Religious Extremism in Our Midst: A Battle for Pakistan’s Soul?
Understanding Pakistan Project Team August 30th, 2007
By: Athar Osama
Ever since the Lal Masjid Saga ended, there have been a large number of opinions and analyses of what went wrong and perhaps how to fix it. Different commentrators have termed the post-Lal-Masjid era as a manifestation of a society on a collision course with itself. It has been termed, repeatedly, in the media as a “Battle for Pakistan’s Soul”. It is not clear whether and what this battle is? Who is going to fight it? and How will it be fought? It is not even clear (here) what the soul of Pakistan actually is that we’re talking about? Understanding Pakistan covered the Lal Masjid story as it happened and supported an Online Petition (here) to determine the truth behind the circumstances and motives of what transpired during several months leading upto the Lal Masjid and during Operation Silence in July, 2007.
There is no doubt that Pakistan’s social, political, and religious fabric suffers from considerable and growing extremism. Lal Masjid was perhaps only one of the manifestations of that inner restlessness and discontent. It may not be the last. What are we doing to rid our country of religious extremism–or for that matter extremism of any kind? In this Understanding Pakistan Special on Relgious Extremism In Pakistan, we try to address some of the questions that confront us today and invite reader’s opinions on these issues.
- Do we, Pakistanis, engage in a duplicity (or hypocracy) when we tell the West to better understand why Muslims hate them but do not ourselves make an attempt to understand why people within our own societies are turning into extremists and terrorists?
- Is it the lack of a constitutional and political space–an opportunity to address all national issues, including whether Shariah be imposed in Pakistan, and in what shape and form–that is turning a large number amongst us into fanatics against the status-quo?
- Is religious extremism a manifestation of poverty and economic circumstances? Would providing better–modern–education to children in schools rather than madressah’s solve the problem of religious extremism from our societies?
- Is there any hope that religious extremists could be co-opted back into mainstream politics so that their grievances are addressed through a political process rather than extra-legal means?
- Where do we see ourselves heading, 5, 10, 15 years from now, as a nation that is being pulled apart by at least two set of opposing forces–one that of religious extremists and the other secularists–both of whom want to take the country where (perhaps) majority of us don’t want to go?
These are hard–very hard–questions. But one thing is certain that, sooner or later, we will have to address these questions for ourselves with utmost honesty and sincerity. In order to promote this debate, Understanding Pakistan is presenting four different viewpoints on this issue:
- Ibn-e-Khuldun argues that it is the lack of political space to solve their issues that drives people to become extremists and terrorists
- Don Belt, in a piece recently published in National Geographic, presents a variety “geographical” analysis of what’s wrong with Pakistan’s religious make-up
- Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy presents a rather hopeless picture of the religious extremists and their political-moralistic agendas and stops just short of calling for the elimination of this “totalalitarian” force.
- Pew Global Attitudes Project looks at the issue of religious extremism as wider problem within the Muslim world than just Pakistan
Regardless of how one sees it, we believe, that better understanding the phenomenon of religious extremism within our societies is critical to taking the first steps towards creating a society that is at peace with itself. What steps would be necessary to achieve those objectives? How would these be achieved? We believe that these questions have so far escaped a serious examination. Understanding Pakistan also launches a New Poll focusing on steps that might be necessary to fight religious extremism in Pakistan.
Please register your VOTE and drop us a COMMENT to tell us what you think and how you believe this Battle for Pakistan’s Soul must be fought? Religious extremism is a problem that is gradually but surely eating away at the fabric of our society. It is also something that we probably cannot and should not delay addressing any longer. Understanding Pakistan hopes to create an opportunity to have that conversation in the weeks and months to come.
In this piece, witten in the immediate aftermath of the Lal Masjid Episode but being published for the first time, Khuldun talks about the challenges posed by the dual extremism of Taliban-style theocrats and the promoters of Enlightened Moderation who are tearing the Pakistani society apart…. 
It did, however, once again put Musharraf and his brand of “saviors” firmly in charge of the “savage” millions in Pakistan and has established, in the eyes of the West and its media, the often-repeated (by his government) “indispensibility” of his dictatorial rule in Pakistan. Add on top of that the fact that there are serious allegations that the two brothers in Lal Masjid had been in the pay of the agencies, and that it is next to impossible for anybody–no matter how slick or smart he was–to operate with such imputiny in the heavily “watched and monitored” city of Islamabad for years, and the conincidences just get too many for most of us to digest. 
If there is an address, an exact location for the rift tearing Pakistan apart, and possibly the world, it is a spot 17 miles (28 kilometers) west of Islamabad called the Margalla Pass. Here, at a limestone cliff in the middle of Pakistan, the mountainous west meets the Indus River Valley, and two ancient, and very different, civilizations collide. To the southeast, unfurled to the horizon, lie the fertile lowlands of the Indian subcontinent, realm of peasant farmers on steamy plots of land, bright with colors and the splash of serendipitous gods. To the west and north stretch the harsh, windswept mountains of Central Asia, land of herders and raiders on horseback, where man fears one God and takes no prisoners.
Many well-known Pakistani political commentators seem bent upon trivializing Lal Masjid. Although its bloody siege now enters into its fifth day, for them the comic sight of the bearded Maulana Abdul Aziz fleeing in a burqa is proof that this episode was mere puppet theatre. They say it was enacted byhidden hands within the government, expressly created to distract attention away from General Musharraf’s mounting problems, as well as to prove to his supporters in the West that he remains the last bulwark against Islamic extremism. The writers conclude that this is a contrived problem, not a real one. They are dead wrong. Lal Masjid underscores the danger of runaway religious radicalism in Pakistan. It calls for urgent and wide-ranging action.
That the crisis could have been averted is beyond doubt. The Lal Masjid militants were given a free hand by the government to kidnap and intimidate. For months, under the nose of Pakistan’s super-vigilant intelligence agencies, large quantities of arms and fuel were smuggled inside to create a fearsome fortress in the heart of Pakistan’s capital. Even after Jamia Hafsa students went on their violent rampages in February 2007, no attempt was made to cut off the electricity, gas, phone, or website – or even to shut down their illegal FM radio station. Operating as a parallel government, the mullah duo, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Maulana Abdul Aziz, ran their own Islamic court. They received the Saudi Arabian ambassador on the mosque premises, and negotiated with the Chinese ambassador for the release of his country’s kidnapped nationals. But for the outrage expressed by China, Pakistan’s all-weather ally, the status quo would have continued.
Concerns over Islamic extremism, extensive in the West even before this month’s terrorist attacks in London, are shared to a considerable degree by the publics in several predominantly Muslim nations surveyed. Nearly three-quarters of Moroccans and roughly half of those in Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia see Islamic extremism as a threat to their countries. At the same time, most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam.
In non-Muslim countries, fears of Islamic extremism are closely associated with worries about Muslim minorities. Western publics believe that Muslims in their countries want to remain distinct from society, rather than adopt their nation’s customs and way of life. Moreover, there is a widespread perception in countries with significant Muslim minorities, including the U.S., that resident Muslims have a strong and growing sense of Islamic identity. For the most part, this development is viewed negatively, particularly in Western Europe. In France, Germany and the Netherlands, those who see a growing sense of Islamic identity among resident Muslims overwhelmingly say this is a bad thing.
The heart-breaking events of Lal-Masjid this week–where Muslims were fighting Muslims, and Pakistanis killed Pakistanis–in the name of religion and national interest and in the heart of the Country’s capital, have the potential to MAKE or BREAK Pakistan.
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