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?