Daily Times

Often we come across the insignia and emblems of religious parties that boastfully show swords with blood on them, attributing them to jihad, a holy war against the west, Christians and Jews. Many affiliates and sub-branches of Islamic outfits, including banned ones, are freely operating in public, promoting their preaching on puritanical cleansing, calling everyone who is not a Muslim an enemy of Islam. They bring in various discourses that foster the premise of bigotry and call for ostracisation of the already marginalised communities that are struggling to survive here. They also breach the interests of the people.
Their actions often go unchecked and unchallenged, and their public space is expanding while the voices of those against them are fast diminishing. The Defence of Pakistan Council (Difa-e-Pakistan Council), which is a formation of about 40 religious parties, including the Jamaat-ud-Daawa and the Ahle Sunnal Wal Jamaat (banned groups), is openly meeting in public with intimidating messages to the government while, in comparison, any public gathering by other individuals in the interest of the people is met with Section 144 or sedition charges against the activists (as seen frequently in Gilgit-Baltistan). Though the group hardly has any representation in parliament, they act like a pressure group on the government for it to change its policies towards the west and the war on terror. The so-called Council, with the presence of the former spy chief Hamid Gul and its unabashed display of street power, does not appear to have been organised out of thin air. There is a smell of mischief as to who is abetting and protecting such gatherings. Such rallies have been organised to malign Pakistan’s relations with India and the US. Apparently, such gatherings have been about protecting militant proxies that are operating in the tribal areas and also in occupied Kashmir. Their main demand was for Pakistan to block NATO supply lines and to reverse India’s status as most favoured nation, which was decreed by the then president, Asif Ali Zardari. Whenever a specific position has to be taken by Pakistan in relation to the US, the war on terror or India, the Defence of Pakistan Council is prompted immediately to take to the streets and threaten the government with anarchy.
At present, the religious parties are holding rallies and putting pressure on the government to send troops to Saudi Arabia to fight rebels in Yemen. Who is orchestrating these rallies? Often, these parties hold rallies to promote the ideology of Pakistan (nazriya-e-Pakistan). The ideology of Pakistan has always been murky in the historical perspective and is open to interpretations and attributions of events and circumstances that led to the creation of Pakistan. That it was created in the name of Islam is a disputed claim and the Two Nation Theory, if still considered relevant today, would mean separating and excluding all non-Muslim communities in Pakistan from the mainstream. In fact, the Supreme Court (SC) is hearing a petition in which the question whether Pakistan can be declared a secular state has arisen. But the mindset being designed by these parties is dangerous as it is contradictory in principle to the religiously and ethnically diverse composition of Pakistan. The imposition of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence would mean denying the rights of non-Sunnis and non-Muslims of equality in citizenship. It is because of the growing radicalisation that society in general has now started treating non-Muslims as second or even third class citizens of Pakistan.
Who is suffering most from Islamic injunctions in the laws and Constitution of Pakistan? Almost all the non-Muslims here. Hindu and Christian women, for instance, get forcefully converted to Islam and married to Muslim men against their will. They cannot go back to their previous religions if they choose to. This is because they stand vulnerable under the blasphemy laws; even though apostasy is not a crime under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), it is considered a cognizable offence, added to which are the fatwas in place against it. A prominent case is of Rinkle Kumari, who was allegedly forced into marriage to a Muslim man, bringing to light how religious groups, through their protests and rallies, support the trend of abductions, forced conversions and marriages.
Another boiling issue for the clerics is to oppose any talk of amending the blasphemy law. That is the reason why Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of late Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, is hailed as a hero for silencing the voice that Taseer raised about the draconian aspects of the blasphemy law. The Sunni Tehreek, also an ally of the PPP, was the forerunner of Mumtaz Qadri’s campaign. Thousands turned up rallying for a coldblooded killer yet there was not the slightest attempt to stop these massive processions in support of a self-confessed killer. Why was this not considered an anti-state move? This is again quite opposite to how the authorities are sending out warning letters to universities over having academic discourses on issues the authorities consider to be against the interests of the state.
The menacing and the unruly, even criminal, behaviour of the Islamic political parties goes on without the state taking action against them. Their actions, which are malicious to the core and insulting to empathic human behaviour, are allowed to silence any good voice that calls for freedom of thought and conscience, human dignity and respect for other religions. These parties do not care about conscience; they are present merely to prey on the helpless by vilifying them and justifying their coldblooded murder. The question that needs to be asked here is who is supporting them and providing them with blanket protection? Why is there deliberate negligence? Or is it that religious parties are used by the establishment to inculcate fear in the public over a specific policy the state is to undertake? Whatever the reasons, this inaction of the state breeds a profound sense of injustice in the powerless, which will lead to more chaos in society.

The writer is a freelance columnist and may be contacted at zeeba.hashmi@gmail.com