Justice and Peace in Pakistan: Islamic terrorism, the rotten fruit of relationship between State and religion
Bangkok (AsiaNews) - Pakistan is multi-cultural and multi-religious country (97% Muslim, 3% religious minorities) with total population of over 187 million. The Muslims are represented as religious majority, whereas Hindus, Christians, Ahmedis, Sikhs, Buddists, Parsis, Bahais and Kalasha etc. are among the religious minorities.
Pakistani society is full of diversity, and there are discrimination and prejudice among different communities and groups on the basis of religion, sect, colour, caste, ethnicity, language and sex in Pakistan. Therefore, some of the time the diversity brings some integrated problems and conflicts arising due to misunderstanding among different groups. There are several issues which cause conflict and which need remedying to have social harmony in the country. But the most important concern is the misuse of blasphemy law, which has created a feeling of insecurity and fear particularly among the non-Muslim communities as well as among some members of the Muslim community.
Loudspeakers are generally used in places of worship to deliver sermons and give azan. It is unfortunate that clerics misuse the loudspeakers of worship places to poison young minds by cursing social groups practicing diverse faiths, and instigating their religious sentiments, and encouraging violent attacks against minority groups such as; Shias, Ahmedis, Christians, Hindus etc. The tool of hate speech is widely exercised against religious and sectarian minorities. The Shias, Ahmedis, Hindus and Christians are the main targets of hate speech in Pakistan. The lack of tolerance and acceptance is the root cause behind hate speech in Pakistan, as people are killed on the basis of having diverse viewpoint, ideology and school of thought, because there is no respect for diversity and no space for difference of opinion in Pakistan. The people are reluctant to mix up with people from different faiths due to the mindset developed by the religious leaders. Such teachings in the mosques and seminaries have aroused the sense of hatred and prejudice among people.
The Pakistanis have not become a nation, because they are divided in different identities. The sectarianism created by poor policies of successive governments will not come to an end unless hate is rooted out that is entrenched within our textbooks, that is sown in sermons across Pakistan and casually thrown about in drawing room conversations, because the existing syllabus creates division between majority and minority groups, and promotes religious intolerance which leads to social disharmony and violence.
The religio-political groups with their extremist views want to make Pakistan a theocratic state, whereas the moderates want Pakistan to be a progressive, democratic and welfare Islamic country. The majority of people believe that Pakistan is a Muslim state, so people belonging to other faiths should not live in Pakistan. They wish that Hindu & Sikh community should go to India, while Christian community should leave for America or Europe, and Shia must go to Iran. In other words, the loyalty and patriotism of the religious minorities towards Pakistan is always questioned, and they are associated with western nations despite having nationality as Pakistani citizens.
The religious and sectarian extremism is growing excessively for past few years, therefore many anti-social and anti-state activities are taking place at different regions in Pakistan due to the presence of certain extreme groups from corner to corner in Pakistan. The government must take bold stand practically for elimination of banned outfits and others responsible for circulating hate material and making hate speech inciting violence
The main issues which hinder peace and justice in Pakistan, are Rule of Law; Influence of Religious Circles; Extremism and Terrorism.
Rule of law in Pakistan
There is a general perception in Pakistan that laws are created for the public, not for the influential persons. This perception is based on the bitter experiences we have witnessed in Pakistan, where powerful people are seldom convicted despite committing a crime. If any influential person gets convicted in any case, then there is law called “Qisas and Diyat” which totally favors the powerful groups to get amnesty from court and victims through the use of wealth and influence.
In a society governed by the rule of law, the government and its officials are held accountable under the law, and systems of checks and balances, both constitutional and institutional, are developed to limit the reach of excessive government power. The practice of rule of law in Pakistan is contrary to its universally recognized principles. For instance; majority of the parliamentarians have criminal background, submit fake degrees in the election commission, do not pay due taxes, and are involved in corruption, but no action is being taken against them, which gives the impression that parliamentarians are beyond law, and justice system in Pakistan is not fair and even.
It is pity that people having lack of qualification, skills and experience are mostly appointed and promoted on higher posts by the government without following any criteria, resultantly such arbitrary decisions are challenged in the court, and sometimes, the government has to withdraw its decisions due to the directives by the court. The government announces tenders, but mostly contracts are given to the people and companies close to parliamentarians, not having relevant experience and credibility, due to having massive commission.
Last year on June 16, 2014 around 1:30 pm midnight, the dozens of police officials attacked secretariat Minhaj-ul-Quran at Lahore with heavy machinery in the name of removing security barriers, leaving 14 people dead and over 90 people injured. The police launched this operation on the directives of the government to prevent religious and political leader, Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri from holding months-long protest against the government. An FIR have been registered against 19 people including; Prime Minister of Pakistan, Chief Minister of Punjab, several ministers and police officers. The government formed Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter. The members of the JIT held Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government and police officers responsible for the killing of over a dozen people. Instead of taking action against the accused, the government rejected the JIT report, and did not make the report public, giving the argument that the report may cause sectarianism. Then the government again formed another JIT to investigate the incident. This is not the only one example, where the government is found involved in unlawful actions, but it has been quoted just to depict the true picture. Even, the killing of criminals by police in fake encounter is a common practice in Pakistan, when they are either in custody or are unarmed, but the policy claim to have shot them in self-defense.
The successive governments have approved several laws to create law and order in the society, but failed to implement them in letter and spirit due to lack of political will, which cause frustration and deprivation among people. Even all the four provincial governments have passed local government act in 2013, but did not conduct local government elections, except in Balochistan province. Delay in holding local government elections restrict the representation of weaker groups in politics. The existing system favors the powerful, and operates against the weaker groups. Therefore, the system based on injustice must be eliminated by enforcing rule of law in its true sense.
Peace in our society will prevail only, if the government addresses the social, economic and political deprivations of the deprived groups by taking affirmative actions following the concept of social justice, for the empowerment of disadvantaged groups, and by ensuring equal access to justice for ordinary people, where they are able to resolve their grievances and obtain remedies in conformity with fundamental rights through formal institutions of justice in a peaceful and effective manner, rather than resorting to violence or self-help.
Influence of religious circles in Pakistan
It is an open secret that religious groups in Pakistan are more powerful and influential as compared to government, and no law can be created or amended without their approval, come what may. The religious groups became powerful during 80s, when the military dictator general Zia-ul-Haq introduced several Islamic laws including; blasphemy laws, to promote his own ideology and interest of religious groups, and supported Mujahidin for Jihad in the Afghanistan war against Soviet Union. The religious circles became protectors of the laws created in the name of the Islam, and punishment under such laws turned minor to severe with the passage of the time.
Both Muslims and non-Muslims suffer from allegedly false charges and misuse of the blasphemy laws, so people avoid talking about it due to the terror caused by its abuse in the society. Majority of the people do not oppose blasphemy laws, but speak against its misuse for vested interests, because mostly family, personal, professional jealousy or property issue has led to the misuse of this law to settle personal scores against their opponents.
Usually, some fanatic elements conspire to attack minority settlements by giving a monetary/social dispute a religious color, and provoking religious sentiments of Muslims through misuse of loudspeakers and blasphemy laws against the accused and minority groups. These laws cause destruction in the society, and promote the interest of religious groups, therefore no action is taken against religious elements despite having known that they plot religious tension to disrupt the social harmony.
Even criticizing these laws have become so rare due to threats involved with this issue. We have witnessed that Governor Salman Taseer was killed by his own gunmen for supporting Asiya Bibi, a blasphemy victim, and calling these laws as black. Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was killed by militants for highlight its misuse and supporting reforms in these laws. Lawyer Rashid Rehman was killed by militants for fighting case of blasphemy victim. Sherry Rehman introduced bill in the parliament for reforms in blasphemy laws, but faced threats to avoid such move against such laws.
According to the record compiled by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) about blasphemy laws since 1986, over 1,035 men and women, including Muslims, Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus, have been implicated in blasphemy cases, and about 35 persons have been extra-judicially killed. Incidents against religious minorities in Pakistan during last few years revealed that false allegations were fabricated to loot and burn belongings of Christians in Shantinagar, Sukhar, Sangla Hill, Kasur, Gojra, Korian, Sialkot, Lahore and Faisalabad.
It is pity that hate mongering literature and load speakers have been used as a medium to spread the religious hatred and mobilize the mob for violent attacks on Christian settlements. Even some of the religious heads stir up disharmony by their speeches (Sermons) based on hatred and arouse the religious feelings of the people against the different faiths instead of preaching for peace, harmony and humanity. Due to the misuse of the blasphemy laws for personal grudge by opponents, religious minorities have been threatened and harassed; their lives, properties and worship places have been targeted. The violent attacks have created sense of pessimism and insecurity among religious minorities especially Christians.
The religious minorities across the country come under threat whenever any allegation whether true or false, about the defamation of the religion is put against any person belonging to a minority group. They face a feeling of fear and deprivation, and they are left insecure economically, socially and culturally; resultantly they mostly prefer to migrate to safer places in an attempt to avoid any untoward incident .
The incidents of alleged blasphemy have also had an impact on the vulnerability of lawyers and judges, as well as on the accused and their families, resultantly dozens of blasphemy suspects have become victims of extra-judicial killings. No political party has courage to take a bold stance on the abuse of blasphemy laws despite witnessing its bad effects on the society. The police seem helpless to tackle situation caused by blasphemy charges. Nobody is willing to address this issue despite the fact that these laws are frequently misused to victimize people, therefore, the media and political parties must take up this sensitive issue very seriously, and build debate and consensus for bringing about reforms in it.
The successive governments particularly General Pervaiz Musharaf regime and Asif Ali Zardar regime expressed their committed to bring about reforms in blasphemy laws to prevent its misuse, but had to refrain from doing so due to the huge pressure from the religious groups.
The successive governments have completely failed to tackle abuse of blasphemy laws, as these laws are repeatedly exploited by influential actors as a tool to harass and curtail religious minorities and working class.
Extremism and Terrorism in Pakistan
The existing syllabus creates division between majority and minority groups, and promotes religious intolerance which leads to social disharmony and violence. It is unfortunate that clerics misuse the loudspeakers of worship places to poison young minds by cursing social groups practicing diverse faiths, and instigating their religious sentiments, and encouraging violent attacks against minority groups such as; Shias, Ahmedis, Christians etc. Due to the discriminatory teaching especially in religious seminars, the students have developed a tendency of unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect contrary opinions or beliefs of persons having different identity, and justifying extreme ideology to an extreme and even violent level.
The violent incidence against minority groups frequently occur in Pakistan, because the successive governments have failed to punish the perpetrators behind attacks against Christians in Kot Radha Kishan, Shanti Nagar, Lahore, Sangla Hill, Kasur, Gojra, Korian, Sialkot and Faisalabad on blasphemy charges during last several years. Even, the Holy Bible and places of worship of Christians have been desecrated many times, but the government didn’t act against the culprits.
It is a known fact that the successive governments in Pakistan have been supporting militants for vested interest. Even the sitting government was reluctant to launch military operation against militants, and supporting talks with Talibans. When the strategy to hold talks with militants did not work, then the army launched action against Talibans called Zarb-e-Azb.
The real action against militants started after the Taliban had attacked Army Public School in Peshawar on 16th December 2014, leaving 141 people dead including students and teachers. This was a turning point, when all religious groups and political forces having soft corners for Taliban started supporting the military operation against militants, which have been justifying their terrorist activities, and calling terrorists as Martyrs in the past.
The government has also taken several measures to curb extremism and terrorism since December 2014. It has introduced national action plan to counter terrorism, created several laws, made several arrests and established a special force to deal with extremism and terrorism.
After the passage of national action plan to counter terrorism, the failure of the policemen to protect minority worshippers represents the impotence of state’s writ despite being deployed at the worship places. These recent incidents have occurred, because the government has failed to effectively implement the National Action Plan to curb terrorism, and bring the perpetrators of violent attacks on minority groups to justice, breeding frustration and resentment among minority groups.
The tragic incident of attack on Imambargah in Shikarpur leaving at least 60 people dead might be a reaction to the military operation Zarb-e-Azb against terrorists, which is the result of giving liberty to proscribed organizations. The shia community is frequently being targeted in different parts of Pakistan, therefore violent attacks leading to their genocide must be prevented.
The horrible incident of attack on two churches in Youhanabad, Lahore leaving 17 people dead and dozens of people injured, revealed that the policemen were busy watching the cricket match rather than performing their duty of protecting Christians when the suicide bombers tried to enter the churches. In result of this negligence, many Christian people have lost their life and families their loved ones. A team of Christian volunteers performing job of security guards bravely stopped the intruders, saving thousands of worshippers from massive casualties at both churches.
It is the fundamental duty of the state to provide protection to the general public, and deal with the culprits with iron hands, but the terrorists are moving freely in streets and fearlessly carrying out criminal activities, which indicate that the writ of the government is nowhere.
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