Daily Times

National security is a card that has long been used in Pakistan by the powers-that-be to crush criticism of the state’s policies. And we are made to believe that whatever the deep-state does is in the national interest. Journalists and activists who beg to differ are declared anti-state, western agents and draconian laws are used to intimidate them in a bid to clamp down on the opposing views. Thanks to the emerging power of social media as a tool for activism, flow of information that could previously be handled forcibly by the state institutions can no longer be fully controlled. As a result, the attempts to gag free speech have increased with the state using all possible means to wreck the credibility of critics through its stooges in mainstream media. Self-declared analysts, who are present in great numbers in the mainstream media, are often seeing dolling out certificates of patriotism and treason. Anti-establishment journalists and activists in Pakistan are on the receiving end of enforced disappearances and violent attacks these days.

Journalist Ahmad Noorani who is known to be critical of the establishment’s involvement in politics had to quit social media and go low profile after receiving threats. But that was not enough for those who wanted to silence him. Noorani was severely injured after being attacked by knife-wielding attackers in Islamabad on Friday. Journalists Azad Syed and Matiullah Jan faced similar attacks in the last three months. All these attacks on the journalists took place in the capital.

The mysterious abduction and recovery of 5 social media activists (one of them remains missing) in January this year can be seen as a part of the same organised drive against dissenting voices.

Meanwhile, social media activists affiliated with the ruling party are reportedly being arrested for their anti-army posts by Federal Investigative Agency (FIA). Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who had initially stated that he had no information as to who ordered the arrests, now says FIA will clamp down on social media accounts involved in propaganda and creating ‘anarchy’ so the medium cannot be used as a tool to ‘malign state institutions’. The interior minister who was saying all the right things until recently, seems to have changed his position overnight, clearly under the influence of those who must not be named.

It is important to note that religious extremist groups in the country are carrying out their activities with impunity while journalists and activists face arrests and violence. Perhaps this is because implementation of the new shift in security policy that intends to ‘mainstream’ these terror groups and involve them in the political process has formally begun. Hate mongers from the recently-formed extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik held a rally in Islamabad on Thursday and announced that they would enter the red zone. Their demands include action against those responsible for the error that excluded Khatm-e-Nabuwat declaration from the oath lawmakers are required to take and execution of blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi. The authorities continue to turn a blind eye to the extremist groups’ activities, but the inaction is unsurprising given that the state plans on ‘mainstreaming’ them.

The policy of using terror groups as strategic assets will backfire the same way it backfired in the past. Terror groups being mainstreamed today will be bombing us a few years from now after they become unstoppable, and today’s leaders will then be regretting their decisions

Leaders of Tehreek-e-Labaik have been spewing venom against the already vulnerable religious minority communities during the protest demonstrations against Mumtaz Qadri’s hanging last year and recently when the issue of a ‘clerical error’ that removed Khatm-e-Nabuwat declaration surfaced. Several hateful statements against the Ahmadi community were made and murder threats were issued — the videos of which are available on social media. Yet the deep state wants us to believe that the ‘mainstreaming’ of these bigots will prove to be a successful strategy.

Bringing these anti-minorities group to the mainstream would mean the bigotry that they practice is going to be a norm. At a time when the country is fighting the menace of terror, which is directly linked to extremism, creating division among the people on basis of religious beliefs will aggravate the situation. The policy of using terror groups as strategic assets will backfire the same way it backfired in the past. Terror groups being mainstreamed today will be bombing us a few years from now after they become unstoppable and today’s leaders will then be regretting their decisions.

Since dissenting voices are being silenced one-by-one through force, it appears that the deep-state will be able to get its narrative in favour of the ‘mainstreaming’ strengthened with the help of its proxies in media.Those expressing reservation on the process will once again be termed as anti-state agents despite the fact that their argument against the ‘mainstreaming’ is based on historical evidence of similar strategies of the establishment badly backfiring in the past.

However, let this be stated in clear terms that the strategy of using violence as a means to silence alternative views will prove to be counterproductive because the civil society of the country and its cyberspace today are more vibrant than ever before. Using force against dissenters will end up affecting the reputation of state institutions because today’s Pakistan is much more politically-aware.

The writer is an assistant editor at Daily Times. She tweets at @AiliaZehra and can be reached at ailiazehra2012@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, October 30^th 2017.