul Haq, which rather bizarrely was allocated a generous grant of Rs3 million in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget for 2016-2017. The seminary has in the past taught key Taliban leaders and has shown limited signs of reform.

What we need to ask is why all these entities are still active and still able to participate in the political life of the country. Lal Masjid and its chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz have been increasingly active over the past few months without there being any visible attempt to check them. Reports from Islamabad say that students and clerics from Lal Masjid have been preaching in other mosques and attempting to recruit persons to their cause. This cause remains a hard-line, orthodox and potentially dangerous one.

It seems our political leadership has forgotten that in 2007, students from Lal Masjid seminaries, including girls from the Jamia-e-Hafsa, armed with sticks were among the gangs unleashed by the organisation; they attempted to invade government buildings, kidnap people from streets, harass women whom they deemed inappropriately clad and generally create chaos. The same principle applies to the other groups on the list.

Darul Aloom Haqqania does not seem to be an institution that can easily be reformed given its hard-line views. In its previous manifestation as the much feared SSP, the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat was responsible for the killing of hundreds of Shias and for igniting the sectarian fires that now haunt us while the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an ally of the also banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been accused of working with various quarters to promote militancy as an acceptable means to obtain an end. As we look around at our current situation, it seems quite obvious that these elements need to be pushed outside the ring of influence and made redundant so they can play no part in our national life.

The question of the PTI using them for its own purposes is a relatively minor one. While this shows the party in a rather unfavourable light, and opens up further questions about Imran Khan’s true ideology, the bigger issue is why the state and its forces have not effectively been able to eradicate such outfits. The need to do so and to act against extremism is specifically mentioned in the National Action Plan which was agreed on by all parties after the massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014.

Incidents such as the horror of that event, and events which have followed, including most recently the attack on the poorly guarded police training centre in Quetta in which 62 young cadets lost their lives, should be enough to force us to think about why these groups remain active and in operation. In so many ways, it is absurd that Lal Masjid is able to preach its message of violence, and its call for an end to elected government to make way for a Shariah state regularly. This is a call made repeatedly by the chief clerics at Lal Masjid.

Other groups too have undermined state authority and the ideals written out in that document which should be defining our state, the constitution of Pakistan, again and again. But it appears few are bothered by the contents of the constitution or its meaning. Instead, we have anarchy where forces of various kinds are able to play an often dangerous role.

Who supports these forces? Why do they do so? The question is asked at too few forums and by too few people. The reports that the Punjab government since 2008 gave a stipend to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi founder Malik Ishaq or his family are shocking. Even though our government and all political parties have vowed to do away with extremism, it seems they are in too many ways helpless and inept. We need to make a greater effort to understand who pulls the strings and what their purposes are.

There is clearly logic behind the game; a sinister logic which forms part of a plan that essentially acts against the interests of the people of Pakistan. What these people need is a progressive state where killings and violence are not the norm. They need greater faith that the state will be able to offer them this. At present, most citizens know that the security agencies that taxpayers pay for have little ability to prevent acts of violence or acts of terrorism. This is disturbing in many ways.

In a nation that has changed dramatically within a few decades, we also need a stronger drive to reverse the trends that have caused this. There was a time when minorities and women lived without fear in Pakistan; there was a time when religion was a matter of personal belief that did not involve politics or the use of force. In place of this, we now have a situation where extremism has been written deep into the mind of people. More and more have come to accept an essentially warped view of life and what belief entails.

The harm we have inflicted on so many as a result of this thinking is disturbing. We will never be able to change this unless we can eradicate the groups which play a part in keeping alive strange myths and unfortunate ideas. The division into sects, the eviction of minority groups from mainstream society, the intense focus on morality, or what is seen as morality, for women are all part of the new culture we have created. It is a culture that has generated teenage suicide bombers, educated young persons willing to kill and school children who believe those who are not Muslim are somehow inferior.

Yet despite the dangers posed by this situation, we allow groups that perpetuate these ideas to remain a part of society. There are others too which operate in our cities, in our tribal areas and in other places. Why we have failed to curb their activities even after so many decades of violence, even after thousands of deaths, is a question we need to answer. Finding a response may hold the key to our future.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com