Daily Times

Something that Maulana Masood Alvi started in Multan in the 1980s created a legacy of local, regional and now transnational violence. The second Deobandi influenced transnational jihadist organisation, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was also formed in Multan. Its founder, Nasrullah Langrial was caught and imprisoned in the Indian part of Kashmir, and was released after over a decade. Langrial is happily married now, and living life mainly incognito.

According to the official list of the Government of Pakistan, of the 64 proscribed organisations, nearly 37 are Deobandi. Two of the four organisations under the State’s observation are Deobandi, while both organisations that are banned and are on the watch list of the United Nations are Deobandi.

The association of violence with an otherwise thinking and progressive Deobandi sect in Pakistan is something entirely different than what the sect is known for in India and Bangladesh. The Deobandi sect is headquartered in Deoband, India, but they are not known as radical there or in Bangladesh. Not only have the elders of Deoband in India condemned violence of its following in Pakistan, they have also maintained a distance with them. Deobandis in India are the defenders and frontline soldiers of protecting the secular nature of the Indian constitution and polity. Meanwhile here in Pakistan, the mention of ‘secularism’ draws wrath from most religious parties.

Many leading scholars among the Deobandi clergy tried dissociating themselves and the sect from the emergent trends of violence and extremism

Big or small, all religious sects in Pakistan have their ‘fair share’ in different forms of violence, but violent elements associated with the Deobandi sect have constantly challenged the Pakistani state and succeeded in creating its own hamlet of their violent and misinterpreted Sharia in Swat. Shiites tried doing that once in 1979 when they laid a siege in Pakistan’s administrative center, the Secretariat, for over three days. As I mentioned earlier, Iran was on the wrong side of the Free World in its struggle against Communism in Afghanistan. Hence, all support that Iran could provide to its protégés in Pakistan was gagged quickly, while the other side started a homerun. This homerun hasn’t stopped yet, and continually worries the Deobandi elders.

It is true that many leading scholars among the Deobandi clergy tried dissociating themselves and the sect from the emergent trends of violence and extremism. But they were either sidelined, not paid attention, silenced or killed. Those who misinterpreted the religion, ignored the teachings of their elders, but were willing to play along the tune became mainstream and the self-proclaimed representatives of the sect. None other than the consecutive Deobandi leadership and the followers are to shoulder the blame of this defacement of their sect whose leaders once sided with the nonviolence of Mohandas Karamchand, also known as Mahatma Gandi.

The Pakistani state, after its comedy of errors of letting the obscurantist elements run amok right after the Soviet incursions in Afghanistan, tried changing the direction of its nearly three-decade long love affair overnight. It backfired, and backfired horribly. Friends and fabled warriors of yesteryears become terrorists we know today. Those who once enjoyed glorification, were now demonised. The jihadist organisations associated with the Deobandi sect had propelled forward the geostrategic designs in the past, and learnt a lot along the path. Once the saints of yesterday became sinners of today, they started hitting any and everybody who dared standing in their way. They spared no one, from Maulana Hasan Jan to Maulana Fazalur Rahman and late Qazi Hussain Ahmed. And as it was happening, the self-proclaimed Deobandi leaders and most of the followers kept condoning this spate of violence implicitly, and conveniently looked the other way considering punishing the state by slaughtering the society. The sagacity and grace of late Maulana Saleemullah Khan was quickly replaced by Maulana Abdul Aziz. This decay did not happen overnight. This rot took over four decades and sane elements among the leadership of the Deobandis mostly idled and preferred watching the show go on.

Whatever was left in this vengeful rot, was filled in by then Ameer of Jamat-e-Islami, Syed Munawar Hasan, who constantly refused to condemn the butchery of over 140 children at the Army Public School, Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

Whatever the Deobandis and their leadership do in Pakistan now has impacts in the South Asian region and the world. Deobandis in Pakistan can learn a lot from their counterparts in India where they have guarded their religious identity side by side with their political struggles. They have done it without indulging in any form of violence over the decades, and are recognised as representatives of the Muslims. Why cannot the Pakistani Deobandis do that too?

The answer has to come from within the Deobandi community, and it should have already come long before they became associated with violence and extremism.

The writer is a social entrepreneur and a student of Pakistan’s social and political challenges. Twitter: @mkw72

Published in Daily Times, September 18^th 2017.