Nasir Khan, December 8, 2017
Islam,
in Pakistan, has transformed from a multidimensional universal
religion into an ossified and stilted cult of Islamism. How this
happened has a historical context, beginning in 1947 when Pakistan
emerged as a new state. The division of India at the end of the
British Raj was only possible when the British decided to give their
blessings to the so-called Two-Nation theory; this theory recognized
demands for a separate homeland for the Indian Muslims.
The
question of creating Pakistan as a nation-state was only possible
when a shrewd and articulate politician like Mr. Jinnah, leader of
the All India Muslim League, applied his considerable political
faculties to use Islam as the major building material for creating
Pakistan’s national identity; apart from religion, the nation
consisted of divergent ethnic, provincial, cultural and linguistic
identities. Jinnah’s death in 1948 left a vast chasm in the life of
the new country. Since then, the civilian and military leaders have
routinely used Islam for their political ends and to justify state
policies.
By
1950, the state and religion had merged into one odd entity. But
thereafter the official political slogan that the State of Pakistan
served Islam in the two wings of the country, East and West Pakistan,
self-destructed when the people of East Pakistan fought and broke
away from the domination of West Pakistan, to create Bangladesh. Many
West Pakistanis were surprised to find out that a common religion,
Islam, was not capable of stemming popular demands for a separate
homeland.
Despite
the breakup of Pakistan in 1971, religious parties in Pakistan
continued to impact both the state policies and the people at large.
Islam had become a major power factor in the country for the
mainstream bourgeois politicians and the leaders of the religious
parties. Now, Islam was called upon by the fundamentalist parties to
promote belief in the supremacy of divine laws over man-made laws.
Whatever the Pakistani parliamentary system was to undertake had to
be in conformity with the laws of God as enshrined in the Holy Quran
and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Pakistani democracy was theocracy in
disguise, where the ultimate sovereignty belonged to God, not to the
elected representatives of the people.
Thus,
a crude form of religiosity in the guise of Islamism had entered the
political arena; people accepted this political Islam as their true
Islam. This false consciousness, wherein the political ideology of
Islamism was embraced as true Islam, has poisoned the body politic of
the country.
The
introduction of the blasphemy laws in the Pakistan Penal Code in the
1970s and 1980s gave a big boost to the sectarian religious parties,
most of which adhered to the Sunni branch of Islam, and to the
militant extremists who have been hell-bent on imposing political
Islam as a way of life over the country. As a result of the blasphemy
laws, they were free to assert their power and influence over the
state and the civil society in a way and to a degree that had not
been seen before in the shaky history of this country.
Thus,
a coercive brand of Islamism replaced an old, tolerant, and
all-inclusive brand of Sufi Islam that was the traditional faith of
the people of this vast region of the Indian Subcontinent before
1947. This traditional faith gradually came under increased pressure
from the politicizing activities of an anti-egalitarian,
anti-socialist and anti-democratic Islam led by the Jamaat-e-Islami
and its founder, Maulana Maududi, who was a renowned and influential
ideologue of a totalitarian 'Islamic ideology', or Islamism.
In
Maududi's hidebound, conservative version of political Islam, there
was no room for any western democratic and humanist traditions that
are basic to a modern democratic state. There were to be no basic
democratic freedoms of civil society (read all Muslim sects, and all
religious minorities), and no space for an open and free educational
system; such freedoms were subordinated to the Maududi’s Islamic
indoctrination.
It
is also important to keep in mind that the role of Maududi was not
confined to Pakistan; his influence had reached many parts of the
conservative Muslim countries of the Middle East and South Asia. The
seeds Maududi sowed became the plants that sapped this noble religion
of all progressive ideas and pushed people into a rigid conformity
with his brand of 'Islamic ideology'. The introduction of the
blasphemy laws in Pakistan was a natural result of the process of
Islamization that Maududi and other right-wing religious parties had
set in motion. They had found fertile ground for their agenda in the
social conditions of Pakistan.
There
had also been many other puritan and revivalist groups within Islamic
movements, some having very large followers. However, what Maududi
introduced was something qualitatively distinct; he brought the whole
spectrum of political Islam under his Islamic ideological programme
and laid down the foundations of Islamism in the form of strict party
discipline and indoctrination, where the aim was to gain power to
establish a theocratic system that no-one could challenge.
While
the state became more and more associated with the Sunni versions of
Islam as propounded by sectarian and intolerant clerics and
preachers, violence and recriminations against other groups and
religious minorities increased. A person’s religion was no longer a
personal matter, but a matter of concern for the state authorities,
legislature, and the judiciary to determine whether or not a person
was a Muslim. In this way, people’s right and liberty to choose
their belief on the basis of conscience no longer existed. An
arbitrary and coercive religious policy became the norm.
One
main group targetted by sectarian violence and victimization was the
Ahmadi population, whose views as to whether or not Prophet Muhammad
was the last prophet of Allah have been profoundly opposed by
orthodox Muslims. Following a sustained anti-American movement by
Islamic religious parties that started in the early 1950s, the
Ahmadis were finally declared non-Muslims by a constitutional
amendment in 1974.
If
any unfortunate Pakistani, whether an official or a layman, is
accused by any Pakistani ‘Muslim’ of having transgressed the
limits of the hegemonic Sunni beliefs, he or she is in big trouble.
Any such allegation, even without any substantive proof before the
judicial bodies, is used as suspicion of a breach of the blasphemy
laws of Pakistan, which both the hard-line Islamist parties and also
the major liberal and populist parties support for their own
political motives.
How
can a falsely accused person show that he has not committed any
offence when, from the outset, the allegations by a ‘Muslim’
accuser are accepted as ipso facto true by the police and the courts
of law?
This
is the state of affairs in Pakistan, a country being traumatized
under the burden of religious fanaticism, obscurantism and infantile
world-views. People living in democratic countries, where the rule of
law and basic human freedoms are taken for granted, cannot understand
that such violations of basic rights are taking place in Pakistan at
the present moment.
Anyone
charged with violating the blasphemy laws is considered sufficiently
guilty as to set in motion the prosecution process. Many people have
fallen victim to this vicious trap, which even the tormentors in the
medieval ages would not have believed possible.
What
is even more mind-boggling is the fact that any alleged offenders of
blasphemy laws should show that they did not do what they are charged
with! In fact, this happens in cases where such allegations, in
themselves, are seen as substantial proof of guilt. Here the accused
is not regarded innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
In the eyes of the law, in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, anyone
accused of, or charged with blasphemy is guilty of the offence until
proven otherwise.
Contrary
to the universal conventions and legal norms pertaining to the
presumption of innocence according to the rules of criminal justice
in civilized countries, a Pakistani citizen accused of blasphemy has
to prove his or her innocence, or remain guilty. Such victims are
doomed, either they will be sentenced to life in prison, or the
hangman’s noose. But that is not all. Then, there is also the
danger of mob violence and retributions. At the instigation of their
Mullahs and preachers, ordinary Muslims, mostly Sunnis, take the law
in their hands and target anyone suspected of blasphemy.
In
2011, the Governor of Punjab, Sal man Taseer, a Sunni Muslim, and
Pakistan’s Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, were
brutally murdered because they wanted an end to the grave injustices
inflicted upon innocent people under the blasphemy laws. The murderer
of Taseer was hailed as the defender of the honour of the Prophet by
huge sections of the population throughout Pakistan. Strangely
enough, many university teachers, preachers, lawyers and columnists
zealously defend these pathetic laws in the belief that they are
defending God, the Prophet and Islam! In fact, these laws are a true
representation of the uncivilised activity, social and spiritual
ignorance and false indoctrination that prevail in that country, even
today in the twenty-first century.
Those
who are accused of blasphemy are subject to harassment, threats and
physical molestation. Any police officials, judges or lawyers who
dare show concern for innocent victims are also subject to threats
and intimidation. In this way, the public authorities and judges are
constrained; in effect they are not allowed to function freely,
independent of the pressures which extremists exert over them.
The
major disruptions of civic and public life which started a few weeks
ago brought Islamabad, the metropolis of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan, to its knees—a situation showing a new low ebb in the
affairs of the state and society. The Law Minster of Pakistan, Mr.
Zahid Hamid, became the latest target of the religious militant
parties, which have gained enormous political leverage within the
country. They demanded the resignation of Mr. Hamid. Faced with such
a massive physical confrontation in the form of a huge show of force
by the fundamentalists, the government gave in to the unreasonable
demands on 27 November 2017, and thereafter the siege of the city
also came to an end.
However,
this backing down by the government is also seen by the extremists as
their major victory. Thus, the road to Islamization continues to
broaden its parameters while the mandate of the government and public
authorities shrinks.
It
is obvious that religious extremist parties and groups have become
emboldened enough to defy the law and order authorities with
impunity. They have gained enormous street power; they can always
appeal to ordinary citizens. They can attract huge crowds to disrupt
the civic life of this hapless country and its people. All this is
carried out in the name of defending the honour and the final status
of the Prophet; embracing their actions as honouring Allah and the
dignity of Islam!
Moreover,
a series of weak Pakistani governments remain for the most part
deeply mired in their shabby deals and economic exploitation of the
people. They also play the Islam card whenever they want to prolong
their survival by making new compromises with the Islamist extremist
parties and groups. The Pakistani ruling elite know how the Panama
investment schemes function, how Swiss banks can hide their
ill-gotten millions of dollars and pounds, how European countries can
provide them safety and thus save them from any real and rigorous
investigations into their economic or political affairs.
Now,
turning back to the question of the blasphemy law, we may ask: Has
the honour or the name of the Prophet ever been under any real threat
or abuse at the hands of any people in Pakistan? Pakistan is a
traditional, conservative Islamic country, where around 97% people
are Muslims. Why would anyone use vulgar abuse against the Prophet,
who is so profoundly venerated, both here and in other Islamic
countries? In my view, there is no rationale for doing any such
thing.
The
main aim of the religious parties and the religious lobby was and
still is to fight against the world’s democratic system and
neutralize any educational process that opens up the avenues for
rational thinking and openness, as we witness in democratic societies
in the world. In Pakistan, theocratic rule and Sharia laws have
become the most beloved notions around which hopes and expectations
are woven, for the birth of a new world. The Islamists also believe
their services to protect the Prophet are bringing the new world
closer to the doors of Pakistanis. This is not only misleading but
also a grand deception practised on ordinary Muslim believers.
To
any reasonable person in Pakistan, it is no secret to that the
favourite political tools in the hands of Pakistani politicians and
leaders is to play the Islam card. A conservative and indoctrinated
population was an easy target, and the elite took full advantage of
such a 'concrete' state of the affairs for their selfish ends, as did
the religious parties, according to their own agendas. The results
are before our eyes. In this way, a monster has been created by the
opportunistic rulers, political leaders, political and Islamist
parties; in the end it has become a fully grown Hydra with nine-heads
as in Greek mythology. It was said about this serpent-like monster
that if you cut off one hydra head, two more grow back! Now, Pakistan
and its people have the Hydra hovering over their heads. But due to
the prevalence of religious fanaticism, they have not been able to
see it or fear it.
In
fact, the whole scenario of religious fanaticism is deeply
preposterous and primitive; it is an expression of total mental and
spiritual paralysis—a state of mayhem that has gripped the people
for the last seven decades. In the beginning, to play the Islamic
card, such as ‘Islam in danger,’ was used to strengthen the hands
of the anti-democratic and religious reactionary forces. The
opportunistic and manipulating political leaders and political elites
had discovered early on that the Islamic card worked like magic on
the people, whose belief includes being enthralled by the rich
rewards of Paradise and its abundant delights, rewards reserved only
for male Muslim 'believers'. The clerics have embedded such images in
the minds of vast congregations.
To
sum up, what the ruling elite and exploiters of Pakistanis did not
realise or understand they were creating a big monster, a social and
religious force that none would be able to control. That is exactly
what happened. The recent show of force in Islamabad by disruptive
and rowdy fanatics are not incidental, but are part of political
agenda which have strong backing by the power centres in the country.
Perhaps, such a situation may also scare those who patronised and
unleashed fanatic fundamentalists for their short-term objectives.
That was not a prudent course to follow. In any case, one thing is
certain: The monster is not going to disappear. It is there, and it
will continue to play havoc with the helpless, ordinary people of
this country. They have no escape route, nowhere to turn to seek
help.
The
author
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