09-08-2006, 09:46 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Clash within civilisation </b>
Pioneer.com
Balbir K Punj
In two recent incidents, Muslim lives have been lost in violence. Fourteen Shia pilgrims, including three from India, were killed on their way to the holy shrine of Imam Hussain in Karbala, Iraq. In Pakistan, their Army killed Nawab Akbar Bugti, the Baloch rebel leader.
In both the incidents, the Muslims met a gory end at the hands of Muslims and, in the process, have helped in exploding a secular myth. The 'secular' arguments to explain Islamist terrorism go something like this: The global jihadi terror is a violent response by a militant section of a wronged community and the US and the UK have courted terrorism through their imperialist policies, which are insensitive to Muslims. In India, terror acts are a reaction to the Babri Masjid demolition and the Gujarat riots. The onus for jihadi terrorism in India is thus on the Sangh Parivar.
How does the killing of the 14 Shias and Bugti's liquidation fit into this argument? It does not, for the victims and assassins belonged to the same faith - Islam. No wonder both 'secular' and Muslim leaders in India have reacted to these two incidents with subdued silence. Imagine the uproar that would have followed if such unfortunate incidents had taken place in Europe, the US, India or Israel.
The turbulent politics of Pakistan since its birth reveals how a state based on Islamic tenets is unable to deal with dissent in a civil manner. The trouble between West Pakistan's Punjabi power and East Pakistan's Bangla culture was intensified by the disequilibria within the new country. The Bangalis constituted 51 per cent of the Pakistan population but never got their due share in governance that was dominated by Punjabis. Since there was no scope for a dialogue in the system, Bengalis seceded.
A similar geography-demography imbalance continues to haunt the remnant Pakistan. Balochistan constitutes 43 per cent of the Pakistan landmass, but only three per cent of the country's population resides there. This region is rich in minerals and its gas reserve sustains Pakistan's energy needs. This gives Balochis an upper hand that the Pakistani establishment does not want to concede; hence, the dispute. And an Islamic state has no scope for a negotiated solution to such problems.
Bugti's killing fits into a predictable pattern of Islamic societies. It has been a politics of murder and mayhem in Pakistan with every prominent politician in the country being accused in one or more murder cases. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged by General Zia's regime for the alleged murder of a prominent Pakistani politician. Nawab Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, both former Prime Ministers, live in exile and they cannot enter Pakistan. All the three Balochi leaders - Bugti, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and Sardar Ataullah Mengel - have had murder charges on them at one time or the other. What sort of a society is this?
To add to this is the cancer-like growth of terrorist outfits. Rest of the world (particularly the US and India) has been complaining that the state of Pakistan is not doing enough to suppress these elements. In fact, in several instances, ISI has been accused of rather promoting them. Almost every terror plot in the US, Europe and India has been traced to Pakistan-based terror outfits as their training campus. Just as it is not easy for a parent to kill his or her offspring, it is difficult for the state of Pakistan to effectively crush the terror network, nursed by it over decades.
<b>The main target of terrorist outfits is a kafir, but Sunnis among them are equally intolerant of other Muslim sects like Shias. Mutual killings and bombing of mosques are routine occurrence in Pakistan and several other Islamic countries. When the zealots fired by religious passion are not fighting against enemies without, they invent a few within. An intolerant creed survives on a regular diet of hate and demonisation.</b>
After jihadis finished with Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, they turned against some of their own prominent leaders. Zafarulla Khan, for long Pakistan's Foreign Minister, was expelled from Islam by Sunni mullahs. The entire Ahmadiya sect was declared non-Muslim and Khan himself lost his job and standing in Pakistan.
The Saudi regime has emerged as the fountainhead of this hate philosophy. Wahabi Islam supported by Saudi funds is influencing other Muslims in rest of the world, including India. The regime forms fertile bases for breeding terror groups from Indonesia to Morocco and aids in their outgrowth in Europe and the US. When Indian Muslim leaders/secularists call on the "faithful" to demonstrate in favour of mullahs, the ousted Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and other 'Muslim causes', they display the influence of this same Wahabism on Indian Muslim masses.
<b>As Islam is associated with the exercise of political and military power in the minds and memories of most Muslims, most Islamic regimes are asked to prove their bona fides through correct interpretation and implementation of Sharia'h laws. Modern law practices are anathema as the 'holy book' has already laid down what they should be. The job of the political authority is to implement them as closely as possible. Reversal of the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case and the recent backtracking on Vande Mataram issue by the 'secularists' in India have to be seen in this background.</b>
Tension is growing and affecting both Pakistan and Bangladesh in different measures. In both the countries with their overwhelming Islamic majorities, militant regimes and democracies have repeated and replaced each other in clock-like regularity leading to precariousness of the future of each regime. Political instability and subservience of all regimes to the religious orthodoxy are born to Islamic countries.
<b>Contrast this with the way social, economic and political tensions are resolved in India, which has the maximum diversity any democracy can withstand. The unrest in States like Mizoram has been resolved, while dialogue and negotiations are on in Nagaland. Linguistic separatism, as in Tamil Nadu in the 1950s, got subsided in the democratic process. Even separatist movement (promoted by Pakistan) in Punjab has since died. Is it because the democratic system of India draws its strength from Hindu ethos, steeped in pluralism and catholic outlook?</b>
The world indeed is becoming a dangerous place to live in. It is no longer Islam versus West. It is also Islam versus Islam.
(bpunj@email.com)
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Pioneer.com
Balbir K Punj
In two recent incidents, Muslim lives have been lost in violence. Fourteen Shia pilgrims, including three from India, were killed on their way to the holy shrine of Imam Hussain in Karbala, Iraq. In Pakistan, their Army killed Nawab Akbar Bugti, the Baloch rebel leader.
In both the incidents, the Muslims met a gory end at the hands of Muslims and, in the process, have helped in exploding a secular myth. The 'secular' arguments to explain Islamist terrorism go something like this: The global jihadi terror is a violent response by a militant section of a wronged community and the US and the UK have courted terrorism through their imperialist policies, which are insensitive to Muslims. In India, terror acts are a reaction to the Babri Masjid demolition and the Gujarat riots. The onus for jihadi terrorism in India is thus on the Sangh Parivar.
How does the killing of the 14 Shias and Bugti's liquidation fit into this argument? It does not, for the victims and assassins belonged to the same faith - Islam. No wonder both 'secular' and Muslim leaders in India have reacted to these two incidents with subdued silence. Imagine the uproar that would have followed if such unfortunate incidents had taken place in Europe, the US, India or Israel.
The turbulent politics of Pakistan since its birth reveals how a state based on Islamic tenets is unable to deal with dissent in a civil manner. The trouble between West Pakistan's Punjabi power and East Pakistan's Bangla culture was intensified by the disequilibria within the new country. The Bangalis constituted 51 per cent of the Pakistan population but never got their due share in governance that was dominated by Punjabis. Since there was no scope for a dialogue in the system, Bengalis seceded.
A similar geography-demography imbalance continues to haunt the remnant Pakistan. Balochistan constitutes 43 per cent of the Pakistan landmass, but only three per cent of the country's population resides there. This region is rich in minerals and its gas reserve sustains Pakistan's energy needs. This gives Balochis an upper hand that the Pakistani establishment does not want to concede; hence, the dispute. And an Islamic state has no scope for a negotiated solution to such problems.
Bugti's killing fits into a predictable pattern of Islamic societies. It has been a politics of murder and mayhem in Pakistan with every prominent politician in the country being accused in one or more murder cases. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged by General Zia's regime for the alleged murder of a prominent Pakistani politician. Nawab Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, both former Prime Ministers, live in exile and they cannot enter Pakistan. All the three Balochi leaders - Bugti, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and Sardar Ataullah Mengel - have had murder charges on them at one time or the other. What sort of a society is this?
To add to this is the cancer-like growth of terrorist outfits. Rest of the world (particularly the US and India) has been complaining that the state of Pakistan is not doing enough to suppress these elements. In fact, in several instances, ISI has been accused of rather promoting them. Almost every terror plot in the US, Europe and India has been traced to Pakistan-based terror outfits as their training campus. Just as it is not easy for a parent to kill his or her offspring, it is difficult for the state of Pakistan to effectively crush the terror network, nursed by it over decades.
<b>The main target of terrorist outfits is a kafir, but Sunnis among them are equally intolerant of other Muslim sects like Shias. Mutual killings and bombing of mosques are routine occurrence in Pakistan and several other Islamic countries. When the zealots fired by religious passion are not fighting against enemies without, they invent a few within. An intolerant creed survives on a regular diet of hate and demonisation.</b>
After jihadis finished with Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, they turned against some of their own prominent leaders. Zafarulla Khan, for long Pakistan's Foreign Minister, was expelled from Islam by Sunni mullahs. The entire Ahmadiya sect was declared non-Muslim and Khan himself lost his job and standing in Pakistan.
The Saudi regime has emerged as the fountainhead of this hate philosophy. Wahabi Islam supported by Saudi funds is influencing other Muslims in rest of the world, including India. The regime forms fertile bases for breeding terror groups from Indonesia to Morocco and aids in their outgrowth in Europe and the US. When Indian Muslim leaders/secularists call on the "faithful" to demonstrate in favour of mullahs, the ousted Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and other 'Muslim causes', they display the influence of this same Wahabism on Indian Muslim masses.
<b>As Islam is associated with the exercise of political and military power in the minds and memories of most Muslims, most Islamic regimes are asked to prove their bona fides through correct interpretation and implementation of Sharia'h laws. Modern law practices are anathema as the 'holy book' has already laid down what they should be. The job of the political authority is to implement them as closely as possible. Reversal of the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case and the recent backtracking on Vande Mataram issue by the 'secularists' in India have to be seen in this background.</b>
Tension is growing and affecting both Pakistan and Bangladesh in different measures. In both the countries with their overwhelming Islamic majorities, militant regimes and democracies have repeated and replaced each other in clock-like regularity leading to precariousness of the future of each regime. Political instability and subservience of all regimes to the religious orthodoxy are born to Islamic countries.
<b>Contrast this with the way social, economic and political tensions are resolved in India, which has the maximum diversity any democracy can withstand. The unrest in States like Mizoram has been resolved, while dialogue and negotiations are on in Nagaland. Linguistic separatism, as in Tamil Nadu in the 1950s, got subsided in the democratic process. Even separatist movement (promoted by Pakistan) in Punjab has since died. Is it because the democratic system of India draws its strength from Hindu ethos, steeped in pluralism and catholic outlook?</b>
The world indeed is becoming a dangerous place to live in. It is no longer Islam versus West. It is also Islam versus Islam.
(bpunj@email.com)
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