Daily Times

Pakistan continues to find itself at a crossroads. Sadly, it still appears a little unsure of which path to take. On the one hand, the state infamously capitulated to the religious right-wing agenda towards the end of last year, while the military establishment is pushing ahead with its militant mainstreaming project. This is to say nothing of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s continued funding of a controversial madrassa that has produced the likes of the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban. Yet on the other, the ruling regime has recently (albeit it extremely belatedly) taken steps to curb extremist rhetoric being played out in the federal capital’s mosques.

Plans are afoot to try and reclaim control over Friday sermons. Initially, the idea was for the relevant authorities to issue written material towards this end. Though a meeting with religious scholars, prayer leaders and mosque administrators agreed upon a checklist of approved topics; with 35 having been thus far agreed upon. These include: fundamental human rights, the five pillars of Islam and the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) family.

This is certainly a move in the right direction. Though the question remains as to whether it is too little too late. After all, of Islamabad’s 980 mosques and imambargahs — only 89 fall under capital control. Meaning that a better first step might have been to enforce registration of all. Then, the state would have been in a stronger position to crack down on hate speech and incitement to sectarianism. Indeed, the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) that was drawn up on a non-partisan basis following the APS massacre provides that all mosques, madrassas and imambargahs be subject to government registration. In fact, the promise to have this done pre-dates the NAP. This was one of the oft-repeated pledges of the Musharraf and subsequent regimes. Yet here we are in same place in 2018.

That this latest endeavour comes as the clock is ticking on elections makes it hard not to view this as mere political opportunism. Nevertheless, any moves that help to counter new and existing legislation targeting minorities must be supported. Especially in a country where the judiciary has seen fit to introduce declarations of faith. That Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui appeared to single out the already long-beleaguered Ahmadi community does not bode well for the future of this country. This, despite the fact that the NAP calls for the protection of all Pakistan’s religious minorities.

Thus the onus of responsibility to effectively monitor mosques will ultimately rest with the incoming set-up. And whoever is brought to the helm had better take this seriously. For far too long have Pakistanis been made to say, never again.  *

Published in Daily Times, March 29^th 2018.