Daily Times

Friday was yet another day that has left many blemishes on the body politic of Pakistan. Was it purely coincidental that Bugti’s death anniversary overlapped with the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer? It may well be the case but such a way of thinking is prone to carry an element of naivety. In human history, every incident has a social reason. Every human action not only has a reaction but a definite underlying cause too. In this case, it is the redundant system that continues to paralyse the state. The impotent, inept and extremely corrupt ruling elite is merely a consequence of this. Beyond a spineless reaction based on a fuzzy peroration of bringing the culprits to task, expecting anything more is well-nigh impossible. Their assurances ring as hollow as their moral rectitude.

Akbar Bugti was no Robespierre; he was a member of the same elite. All throughout his life, he abided by the rules of the hideous game played by the not-so-hidden powers that actually rule this state of ours. All the way he was dually rewarded except in the twilight years of his life when circumstances pushed him to the wrong side of the Bonaparte who was then ruling the roost. His liquidation was inevitable but it was brought in such a way that his death was immortalised; a paradoxical personality who was put on a pedestal that he barely deserved. Indeed, he achieved the impossible but, as A J P Taylor points out, “Impossible is what we get from history.”

Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti were the victims of the religious fascism that has permeated society, slowly but swiftly. Feudal hierarchy and the army both have furtively played a pivotal role in spreading this flagitious and flagrant mindset. Religion and race are two convenient tools that invariably come to the rescue of the dominant classes — to bludgeon the people — whenever their class interests are threatened. Fascism is the religion of the capitalist, but in pre-capitalist Pakistan — where, due to the stunted growth of the capitalist forces, the dominant relations of production are feudal in character — this instrument is used by the dominant classes with the same nonchalant ease. Besides this exploitation, the fact remains that religion is a cry of the ‘have-nots’. It is a depiction of unresolved social conflicts. All those unfulfilled dreams find their realisation in the concept of the hereafter. For the development of people’s intellect, it is a recipe for disaster. Instead of facing objective realities, the temptation to seek convenient redemption in another world leaves the real world a figment of one’s imagination. People lose touch with reality and all progress seems like a mirage. While other industrialised nations are investing in the social evolution of humankind, those under the inhibitory influence of religion continue to suffer the malaise and tend to become stale and stagnant. As the liberation of women is a yardstick for measuring the level of emancipation of a society, religion is an indicator of the unresolved socioeconomic problems of a society. This provides an ideal situation for the dominant classes to maintain their hegemony. They conveniently shift responsibility to destiny/divine providence.

Medieval Europe suffered in obscurantism for almost a millennium. It was left to the industrial revolution to overthrow monarchist feudalism alongside Catholicism. In this process, all other religious movements such as Lutheranism and Calvinism — the products of the bourgeoisie, which was a consequence of emerging capitalism — became redundant. While religion is a living spirit for feudalism, capitalism employs it as a tool for expropriation and accumulation of capital. It appears that countries where the conflict between feudalism and capitalism was severe and prolonged, both were cast away. The secularism of Europe is a fitting example of this phenomenon. Conversely, in the US, this conflict did not progress beyond a certain point. The land owning class of the south always wanted to maintain the status quo, therefore they fought to retain slavery. Contrarily, the north had a developed capitalist mode of production and hence it required free labour. Why would a capitalist feed the slaves when during the process of its anarchy, which is the hallmark of this system, they are useless for him? To maintain a reserve army of the unemployed, capitalism uses the state to keep these have-nots under control either by extending the leftovers of the privileged classes or through naked coercion. In the US, the class conflict between these two classes was not severe enough. Resultantly, capitalists carried the day and religious forces agreed to play second fiddle to them. Over the decades, that relationship seems to have thrived.

Pakistan has yet to enter the phase of industrialisation. In fact, this holds true for all the Muslim states. That explains, in part, lack of a progressive religious movement in this part of the world. In Pakistan, religious fanaticism, which invariably infatuates the class with surplus money and time (aka the middle class), is dominated by the feudal cult. The real dilemma is that the religious monopolists here neither attend to any argument nor respond with any rhyme or reason. They breed intolerance. The assassin of Salmaan Taseer, Mumtaz Qadri, is one of their many faces though he is perhaps the most heinous and mutilated of all. A society that has, over the years, developed a culture of violence — mainly due to economic plight and the war on terror that benefited none but a handful of individuals — will neither respond to mere appeals nor to new coercive laws. According to Karl Marx, good laws do not make a good society but only a good society makes good laws. Its religious impetuosity can only be curbed by addressing its material needs, i.e. through a change in the means of production.

Abduction or kidnapping for ransom was a phenomenon peculiar to South America, particularly to Chile where, after the assassination of the elected Marxist President Salvador Allende, the American thugs and the Chicago Boys (both were identical) seized power. Chile’s socioeconomic conditions then were near identical to present-day Pakistan. The great revolutionary icon Che Guevara learnt his Marxism in Chile. The only exception was that the church (in Chile) could not escape the influence of these revolutionary movements. Regrettably, Pakistan was denied an experience of this staggering sort.

Kidnapping is a loathsome crime but it again suggests the level of brutalisation in our society. The disconcerting aspect is that the people have become insensitive or indifferent to pain and agony. The country that, despite an imminent threat, abysmally failed to protect its two-time prime minister, a sitting governor and a serving federal minister, cannot be expected to protect an ordinary citizen. The nagging question is whether the state in Pakistan is withering away without even having the pre-conditions of capitalism.

The writer is based in Australia and has authored books on socialism. He can be reached at saulatnagi@hotmail.com