Daily Times

In a country like Pakistan — that has lost thousands of its citizens in terrorism — not talking about the relationship between violence and religion should constitute as a crime, an injustice bestowed upon its people by its own cognoscenti. To that I must affirm, the nation has generated a number of arguments, has evoked debates and explored various options to dig into the root cause of the problem.

Some of these arguments point at the lack of education, absence of resources, unaccounted corruption and massive poverty as the core issue. Others consider the vast network of religious seminaries, absence of government oversight and their affiliation with terrorist organisations as the determining factor. A few blame bad foreign policy decisions which prompted us to get involved in Afghanistan. Others argue that an intransigent approach which differentiates between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban has caused this instability. Some advance a step further and take aim at the infamous idea of ‘strategic depth’, our adversarial relationship with India or even the unsolved Kashmir issue as the root cause of our problems.

Now take a moment and unravel all these theories one by one. Do you notice a common theme? To me each one of them follow the same continuum that includes misuse of religious ideals, misinterpretation of Islamic laws and deliberate alteration of specific rules to combat threats into an offensive and pre-emptive strike. If one ponders further, one sees that in each scenario, it is Islam that is blamed, its sacred text disputed, its injunctions questioned and its image shattered. On top of this, the clerics can’t do a good job of coming up with a compelling explanation, defence or rebuttal either.

The solution to terrorism are made simple too. For ordinary folks it is presented as an effective operation against the planners, aiders and executors of terrorist activities. Essentially, everyone who takes the law into their hands must be arrested and face punishment. This is a judicial solution to our law and order problems. The comprehensive National Action Plan (NAP) reiterates the same mantra: ban on hate speeches, emphasis on the protection of minorities, zero tolerance for local militias.

To favour only one ideal creates a rigid dichotomy in society. Today we no longer value art and science as much as jingoistic bravado

Let us think about it outside the realm of faith and jurisprudence, and for a change give Islam a break. I believe another phenomenon is running parallel to the increased religiosity pervading our society which is abetting extremism and damaging our social fabric. I call that phenomenon ‘hyper-patriotism’, a type of patriotism in which gallantry becomes the only virtue that is respected and accepted in the country. As this ideology has taken hold, no other contribution in any field is appreciated: no other service is admired and no other attribute is approved if one does not offer to kill (the enemy) or be killed for the country.

Is it surprising then that when we eulogise death and lionise personal sacrifice so much, society get sturned upside down? Today our musicians, artists and actors are marginalised; the eccentricity of fashion designers is belittled and the peculiarity of philosophers is frowned upon. Doctors are projected as leeches, engineers as opportunists, bankers as money-grubbers and politicians as Machiavellian monsters.

What happens next? Whereas this practice discredits certain trends, it generates at least two different but interrelated reactions-both of whom we observe being rampant in Pakistan. First: a person with dubious credentials and reputation suddenly shows off his patriotism by supporting gallantry as the only virtue. A quality that stands alone and instantaneously whitewashes all the blemishes on a person’s character, making him look like a hero. On the other hand, an ideal gentleman is demonised as a culprit if he does not conform to a specific set of principles. We witness this attitude quite often. If we look closer, we realise the same technique is employed by the clerics who bring up Islam to cover their own transgressions, or politicians who bring up blasphemy to gain popular support.

Second: this practice to favour only one ideal creates a rigid dichotomy in society. Today we no longer value art and science as much as jingoistic bravado. This rigidity in our attitude, I believe, can lead to religious extremism as well, since the imprisoned mind won’t be able to possess the capability to process two conflicting ideas together. When nurtured by the state, this attitude eventually culminates in suicide bombings, attacks on airports and schools and the killing of soldiers and civilians.

Research on Terror Management Theory (TMT) —a concept that deals with the response of human beings to the inevitability of their own death — has also found that frequent reminders of one’s morality can lead to attitudes that imparts harsher reaction on those who differ from the convention. In simple words, people around you will not tolerate any deviance from mainstream ideas. Any difference of opinion will be considered apostasy or treachery.

How do we stop this trend? To start, we need to alter how we characterise our heroes and re-conceptualise how we glorify their achievements, incorporating peaceful intellectual pursuits as a matter of our pride too. It will include the work of artists, actors, painters, writers, bloggers, and musicians, not when we agree with them because they composed something to strengthen our point of view, but when we do not agree with their philosophy, or when they criticise, lampoon or censure our approach. That forbearance will, over a period of time, turn the society back from its upside-down position. How? First, because people will enjoy more options to venture into and excel in, and second, because they will obtain freedom from conformist pressures to pursue their passion and be qualified as equally patriotic.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, May 2^nd 2018.