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The recently released khateeb of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz has said that the situation that has emerged in the troubled areas of Swat, Buner and Dir is a reaction to the military operation conducted against the mosque in 2007. He claimed that most of the students of Lal Masjid who suffered due to the operation hailed from Malakand division of the Frontier province and were now taking their revenge. ‘I had warned the then government not to go for the military operation on the mosque otherwise the situation would get out of control and I will not be responsible for the reaction,’ said Maulana Aziz in an interview with Dawn.
In light of Maulana Aziz’s comments, do you think military operations in Buner and Dir are inadvisable? Will initiatives by security forces simply create a new army of revenge seekers? How can army operations be conducted so as not to have a negative fallout in the future? Or what other options should the Pakistan government consider in the northern and tribal areas?
KC,
It’s not a cultural factor only, but it’s also a part of human nature to be thirsty for revenge.
The scenario in Pakistan, in my opinion, has been created by the negative forces, which have been unhappy since the birth of the Islamic republic.
The affected country is a concentration camp for the foreign vested interests as well.
Therefore, in my humble opinion, the unpleasant atmosphere is a natural outcome of the well calculated negative moves against the poor republic.
Some opposition has been created while some defiance is a resulted reality.
Sorry to say, but— our nation is politically unaware.
Raees Ahmed…i think you are right…i also feel that LTTE and Taliban are nothing but shortsightedness of India and Pakistan in the name of foreign policy
Pakistan government has taken the right step at last, which should have been taken long time ago, and this time there will be no reprieve for talibans, who in the name of religion, tried to destablise with evil designs to reach and capture capital of our dear land. this evil root of hatred against peaceloving people must be crushed once for all. I know that much will be lost in the battle but Pakistan will survive and stay put inshallah otherwise our future of independent nation looked bleak. I pray that military action will succeed and whole of the nation be backing it barring some notorious extremists and failed politicians. We all know how they are, they hardly get one or two seats in elections or dont have the courage to contest because theyknew people will reject them anyhow.
Mohammed Abbas Sukhera and Farzana:
Because of such thinking the Taliban ‘still’ exists. Don’t you see the wrong they are doing. Is it right to flog women who is underage? Is it right ot behead men for shaving? Is it right to beat women because their face was shown by mistake? Well do you guys think all these are islamic and right?
Please Please WAKE UP nation. It has been over 50 years since independence. How long will it take for us to build our character?
The list of issues is long, but here is a small sample of issues:
1) The lack of public desire to enforce the rule of law:
Has anyone noticed that the Chief Justice was removed so viciously from the office and kept away for such a long time and there was hardly any mass public protest on the streets? Can the same happen in a developed country too? The answer is No!
2) The lack of public desire to practice (not just recite) Quran and its moral teachings:
If Quran was practiced on a daily basis, we won’t have political & economical corruption that are all too frequent. Can one even get a petty item such as driving license without bribing? People who travel and live in developed countries know how swiftly the corrupt officials are removed from their offices. Does anyone think that the developed nations reached their current economic status by letting corruption take its course? So, can one pick and choose what easy items they like to follow and what tough items they like to simply ignore from Quran? The answer is No! Someone in the western hemisphere recently said: “Always choose the hard right over the easy wrong!” Only nations that follow this basic rule will gracefully survive the test of time.
3) The lack of desire for the good of fellow countrymen and in maintaining unity:
Does anyone remember Quaid-e-Azam’s three guiding principles “Unity, Faith and Discipline” that he left for us? There may be a reason he placed “Unity” at the foremost. Without “Unity” one cannot even practice “Faith”. Innocent civilian lives are being destroyed by both conservatives and liberals and the public in general is sitting in the comfort of homes watching Indian Movies and TV shows (and that is only if electricity is coming). What a shame!
In the current atmosphere it is very hard for one to practice the above three items. But nevertheless, one should do their best and realize that all of us are individually accountable for our actions and when in front of Allah Subhanahu, our blaming conservatives, liberals, Shaitaan, etc. for our problems is not going to work.
John F. Kennedy, the famous world leader from the 1960s once said: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
We say that the Holy Quran is our guiding book. The Quran says: “Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition” [Chapter 13:11]
I see some similarity here, do you?
Never thought I would ever do that in my lifetime being an Indian, but here I am hoping for success of Pakistani army in this operation. Sri Lanka has shown the way, it is unfortunate that civilians have to also pay a heavy price in this conflict but unfortunately there were not many options left. However military solution is not enough, what is required is a wide spread reform in Islamic society and perhaps Pakistan can take that lead in that effort. The first step is rejecting the idea of violence that has unfortunately been glorified by the terrorist organizations and has brought the entire Muslim people to disrepute in the world. The next step is to inculcate a more tolerant and peaceful mindset. Changing the curriculum in the madarasa’s, for example expunging the reference of 72 virgins and jihad etc. Islam has various interpretations and forms and the most succesful ever was the pluralistic form that was practiced by Ummayad’s of Spain. Many people would not know it but in Jewish texts the golden period of Judaism was under Ummayad rule in Spain.
Who else can take revenge? The Maulana who tried to escape the Lal Musjid? Is he a leader? Why didn’t he emrace Shahadat? What is his philosophy? How is he intoxicate these many supporters? Are Pakistanis so blinded by religeon? Do they teach in Lal Musjid that by taking revenge, they will get Allah’s blessing? He should be dealt with firmly by the real country loving Pakistanis.
Challenging the writ of the State with violence is not acceptable. Spreading own brand of religion with violence is not acceptable. Making excuses for people who do so is inexcusable and akin to treason.
Military action may not be desirable but it is now inevitable. There should be zero tolerance and zero compromise with terrorist elements.
At the same time, the State must provide for assistance of affected people, providing relief and ensuring the military action is decisive enough to cleanse the affected areas of militancy, allowing the displaced people to return home safely.
The State needs to wake up and realize this is the impact of State ignorance, high-handedness and misdeeds of the past, which need to be dealt with and fixed just as decisively.
Taliban are using fellow Pashtuns as human shield to protect their own lives. Shame on them. Why do they not vacate the populated areas and face the Army boldly in an open field?
The Government should speak the language which can be understood by the other party. The Taleban are criminals. The Govt should speak in their own language by dealing with them by force. Then only the people of Pakistan live in peace.
To Syed,
At the Lal masjid, the teachers used to impart Islamic/Relegious education and that is a great service of course. No body denies.
And, if anyone started stockpiling arms in a masjid, How would you expect any good thing out of that?
Stockpiling arms in the masjid was, of course, a non-sense. And, no-where did I ever say in favour of such a criminal act.
This surely needs to be investigated as to who was really behind this illegal activity.
Definitely, the innocent tulaba & talibaat couldn,t have been involved.
I think that i am entiltled to an idependent opinion.
I tried not to be biased. And, if you label my opinion as a sheer biased, then, you should try to get to the bottom of this.
Ask yourself, ‘who created these political taliban at the first place’?
Who did let them do the stockpiling?
Who did gain and who did lose in the adventure?
Who did please who? (the biggest question)
If you do a little bit of home work, you will have same opinion as mine.
And, you would really feel the truth in your heart & mind.
God save Pakistan by enlightening the public vision.
Do you agree Sir?
I am deeply sad and dissapointed by people like Imran Khan criticising the Army operation in Swat. Does he expect the govt to give in to the Taliban as that is the only OTHER option?
Some people are unhappy that the govt did a deal with the terrorists in the 1st place but I can see why they did that now. It was meant to silences hypocrites and the Mullahs claiming that the issue could have been settled via “talks”. Unfortunatley, these people conveniently forget the attrocities commited by these Taliban but are quick to highlight the fact that these terrorists are our own people and therefore should not be harmed. They try to cloud the whole issue by claiming that the “people” are demanding quick justice.
What does “quick justice” have to do with burning of schools, banning girls education, curfew on women going to bazaars, destroying CD and Barber shops, killing and harrasing religious minorities?
Is this the kind of country they want to live in and be proud of?
I think Molvi Aziz should have been tried soon after the Lal masjid fiasco.
I sincerely hope and pray that our brave army is succesfull in wiping out the scourge known as Taliban once and for all from my beloved Pakistan.
Plenty of good opinions. Some even in favor of Taliban and Maulana, who have decided to take LAW in to their own hands, and force it on those who do not like it by sheer violence.
(1)
Maulana, tried to enforce his own law, in the heart of Islamabad. Can’t understand why someone still believes he did great things for religion !!! He harmed his religion more than help.
(2)
Yes, Taliban were admired when they fought against Russians. That does not give them a free hand now to abuse common people, harbor criminals like Al Queda and kill Pakistani police, military and innocent civilians. Being a hero once in a war does not give one a right to become a killer of all those who interpret religion in a different moderate manner. Pakistan is a large concept with many noble ideas. Brutes, like Taliban, who hate music, arts, abuse women and slit throats in public are a shame to Pakistan. Most countries get destroyed by such internal threats, before it gets wiped out by external threats.
goodgenie4u wrote:
“Without basic literacy, this debate is quite usless. Is’nt it?”
A very succint account of the situation. However, to this question the answer in my opinion is a resounding No. There are many examples where democracy is functional inspite of lack of literacy (India, Bangladesh and many oriental countries). In these places they have a sensible structure where the Army reports to people and not the other way round as in Pakistan. In these places it would be considered hightly unusual to accept an illegal dictator as legitimate if he caters to their emotional needs.
No – because in Pakistan very educated people are tolerant of power theft at the top.
Questions for Pakistan to resolve as a country:
Who should govern? Military, sharia (Taliban)or the people (through democracy)
Who is an existential threat? India, Afghanistan, USA or taliban?
Proxies in Kargil and Kashmir are now enemies.
The farther you go from Jinnah’s idea the more the challenges mount.
The current discussion seem to be focused on democracy vs. sharia as the way forward. They simply cannot co-exist and this will split the country again.
It is no longer a question of whether or not military operations in Buner and Dir are inadvisable. In my opinion, Pakistan – which includes the military, the establishment and society in general – has no other option. One cannot buy peace with the Taliban – as the misguided and short-lived attempt at appeasement by agreeing to Sharia law in Swat – has amply illustrated. Appeasement is invariably interpreted as weakness. You either agree with the Taliban, or you destroy them. There is no middle ground. Compromise is anathaema to fundamentalists.
For all the perceived trend towards Islamization, it should be obvious that the average Pakistani feels very uncomfortable at the idea of living under a regime like Saudi Arabia, say. It is true that Pakistan was conceived and established as an Islamic state, but it was always tempered by the 5000 year old culture of the sub-continent. That is why the majority of Pakistanis felt so revolted and uneasy with the video of the young girl being publicly flogged – although theocratically, it is an implementation of Sharia law and should be acceptable. Flirting with the concept of a “pure” (read medieval) Islamic society may have become fashionable, but now that the reality is staring them in the face, Pakistanis are terrified. Defeating the Taliban has now become a mater of survival.
Not just the Pakistan Army, infact our civil society must also need to play their critical role.
As long as the ideology of hatred is being spread, this menace of terrorism would keep growing. Our civil society and political leadership especially, our main stream religious parties should stop hypocrisy.
Talibanis were freedom fighters as long as they were fighting proxy wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir..afterall they brought in dollars for pakistanis….. Today killing them brings dollars…so be it…This is how Pakistanis have always shamelessly used their own marginalised for selfish gain… What’s really appalling is to read so many educated pakistanis here who wish to see talibans killed inspite of them being their own countrymen…. and the same pakistanis also show some audacity to speak on human rights violations in Kashmir and Palestine…Wahhh Waaahhh!!
Tamaasha dekhte jaaaaooo
The Muslims of the subcontinent jointed together voluntarily for creation of Pakistan with the understanding that the people mostly Muslims belonging to a variety of differences and groups would live together with due respect of democratic principles of governance. Some of the independent states and tribal territories were reluctant for joining Pakistan and were not willing to give up their independent rule. Somehow Qauid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Muslim League may have lured them in joining the union. I do not know the promises and the agreements that may have been made between the parties but result is clear that the promise of democracy was an illusion. Military ruled the union by robbing the people of their dream of democracy in the name of saving the union from breaking. The union broke anyway. Military actions were taken in Baluchistan and killed Baloch people and their leaders. Military action was taken in Islamabad and killed Pakistanis.
We live in a culture that has a history of “Revenge”. What Maulana Abdul Aziz said is the translation of the feelings of those who have been and are being victimized by the military might in the name of saving the union. Those who express their opinion and demand for their rights in democratic governance are crushed and killed by our Military and Politician alike. Hence, the cycle of revenge will continue until wisdom is born and realized.
I am really proud and happy today for being a Pakistani. Glad that our military is finally firmly dealing with those brutes who are not only a threat to Islam,but the entire humanity…..
If there needs to be any religious rule on the country, that is only possible if the people of the country allow it, not some illiterates who dont even know what the Quran preaches………
boo to all preachers of hate!!!
If he is claiming that this is a revenge of the students who suffered from army operation, then is that what they have been taught over years and years in Lal Masjid to take revenge in this idiotic and barbaric manner with no principles and no humanity.
Making human shields and beheading people.
Fighting against people of Pakistan, army, democratic government and judiciary. Is this what they have been taught in Lal Masjid to fight, kill, murder, flog, behead if you want to impose shariat and Islam in Pakistan and in the whole world.
Actually time is over for these type of clerics and their so called ‘students’. People of Pakistan have rejected these people.
The government and army should not let them blackmail and play havoc in our country.
Instead of making “strategic assets” the establishment should start spending on rehabilitation of the suffering masses.
Education of people should be the supreme agenda of our establishment. People of Pakistan are assets, we don’t need any strategic depths and assets outside our borders. We have seen these assets eventually becoming LIABILITIES.
So please spend on education of people, this is the only way Pakistan could be saved.
After reading so many comments, it is clear that the concept of citizenship, civil law and order and the notion of what is a good Muslim, under these conditions is entirely a mess.
All three; citizenship, civil law and a “good muslim” are being freely interpreted by individuals that mean well, but are contributing to the mess.
Consequently, there is no compact (shared understanding) between the people and their government. It explains why only a tiny minority are alarmed. Otherwise millions would have been on the streets in support of civil law or Sharia. I guess the silent majority are truly disenfranchised and carry on with their needs to make it through the day.
The one thing that Muslims must agree to. If they believe that their interpretation of being a good muslim is prevented by the civil laws that protect all citizens, then they need to use the political process to redress the situation. It takes generations to get it right! In a democracy you cannot fast track by bullying your way or by breaking the laws. Sadly far too many political, sectarian, ethnic and religious leaders are blatantly flaunting this sacred concept of citizenship. In the rest of the world it is called sedition or treason. This is the one biggest reason for the quagmire; people ripping pieces out of the nation.
This means that in the eyes of the world the failure to have a common civil law that can be enforced without hesitation or alternatively a common sharia interpretation and dispensation, leave law and order issues unattended. This is entirely a Pakistani matter to resolve. Is this the start of nation building? Rising from the ashes?
Was Mr Jinnah’s dream of the Pakistani nation state just wishful thinking of a western trained intellect? Or has his vision been willy nilly thwarted by those that saw no personal benefit in making this vision a reality for all the people?
Without basic literacy, this debate is quite usless. Is’nt it?
I am concerned about the security of Tarbela dam. It is a national asset and the main source of electricity and irrigation water for Punjab. It is within easy reach of the extremists and vulnerable. One hopes the authorities have catered for its fool proof security from these barbarians.
As we sow so shall we reap.
india learnt it the hard way with LTTE, we are learning now
Mr. Tariq Mian.
What good things have you heard that Lal Masjid people were doing?
If you start stockpiling arms in mosques, do you expect any good thing?
This is a sheer biased opinion that is responsible for talibanization in Pakistan these days.