Megalomaniac

Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964. Soon after his death, elements in Pakistan tried to start an uprising in Indian-held Kashmir by sending in infiltrators in 1965. ‘Operation Gibraltar’, as it was known, failed miserably because there was no assistance for these Pakistani infiltrators from the local population in Kashmir. The Indian army crushed the infiltrators and then launched a war against Pakistan. Religious symbolism and calls for jihad were used by the Pakistani military. When India launched its offensive, in his address to the nation, General Ayub said, “…The 100 million people of Pakistan whose hearts beat with the sound of ‘ La ilaha illallah , Mohammad- ur - Rasool - ullah ’ [There is no God but Allah and Mohammad (PBUH) is His messenger] will not rest till India’s guns are silenced” (Jafri, Rais Ahmad, Ayub: Soldier and Statesman , Lahore: Mohammad Ali Academy, 1966, p. 139). The official media led the public into believing that Pakistan was doing well against the ‘enemy’, but...

It is interesting to note that in the US Department of State policy statement on Pakistan on July 1, 1951, the US had made it clear that “[a]part from Communism, the other main threat to American interests in Pakistan was from ‘reactionary groups of landholders and uneducated religious leaders’ who were opposed to the ‘present Western-minded government’ and ‘favour[ed] a return to primitive Islamic principles” (Jalal, Ayesha, The State of Martial Rule: The Origins of Pakistan’s Political Economy of Defence , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 127). The reason why Pakistan is still in search of genuine democracy is because of the religion factor. “Building a democracy in a country devoted to religious tradition has been a problem in numerous states. The founding fathers of the US constitutional system acknowledged the problem in 18th-century Europe and it was their judgement that only by a strict separation of church from state was democracy attainable” (Ziring, Lawrence, Pakista...

The rising strength of the mullahs perturbed the Socialist forces in Pakistan. Renowned leftist Mian Iftikharuddin’s newspaper, Imroze , voiced a dissenting note against this and asked if it was not time that a democratic system should be established in Pakistan. It was argued in the same newspaper that since Islam does not allow exploitation of the peasantry, shouldn’t capitalism’s and feudalism’s undemocratic values be reformed? This raised alarm bells for the Pakistani elite and Islamist forces. The communist movement, led by the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), was now being perceived as a grave threat to the overall imperialistic culture prevalent in Pakistan, especially in Punjab. Since the movement asked for the rights of the peasantry, the feudal lords felt threatened by it and the mullahs denounced the Communists due to their non-religious views. The Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case – an unsuccessful attempt at a coup by anti-imperialist forces within the army in 1951 – gave the...

There were only a handful of politicians who were committed to working for the new country with the aim of setting it on the road to a democratic polity. The rest were all feudal lords who had joined the Muslim League with the aim of preserving their exploitative reign of power when it became clear that a new Muslim state was in the making. They became part of the Pakistan Movement so that when the new state emerges, they could retain their original position of power and prestige, or even get more power. After Jinnah’s death, instead of trying to bring some semblance of stability to the new country by drafting a Constitution, these lemming-like creatures called ‘politicians’ tried to delay it as much as they possibly could. And after 18 months, all the Constituent Assembly had come up with was a half-concocted, “vaguely worded Objectives Resolution, which was contradictory in itself” (Zulfiqar Khalid Maluka, The Myth of Constitutionalism in Pakistan , p.77). “The ulema (religious scho...

The seeds of religious extremism were sown long before Pakistan came into being. They were fostered further when Pakistan was born amidst bloody riots between the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs of the Indian Subcontinent. After the creation of Pakistan, the politico-religious parties that had opposed the very idea of a new Muslim state then started projecting themselves as the rightful custodians of the infant state. In Rewriting the History of Pakistan , Pervez Hoodbhoy and Abdul Hameed Nayyar observe: “Maulana Maudoodi and the Jamaat-e-Islami had rejected nationalism because it ‘led to selfishness, prejudice, and pride’.” Till 1947 Maudoodi maintained that he would not fight for Pakistan, that he did not believe in Pakistan, and that the demand for it was un-Islamic. Some ten years before Partition he had maintained: “Muslim nationalism is as contradictory a term as a ‘chaste prostitute’” (Abul Ala Maudoodi, Mussalman Aur Maujooda Syasi Kashmakash , quoted in K. K. Aziz, The Making of Pak...

On numerous occasions, Jinnah criticised Gandhi for introducing religion into politics by using Hindu symbolism, but Jinnah himself was compelled to incorporate religion into the movement for Pakistan later. The failure of the Congress ministries in addressing the grievances (in fact, aggravating those grievances) of the Muslim populace in the Indian Subcontinent paved the way for the Muslim League’s new ‘Islam in danger’ theme and saving it from the infidels. This was the Muslim League’s ticket to popularity among the Muslim masses who now felt threatened despite assurances from Gandhi, Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and other Congress leaders. During the actual run-up to Pakistan’s independence, the Muslim League under Jinnah’s leadership succumbed to religious rhetoric. “…Jinnah’s resort to religion was not an ideology to which he was ever committed or even a device to use against rival communities; it was simply a way of giving a semblance of unity and solidity to his divided Musli...

During the rule of the Congress ministries, communal riots broke out across the Indian Subcontinent and Punjab became an important hub of communal violence in the years leading up to the Partition. Due to the pressure of the orthodox Muslims, the Muslim leaders associated with the Khilafat Movement in Punjab distanced themselves from the Congress in 1931 and formed a separate organisation known as the Majlis-e-Ahrar Islam. In his first presidential address at the Ahrar’s first session, Maulvi Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi said that the Muslims were not ready to live as achoot (outcasts) in Hindustan. The organisation attracted a major portion of the Muslims, especially those belonging to the middle class and the lower class. This greatly affected the Congress support in Punjab. Other events, such as the Shahid Ganj Movement, also led to communal violence and fomented greater animosity between the Sikhs and the Muslims in Punjab. “In 1925, the Sikh Gurdwaras Act was enacted. On December 22...

The Government of India Act 1935 was a product of the three Round Table Conferences held in London and years of bureaucratic labour by the Indian political forces. The Act proposed a federal India of political provinces with elected local governments, but British control over foreign policy and defence. These concessions were made by the British to contain the rising wave of nationalism. The Act was practically implemented in 1937 and provincial elections were thus held in the beginning of 1937. At that time, the Muslim League was not very organised and the masses were not very familiar with its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Muslim League’s disastrous performance in the 1937 elections further proved that it was not very popular among the masses, either Hindu or Muslim. Out of a total of 485 seats reserved for Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent, the Muslim League only won 108. “The total Muslim votes cast nationwide were 7,319,445 and the Muslim League could obtain just 321,772 of th...

The Khilafat Movement initially started as an anti-British movement, but by its very nature was inherently an Islamic movement. Some Hindu leaders feared that it would take the shape of an anti-non-Muslim movement at some point – in other words, it would ultimately become an anti-Hindu movement. Their fears were not unfounded. Before the Khilafat Movement completely collapsed, there were some incidents that strengthened the divide between the Hindus and the Muslims, especially the ‘Mopla riots’. The Moplas, a Muslim community settled in the Malabar area of Bombay Presidency, were ardent agitators during the Khilafat Movement. While revolting against the British, their rebellion took on an anti-Hindu tinge in 1921 due to the religious colour of the Khilafat message. A Khilafat kingdom was declared by the Moplas who then murdered the Hindus, looted them, raped their women, burned their homes, desecrated their temples and forcibly converted many Hindus to Islam. A prominent Hindu leader,...

The rise of communalism in the Indian Subcontinent played a major role in strengthening the extremist forces, both Muslim and Hindu, which also led to a political divide between the Hindus and the Muslims. In 1906, the All India Muslim League was formed as a (Muslim) counter body to the Indian National Congress, supposedly a Hindu organisation in the eyes of most Muslims. The Indian National Congress was formed in 1885 as an association comprising largely of lawyers and other professionals, who founded the party so that Indians could gain a voice in the governance of their own country. The formation of the Muslim League was the “first major step in the direction of the separatist movement among Indian Muslims” ( Indian Muslims , Asghar Ali Engineer). Following the Muslim demand for separate electorates in 1906, the Minto-Morley Reforms (the Act of 1909) were made law in 1909. The British ensured a provision for a separate Muslim electorate. The partition of Bengal in 1905 was one of th...

With Bahadur Shah Zafar banished to Rangoon, the Muslims were in a vulnerable state of mind due to the end of the Mughal rule after the war of independence. The end of the 1857 war also saw the expansion of the British government, whereby more Indians were inducted into government service. There was an increased emphasis on English, as it was the new official language of India, which led to more educated Hindus securing bureaucratic posts in the government services while Muslims – generally being uneducated – got neglected in the process, leading many Muslims to resent the Hindus. The British took advantage of the developing situation and launched their ‘Divide and Rule’ policy. There is an impression that since the Muslims had ruled the Subcontinent for quite a long time before the British rule, the British felt threatened by them and thus funded the madrassas that were already in existence. Whether or not this is true cannot be validated as such, but after the end of Muslim rule, th...

To understand the phenomenon of extremism in Pakistan, it is pertinent to trace its roots before Pakistan was born – in fact, way before the ‘idea’ of Pakistan was born! The seeds of Muslim fundamentalism were sown at a much earlier time in the Indian Subcontinent. The Subcontinent has been invaded by Muslims on numerous occasions throughout its history, resulting in Muslim rule for many centuries despite it being a Hindu-majority region. Though most of the Muslim rulers, like Akbar the Great, were tolerant of other religions and easily assimilated into the existing social system, there were some fundamentalist rulers who were completely ruthless when it came to non-Muslims. Mahmud of Ghazni was a diehard Muslim ruler who is loathed by the Hindus. He is said to have invaded India no less than 17 times between 1000 and 1025 AD and was known for destroying Hindu temples and breaking Hindu idols. Ghazni is most despised by Hindus for the destruction of the Shiva temple at Somnath. He not ...

At the beginning of the movie Osama , one sees a swarm of women, all clad in blue shuttlecock burkas , holding placards and demanding the right to work. The movie depicts the life of women in post-Taliban Afghanistan. One feels sympathy for these burka -clad women in the movie, feeling their pain, anger and frustration. But then there is another kind of burka -clad woman (and some say even men!?) right here in Pakistan, for whom one feels no sympathy but only ire. The Jamia Hafsa students clad in their black burkas are the female version of the Taliban. Add to it their dandas and one feels as if the Stone Age is back (Uncle Sam did not need to bomb us back to the Stone Age, we managed to go back there ourselves, thank you very much!). Moreover, when the government’s surrender to the demands of the Jamia Hafsa students – reconstruction of razed mosques at the same locations – is added to the equation, voila, Pakistan completes its first phase of Talibanisation. According to the US Sta...

By agreeing to rebuild four out of the seven mosques in Islamabad at the same location, as demanded by Jamia Hafsa, the government has proved itself incapable of standing up to religious militancy. The government’s decision is going to embolden religious extremists in the country, who are already straining at the leash to wrap up whatever remotely resembles civility, tolerance and moderation. The government’s pandering to the radical clerics of Jamia Hafsa has dealt a severe blow to the government’s residual writ as well as its capacity to ensure strict adherence to the law. When even the Imam-e-Kaaba had condemned the action of the Jamia Hafsa students and said that Islam did not allow anyone to construct a mosque or seminary on encroached land, this display of timidity should have been avoided, as it further establishes the fact that the government is a silent spectator to the rise of religious extremism and Talibanisation in the country. It is (in)action like this that tarnishes Pak...

At a lunch-cum-briefing given by Mr Muhammad Altaf Qamar, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Traffic, Punjab, the DIG outlined the state of traffic, its problems and what measures should be taken to improve the situation. The briefing was attended by senior columnists and editorial writers. In a bid to resolve the growing traffic problems faced by citizens all over the province, Punjab’s Traffic Police has taken an initiative to reorganise the traffic police in five major cities of Punjab, namely Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala. The traffic problems identified by the DIG were not anything new, but it seems that the traffic police chief has tried to resolve a very complicated traffic problem by the usual prescription of inducting more traffic cops, yet it is debatable whether more recruitment will untangle the traffic conundrum without addressing the root causes, which are still lingering – rather compounding by the day. The last few years have seen a massiv...