Sectarian menace and perpetual denial

The News, April 18, 2006
Sectarian menace and perpetual denial
Imtiaz Alam

The writer is Editor Current Affairs,The News, and Editor South Asian Journal

Quite amazing is the denial, and across the board, that no Muslim can commit such an ugly, terrorist crime of killing Muslims from Sunni Tehreek and the Ahle Sunat/Barelvi school of thought in their dozens while they were praying and celebrating the birthday of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). An all-pervasive attitude of self-denial, like that of an ostrich, has continued to pre-empt self-introspection and helped cover up the skeletons in our own holier than thou religious cupboards.

Leading clerics would have us believe that it is always an alien hand or an anti-Muslim, American-Jewish-Hindu conspiracy that is at constant work behind such sectarian killings as in Karachi. This is how they reinforce Huntington's prejudicial 'Clash of Civilizations', and knowing well who is at whose throat.

The beast is within and the problem is deep-rooted in Muslim history. It can be proved by a vast reservoir of empirical data on Muslims killing Muslims. Shouldn't we identify the beast and expose the skeletons we have been trying to hide in our so-called sacred cupboards for too long?

As was predicted by numerous analysts, both right and left, the violent sectarian menace, once unleashed, will not stop at eating into a part of our social fabric. If Ahmadis were once and for all apostatized and Shias became yet another target of being declared non-Muslims by the Ahle Hadith and Wahabis, including Sipah-i-Sahaba/Lashkar-i-Jhangvi from Deobandi School, and continuing sectarian cleansing, the beast could not stop at that. First Imam Bargahs were turned into unsafe places for Shia worshippers and processions mourning the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet (PBUH), became victims of intolerance, and now celebrating Prophet Mohammed's (PBUH) birthday has also become a matter of great risk. It may be instructive to mention that Eid Milad-un-Nabi is not celebrated by the Wahabis and Ahle Hadith; they rather see it as a deviation (shirk) from Islam if someone spiritually feels the 'presence' of the Prophet (PBUH) while reciting Darood-o-Salam. In this they see some qualities of God being attributed to the Prophet (PBUH).

The same sectarian premise that apostatizes Shias as non-Muslims logically requires its extension to the Sunnis who are a major irritant within the broader Sunni framework to the Wahabi/Ahle Hadith creed that detests Sunni beliefs and is in fierce competition with the Sunnis for grabbing space and extending influence.

The Sunnis are the main challenger to Wahabi/Deobandi creed in Pakistan. They have deep cultural roots in the plains of Indus valley and have close connection with the mystic tradition in Islam. In Karachi, where the Deobandis have consolidated their position considerably by virtue of greater finances and numerous madrasas, the rise of Sunni Tehreek posed a big challenge to their hegemony. Sunni Tehreek has also eroded some of the base of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Although Sunni leaders who met President Pervez Musharraf did not blame MQM for the recent attack, they presented a long list of grievances against the MQM-led government in Sindh.

The fact of the matter is that a battle for capturing mosques has been on in the country, in which extremist Sunnis and extremist Wahabis/Deobandis have been targeting each other. A few years ago Sunni Tehreek leaders Salim Qadri and Awais Qadri were killed, allegedly by a section of banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in retaliation to the killing of Habibullah Mukhtar and five other Deobandi mullahs.

Maulana Yousaf Ludhyanvi, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai and Mufti Jamil Khan, all Deobandis, were killed in separate terrorist attacks. So far no one has been arrested, although fingers were raised against Sipah-i-Sahaba and other Deobandi/Wahabi/Ahle Hadith outfits. Now, all sects are involved in each other's apostatization and their respective outfits are engaged in cyclical sectarian killings. The genie is out of the bottle. And this is not a local phenomenon. Iraq also presents the peak of it with a bloodier historical background.

The tragedy of this mini-Muslim inquisition is that Muslim clergy of all sects and the majoritarian Muslim states became instrumental in promoting it. In Pakistan, recourse to the 'Islamic ideology' of Pakistan after the death of Quaid-i-Azam, General Ziaul Haq's Islamization to in fact enforce the Deobandi/Wahabi creed and Jihad-i-Afghanistan and Talibanization turned sectarian conflicts into bloody battles.

After the removal of their common enemy-the Soviet Union- from the scene in Afghanistan, they turned their guns on each other. The national security paradigm and the military establishment continued to patronize them and played one segment against the other. After 9/11 and the reversal of pro-Taliban policy, the jihadis have gradually turned their guns against the US and the Musharraf administration. Despite the change in positions, the intelligence networks have continued to hobnob with their 'human assets', as reflected in the fiasco of the military operation in the tribal areas.

The Pakistani state and society have suffered too much with the unleashing of the jihadi and terrorist culture in the country. Both state and society are under siege. Neither the economy nor civil society can survive with extremist groups holding the country hostage to their anarchistic whims. This is no ordinary law and order problem. A complete reversal of the 'Ziaist' state in all spheres is long overdue. Some measures that must be taken are as follow: a) the experience shows that the use of Islam for political means has become a divisive instrument rather than a unifying factor. Therefore, the state must separate itself in all its ramifications from religion; b) Our erstwhile paradigm of jihad, as an extension of foreign policy or national security, has backfired and the guns raised to attack the 'enemy' have been turned against the nation itself. Therefore, the sate must stop all patronage to such groups and impose the writ of the state by putting these elements to justice or effective correction, if possible; c) All mosques that have become independent of the local community and are centres of sectarian in-fights must be closed down and given back to the local community; d) All such literature and speeches that hurt the feelings of any sect must be effectively banned; e) All education curricula, of private or public educational institutions, must be cleared of sectarian materials and religious education separated from all subjects; f) All those involved in terrorism must be brought to book; g) All such laws that discriminate against women and minorities must be withdrawn forthwith.

It is time Pakistan rid itself of the jihadi culture, sectarianism and private militias. No doubt the task is enormous; it is doable but may take time and requires consistent efforts. Half-hearted efforts won't do. It requires a national consensus and for that to happen mainstream parties must be engaged, institutions restored and the judiciary strengthened. There must be a truly sovereign parliament. This is the most important national task that we must accomplish and without any delay, for it would be fatal. No single individual or party or institution can perform this gigantic task. There has to be a combined national effort with a clear direction.
Email: imtiazalampak@yahoo.com