| 14 January 2005 | Friday | 03 Zilhaj 1425 |
Gilgit bleeds yet again
Tsunamis of two sorts
Muslims in large numbers, from all corners of the world, gather once every year in Makkah to perform the essential Haj pilgrimage. The number of pilgrims to the sacred land is increasing manifold; but the positive results, if any, are nowhere to be seen.
Like other rituals, Haj is also seen as a congregation with no definite purpose attached to it except to absolve oneself of all sins and enter paradise. Many go to Haj with their bodies and few take their minds and reasoning.
Haj literally means "intention" and also stands for "prevention". There are three levels of this pilgrimage: The Haj of the body (walking, standing, collecting and throwing), the Haj of the mind (performing the rites with understanding) and the Haj of the heart (performed in total submission to the Almighty).
Every religious leader, thinker and priest repeatedly claims that Islam provides the solution to all problems faced by mankind, but these problems are never identified or mentioned.
In contemporary times, Muslims are being ridiculed, criticized, victimized and insulted for creating "problems and subjecting humanity to suffering and terror".
The most common belief is that Muslims in general and Islam in particular cannot provide any solution to the problems of mankind. A nation which cannot resolve its own problems will always look to and depend upon others and can never offer any suitable and satisfactory solution.
Muslims have to understand and realize the true spirit of all forms of prayers, especially Haj. It is the biggest congregation of human beings in one place and has a definite purpose of total dedication to divine Islamic values, which would ultimately prove beneficial to the whole of mankind.
A cursory look at man's social history shows the purpose of Haj in a better way. Unlike the western philosophers, the Quran does not delve into details about the origin of society or social life.
It says "All mankind were once but one single community and only later did they begin to hold divergent views, and had it not been for a decree that had already gone forth from the Sustainer, all their differences would indeed have been settled (from the outset) (10:19)".
In other words, mankind would not have contended with one another after having received all evidence of the truth. They would all have held the same views (2:253).
Since, however, such uniformity would have precluded man's intellectual, moral and social development, God has left to their reason, aided by prophetic guidance, to find their way to the truth (2:213).
According to Muhammad Asad, the expression 'Ummat-e-Wahid' (one single community) describing the original state of mankind, does not propound as might appear at first glance, the idea of a mythical 'Golden Age' obtaining in the dawn of man's history.
What is alluded to in the verse is no more than the relative homogeneity of instinctive perceptions and inclinations characteristic of man's primitive social order.
Since this homogeneity was based on a lack of intellectual and emotional differentiation rather than on a conscious agreement among the members of society, it was bound to disintegrate in the measure of man's subsequent development.
As his thought and life became more and more complex, his emotional capacity and needs, too, became more differentiated. Conflicts of views and interests and different political and social ideals and priorities came to the fore and mankind ceased to be "one single community".
Gradually, this gap widened and nations came into existence leading to more nations. Boundaries were marked, walls erected, iron curtains drawn and nations were on the lookout for their prey.
The divine plan is to reunite man and for this purpose messengers (prophets) have been sent (2:213). The Haj congregation should be the main source of propagating God's message and system which this humanity need so badly. It is not all about the hereafter; it is about purifying oneself to lead a good life as emphasized in the Quranic prayer the pilgrims recite (2:201).
The Divine Revelation, in all ages, has always announced that race, colour, language, nation and nationality can never be the basis of superiority or man's domination by man. Despite the different nationalities, colours, races and languages, man is still a part of mankind. Those who do not accept this truth are termed as unbelievers.
This in essence is also the two-nation concept. This message was given practical shape by Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham) who left everything including his parents to settle in a desolate place called Makkah and laid the foundation of a new nation.
The pilgrimage and the rites connected with it are stated to be symbols of man's surrender to God. Haj is a micro- representation of the entire universal experience and man's unique position in it.
Islamic traditions trace its origins to the appearance of man on earth. Of all pilgrimages of history, only the Haj has survived. It is a unique form of collective lbadah (total submission) by a community of believers who seek Allah's mercy.
The Kaaba is not the destination, it is the starting point of the pilgrim's promise and commitment to cast away his bad ways and begin afresh his new Allah-centred life.
The system of which the Kaaba has been declared as a centre, is the one which Ibrahim (Abraham) and Ismail (Ishmael) set up in order to propagate and practise the divine permanent values of Islam which would bring universal peace and harmony.
The Quran says, 'O you who believe if you aspire to attain Ibrahim's standing then you must follow his path and emulate his conduct. We had insisted that the builders of the Kaaba Ibrahim and Ismail should make this place the centre of a universal system undefiled by man-made beliefs and ideas' (2:125).
This centre was to be reserved for the organization and training of momineen (believers) who submit to the laws of God and their purpose in life would be to keep a vigil so that humanity is protected from danger and the outstanding problems are resolved.
Building the Kaaba Ibrahim prayed to Allah "O Sustainer of all creations make this habitat a sanctuary for the oppressed people of the world" (2:136 and 95:3) "and grant all the bounties of life abundantly" (14:37) to those who believe in the truth of His laws and in the hereafter. Allah said, "Verily they will receive life's bounties.
Regarding those who reject the divine laws they too in accordance with Our physical laws will get immediate gains of life (17:18,19,20) but would eventually become wretched (2:126).
Continuing their prayer as they raised the walls of the Kaaba, Ibrahim and Ismail said, "O our Sustainer, our supplication is that by associating with this centre we and our future generations should live according to your code directives.
Our Sustainer, show us the way whereby we can reach the destination you have promised for humanity and continue to receive Your bounties and blessings for such is Your law that it brings the means of nurture to anyone who makes an effort to obey it" (2:127-129).
This was the way of life followed by Ibrahim which made him the chosen one both in this world and the hereafter. He also exhorted his sons to do so. Likewise the venerable ancestor of the Jews Yaqoob (Jacob) also upheld the same way of life and told his children that they should abide by the system ordained for them by the Almighty throughout their lives (2:132).
When the pilgrims raise their right hand in the direction of the Black stone (Hajr-e-aswad) and say 'Bismillah Allah Akbar', they make a solemn pledge they will honour their commitment to lead a life in accordance with Allah's directives. They reaffirm this pledge several times during Haj.
The annual congregation provides an opportunity for the believers from all parts of the world to become acquainted with the many social and political problems that confront the various geographically separated nations.
When Ibrahim prayed to God to create favourable conditions and fruitful sustenance in Makkah for people to become inclined towards it (14:37), he was not referring to the concrete structure of Kaaba; but the Quranic system of which Kaaba was the core.
The seven-fold circumambulation (tawaf) is one of the rites of the Haj which indicates that all human beings ought to have the idea of God's Oneness for their centre.
The Kaaba is a source of guidance unto all mankind full of clear messages and whosoever enters it finds inner peace (397). The few hours of stay (wuqaf) at Arafat is the most important in a pilgrim's life as this gathering is the core of Haj congregation.
It provides a foretaste of the Day of Judgement. The message of Arafat is simple: Turn, repent and submit to Allah. At this place the Prophet spoke on many issues including racism and women's rights and called on those present to spread this message to those not there. Today, many go to Haj without any knowledge of this sermon.
In the pre-Islamic period, too, the Haj was performed but only for fun and frolic. The Kaaba under the Quraish was the centre of Arab social life and the congregation was mainly festive in nature.
The Arabic word hujjat (proof or conclusive argument) is also a derivative of the word Haj. That is why the Quranic proofs have been called 'Hujjatul Balagha' (2:149).
These proofs have to be presented in a logical and responsible way for the solution of problems prevailing in present times. The Quran did not do away with Haj congregations, but after the conquest of Makkah it was brought in line with the directives of God.
In the 9th year of the Hijra the Prophet (PBUH) did not go to Makkah but sent Abu Bakr as his representative. In 10 Hijri he himself performed the Haj and delivered the last sermon with the first proclamation of human rights.
The annual congregation free from all prejudices of race, colour, and language was a true reflection of Islamic values. Apart from Muslims from far corners of Arabia, government officials were also invited. Pilgrims were free to discuss their grievances.
For this big congregation the plains of Arafat provided the right place (Arafat means occasion or mutual introduction or 'Ta'aruf'). The urgent problems of the day were discussed and the head of state or his representative in his sermon (khutba) outlined the programme and plans for the next year to be followed and implemented by Muslims in their respective areas of influence.
Haj in modern times has become more of an individual worship. As Islam has been changed into a religion from deen, man-made concepts have side tracked the main purpose of all ibadah which means total submission to Allah's directives, and not worship. The lack of positive results is mainly due to the divisions among Muslims.
A mammoth congregation like Haj should create fear and awe among the others. This important source of Muslim strength has been hijacked by obscurantists, politicians, bigots and commercial entrepreneurs who are the beneficiaries.
Weak nations like us can only abuse our enemies. Muslims simply pray during the Haj and return empty-handed without pondering over the real issues and evaluating their role in the uplift of the Muslim ummah.
Gilgit bleeds yet again
Gilgit is once again bleeding. The situation turned ugly on January 8 when Agha Ziaudin Rizvi, a prominent religious leader, was injured in an attack; he succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.
This incident angered the supporters of Mr Rizvi, and they unleashed a spree of killing and violence. The mob, spearheaded by weapon-brandishing youths, killed 12 people while property worth millions, including dozens of vehicles, was damaged and burned. Curfew was imposed and the military was called out to help the administration restore order.
The situation remains tense and the people are living in a state of fear and panic. Many, including women and children, are stranded at different places. They have no contact with their families and little hope of reaching them homes owing to the curfew.
The shortage of food items and fuel for cooking and heating purposes in the harsh, cold weather is yet another problem the people have to face, not to mention the suffering of the sick, who have no way of reaching a doctor or procuring medicine.
The government has completely failed to protect the life and property of the citizens. It has not learnt from the experience of June 2004 when a weeklong curfew was imposed after bloody clashes erupted over the issue of the Islamiat syllabus, and has not put in place any contingency plan to deal with such kinds of eventualities.
Disregarding the inconvenience to the people, and instead of cracking down on the troublemakers, the Gilgit administration's routine method of handling similar crises is to impose a curfew in the area.
This has become the way of governance. The administration should ensure the writ of law, instead of following a policy that is tantamount to one of appeasement. Miscreants and criminals must be nabbed and punished, and the victims appropriately compensated.
The military/civil administration that has an effective monitoring role in the Northern Areas, must be held accountable, and heads should roll for not ensuring security in the sensitive region.
All efforts must be made to apprehend the attackers and pinpoint the reasons behind the assassination attempt. Likewise, nobody should be allowed to get away by giving the pretext of being caught up in the mob violence.
What must also be eliminated is the dangerous trend of well-organized teenagers armed with lethal weapons carrying out executions behind the smokescreen of mob violence.
The history of Gilgit's sectarian violence goes back to the eighties. Not many know of the hundreds killed and the property worth millions destroyed. Neither is there any indication of how many of the culprits were arrested and how many punished.
This state of affairs is primarily the result of the low priority accorded to the area by successive governments who have adhered to a consistent policy of sweeping serious issues under the carpet instead of addressing them.
While the administration knows only too well that the area is prone to sectarian violence, it has not taken any concrete steps to prevent flare-ups of the kind witnessed recently. This reflects the apathy of the administration that has become hostage to a few miscreants with vested interests.
Gilgit-Baltistan deserves a full-time government. The present chief executive, the minister for Kana (Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Affairs) cannot function from Islamabad.
Executive powers must be transferred to locally elected representatives in Gilgit, and a strong governor appointed for supervision. There is no mention or any reference of Gilgit-Baltistan (Northern Areas) either in the Constitution of Pakistan nor in the interim constitution of Azad and Jammu Kashmir. The area remains a classic example of constitutional neglect.
The Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) elections ended without any real transfer of power to the elected members because the minister for Kana remains the chief executive, and constitutional and other rights for the people of the area remain low on the priority agenda. There are no signs of even introducing a local government system.
Kana continues to play the role of an obstructionist and enjoys undisputed monopoly over the area and its people. The ever-increasing legitimate demand by the people for an interim constitutional status, until the settlement of the Kashmir imbroglio, has been falling on deaf ears, despite a clear verdict by Supreme Court in 1999 on the issue.
Meanwhile, focusing on the present state of affairs, the administration needs to initiate a damage control exercise to bring the law and order situation in Gilgit strictly under its control. This can only be achieved if the administration makes an all out effort to apprehend those behind the present mayhem, without any discrimination.
At the same time, it should plan and distribute a comprehensive compensation package for the families of those killed and injured, and for those whose property and vehicles have been damaged in the violence.
The curfew should be relaxed to enable the people to purchase supplies and to allow stranded individuals to reach their homes. Above all, the government must start working on plans to prevent the outbreak of future violence of this sort.
Tsunamis of two sorts
The world's largest seismic dislocation since the 1940s, which occurred in the Indian Ocean on December 26, was catastrophic. When two tectonic plates shifted under the Andaman Sea they created a tsunami of terrible intensity, wreaking immense destruction in Sumatra, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, even the east coast of Africa.
As each day has passed, casualty figures mount and mount. At first, 20,000 deaths were reported; the death toll has now climbed to 150,000. Five million are reported homeless. There is every reason to believe that both figures will increase as rescue workers reach areas as yet unsurveyed.
World response has been swift and generous. Offers of aid - food, money, transport - have led to huge rescue operations and the relatively swift provision of food and clean water.
Even in the United States, where the generosity of the people far outstrips the miserly commitment to human welfare of the current business-oriented political establishment, President Bush was forced by public opinion to increase US contributions to the relief effort from $35 million to $350 million.
Private donations augment public funds, and help for the two most severely hit nations, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, is well under way. The tsunami and the vast devastation it occasioned have caught the attention of the world.
Nature, many have realized, is not to be controlled: it continually reminds us that human life is contingent. At the same time, billions have understood, watching images on television or listening to eyewitness reports on radio, that we are all united on this globe we inhabit.
Tragedies which occur in one part of our planet affect us all by reminding us that those made wretched could, but for the grace of accident or fate, be ourselves.
The earthquake has also revealed to many a difference between more developed nations, which have put in place tsunami warning stations in the Pacific (and have communications infrastructure able to make use of such warnings), and less developed nations, which do not have such easy access to funding, and therefore, have made such warning stations a low priority. Despite the fact that we live on one globe, disasters have more severe repercussions in impoverished nations than wealthy ones.
Still, another tsunami - metaphorical but no less real - has crested beyond the shores of the nations of the world, and is heading toward those shores, threatening devastation to both underdeveloped and developed nations.
It will spare India and China, but will wreak havoc on Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, possibly Pakistan, and a host of other nations, not excepting the United States. The worst consequences will come in the poorest places.
About this tsunami, not natural in origin but humanly created, and therefore capable of being prevented by human intervention, there is little public recognition and almost no outcry of concern. Indeed, dominant financial interests have made certain that no steps will be taken to prevent the destruction that it will occasion.
In 1973 a Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) set international textile quotas, providing a large number of developing nations with access to new manufacturing sectors and, more important, enabling them to generate large numbers of new jobs. Those quotas expired on January 1.
The ensuing new economy of textiles will transform the world. New wealth will be amassed, new jobs created. And millions of current workers, some in the most impoverished areas of the world, will be permanently thrown out of work. (Business Week reported that the end of MFA quotas could mean losses of 30 million jobs.)
The nations inhabited by these newly and soon-to-be unemployed will likely plunge into a downward economic spiral unlike anything those nations have experienced in recent decades.
What is so appalling is that this tsunami, created by greed and an ideological commitment to 'free trade,' can be prevented. But there are few warning systems in place: the mass media and even the intellectual centres in universities serve the interests of the rich and powerful. And when the tidal wave of massive unemployment occurs it will not be - picturesque enough to appear on television screens.
Yet the suffering brought about by this tidal wave of unemployment and the national economic catastrophes which ensue will quite literally dwarf the immense suffering which has been the consequence of the historic tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Textile manufacture, and what it can do to working people, is far less photogenic than natural disaster. For almost two and a half centuries the textile industry has been a mixed blessing, providing employment on a large scale - but almost always at low wages and in extremely difficult working conditions.
Let's step back a moment and look at a broad swath of economic history. The production of textiles and apparel can be called, with good reason, the great motor of economic development.
The industrial revolution began in Britain, occasioned by the invention of the spinning jenny and the mechanical shuttle, which in the 18th century made it possible for machines to do much of the work historically performed by human hands.
It is fruitless to argue whether Britain's navy or its textile manufacture or its banks made that nation into a great imperial power: the navy protected and expanded the shipping routes which were essential to textile trade, and the textile trade created the profits which enriched the London banks and underwrote the costs of the world's most potent navy.
Likewise, Germany's emergence as a world power in the 19th century was also based on the textile industry - although not in textile manufacture directly. Germany's development of the chemical dyes which supplanted plant-based dyes in textile manufacture created not just great profits, but also a strong chemical industry which served as the industrial armature for one of the world's great producers of munitions. Two world wars were the indirect results.
But textile industry jobs - both the production of cloth, and the sewing of fabric into clothing - have been, since the onset of the industrial revolution, low-paying jobs.
As industrialists turned their attention to high-priced items, first cars and then electronics, they shipped low-paying textile jobs to underdeveloped areas internally and then externally.
For example, immigrant communities in the north of the US, and later low-wage agrarian areas of the American south, had an influx of such jobs; when labour costs rose, those jobs were sent to low wage nations overseas.
Under the 1973 MFA, with its set-asides to enable nations to achieve a small slice of market share of the world need for clothing, underdeveloped nation after underdeveloped nation used clothing manufacture as a means to provide jobs to its poorest citizens.
Four years ago, wanting to write a report on what international clothing manufacture looks like in the daily life in a developed nation, I visited a local Wal-Mart (the world's largest chain of stores) and began reading labels in clothing. Poland, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Guatemala, Nepal, Turkey, Kenya, the Philippines. The list ran on and on, to over 50 countries.
As Mark Weisbrot, an economist with Washington's Centre for Economic and Policy Research said recently, "These quotas were there for a reason, so that some of the poorest developing countries would have a chance to have an apparel and textile industry and use that as a stepping stone for development."
Textile manufacture provides jobs, but the jobs are a mixed blessing. To be sure, weavers and more importantly today sewers earn wages, which enables those workers to enter into and even survive in a cash economy. But textile workers have, since the origin of textile factories in Britain in the 18th century, always and everywhere been lowly paid and badly exploited.
This is not the place to argue whether the location of exploitative shops in Bangladesh and El Salvador and Kenya are good or bad for those national economies. Certainly, the textile industry provides not just large numbers of jobs, it also provides important new sources of the foreign exchange so necessary for a nation's economic well-being and development.
Yet, for every increased dollar of needed foreign currency which flows into those nations, new problems emerge: the uncontrolled growth of cities, gruelling labour, the expansion of urban poverty, dramatic new inequities of wealth.
The largest benefits from textiles and apparel accrue to those who own textile and clothing factories, and in the post-modern world, to those huge multinational conglomerates which merchandize and sell clothing.
In developed nations, and increasingly in developing ones, the "value added" which comes through advertising brand names is far, far higher, in many products, than the value of the raw materials, weaving, and sewing which go into those products.
The profits on the manufacture of this clothing make a small group of entrepreneurs rich. Let us look, for instance, at Nike, the world's wealthiest maker of sports shoes and sports clothing.
Here is a fiscal analysis by the US-based National Labour Committee: "Nike sneakers made in China by young women paid 20 cents an hour arrive in the US with a total customs value of $14.61. That $14.61 includes every conceivable expense - the materials, labour, shipping, and the profit to Nike's contractor in China."
That profit to the contractor is not inconsiderable: it has been the driving force behind the growth of the new wealth in China. "Nike then turns around and sells the sneakers in the US for $135, which represents a 924 per cent mark-up."
What labour earns is pitifully small, especially as compared to the profits made by the multinational conglomerates, as another example reveals: a worker in the Dominican Republic who sews a sweatshirt for Nike earns eight cents ($0.08 dollar) for a garment which retails in the US for $22.99. Now, with the expiration of the Multi-Fibre Agreement quotas, the world enters a new era, one of global free trade in textiles and clothing.
(To be concluded)
The writer was Ful bright Visiting Professor of English at Kolkata University. He teaches at the University of Vermont, US.