KARACHI: Muslims urged to strengthen civil societies
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 23: Conditions are being created in Afghanistan in which the militant outfits could engage the Americans.
This was contended in a workshop on “The world after September 11: challenges and opportunities” on Saturday.
Dealing with domestic dimension of terrorism, Editor Herald, Aamir Ahmad Khan, held that Pakistan’s decision to ally with the US in the latter’s war on terror was never a consensus policy.
While the religious groups have differed with Musharraf regime on ideological grounds, the secular elements have resisted the government’s unqualified support to the US on the basis of its implications for the future of Pakistan.
Mr Khan was of the view that the opposition to Pakistan’s alliance with the US represented a rare attempt from the civilian polity to influence Pakistan’s national security agenda.
He discussed the strategic adjustment the regime made internationally and domestically to evolve a possible security paradigm due to the Iraq situation.
He referred to the worldwide resentment against Washington’s unilateralism on Iraq and feared that this opposition would further intensify, gravely destabilising the world order.
Assistant Professor Mutahir Ahmed dealt with lineages between terrorism and religious extremists, saying that the issue of terrorism was becoming the most important political, cultural and social phenomenon in contemporary international politics.
He maintained that the ruling establishments of the Muslim world were generally undemocratic in nature, which had been responsible for religious extremism.
The alleged “terrorism of militant Islam” has become a subject of concern all over the globe, Dr Mutahir said, citing the incidents of 9/11 and targeting of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which were viewed as a threat to the Western civilization.
However, the supporters of Islamic militants viewed it differently, he said. “They criticized Israeli occupation of Palestine, Indian occupation of Kashmir, Russian occupation of Chechnya and the US occupation of Afghanistan.” In order to resolve these issues, he added, they pronounced Jihad as an Islamic way to fight the aggressors.
His contention was that those who claimed to be Islamists, only used Islam to strengthen their own political power.
The crux of the issue, he claimed, was the criticism of the West, particularly the US as the number one enemy of the Muslims, by the revivalist Muslim movements.
Al Qaeda or Taliban were the products of anarchy and symbolized the fragile nature of the societies existing in the Muslim world. Sheikhs, civil, military and semi-democratic dictators have been governing the fifty-seven states of the Muslim world. Ultimately, the entire state-society relationship is based on over-centralized power structure and anti-democratic tendencies.
The Muslim world, he said, should democratize their system and strengthen civil societies. In this way, Muslims can develop and progress. “If it fails to do so the future is very bleak for the entire Muslim world.”
Naeem Ahmed dealt with the impact of 9/11 on Pakistan-India relations. He said that the incident not only affected the US politics but also that of South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan.
The US politico-military campaign against global terrorism also reshaped new alliance system in South Asia, where Pakistan once again emerged as a frontline state in the war in Afghanistan, while India, to maximize its interests, offered its full support to the US by relating cross-border terrorism to the US war against terrorism.
He analyzed India-Pakistan relations with reference to border tensions, where both the countries have been facing economic losses due to suspension of rail, bus and air services.
The Sept 11 incident further deteriorated the relations between India and Pakistan, where both continue to maintain a bellicose stance and exchange angry rhetoric, undermining each other’s efforts and contribution in a war against terrorism.
Nausheen Wasi attempted to suggest some alternatives to make Saarc viable and competitive with other regional organizations.
Shamsul Muktadir of Bangladesh reflected Saarc’s perspective on terrorism. “Each and every state in the region has its own problem of terrorism and the phenomenon in South Asia is often related to political demands of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups.”
The problem of terrorism in Kashmir and Sri Lanka are an example. In both the cases, he maintained, the neighbouring states have been accused of supporting the insurgents. Hence it is a highly sensitive and controversial issue of interstate relations.
The principal source of terrorism in South Asia would be found in the ideological and cultural disputes between and within the nation states, he added.
Dr Shahid Hassan Siddiqui said the negative repercussions of Sept 11 included lower tax revenues, lower exports and transformation of unconducive investment climate into a hostile investment climate due to a series of terrorist activities in Pakistan.
The investment climate is being spoiled further, uncertainties deepened and new dangers created by statements of US officials regarding cross-border infiltration, series of attacks on Pakistan’s nuclear programme and even mention of possible reimposing of sanctions.
While it was recognized that Pakistan’s economy gained significantly in the post-Sept era but most of it could not be sustained mainly due to Pakistan’s role as a frontline state and the continued lack of confidence of domestic and foreign investors would continue to have negative repercussions in the foreseeable future.
He said the international financial institutions and many western countries could be blamed for acts of financial terrorism as they continued to provide loans to many Third World countries, including Pakistan, on political considerations, notwithstanding that it was in their knowledge that part of these funds were being siphoned off to the accounts of corrupt elements.
