Lal Masjid

Author: Paul Barrow

Sir: This is with reference to the Supreme Court’s decision on compensating the families of those killed in the Lal Masjid operation in 2007.

My memories of that operation are still fresh. It started with a government action against land grabbing followed by an armed struggle against the state of Pakistan by the inmates of Lal Masjid. I was in Islamabad during the peak of that event and there is no denying the fact that the people in Lal Masjid were equipped with illegal arms and willing to fight against the state, which they did. The maulanas of the Lal Masjid had obviously not read the verse in the Holy Quran according to which fitnah is worse than murder. They had perhaps also not read our Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) saying: “Follow the law of the land wherever you are.” This is an ironic but unfortunate reality of our under-educated nation that people who talk most of religion are the ones furthest away from it. However, what astounds me is that even the so-called educated people cannot analyse or even see the reality. All distinction between halal and haram or right or wrong seems to have been lost. I am curious if any sane voice from the religious scholars would stand up against this nonsense.

MISBAH HUSEIN

Abu Dhabi