October 21, 2014
Mr. Farahnaz Ispahani and Ms. Nina Shea writing on the October 16, 2014 website, The Hudson Institute, warn that “Pakistan is sliding toward extremism;” as “he appeal of Islamist extremism is mushrooming within Pakistani society…reminding us that we risk seeing the Talibanization — not simply of a small minority or ordinary citizens; but, large swaths of the populace of the world’s second largest — and only nuclear-armed, Muslim country.”
“Pakistan abound with violent sectarian and Islamist groups, headquartered in semi-autonomous tribal areas,” across the country, the two authors note. “Foreign jihadists, like American David Headly, flock to such areas as North Waziristan. Yet although Islamabad devotes a full third of its armed forces to the northwest of the country, it is also pursuing policies that encourage a mainstream slide toward extremism,” they add.
“State laws [within Pakistan], and practices relating to Islamic blasphemy, in particular, are increasingly suppressing moderate voices, while allowing extremists to dominate cultural discourse and learning.” Mr. Ispahani and Ms. Shea observe. “As a result,” they say, “extremism is making ideological inroads into wider; and, wider segments of the population.”
“A shocking example occurred last month,” they write, “with the drive-by shooting of Muhammad Shakeel Auj, Dean of Islamic Studies, at the venerable Karachi University. Auj had earned a Ph.D. after writing a comparison of eight Urdu translations of the Quran. But, some found offense in his “liberal” religious views as he passionately denounced terrorism; and, suggested that Muslim women could pray wearing lipstick…and, could marry non-Muslims.” These views made Auj a marked-man among extremists; and, “over the past two years, Auj had been subject to a barrage of blasphemy accusations, fatwas, and death threats — including that he will be beheaded,” the authors write. “Particularly troubling,” they add, “is that four of his own faculty members were allegedly behind some of the threats. They were arrested, but soon released on bail. As one obituary writer commented, Auj’s murder shows that now “even the most mainstream Sunni voices will not be tolerated.”
“Junaid Hafeez, another university professor, may soon be sentenced to death by the state,” Mr. Ispahani and Ms. Shea note. “Charged with insulting the Prophet Muhammad on FaceBook, he is now on trial for the capital crime of blasphemy. Yet, the charge is based entirely on the oral testimony of students linked to the hardline, Jamaat-i-Islami Party. Hafeez has reportedly found it difficult to find a lawyer willing to defend him; not the least because those who manage to secure an acquittal for accused blasphemers, run the risk of being seen as blasphemers themselves. And, while the state doesn’t penalize such defense lawyers, it also does little to protect them; or, punish their extrajudicial killers either. For example,” they write, “while after his first two lawyers quit following death threats, Hafeez was able to hire Rashid Rehman, a senior lawyer with Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission. But, on May 7, Rehman was shot dead in his office. His killers remain at large.”
“Liberal Muslim educators, lawyers, and human rights activists aren’t the only victims of the country’s anti-blasphemy codes,” the authors note. “Often targeted are the Ahmadis, as many as 5M strong, well-educated community that professes faith to Islam; but which is not deemed Muslim, under Pakistan’s constitution. The sect’s tenants renounce violent jihad; and, embrace the separation of mosque and state, as well as religious pluralism. They now account for 40 percent of the anti-blasphemy prosecutions, which also disproportionately target Christians, Shia, and Hindus.”
“Such extremism has touched us personally,” Mr. Ispahani and Ms. Shea write. “Our friends, Shahbaz Bhatti, the former Minority Affairs Minister, and Salman Taseer, Punjab’s former governor, were both outspoken critics of the blasphemy conviction of Christian mother, Asia Bibi, and both were gunned down in 2011. The Lahore High Court last Thursday, upheld the death sentence against Asia Bibi.”
“The blasphemy law was originally introduced to appease extremists, but has instead stimulated an appetite for more. As Bhatti noted: “This law is creating disharmony and intolerance in our society.” “He is right — it legitimizes; and, enflames religious passions over speech, while providing extremists a platform within the vey heart of Pakistani society,” the authors write, and no doubt propaganda points as well.
“American drones are now waiting aiming at Pakistan’s northwest terrorist snake pit,” the authors conclude. “But, there is no military solution to the blasphemy law. And, while it is only right that we celebrate Malala;s Nobel award, we also cannot forget the growing numbers of Pakistanis that take no pride in such an achievement.”
We Shouldn’t Be Surprised By These Observations: After All, Pakistan Gave Sanctuary To bin Laden
Carlotta Gall, the North Africa Correspondent for The New York Times; and, whom covered Afghanistan and Pakistan for the paper from 2001 to 2013 — had a lengthy article in the March 23, 2014, New York Times Magazine. Ms. gall wrote, “shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, I went to live and report for The New York Times in Afghanistan. I would spend most of the next 12 years there, following the overthrow of the Taliban, feeling the excitement of the freedom and prosperity that was promised in its wake and then watching the gradual dissolution of that hope. A new Constitution and two rounds of elections did not improve the lives of ordinary Afghans; the Taliban regrouped and found increasing numbers of supporters for their guerrilla actions; by 2006, as they mounted an ambitious offensive to retake southern Afghanistan and unleashed more than a hundred suicide bombers, it was clear that a deadly and determined opponent was growing in strength, not losing it. As I toured the bomb sites and battlegrounds of the Taliban resurgence, Afghans kept telling me the same thing: The organizers of the insurgency were in Pakistan, specifically in the western district of Quetta. Police investigators were finding that many of the bombers, too, were coming from Pakistan.”
“The Pakistani government, under President Pervez Musharraf and his intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani,” Ms. Gall wrote, “was maintaining and protecting the Taliban, both to control the many groups of militants now lodged in the country and to use them as a proxy force to gain leverage over and eventually dominate Afghanistan. The dynamic has played out in ways that can be hard to grasp from the outside, but the strategy that has evolved in Pakistan has been to make a show of cooperation with the American fight against terrorism while covertly abetting and even coordinating Taliban, Kashmiri and foreign Qaeda-linked militants. The linchpin in this two-pronged and at times apparently oppositional strategy is the ISI. It’s through that agency that Pakistan’s true relationship to militant extremism can be discerned – a fact that the United States was slow to appreciate, and later refused to face directly, for fear of setting off a greater confrontation with a powerful Muslim nation.”
Nawaz Sharif won the 2013 election riding a national consensus in favour of free trade with India.
