Much hullabaloo has been made about the arrest of Captain Safdar in Karachi. That it was politically motivated is true. After all there is absolutely nothing wrong with chanting “vote koizzat do” (Give respect due to the vote) next to sarcophagus of Jinnah who spent most of political career as an elected member of the Indian Legislative Assembly. In any event Jinnah’s actual grave is in another sarcophagus located in the room below. Like the Lincoln’s Memorial in Washington, Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum has become a site of political protest and that is how such symbols dedicated to great heroes should be. So there was nothing wrong with Captain Safdar’s actions. Much more troubling is Captain Safdar’s presence there for other reasons. He is a foulmouthed bigot who disrespected the Quaid by questioning his choice of the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Captain Safdar’s presence there is perhaps as offensive as Trump’s presence at the Lincoln Memorial.
That is the problem with Pakistani politics today. The government appointed a known bigot as an SAPM for religious harmony no less. PDM has at its head Fazlur Rahman whose bigotry knows no bounds. If PDM succeeds in overthrowing this damnable government, one fears that Mullah Fazlur Rahman will seek his pound of flesh i.e. the post of either president or prime minister. It must be remembered here that in 2002 Imran Khan voted for Fazlur Rahman in the election for the prime minister against the current foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (who he dismissed as corrupt) and Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali. If Fazlur Rahman ever becomes the prime minister or the president, it will be disastrous for Pakistan. Fazlur Rahman’s connections to the Taliban are well known as well as bigotry against minority groups in Pakistan which he inherited from his father Mufti Mahmood. Mufti Mahmood, who in the pre-partition stood against Jinnah and the Muslim League, had once called Pakistan a sin. He also led the movement against the Ahmadis in 1974. Pedigree matters. This is an especially a poor one. Putting Mullah Fazlur Rahman in the driving seat will mean he can veer PDM in a direction that others might not agree with. With bigots like Captain Safdar inside the PMLN and with PPP having its own share of religious populists who consider 1974 a great achievement for the PPP, Pakistan will be driven into a reactionary cesspool of Maulvis which will further damage this theocracy, as if such a thing was even possible. Events like the shunning of AtifMian and Abdus Salam before him are symptoms of a debilitating disease that eating at the core of our body politic. Pakistan is already a sectarian hellhole but giving the Mullahs unbridled power will take away the little space some religious and sectarian minorities have in this country. It might even mean outright genocide of one particular group, which need not be named. Obviously this genocidal tendencies date back to the 1940s when Congress backed Majlis-e-Ahrar began its hateful campaign against Ahmadis, which Jinnah resolutely resisted.
Our problems stem from the 1973 Constitution, which is a majoritarian theocratic document that is entirely unsuited for this century. Freedom of speech and expression is subject to vague terms such as the glory of Islam
Credit must be given to Jinnah. Jinnah refused to ever give into Mullah pressure. Quite the contrary he took credit for freeing Muslims from “reactionary maulvis”. Undeterred Jinnah refused to give into Majlis-e-Ahrar’s blackmail. It still stings Ahrari Mullahs and their progeny. As mentioned earlier one such person who masquerades as a historian and calls himself a political scientist -and the namesake of the bigoted third rate novelist whose ridiculous novels were the staple of young children growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, self included- continues his anti-Jinnah propaganda unfettered in this country while patriots who dare criticize the narrow state narrative are shut up. None of the politicians of today have the courage to stand up to the Mullahs. They have instead ceded all ground to them.
Our problems stem from the 1973 Constitution, which is a majoritarian theocratic document that is entirely unsuited for this century. Freedom of speech and expression is subject to vague terms such as the glory of Islam. It is because of this constitution religious populism is the staple of political parties and throws up people like Mullah Fazlur Rahman despite their anti-Pakistan history. It also normalizes religious bigotry in the name of religion. Every elected representative has to swear an oath to undefined Islamic Ideology i.e. even Non-Muslims. What is needed is a complete overhaul of the Constitution of Pakistan. We must have a secular democratic constitution that is befitting a modern nation state. Without this there can be no progress and we will continue to suffer at the hands of bigots who will remain mascots on both sides, despite the fact that no religious party has succeeded at the polls. Pakistan does not belong to Sunni Muslim Male Punjabis alone. It is a diverse country and Pakistan’s institutions must reflect that diversity.
The writer is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan