Daily Times

This seems more like a plotline from Game of Thrones than reality. When Aegon Targaryen conquered the Seven Kingdoms (except Dorne) the High Septon at the time not only accepted him but also crowned Aegon as Lord of the Seven Kingdoms with his own hands. The Faith of the seven was the prevailing religion in Westeros but the Targaryens never completely accepted it.

Men of the faith weren’t in a position to challenge the victorious Targaryens or their fiery dragons but Aegon dealt lightly with them and chose a policy of coexistence and reconciliation. The High Septon and Aegon had a tacit agreement in which both sides agreed not to challenge each other’s authority. Aegon died and was succeeded by his son Aenyrs who allowed a ritual which was considered forbidden by men of the faith, hence faith militants rose up in revolt.

Pakistan’s State and it’s institutions have repeatedly flirted and nurtured extremist factions in Pakistan. Both have enjoyed a ‘you scratch my back and I scratch yours’ relationship with each other which appears to persist today.Earlier this week, the DG ISPR said that the government’s order will be binding on the Army but now when the hour has struck Army through its twitter handle have subtly (but not so subtly) placed their weight behind the maniacs in Faizabad by equating Government’s response against the protesters with violence and suggested that the government revert to a peaceful resolution.

The fact of the matter is that the Government is obeying the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.On Tuesday the Supreme Court of Pakistan took notice of the Faizabad sit in which had paralysed the Federal Capital of Pakistan for over two weeks and ordered the government to file a response.Before that the Islamabad High Court had given a deadline to the government, ordering them to disperse the protesters blocking Faizabad Interchange by the morning of 18 November and called the sit in an act of terrorism. The civilian government still tried to negotiate with the protesters but owing to the approaching Eid Miladul Nabi which extremists can use as a platform to launch their political agenda and Supreme Court’s orders, the government decided to act.

The Supreme Court became infuriated over the civilian government’s inability to deal with the prevailing situation where one man, Khadim Rizvi was able to challenge writ of the State with impunity. At the same time, the response filed by the Country’s premier intelligence agency raised a lot of eyebrows. The response filed by the Intelligence agencies lacked serious content (as termed by Supreme Court of Pakistan) and the question of funding was not dealt with.This sort of behavior can be expected from Punjab Police and can be termed as mere incompetence but when the country’s most praise worthy institution files such a response,questions of mere incompetence take a back seat or is at least difficult to digest.

It was the military establishment led by Raheel Shareef that not only floated the idea of mainstreaming extremist outfits but also persisted with it. The civilian setup led by Nawaz Sharif resisted that move. Sharif got sidelined as a result of a judgement by the Supreme Court. Civilian authority over matters of security attenuated with the proceedings related to the Panama Papers case. Meanwhile, extremist outfits like Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah along with Milli Muslim League got involved in electoral politics

Let’s try to put things in perspective and dissect the role of both the military and civilian establishment.First things first, it was the military establishment led by Raheel Shareef that not only floated but persisted with the idea of mainstreaming extremist outfits to which a Civilian Nawaz Shareef resisted. Nawaz Shareef got sidelined as a result of a judgment by the Supreme Court. Civilian authority over matters of security attenuated with the proceedings related to the Panama Papers Case. Consequently extremist outfits like Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah along with Milli Muslim League got registered with ECP and were mainstreamed.

Now the question here is that why were parties like Labbaik and MML allowed to exist in the first place? Imran Khan’s message of change failed to seduce and muster support from Pakistan’s Tajir Baradari because of Khan’s rhetoric about tax collection from the elite, who are mostly tax evaders.

This business elite uses issues like Khatm-e-Nabuwat and blasphemy as a shield and to project their financially corrupt selves. So to capture the support and electorate of the businessman elite who previously supported PML-N, LYR and MML were launched.

This is the same Mullah, Military and Business Elite troika that was forged by Ziaul Haq’s regime in 80s to attenuate democratic and progressive forces in Pakistan. PML-N here is at the receiving end, Khan is likely to lure the urban voters in upcoming elections where extremist outfits like LYR will muster support of the elite and extremist factions of society who previously chose PML-N over apparently liberal PPP.

To deal with the enigma of Faith Militancy and for a peaceful democratic future, this troika needs to be disconnected and exposed. Civilian forces have failed to do so since the end of Zia’s regime and the people of Pakistan have paid a heavy price for it. Seventy thousand civilians died during war on terror and a hundred and forty billion dollars were lost. It is time that the democratic forces in Pakistan stop being politically correct, avoid mincing words and take clear lines as far as faith militancy and its alliances are concerned.

The writer is a political activist and a researcher based in Lahore

Published in Daily Times, November 28^th 2017.