By Dr OP Sudrania
Can India trust Pakistan, “A difficult question both to ask as well as to reply?” At the same time, it has plenty of harsh and hard realities to peel off in layers. Unless an issue is addressed from its root, the ensuing discussion may be as good as better not started. It is an open historical truth that Pakistan was created on the plinth of hatred deep rooted in an ideology which refuses to reconcile with “Their” non believers as Jinnah was very obtuse to claim that Muslims cannot live with Hindus, hence he needs a separate nation for Muslims. It is needless to remind that this historical blunder of partition has led to a perpetual enmity; regularly reminded in the international arena as the two nuclear armed archenemies.
Initially Jinnah had also pretended that Pakistan will be a secular state where all religions could co-exist, despite his reasoning on the contrary to claim the state. Soon enough the realities started unfolding; where no civilian government lasted its full term and the country was ruled by the military dictators, either de facto or de jure since its inception in 1947. As the time elapsed, it slowly drifted towards an Islamic state, where the minorities have been reduced to a meek dismal fragment of the fractured and impoverished barely two to three percent. This is applicable even to the different Muslim population e.g. the majority Sunni Muslims regularly attack Shias killing them remorselessly.
Various Islamic Subsects in Pakistan:
The two subsects of Sunnis in Pakistan, the Barelvis and Deobandis, have their own Masjids. According to the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation the majority of Sunni in Pakistan follows Barelvi traditions.Another source (Global Security) estimates that 50% of Pakistani Muslims are Barelvi, 20% Deobandi, 18% Shi’a, 4% Ahl al-Hadith, 2% Ismaili, 2% Ahmadiyyah and other 2%.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Pakistan – cite_note-13The International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore estimates that 60% of Pakistani Muslims are Barelvi Sufi, 15% Deobandi; 20% Shi’a, 4% Ahl al-Hadith; and 1% other.
The Shi’a Ithna ‘ashariyah school has its own Masjids and Hussainias (Imambargahs). Mustaali Dawoodi Bohra and Sulaimani Bohra also have their own Masjids, while the Nizari Ismailis have Jama’at Khanas. Although the vast majority of Pakistani Shi’a Muslims belong to Ithna ‘ashariyah school, there are significant minorities: Nizari Ismailis (Agha Khanis) and the smaller Mustaali Dawoodi Bohra and Sulaimani Bohra branches. The Salafi school is represented by the Ahle Hadith movement in Pakistan.
Many people on the Makran coast of Balochistan follow the heterodox Zikri sect of Islam. Zikri sect developed within Sunni Hanafis during the 18th century Mahdi movement as a reaction to decline of the Muslim rule and encroaching British colonialism in South Asia. Zikris are now gravitating back towards orthodox Sunni Hanafi beliefs.
Sufism has a strong tradition in Pakistan. The Muslim Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting the millions of native people to Islam. As in other areas where Sufis introduced it, Islam to some extent syncretized with pre-Islamic influences, resulting in a religion with some traditions distinct from other parts of the Muslim world. The Naqshbandiya, Qadiriya, Chishtiya and Suhrawardiyya silsas (Muslim Orders) have a large following in Pakistan. Sufis whose shrines receive much national attention are Data Ganj Baksh (Ali Hajweri) in Lahore (ca. 11th century), Baha-ud-din Zakariya in Multan and Shahbaz Qalander in Sehwan (ca. 12th century) and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai in Bhit, Sindh and Rehman Baba in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Popular Sufi culture is centered on Thursday night gatherings at shrines and annual festivals which feature Sufi music and dance.
Contemporary Islamic (Sunni) fundamentalists criticize its popular character, which in their view, does not accurately reflect the teachings and practice of the Prophet and his companions. There have been terrorist attacks directed at Sufi shrines and festivals, 5 in 2010 that killed 64 people.
The Ahmadiyya community, a minority group is also present. In 1974, the government of Pakistan amended the Constitution of Pakistan to define a Muslim “as a person who believes in finality of Prophet Muhammad“. Ahmadis believe in Muhammad as the best and the last law bearing prophet and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Christ of Muslims. Consequently they were declared non-Muslims by a parliamentary tribunal. According to the last Pakistan census, Ahmadis made 0.25% of the population. More
Besides this there are ethnic conflicts between different tribal groups leading to constant rivalries, especially in Sindh and Balochistan. Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan is another militant group which maintains sectarian violence inside Pakistan emerged during the Musharraf regime. There are plenty more Islamist jihadi groups under various denominations.
In this appalling inter-Islamic ethnic divisions with irreconcilable aggressive stance against each other, the dismal non Muslim minority has been living in a constant fear, abjection and insecurity and have been reduced from about thirty to forty percent in 1947 to about two to three percent. The Human Rights Groups must be having a terrible time.
Earlier in the afternoon, 12 people lost their lives when a bomb went off near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps at Bacha Khan Chowk.
A cameraman and a reporter of a private news channel, a computer operator of a news agency and nine police personnel, including two senior police officers, were among the dead, while 10 army and FC personnel were injured in the blasts.
A majority of the people killed in the Alamdar Road blasts belonged to the Hazara Shia community.
“Eighty-one people have been killed and 120 injured, including 10 army and FC personnel, in two blasts,” Hamid Shakeel, Deputy Inspector General of Police, told Dawn. The later death toll rose more than one hundred and injured more than two hundreds in the Hazara Shia dominated area. The outlawed militant Sunni Islamic terrorist group, Lashkar-e Jhangavi took the responsibility.
“The protests were eventually heard. Some of the largest crowds had gathered in Karachi, outside the private residence of President Asif Ali Zardari. On Monday, the government dispatched Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to Quetta to meet with the victims. Chief Minister of Baluchistan Nawab Aslam Raisani, a figure of clownish incompetence with a taste for the good life, was told there was no job waiting for him when he returned from his latest foreign jaunt. The provincial government was sacked, having forfeited its mandate. And a form of emergency rule imposed under the province’s more stolid governor.”
This pacified the relatives of Hazara Shiite families and they agreed to bury their dead, which were kept waiting for last four days. Last year in 2012, about 400 Shiites were killed all over Pakistan, which is double the number than in 2011.
The Balochistan government, in an effort to entice insurgents to lay down arms, has offered a monthly stipend of Rs10, 000 to each militant willing to surrender. It has also decided to pay compensation by Jan 31 to the heirs of victims of Jan 10’s terrorist attacks.
A political analyst says the United States is involved in the ongoing violence against Shia Muslims in Pakistan. “We can see the targeted killing of Shias is merely a part of the broader US agenda to ensure Pakistan and the entire Middle East region remain in chaotic confusion by inducing sectarian violence,” Yuram Abdullah Weiler wrote in a column for Press TV. He feels that US with Saudi Arabia are responsible in Shiite ethnic killings to subdue Iran.
The Baloch insurgency groups are fighting for secession from Pakistan for an independent state. Some are living in exile.
Dr. Tahir-ul Qadri – A new Mannequin is Born:
A new mannequin from Canada has suddenly emerged in Islamabad – Dr Tahir-ul Qadri, Chairman of his political party – Minhajul Quran International (MQI). Qadri is said to enjoy Pakistani Military backing, though none will accept it. He started his protest rally on 13 January from Lahore to reach Islamabad, attracting a huge gathering, sending cold waves in the establishment.
After the successful negotiations between the committee formed by the government and Tahir-ul-Qadri, the declaration containing the terms agreed upon has been signed by the Prime Minister and approved by the President, Geo News reported Thursday.
Earlier, addressing the participants of the sit-in after the conclusion of the negotiations that continued for over 4 hours at D-Chowk here, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said an Islamabad Long March Declaration had been agreed upon and that its contents would be announced after it was signed by the prime minister.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, who was part of the negotiating committee, said that an agreement has been reached on all the issues.
After the successful talks, the negotiating committee visited the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for the PM’s signature on the declaration who signed it immediately, diffusing the tension.
Pakistani Prime Minister indicted of Corruption charges:
The Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the Rental Power Plants case on Tuesday, reported Express News.
The court also ordered all other respondents in the case to be arrested, and gave 24 hours deadline to the authorities to implement the orders.
The court maintained that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will be responsible if any of the respondents manage to escape.
“The chief justice ordered that all concerned, regardless of their rank, who have been booked in the case be arrested and if someone leaves the country, then chairman of NAB will be held responsible along with his investigating team,” lawyer Aamir Abbas told AFP.
“The sixteen include Raja Ashraf,” said Abbas, adding that Ashraf had not been referred to by name by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Abbas, who represents NAB, said the defendants had been ordered to appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday.
So far he has not been arrested. Pakistan’s anti-corruption chief refused an order by the country’s top court to arrest the prime minister in a graft case on Thursday, saying he did not have sufficient evidence. The case involves kickbacks that Ashraf allegedly took during his time as minister of water and power that were related to private power stations built to provide electricity to energy-starved Pakistan. The prime minister has denied the allegations. Fasih Bokhari, chief of the National Accountability Bureau, told the Supreme Court that the initial investigation into the case was flawed and that he needed more time to determine whether the prime minister should be arrested.
India Pakistan Imbroglio:
Recently there has been a sudden spate of violence erupting between India and Pakistan in the Mendhar sector of the LoC 220 km North of Jammu, starting on 8 January 2013; Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has denied Pakistan’s hand in the killings of two Indian soldiers Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh and said Pakistan is ready for a third party probe to verify their claims if ‘India doesn’t believe in its inquiry’, a very clavour move to internationalise the bilateral incidence. Pakistan has always tried its best to do so at every opportunity.
Hemraj was brutally tortured and his head decapitated while Sudhakar was first tortured barbarically, then killed, mutilating the remains of their bodies. Two other sldiers were injured. This was an act of heinous crimes against Geneva Convention. Pakistan denied the Indian charges leading to fierce public outrage in India. It forced a strong official reaction in Indian governmental circles sending a tough message to Pakistan. Three days back, Lance Naik Aslam brutally murdered because of Indian firing, 400 kms inside Pakistani territory.
Indian Military chief Bikram Singh:
“The Beheading (of Lance Naik Hemraj) is unacceptable and unpardonable. It was stage-managed and pre-planned. They have planted lies to justify what they have done. India reserves its right to retaliate ‘at the time and place of its choice’. We won’t remain passive when attacked. The important thing now is to ensure that morale among commanders in Kashmir remains high. We will uphold the ceasefire only if the adversary respects it and will not tolerate being fired upon.” It sent a chilling stern message to Pak with immediate warm response.
Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne
“We are watching the situation carefully, if the violations continue, perhaps we may have to think of some other options for compliance, options are options… If violations continue we might have to look at the whole issue again.”
Even the normally shy Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh said, “It was not acceptable and Pakistan should book the perpetrators. There can’t be business as usual” – a usual business by the lame government of India.
According to the reports, Lashkar-e-Taiba (now Jamaat-ud-Dawah) chief Hafiz Saeed incited the Pakistani soldiers to fire on Indian jawans as part of his plans to begin jihad in Kashmir.
The report said that Saeed was inciting Lashkar’s BATs (border action teams), consisting of jihadis and trained militants to step up activity along the LoC, obviously on the instructions of his mentors in the ISI/Pak Military.
The gruesome murder and mutilation and beheading of Hemraj with subsequent return of his decapitated body has caused fiery and intensely provocative reaction calling for stern action.
Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha
“If his (Hemraj’s) head could not be brought back (from Pakistan), we should get at least 10 heads from their side. The question is: will we sit without any reaction and engage in a dialogue? This should not happen. At least the government should react in some way. That is why we have said that government should take some tough measures”
Indian External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid
“It should not be felt that the brazen denial and the lack of a proper response from the Government of Pakistan to our repeated demarches on this incident will be ignored and that bilateral relations could be unaffected or that there will be business as usual. Such actions by the Pakistan Army, which are in contravention of all norms of international conduct, not only constitute a grave provocation but lead us to draw appropriate conclusions about Pakistan’s seriousness in pursuing normalisation of relations with India”
“This is inhuman. Extremely myopic, shortsighted. Has caused us tremendous hurt. It is not something of light nature; public opinion does not accept it. We need answers from the Pakistani side. We may have to go beyond the procedures,”
Hafiz Saeed, founder LeT and Jamaat-ud Dawa– the loudspeaker without tone:
I CHALLENGE the Indian Government, its ministers & agencies to prove my presence near LOC or remain exposed as Liars in front of the world. I will accept every Indian allegation if they prove my alleged visit at the LOC – It is nothing but a blatant lie. India is trying to shift focus from its internal problems of Rape, Communal Riots and exploiting the sentiments against Pakistan. Pakistanis know their enemies, yes, in fact the whole world knows with a prize on his head and the enemy lives in its backyard. As long as people like Hafiz are alive, who needs other enemies? What a grandiose overblown pious pronouncement from a world renowned gentleman? Just wonder, “World will be missing him some day”.
Pakistan’s Economic Crisis Aids Extremists
The Lashkar-e-Taiba, the renamed Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is very active in areas where it can then exploit people who are in absolute dire need of assistance, it can exploit their needs to then penetrate the area, to broaden their support through its charity fronts,” said Ahmed.
Ahmed warned that unless the weight of the law is thrown at these violent extremists, then these groups will become even more dangerous.
Pakistan in Seize of its Own Genie:
Pakistan is captive of her own past misadventures and its drift towards gradual dastardly imbibed hardline Islamic jihadism, a misfit in modern day of advanced fast information and communication technology laced with deadly nuclear weapons of mass destruction. From the medieval days, desert of Canaan has transformed into the paradise of the highly prized petro dollars bringing the immeasurable much needed wealth, making the bed world’s most richest place known generally as “Middle East”, an envy of the rest of the world. Despite all this massive wealth in their fold, “One definitely wonders, why is this community poorest and most ill developed”? There is something certainly wrong. Need one spell out more and who is going to correct the rot?
I am affraid, it is the belief itself that is the root cause in Pakistani Islamic Republic. The more it has drifted towards its hardliner militant Sunni/Hanafi/Salafi/Deobandi/Barelvi kind of secluded exclusive brand of Islam, the more it has bred its own Frankenstein Monsters. The genie is out, needing to put it back lest it devour its creator.
Ayesha Siddiqa from Pakistan:
Ayesha, a balanced journalist wonders, “Pakistan is currently suffering from political confusion” and yes, a grave one indeed, needing an urgent psychiatric intensive care management.
The arrest of Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf comes at a time when elections are not too far off. With Dr Tahirul Qadri’s march into Islamabad and the constant ceasefire violations along the LoC, is democracy under threat in Pakistan? Is the Army trying to sabotage the civilian administration? And how much should India and the other neighbours be worried about the uncertain political climate in Pakistan? Author & political analyst from PakistanAyesha Siddiqa joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue.
Pakistan’s Economy:
According to The Express Tribune, Pakistan will miss growth target set for the current financial year, the fifth consecutive year, and the sluggish pace of economy will continue for at least two more years, according to a World Bank report, indicating a rise in unemployment.
The Global Economic Prospects Report 2013, released on Wednesday, says Pakistan’s economy is expected to grow at a rate of 3.8%, half percentage point below the target of 4.3% set for fiscal year 2012-13 ending June 30. If this trend in their establishment does not arrest, the prospects could be worst. Good Lord deliver us!
Conclusion:
With no malice, Pakistan has been under a constant threat from within due to the myopic vision of its leaders, who were mostly involved in a bestial India-centric disdain policy that never allowed its leaders to look beyond. Secondly they adopted a mythical self centred political approach depending upon some apostolic breaking news supplying easy money to idly enjoy. Religion permits easy feminine availability, the weakest human instinct to ruin a society with no moorings. Thirdly the leaders never tried to think in terms of state business to generate revenue, infrastructure development, education (I must hasten that religion becomes a hindrance) especially for females, modern technological advances, and etc.
With due respect, Pakistan has very poor electrical supply and doesn’t have national level power grid, water supply, road network (I gather it is being lent to outside players at a high stake, which will create an economic colonialism to its grave disadvantage). Most of the meagre budgetary allocation is hijacked by its mighty military rulers. Pakistan still doesn’t have a proper network of civil administration, which is mostly run by military officials by proxy even during their so called elected civil government.
Pakistan does not have enough facilities for schooling except the Islamist controlled duet of Mosque-Madarasaa complexes where they are in tight grip of the Islamic Maulanas imparting Qur’anic based anti-non-Muslim centred hate education. No wonder people like Hafiz and Talibanis and Al Qaedas rule the roost. World is changing fast, it is time to get into the mainstream societies to take advantage; hate, aggression, exclusive mindset must be shunned and gender respect, love thy neighbour, economic development instead of a constant revolution in terms of spreading the Empire and Caliphate leaving the subjects in hunger and homeless must be made be given due priority. Pakistan must learn to be self sufficient economically and shun its India-centric policies to stand up on its own leg. Till this much desired change in attitude comes, Pakistan may be slowly sliding towards a disastrous future. Indians will never like that their neighbour becomes an unstable state, but the loss will be bigger to Pakistan than her neighbours.
Time for a renaissance for Pakistan, unfortunately the civilian government in Pakistan talks, whiles the ISI/Pak Military calls the shots in back; it adds to the difficulty of negotiations. Pakistan has three power centres – one is the rudderless elected government, second is the all powerful spine of actions in ISI/Military, and the third is unofficial but the equally powerful mobile non state actors of Islamists’ lobby of some twenty odds of barbaric outlawed terrorist groups forming a conglomerate as below:
The Muttahida Jehad Council (MJC), a conglomerate of Pakistan-based Jehadi outfits, was formed in November 1990 to bring under a single platform all the outfits involved in the terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
The MJC, for long an alliance of 13 Jehadi organizations led by Syed Salahuddin of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), has reportedly been restructured and three Pakistan-based groups, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Al-Badr Mujahideen have been brought into the MJC. This new adjustment is called Muwakhaat (‘agreement on the basis of brotherhood’) that is aimed at putting an end to the internal differences among the groups waging the Kashmir Jehad.
This leaves to ponder over seriously, “Can such a murderous trait ever live or let live in peace whose entire resources are devoted to warmongering”? It leaves more questions than answers for the global fraternity. No wonder the Islam has been brought into the dock where its apologists must pause and rejig themselves in this impatient volatile fast moving world.
India Centric Pakistani Calculus:
The Pakistani Army will remain “India-centric” until the Kashmir issue and water disputes are resolved, its chief, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, says.
In a presentation to Pakistani media, Kayani made it clear that the army’s “frame of reference” for addressing the problems in the country included certain concerns that are India specific.
History, unresolved issues, India’s military capability and its “Cold Start” doctrine meant that Pakistan could not afford to let its guard down, Dawn.com quoted Kayani as saying.
“We plan on adversaries’ capabilities, not intentions,” he added.
“The tough, matter-of-fact line on India was in stark contrast to that of Gen. Kayani’s predecessor, Gen. (retd) Musharraf, who tried hard to push for peace with India in his latter years in power,” Dawn.com noted.
“Gen Kayani, though, does not carry the dual burden of being president and the army chief, which perhaps explains the narrower, militaristic formulation of Pakistan’s posture towards India,” it added. This kind of hostile attitude will never, I believe, permit a meaningful dialogue, invoke confidence building measures. It also explains the reason and behavioral pattern in the continuous war against India waged through their non state conduits to play their double Taqiyya strategy.
Islam and Jihad:
Islam divides the world into dar el-salaam (the abode of peace) and dar el-harb (the abode of war). Dar el-salaam is that part of the world in which Islam rules, i.e. any area which has been subjugated to Islam. According to different Muslim theologians, this could include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other countries where the law of the land is either sharia’ (Islamic religious law) or based upon sharia’; some would also include such countries as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Indonesia which, although sort of secular and sort of democratic, nevertheless define themselves as Muslim and have solid Muslim majorities.
Dar el-harb is anywhere in the world which has not been subjugated to Islam. Again, there are differences of opinion among Muslim theologians as to what exactly constitutes dar el-harb: some would include secular Muslim countries, and some would even include Islamic theocracies on the grounds that they are not governed by the Caliphate.
Theologically, the purpose of jihad is to increase Allah’s sovereignty in the world; that is, to subjugate the world to Islam. And this is done by conquering countries and absorbing them into dar el-salaam. To quote the definition of Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra (member of the Academy of Islamic Research), “jihad…had been decreed to repel aggression and to remove obstructions impeding the propagation of Islam in non-Muslim countries” (from a paper delivered to the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research in Al-Azhar University, the most important Islamic university in the world, Rajab 1388/October 1968).
Now it is a fundamental principle of Islamic eschatology that one day the entire world will become dar el-salaam. Those Muslims whom we see holding up signs “Islam will dominate the world” are not “extremists” or “fundamentalists”; they are simply expressing one of the fundamental beliefs of mainstream Islam
It is also a fundamental principle of Islam that the entire Qur’an is eternal and immutable – including such passages as mandate jihad.
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