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Sell oil, infuse venom
Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
Pakistan has been in a state of war for some time now; a war fought in the name of God between people who, ironically, believe in the same God. What is more ironical is when this internal conflict in Pakistan is given directions from abroad by someone who holds the position of a custodian of this sacred faith. Swat, the land of lush pastures once, saw a flood of violence and blood. A year has almost passed since the Pakistan Army and now another flood cleared the area. I grieve that perhaps troubles have taken a fondness for this place.
In the past I have written about the influx of Wahabiism and the external support for it. Maybe, it got labelled as yet another conspiracy theory in some minds but very recently one of the most circulated Arab dailies (Arab News, July 31, 2010) in their editorial piece Devastating floods have asked the Taliban to halt violence in the flood-struck areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Does this ring any bells anywhere? To even suggest to someone to refrain from a certain activity requires that you enjoy a sagacity of authority over that person or organisation and have an assurance that your control will be acknowledged. In layman terminology, this depicts the presence of a connection between the adviser and the actor. In case there is the presence of a connection and the sense of authority, does that mean that the banned outfit is getting some sort of logistical or fiscal support from somewhere, just a notion?
The other thing provocative about this editorial piece is that when you suggest, advice or appeal as a cover to an organisation of such motives, you are actually acknowledging it to be a hierarchal organisation. In Pakistan, we know this outfit as a mafia, which has led to a bloodbath of innocent civilians when they did not bow down to its indoctrination. Without accusing anyone, I am still forced to think of a nexus between Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Arab world. It is not a surprise that the whole crusade was and is still led by an Arabian Prince. The Wahabi philosophy of hate sustains it.
Pakistan never faced a scarcity of hate-mongers, something that the outside world realised a long time back. It is not that alone; it is hate initiated on political and other motives. After the recent disgraceful terrorism acts on religious places in Pakistan, the buzz has been that it is the Wahabi version of Islam that is always aggressive and bigoted towards other sects in Islam. There has been some news about a possible funding for spreading Wahabi literature in Pakistan, Indonesia and some other countries. Some Wahabi followers advocate the idea of demolishing shrines, as these places are the centres of shirk. By the way, shirk means associating partners with God Almighty. This is a very severe clash between different schools of thought in Islam where one claims these shrines to be the places of spiritual learning and healing while the other calls them places of shirk.
The severity of the above-mentioned issue has created this unvarying tug-of-war like situation where the stronger sect tries to dominate the weaker sect. Since one particular sect is pumped by steroids of oil money, they buy loyalties and manipulate them to gain prominence. I believe the need here is to understand one simple point that not everyone in this world can be converted to your faith and people too would always like to choose what they want for themselves. Good or bad, that is not your headache. In case one still does not understand, then let me remind you that there is no compulsion in religion. This very religion that they sponsor bans a follower from killing a person for any reason, religious difference being none of them.
The other night while hopping through the different news channels to hear something as a bedtime story, I paused upon this debate between two very famous anchors. They were discussing the fact that Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) has led humanitarian work at all disaster-struck places. Whether it is the recent floods or the plane crash catastrophe in Islamabad, members of this organisation have been at the forefront of such relief work. Is the banned outfit looking for easy ways to glorification or are we being fooled into believing that everything that glitters is gold? The particular audience for whom the only source of political knowledge is the debates on TV ends up believing this glorification. Here the responsibility falls on the media to depict the truth that has been cloaked under the so-called humanitarian activities. Ever heard about creating a sympathy vote?
History repeats itself and in Pakistan history is forced to repeat itself rather quickly. We made the same mistake in 2005 of glorifying the humanitarian activities of religious outfits and see where that has landed us. A public opinion poll in Punjab gives the astounding realisation that most people think that the purpose or the motive the Taliban are fighting for is justified but the means or methodology is wrong. This is a notion that can hamper the counter-terrorism efforts to a great extent. This differentiation is limiting our condemnation. This slow poisoning or intoxication will lead us to a painful death as a society. The effort by one particular sect to marginalise all other sects of the same faith and turn them into minorities in their land will lead to mayhem and the only way out of this is breaking the shackles of silence.
The writer is an Islamabad based freelance consultant and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com
Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
Pakistan has been in a state of war for some time now; a war fought in the name of God between people who, ironically, believe in the same God. What is more ironical is when this internal conflict in Pakistan is given directions from abroad by someone who holds the position of a custodian of this sacred faith. Swat, the land of lush pastures once, saw a flood of violence and blood. A year has almost passed since the Pakistan Army and now another flood cleared the area. I grieve that perhaps troubles have taken a fondness for this place.
In the past I have written about the influx of Wahabiism and the external support for it. Maybe, it got labelled as yet another conspiracy theory in some minds but very recently one of the most circulated Arab dailies (Arab News, July 31, 2010) in their editorial piece Devastating floods have asked the Taliban to halt violence in the flood-struck areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Does this ring any bells anywhere? To even suggest to someone to refrain from a certain activity requires that you enjoy a sagacity of authority over that person or organisation and have an assurance that your control will be acknowledged. In layman terminology, this depicts the presence of a connection between the adviser and the actor. In case there is the presence of a connection and the sense of authority, does that mean that the banned outfit is getting some sort of logistical or fiscal support from somewhere, just a notion?
The other thing provocative about this editorial piece is that when you suggest, advice or appeal as a cover to an organisation of such motives, you are actually acknowledging it to be a hierarchal organisation. In Pakistan, we know this outfit as a mafia, which has led to a bloodbath of innocent civilians when they did not bow down to its indoctrination. Without accusing anyone, I am still forced to think of a nexus between Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Arab world. It is not a surprise that the whole crusade was and is still led by an Arabian Prince. The Wahabi philosophy of hate sustains it.
Pakistan never faced a scarcity of hate-mongers, something that the outside world realised a long time back. It is not that alone; it is hate initiated on political and other motives. After the recent disgraceful terrorism acts on religious places in Pakistan, the buzz has been that it is the Wahabi version of Islam that is always aggressive and bigoted towards other sects in Islam. There has been some news about a possible funding for spreading Wahabi literature in Pakistan, Indonesia and some other countries. Some Wahabi followers advocate the idea of demolishing shrines, as these places are the centres of shirk. By the way, shirk means associating partners with God Almighty. This is a very severe clash between different schools of thought in Islam where one claims these shrines to be the places of spiritual learning and healing while the other calls them places of shirk.
The severity of the above-mentioned issue has created this unvarying tug-of-war like situation where the stronger sect tries to dominate the weaker sect. Since one particular sect is pumped by steroids of oil money, they buy loyalties and manipulate them to gain prominence. I believe the need here is to understand one simple point that not everyone in this world can be converted to your faith and people too would always like to choose what they want for themselves. Good or bad, that is not your headache. In case one still does not understand, then let me remind you that there is no compulsion in religion. This very religion that they sponsor bans a follower from killing a person for any reason, religious difference being none of them.
The other night while hopping through the different news channels to hear something as a bedtime story, I paused upon this debate between two very famous anchors. They were discussing the fact that Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) has led humanitarian work at all disaster-struck places. Whether it is the recent floods or the plane crash catastrophe in Islamabad, members of this organisation have been at the forefront of such relief work. Is the banned outfit looking for easy ways to glorification or are we being fooled into believing that everything that glitters is gold? The particular audience for whom the only source of political knowledge is the debates on TV ends up believing this glorification. Here the responsibility falls on the media to depict the truth that has been cloaked under the so-called humanitarian activities. Ever heard about creating a sympathy vote?
History repeats itself and in Pakistan history is forced to repeat itself rather quickly. We made the same mistake in 2005 of glorifying the humanitarian activities of religious outfits and see where that has landed us. A public opinion poll in Punjab gives the astounding realisation that most people think that the purpose or the motive the Taliban are fighting for is justified but the means or methodology is wrong. This is a notion that can hamper the counter-terrorism efforts to a great extent. This differentiation is limiting our condemnation. This slow poisoning or intoxication will lead us to a painful death as a society. The effort by one particular sect to marginalise all other sects of the same faith and turn them into minorities in their land will lead to mayhem and the only way out of this is breaking the shackles of silence.
The writer is an Islamabad based freelance consultant and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com