Daily Times

Our liberal and democratic PPP government has once again taken the road most taken. Instead of standing up to the forces of religious orthodoxy, it has sought to appease them by declaring that no changes shall be made to the blasphemy laws. In the process, the PPP has once again let down those liberal and progressive sections of society that had voted for it, hoping against hope that it would one day miraculously evolve a spine and go about the business of creating a progressive and egalitarian society.

In making compromises with the mullahs, the PPP has stuck to its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s legacy of appeasement, which ultimately dragged him to the gallows after he scripted Pakistan’s drift into theocracy. Where it will take our current leaders, only time will tell. Here, perhaps, the PPP can for once look for guidance from the founder of Pakistan instead of repeating Bhutto’s mistakes to their detriment. Speaking on September 11, 1929, precisely 18 years before his demise, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah delivered a speech that resonates with progressives and reformers even today.

Speaking on the Child Marriage Bill, Jinnah said “How can there be such a divine sanction to this cruel, horrible, disgraceful, inhuman practice that is prevailing in India?” He was speaking about the practice of marrying off young children, a custom that was prevalent in India. Both Hindu and Muslim divines were up against it. Our Quaid went on to say, “Sir, whether certain practices have any sanction divine or religious or not, and when any social reform is suggested, which goes to destroy the usages and customs to which people are used and upon which they have looked as semi-religious usages and practices, it is always known all over the world that those people who have got deep sentiments, deep convictions, strong opinions, always resent, and they believe that it is destroying the very root of their social life or religion. Always the social reformer is face to face with this orthodox opinion…But are we to be dragged down by this section for whom we have respect, whose feeling we appreciate, whose sentiments we regard, are we to be dragged down and are we to be prevented in the march of progress, in the name of humanity, I ask you?” To read the complete text of this extraordinary speech please consult page 381 of Volume III of The Collected Works of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah 1926-1931.

Today the same choice is before the government and lawmakers of the nation that Jinnah founded. Once again the religious orthodoxy has hindered the march of progress and the choice really is whether we want a humane and civilised country or a theocratic dystopia. In fact, for Messrs Zardari and Gilani the choice is much easier. That they are hugely unpopular and widely mistrusted is no secret. Zardari especially has a rather foul reputation, rightly or wrongly. No matter what Zardari does, the right-leaning public opinion in this country will continue to hold him in disdain. It would be a very cold day in hell before Zardari will be able to convince the mullahs that he is their ameer-ul-momineen (grand leader). The prospect of holding on to power for long is also quite dim. The hidden forces in this country are already whipping into line the fractured right wing of the country. Therefore, this is the right time for Zardari and Gilani to look beyond the politics of today and imagine how history will remember them. If the PPP takes a stand here and now against religious extremism, amends or repeals the Blasphemy Law and other draconian laws of this country and refuses to budge from a liberal and secular agenda, it will galvanise the liberals, progressives and minorities behind it; supposing the government is brought down on this count, the entire world will stand behind it. Politics they say is the art of the possible but in a position that the current government finds itself, anything is possible.

Public opinion is not suitably formed in Pakistan given the biases that are ingrained in Pakistanis from the beginning and reinforced by our newly ‘free’ media, which is not free of bigotry unfortunately. Therefore, our elected representatives have to lead public opinion and not be held hostage by it. Just because the mob wants to burn people at the stake does not mean that it is justified. We saw the ugliest face of our mob (to call it a society is an insult to all societies) in Sialkot. Have we forgotten that? The elected representatives, therefore, have a clear duty as leaders of this country to chart the best and most rational course for it.

If they cannot or if their constituency places fetters in their way, the right path has been clearly laid down by the founding father of this state in the aforesaid speech: “But, Sir, I make bold to say that if my constituency is so backward as to disapprove of a measure like this then I say, the clearest duty on my part would be to say to my constituency, ‘You had better ask somebody else to represent you’…if we are going to allow ourselves to be influenced by the public opinion that can be created in the name of religion when we know that religion has nothing whatever to do with the matter, I think we must have the courage to say, ‘No, we are not going to be frightened by that.”

Our leaders must take up the exercise of repeating that golden last line every night before they go to sleep. Pakistan and the people of Pakistan deserve people of courage and vision, not self-absorbed cowards.

The writer is a lawyer. He also blogs at http://pakteahouse.net and can be reached at yasser.hamdani@gmail.com