Cheetah786
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There are two ways to deal with a potential suicide bomber -- help him to change his mind or kill him before he or she blows a dozen more with him. The first one should be a preferred option as violence begets more violence. A mullah administering Islamabad's centrally located Lal Masjid and its attached religious seminary which, according to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), is an unlawful construction on encroached land, has warned the authorities of large scale suicide attacks if any attempt is made to demolish his newly expanded building.
To demonstrate intent, armed madressah students held hostage Islamabad's only children's library now standing precariously sandwiched between the mosque known for its radical sermons and the madressah cropped up from nowhere. The impasse continues. Hooded armed men have taken position guarding the religious facility, burqa-clad female students are demonstrating, and innocent young infants with toy guns hanging on their body are being used as a sign of resistance. The most unfortunate part, however, is that all this is being played out right in front of the ministry of environment, within a mile from country's power centre, and a stone's throw from Islamabad's nervous diplomatic enclave.
If the recent spate of suicide bombings is a sign of things to come, rhetoric emanating from places like the Lal Masjid seminary deserves serious investigation. The said seminary has a history in spawning religious extremists who have earlier, in the guise of street protest, burned and looted markets and cinema halls, and have created embarrassing law and order situations. The premise was also raided in the past for alleged involvement of its administrators in international terrorism, particularly the bombing in London.
Pakistan has suffered a great deal from self-injurious policies of the past governments to allow creation of such proverbial Frankenstein monsters. Killings and mayhem inflicted by regressive religious elements in the late 80s and 90s still haunt the people. One lethal blunder of the General Zia era was his decision to hand over mosques and religious institutions in the capital to regressive elements. In his desire to appease mullahs he replaced moderate prayer leaders with self-righteous puritan outfits who now pose the biggest threat to country's internal harmony and development. Instability in Afghanistan, Iraq and the larger Middle East is further complicating the situation.
President Musharraf, in his first speech to the nation after taking over as chief executive in 1999, had expressed his commitment to fight religious extremism, and went on to ban a number of sectarian outfits. 9/11 provided a golden opportunity for his government to take decisive action to set things right once and for all. But seven years down the line dangerous trouble spots such as the one at Lal Masjid are still staring him in the face.
How can a government establish the writ of the state when people working for the government themselves act against the laws of the state? According to government rules, prayer leaders in Islamabad are paid government employees who are appointed by the auqaf directorate. Their services are subject to government rules and regulations, and under the constitution they serve at the pleasure of the president of Pakistan. That's why these clerics were served notices by the government for participation in a protest rally against the government's decision to demolish seminaries built on encroached land in Islamabad. It is not clear what disciplinary action the authorities have taken against the employees. But given the pressure exerted by various quarters to hush up the Lal Masjid imbroglio, any solid punitive action seems an unlikely.
Although prayer leaders in Islamabad draw their salary from government exchequers, they enjoy the freedom to collect donations, zakat and to carry out other fund-raising activities in and outside the country. Governments and individual citizens of many brotherly Muslim countries have been recklessly pumping their surplus petrodollars into these seminaries. Reportedly, seminaries raised and run by these prayer leaders are millions of dollars worth operations. It is still a mystery where and how they get such large amounts from and what auditing system is in place. Besides, they are free to enrol thousands of vulnerable young children mainly from poor and lower middle class social strata who land in due to economic compulsions or simply out of misplaced religious zeal. Later on, these very children are being used as a shield to cover up misdeeds and when required, they are converted into walking bombs to blow up political opponents or to bring a government to its knees.
There is no reason why the mullahs should be exempted from following the laws of the state. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has ruled that the construction of mosques and seminaries on encroached land is un-Islamic. Giving a verdict in favour of the National Institute of Oceanography, the CII has clearly explained that a mosque constructed on a piece of land grabbed without written agreement of its owner or one built on government land without permission of the government is not only illegal but un-Islamic. Therefore, the health of an act of worship or prayers conducted in un-Islamic and illegal place also becomes questionable.
According to the CDA, there are a number of mosque and seminaries built on encroached land in Islamabad. In September last year, the interior ministry directed the CDA to take necessary corrective action against all such illegal structures built in violation of the CDA rules and on encroached state land in the capital. The enforcement directorate of the Capital Development Authority started an operation against encroachments but had to stop its work owing to pressure from influential people associated with the ring of powerful mullahs.
Today the mullah mafia is grabbing pubic properties and state land in the name of God, tomorrow they may attempt to grab offices and ministries with the same excuse, it is time for the government to come up and do something. One possible option is to kick nasty mullahs out of the capital city, recruit new ones, nationalise all religious seminaries, take some extra billions back from the Higher Education Commission and invest them in madressahs as a state-owned and operated educational system.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=40926
To demonstrate intent, armed madressah students held hostage Islamabad's only children's library now standing precariously sandwiched between the mosque known for its radical sermons and the madressah cropped up from nowhere. The impasse continues. Hooded armed men have taken position guarding the religious facility, burqa-clad female students are demonstrating, and innocent young infants with toy guns hanging on their body are being used as a sign of resistance. The most unfortunate part, however, is that all this is being played out right in front of the ministry of environment, within a mile from country's power centre, and a stone's throw from Islamabad's nervous diplomatic enclave.
If the recent spate of suicide bombings is a sign of things to come, rhetoric emanating from places like the Lal Masjid seminary deserves serious investigation. The said seminary has a history in spawning religious extremists who have earlier, in the guise of street protest, burned and looted markets and cinema halls, and have created embarrassing law and order situations. The premise was also raided in the past for alleged involvement of its administrators in international terrorism, particularly the bombing in London.
Pakistan has suffered a great deal from self-injurious policies of the past governments to allow creation of such proverbial Frankenstein monsters. Killings and mayhem inflicted by regressive religious elements in the late 80s and 90s still haunt the people. One lethal blunder of the General Zia era was his decision to hand over mosques and religious institutions in the capital to regressive elements. In his desire to appease mullahs he replaced moderate prayer leaders with self-righteous puritan outfits who now pose the biggest threat to country's internal harmony and development. Instability in Afghanistan, Iraq and the larger Middle East is further complicating the situation.
President Musharraf, in his first speech to the nation after taking over as chief executive in 1999, had expressed his commitment to fight religious extremism, and went on to ban a number of sectarian outfits. 9/11 provided a golden opportunity for his government to take decisive action to set things right once and for all. But seven years down the line dangerous trouble spots such as the one at Lal Masjid are still staring him in the face.
How can a government establish the writ of the state when people working for the government themselves act against the laws of the state? According to government rules, prayer leaders in Islamabad are paid government employees who are appointed by the auqaf directorate. Their services are subject to government rules and regulations, and under the constitution they serve at the pleasure of the president of Pakistan. That's why these clerics were served notices by the government for participation in a protest rally against the government's decision to demolish seminaries built on encroached land in Islamabad. It is not clear what disciplinary action the authorities have taken against the employees. But given the pressure exerted by various quarters to hush up the Lal Masjid imbroglio, any solid punitive action seems an unlikely.
Although prayer leaders in Islamabad draw their salary from government exchequers, they enjoy the freedom to collect donations, zakat and to carry out other fund-raising activities in and outside the country. Governments and individual citizens of many brotherly Muslim countries have been recklessly pumping their surplus petrodollars into these seminaries. Reportedly, seminaries raised and run by these prayer leaders are millions of dollars worth operations. It is still a mystery where and how they get such large amounts from and what auditing system is in place. Besides, they are free to enrol thousands of vulnerable young children mainly from poor and lower middle class social strata who land in due to economic compulsions or simply out of misplaced religious zeal. Later on, these very children are being used as a shield to cover up misdeeds and when required, they are converted into walking bombs to blow up political opponents or to bring a government to its knees.
There is no reason why the mullahs should be exempted from following the laws of the state. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has ruled that the construction of mosques and seminaries on encroached land is un-Islamic. Giving a verdict in favour of the National Institute of Oceanography, the CII has clearly explained that a mosque constructed on a piece of land grabbed without written agreement of its owner or one built on government land without permission of the government is not only illegal but un-Islamic. Therefore, the health of an act of worship or prayers conducted in un-Islamic and illegal place also becomes questionable.
According to the CDA, there are a number of mosque and seminaries built on encroached land in Islamabad. In September last year, the interior ministry directed the CDA to take necessary corrective action against all such illegal structures built in violation of the CDA rules and on encroached state land in the capital. The enforcement directorate of the Capital Development Authority started an operation against encroachments but had to stop its work owing to pressure from influential people associated with the ring of powerful mullahs.
Today the mullah mafia is grabbing pubic properties and state land in the name of God, tomorrow they may attempt to grab offices and ministries with the same excuse, it is time for the government to come up and do something. One possible option is to kick nasty mullahs out of the capital city, recruit new ones, nationalise all religious seminaries, take some extra billions back from the Higher Education Commission and invest them in madressahs as a state-owned and operated educational system.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=40926
But no 
