Chaudhary Nisar, Please speak for yourself, not for the hate mongers

Chaudhry Nisar, the flamboyant Interior Minister of Pakistan is yet again out there to defend his meeting with the chief of the proscribed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). This organization is notorious for its hatred against its rival sect of the country. It will be a big lie to say that ASWJ is not involved in spreading any kind of sectarian hatred.

My previous article on failure of the National Action Plan (NAP) also pointed towards the same lack of sensitivity on part of the government and its various ministers towards the realization that radicalization and extremism in Pakistan cannot be viewed from the myopic lens of military action only. The extent of extremism in our everyday lives has crossed all limits. A person holding a moderate view about religion is always on the target of extremists.

The interior Minister is either too naive about the use of social media or is being too self-righteous. By simply skimming through the Facebook pages maintained by the proponents of sectarian outfits, one can easily come to the conclusion that they regularly spew out hatred against their rival sects. However, it is also true that this fire of hatred is burning on both sides of the fence. It would be unfair to say that only ASWJ or other like-minded organizations spew out hatred, their rivals also do the same. They are perhaps using different media, but for any reaction there should be an action.

The fact of the matter is that the Interior Minister, Chaudhary Nisar’s meeting with the chief of a proscribed organization; either its Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) or Tehreek e Jafaria (TeJ) cannot be justified. Sectarian organizations on both sides of the fence have specialized cells that conceptualize, create and disseminate hatred through various tools and media to their target audience. This must stop now.

Being a country with one of the largest youth populations in the world, we must start taking action to reduce the effects of this hatred, radicalization and extremism on them. We are already out of time and cannot afford to waste anymore or it. The Interior Minister already has a weak reputation among the media and the people, and I am sure it will deteriorate further, if he will keep on repeating this mistake. He must not, purposely, differentiate between sectarian and extremist organizations. Both these terms are synonymous, at least, in Pakistan’s context. My only message to the interior minister is that Chaudhary Nisar Please speak for yourself, not for the hate mongers.         

No Action Plan (NAP)

I don’t know if its National Action Plan (NAP) or No Action Plan, at least I am unable to see any action in my surroundings. As part of my job, I am involved in designing and implementing counter radicalization initiatives especially targeting children and youth. Since Pakistan has an overwhelming population of youth, this particular demographic stays most vulnerable to anything and everything that they are faced with. Radicalization remains a serious issue implicating youth in Pakistan. Therefore, the need to decrease and ultimately finish youth’s vulnerability to radicalization and extremism should be a top priority not only for the authorities but for all of us.  

     

The reason why I am pointing towards the lack of action is that most recently I have been observing a lot of hate speech being reported in the print media. Of course, there was a reason for it; 4^th January was celebrated as the death anniversary of Salman Taseer, then Governor of Punjab, who was gunned down by a member of his own security squad. All of us know that there is an overwhelming support for the killer in Pakistan, and I have pointed it in one of previous articles. Although, the rift between the right and left wings had been very obvious ever since Pakistan was created but the problem was exacerbated during General Zia’s autocracy. However, a lot of anger has been visible among the religious community against the liberals especially keeping in view the issue of Blasphemy. Since Salman Taseer’s murder this anger is reinvigorated on his death anniversary every year and a new wave of hate speech starts floating on the various media that we come across every day.

However, sadly, the silent majority in our society fears the highly flammable religious minority. Most recently, Shan Taseer, son of the slain Salman Taseer has been issued a death threat and a case has been registered against him on blasphemy charges, on almost the same allegation that cost his father his life i.e. his support for the blasphemy accused. The Police was quick in registering a case against him, but not against those who spew out hate filled speeches against other sects, against liberal minded people and against everyone that negates their point of view, openly on the roads, in mosques and even on the social media. I hope they don’t consider this article as hate speech and implicate me for this crime under all the various laws that they only get to remember when people like me talk about these injustices.

I almost forgot it was only a few days back that the authorities in District Okara assured the notables of the city to observe leniency against the seminary leader under terror laws for hate speech. Sadly, the present MNA from the area along with a former MNA and some traders from the area approached the District Coordination Officer (DCO) for the cleric’s release.  

Talking of laws, the cyber crime law and the preventionof electronic crimes act, many anti-terror laws and of course the National Action Plan (NAP) more than clearly vows to take action against who spread hatred against others. However, there is little or no action against those who spread hatred or do hate speech. Our social media is rife with specialized accounts that do the job of spreading hate speech against rival sects. I say rival because, they spread hate against each other purposely. It must be noted that it is a full time job only by observing their daily posts and shares, one can easily come to the conclusion that there are specialized teams that are paid to do this, from designing to dissemination, this cycle of hate speech keeps on going and there is someone paying for all of this; and please be clear that there is no concept of righteousness due to which all of this is happening, it has always been and always will be a race for political dominance only being conducted in the garb of religion. Sadly, our authorities observing cyber crime are oblivious of all of this.

If I as an ordinary internet user can observe all of this then why not them, the only conclusion that I can draw from this is that these people have supporters in every sphere, just like the MNAs that went to the DCO for the cleric’s release. I hope this is not true, but then why this no action plan?            

History repeats its self: PPPP’s Policy of Appeasement

It seems that the Hindu minority in Sindh will continue to suffer the wrath of the majority. No respite for the victims of forced conversions is in sight, as the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), the largest party of Sindh is all set to destroy the essence of the recently passed Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015. This move, which is nothing more than political appeasement will be a serious setback to the efforts of minority lawmakers in the Sindh assembly, who have spent more than three (03) years for the law to get passed from the assembly. The law, awaiting approval from the Governor of Sindh will now be reviewed.    

The Former President of Pakistan and the co-chairman of PPPP, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari is following  somewhat a similar policy of appeasement that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto once did; that move not only cost him his life, but also resulted in the strengthening of the narrative of the religious right, which is the main reason why our society and our image as a country has been ruined. I sincerely hope this move doesn’t prove fatal for the party and its leadership once again.

The law primarily aims at prohibiting the practice of forced conversions, which is rampant in Interior Sindh. The thorn in the religious right’s side is the clause that sets eighteen (18) years as the age-limit for conversion. The religious right argues that in Islam there is no age-limit for conversion. The law further sets a transition period of twenty one (21) days for a newly converted person, so that he or she can take the time to rethink his or her decision to convert. Both these clauses seem very logical, as a person below the age of eighteen (18) is not mature enough to take a life changing decision of converting to another religion. Similarly, the transition period provides ample opportunity to the newly converted person to think about the decision from various angles. However, it must be noted that forced conversion as a problem in Interior Sindh has mostly been limited to the female gender especially young Hindu girls. These girls are abducted and forcibly converted.

This Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill, 2015 has been backed by all the political parties represented in the Sindh assembly and it should be noted that the religious right has little or no representation in the provincial assembly. The decision of reviewing or a possible amendment in the law is being single-handedly taken by PPPP’s co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, without giving a serious consideration to the views of other parties. This decision is only been taken to politically appease the religious parties, who have threatened to lay siege of the Sindh assembly. This appeasement will help PPPP to form government in Sindh in the next general elections, which are going to the held next year.  

I personally believe that this decision will be a political suicide for the PPPP; a history repeats its self moment for all of us. More importantly, the minorities will once again be orphaned politically. The majority will once again prove that the white in our flag holds no importance. The Hindus that are already migrating to India will speed up the process leaving an open playing to the majority to paint it all green.

A Shrine in the making: Story of a Murderer

The news didn’t come as a surprise to me and I am pretty sure, it wasn’t a surprise for many other like-minded people either. Mumtaz Qadri, Salman Taseer’s assassin is in the process of becoming a saint. A shrine is being built in Islamabad’s peripheries right under the nose of our police and other law enforcement agencies. Soon, there will be an Urs every year with hundreds and thousands of devotees pouring in from all over Pakistan, similar to the day, when his funeral was held.

Incidentally, I was travelling to Punjab on the day of his funeral. I was travelling on a local bus on the GT road. As soon as the bus left the city limits, right before Dina, a group of young men with iron rods and wooden canes forcibly stopped the bus and boarded it. They were more or less ten men with emotions visible on their faces. Luckily for the bus and its occupants, the conductor didn’t try to stop them, because they were not only armed with iron rods but also with anger, which I believe is a lethal combination. As soon as these guys boarded the bus, everyone had a fair idea, who they were. These men had been to Mumtaz Qadri’s funeral and were returning to their homes. Soon after, they started praising him, showing each other and other travelers’ videos of the funeral and his last days in jail. They started flaunting their religious fervor by saying that they haven’t slept for so many hours only to attend the funeral and how difficult it was to reach the inner circles, but they were lucky to have a last look at his face.

A number of people seem impressed, which I believe is OK keeping in view the religiosity that exists in most of us. However, the real twist in the story came when the conductor asked all of the funeral attendees for fare. At first, the guys didn’t pay heed to the conductor, but when he asked for the fare again, the angry young men, got furious, about to beat the hell out of the conductor. However, some of the sensible men managed to stop them. Yet, they refused to pay the conductor the fare, saying they have just performed such a sacred mission and they don’t have to pay anything and he shouldn’t have expected the fare from them. The conductor tried again, but one of the guys called someone on his phone asking the guy on the other side to come to the next bus stop with as many men as possible to teach the conductor the lesson of his life. However, sense prevailed and some of the people in the bus managed to cool them down. So these guys traveled to Gujranwala from Islamabad free of cost, forcibly paying their religious fervor as the bus fare.

The guys left, but it kept me thinking about the kind of people and religiosity that has started to infect our society; I apologize if I have hurt someone’s feelings by saying this, but I was disgusted to my core that day. Again, on his Chehlum (40th day after death), another congregation of similar people occupied Islamabad and the whole world saw their so called leaders hurling the worst kind of abuses at the government and other leaders.

This is the most serious dilemma for our society, especially for those responsible for maintaining law and order and when the National Action Plan in being implemented in the country and the war against terror and extremism is entering its final stages, at least as claimed by our government. If this is all happening in Islamabad, then soon we will come across another story of a murderer all set to become a saint. 

The Day Benazir Bhutto got Assassinated

Nine years ago on this fateful day, the 27^th of December, I remember it was a cold winter evening and I was waiting at a car repair workshop for my car to get fixed. Suddenly, I felt panic growing in the air. The mechanics and repairmen started running around informing each other of something tragic. The panic grew and people started leaving in their cars. After a few moments, a young mechanic came rushing to my car and uttered the words that were least expected. Benazir Bhutto, the twice elected and the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan has been assassinated in a political rally in Rawalpindi. I was in a state of shock and so was the mechanic who was working on my car. After recovering, I told the mechanic to wrap up the work, so that I rush home. Expecting violence from the party workers, everyone around started rushing. The fuel stations and markets started closing down and soon a strange lull surrounded us.

I came home and saw everyone sitting in front of the Television set. Everyone was saddened by the tragic news. A suicidebomber blew himself up at the end of the political rally at a local park in Rawalpindi. Ms. Benazir Bhutto was rushed to the Rawalpindi General Hospital (renamed: Benazir Bhutto Hospital)  but the doctors couldn’t revive her.

The year 2007 was drawing to a close. The democratic forces in the country were preparing for the General Elections to be held on 18^th February, 2008. The military dictatorship of President Musharraf was finally ending. However, it took away with it our beloved and the symbol of hope for the downtrodden segments of Pakistan.

Benazir Bhutto was definitely not an ordinary politician. She was daughter of the Ex-Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the man who is considered as the biggest benefactor of democracy in Pakistan. She was trained in politics under his wings and became a force to reckon with. Benazir felt the pain of the poor segments and continued with the slogan Roti, Kapra aur Makaan of his father (the basic requirements for the poor).

During the next few days violent factors created havoc in many cities, destroyed property, markets, banks and whatever they could. Since the General Elections were around the corner, the parties started their campaigns after a pause and things started to get better in a week or so and life returned to the streets.            

Looking back, I see nine years have passed in the blink of an eye. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a tremendous loss for Pakistan. She represented a liberal and a progressive Pakistan. The vacuum that has been left after her assassination is difficult or arguably impossible to fill. 

Christmas: A Day to remember the Lost Souls

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The land of the pure, they call it. So what do we do with the impurity that exists in it? Purify it! At least that’s what the popular belief among the common, uneducated (at times the educated are no better) and religiously motivated population is. In a country like Pakistan, with a majority of Muslim population, the space for minorities is reducing with every passing day. It was only a few days back that the place of worship of the Ahmadiya community was attacked, not on an ordinary day, but one of the most holiest days for every Muslim in the world, the Birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him).

Today, is also a day of joy, another birthday, of no ordinary being, but of a Prophet, Jesus (Peace be Upon Him). Merry Christmas everyone! The whole world rejoices. But perhaps, not the Christians of Pakistan that make up 1.59% of the total population of the country. A country that is dominated by Muslims, feels threatened by a handful of Christians. Blasphemy accusations remain the top reason why minorities, especially Christians are persecuted in Pakistan. In addition, Human Rights Violations of all sorts against the minorities remain on the rise.  

There is another birthday today, of a person that lives in our hearts; a person with unmatched integrity. There would have been no Pakistan without him. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, envisioned a Pakistan where not just Muslims, but people from all faiths and religions were free to lead their lives according to their free wills. He believed in a Pakistan, where there was no religion, not in the religious sense, but in the political sense. 

Sadly, today’s Pakistan is not what the Quaid had imagined. The Pakistan that we live today is a nightmare for minorities. A country where the various minorities are persecuted at free will; at least that is what happened during the 2009 Gojra incident, the 2013 Lahore incident and the 2014 Kot Radha Kishan incident. The Human Rights Violations witnessed during these incidents, including Rape, Murder, Flogging and Torching of houses was witnessed by the whole country.

Ms. Sherry Rehman, a former Minister and Ambassador to the United States of America is of the view that “Pakistan is increasingly failing to protect its minorities for two broad reasons: principally, rising religious intolerance and the space ceded to violent ideologies.” In addition to this, some segments are of the view that "state complicity is yet another factor which makes minority persecutions more rampant and left unpunished."

Although the Pakistani state is weak and ineffective, yet the majority of the blame of religious oppression and persecution lies on the society and the people, who are not willing to allow the minorities to practice their faith freely. On the other hand, the majority of Pakistanis living abroad expect the foreign governments to allow them the freedom to not only practice but profess their religion as well.

I know I have already saddened the readers by describing the sad state of affairs of the minorities in the country. Yet, I am not hopeless. I strongly believe that a time will come, when the minorities will be treated as equals and will have all the freedom they need to live freely, independently and with dignity.

Till then a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, especially the lost souls who have been forgotten in the annals of our history.

Land for Sale at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad: Happy Birthday Quaid-e Azam

Land for Sale at Quaid-e-Azam University: Happy Birthday Quaid e Azam

It saddens me to the core to read this opinion article about land grabbing at one of the most prestigious universities of the country. Educational institutions are pride of a nation and Quaid-e-Azam is undoubtedly Pakistan's Pride. Unfortunately, we as a nation are not very proud of our national assets. Quaid e Azam university is the highest ranking university of Pakistan, a fact that is a source of pride for all of us. Sadly, this fact doesn't make our elite proud, but perhaps jealous. 

Quaid e Azam University

An Ex-Chairman Senate of Pakistan, who is also an influential local landlord has not only challenged the authorities including the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the University administration, but has totally disregarded the sacred value that educational institutions usually possess, if not in Pakistan but elsewhere in the world.

Quaid-e-Azam University spreads over 1,702 acres of land, out of which dozens of acres have been captured by the local elite. Not just this, but a dedicated road link has also been created, naming it after the surname of the Ex-Chairman himself. It won't be long, until we start seeing advertisements for Land for Sale in Quad-e Azam university. We all know very well that property business is the most lucrative business in Pakistan.

      

However, there is another side to this story as well. CDA which is responsible for the administration of Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, becomes a force to be reckoned with, when it comes to poor illegal dwellers on state land. We have already seen this when the Afghan settlements were removed from sector I-11 near Sabzimandi in Islamabad. A similar alacrity was shown by the Quaid-e-Azam university administration and CDA while removing the illegal dwellers of Pathan colony on university's land. 

My worst fear is that soon we will see a housing colony or elite farm-houses springing all over the university land. This, of course,  will be the saddest day for Pakistan. A day when education will fail and property tycoons will win.  

Today is the one hundred and thirty ninth (139th) birthday of the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. A day, when the fate of millions of Muslims of the sub-continent was changed forever. The least gift that we can give to our Quaid, is to keep his name and ideology alive by keeping the educational institutions like Quaid-e Azam university safe from the hands of land grabbers.

At least, I don't want to see, Land for Sale in Quaid-e Azam university, advertisements. I hope others feel the same.

The End