For whom the bell tolls

THE passage to eternity is described variously in all cultures. One hits the bucket, just dies or passes away and becomes deceased or the late so and so. If one dies in an accident or a fight or a police encounter or even on the battle field, generally and simply stating the fact, one is said to have been killed. In our Muslim culture too one either dies, undergoes transfer, passes away, meets with the Real Creator (Khaliq-i-Haqiqi), or gives up the ghost to the Ultimate Reality (Jaan bahaq) or becomes Allah’s dear one. In exceptional cases, one is martyred — this last while fighting in the way of God, while defending one’s homeland, during child birth or even while performing one’s rightful duty. In war one’s enemy is said to have been killed and one’s own soldier is said to have embraced martyrdom.

In secular West nowadays almost all who die whether after an heart attack, in an accident or while fighting for one’s homeland are just described in physical terms to have simply died or have been killed or murdered. Civilians who get killed in war situations are quietly bundled away as collateral damage. Death in the West is not celebrated as a punishment, reward or elevation of some kind. We happen to be more judgmental in this respect. For instance no matter how bravely he fought, the enemy soldier is always dispatched to hell while our own dead, having been martyred, are said not to have died but achieved eternal life and are described to be living right here in this world; only we cannot see them with our sinful eyes. Whether they await their passage to Paradise being in a living state or are immediately transferred there in an ‘as-is-where-is’ state is a technical matter we need to consult the ulema about.

Habitual nit pickers who must find fault with any thing that moves have been busy thrashing the issue of the mode of one’s passage to eternity since the bloody end of the Lal Masjid encounter. Many people who regarded the Ghazi brothers as terrorists were unhappy when the junior of the duo was described as a martyr even in a headline of this paper. On the other hand the vocal clergy disputed those who described the cleric’s death as just a killing. They claimed he was a martyr as he died fighting for the cause of Islam, the enforcement of shariah and fighting immorality and lewdness in society. They claimed it was a sin to say he was killed. When in a popular talk show on TV a government official described his death as giving up his ghost to the Almighty, i.e., being ‘jaan bahaq’, the anchor congratulated him for using appropriate terminology for the Ghazi’s death which was earlier being described officially as ‘halakat’ or killing.

The debate is still on and yet we have no way to determine the controversial passing into eternity of these people who had been desecrating the house of God by turning it into an arsenal. And now that the Taliban fighting government in Waziristan have threatened the press and media against terming our army casualties and those who are dying in suicide attacks as martyrs, it was time our religious scholars set about drawing up the exact requirements for achieving martyrdom in Islam. This is an urgent issue unless we wish to have a confused tally of martyred numbers that we would not be able to handle in the remaining years of the millennium. We should have a system like our Roman Catholic brothers have in which sainthood is conferred upon persons, long since dead and buried, after lengthy deliberations by senior clergy sitting formally in assembly under the papal chair.

Our reclusive friend M. Shujaullah, a veteran mediaperson himself from our national carrier’s Great People days and a human rights activist, who is known for his no nonsense bluntness and intolerance of chicanery, took me to task for attributing hurt dignity (in my last column) to the elder Ghazi when he was produced on TV in his escape camouflage. He asserted that those who committed crimes in open defiance of the law, kept arms and raised frenzied juvenile battalions to destroy property and even kill innocent people could have no claim on hurt pride or bruised dignity that could only be the trait rightfully of those who respected the life and liberty of others and were responsible members of society. He said in his view calling Ghazi Abdul Rashid a martyr was a travesty of the very concept of ‘shahadat’ and amounted to insulting all those whom we universally respect as martyrs.

Having blasted me into a corner and terming media coverage of the Lal Masjid mutiny as an ‘unmitigated disaster’, he thus summed up the bloody business in a pithy email titled ‘Haq and Baatil’:— “Rather than taking it as a straightforward law- and-order matter, the government adopted a namby-pamby attitude toward the law breakers. No one had a hard look into the possible goings on in the mysterious caverns under a vast area. The most ‘sticking’ evidence against terrorist activities of the chief cleric was brushed under the carpet on the advice of no less a person than Mr Ijazul Haq himself. There are strong suspicions now that suicide bombers and terrorists were being recruited, trained and brainwashed in the underground web of tunnels behind the facade of a madressah for girls. Here was a safe haven right in the heart of Islamabad which no one could suspect.

During the seven days of operations, the government was most ill-served by its media management team... the half truths, perceptions and propaganda, being pedalled by the electronic and part of the print media, needed to be corrected and rebutted on an hourly basis. Perhaps the media was too sure of its views and version of facts and would not believe the PR people. The most reprehensible role, perhaps unwittingly, had been that of the media which projected some of the most violent law-breakers as heroes. Clips of the “Shaheed” Ghazi were telecast hour-after-hour, as breaking news, for some two days — all in the name of showing truth! “Dawn’s 6-column banner headline described him as a shaheed. An Islamabad Press Club official’s outburst against the government was highly intemperate for no good reason. Many tend to blame the current spate of suicide bombings on the hype and frenzy generated by the media... The government had been basing their estimates of numbers and quantities on the cleric’s claims. Now when these figures didn’t turn out to be true, the media has been crying foul as (if) the government had a vested interest in hiding the dead. Even now, they expect the government to render an account of the dead as if they had been handed over charge of the living... Things have come to such a pass that the dividing line between the state and the government has been completely obliterated.”

Shujaullah thinks it is the media’s foremost duty to keep this distinction in mind. When it comes to the state, we should close ranks and all stand behind it. The martyrs, in the meanwhile, can take care of themselves.

Walling HIV/AIDS out of the Walled City

SHE does not want to be identified as the one suffering from HIV/AIDS. Cooped up in one corner of the room Chand Bibi, a 43-year-old woman, looks rather running low on energy. Her pale face needs not be diagnosed as anaemic by a doctor to provoke empathy of those sitting in the room. But the 50 or so women and children, gathered at a makeshift conference hall at the Bhati Gate, in the Walled City, do not know that Chand Bibi has AIDS.

They have been invited by the Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan, an ecumenical non-profit organisation working in development area, to educate them about a subject considered taboo in society. Chand Bibi, who refuses to go public with her disease, is attending the instructional meeting on the understanding with the convenor of the meeting, Ms Ayesha Hassan, that she would not be asked to speak or discuss her condition with the other women. “There is a wide discrepancy in the actual figure of HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan. The government estimates about 2,500 cases, while the UNAIDS has stated the number of cases to be between 70,000 to 80,000,” says Ms Ayesha Hassan.

For the past three years, the NGO has been involved in the ‘Community Awareness Programme on HIV/AIDS’. The programme focuses primarily on those people who have little or no access to adequate health facilities and even less knowledge about what HIV/AIDS entails. It is at one of these sessions that Chand Bibi finds herself listening to Ms Hassan trying to educate women on the fatality of the disease.

The confidentiality of Chand Bibi’s condition makes it difficult to ascertain how or when she contracted HIV leading to AIDS. A brief profile given by Ms Hassan indicates that her truck driver husband died under ‘mysterious’ circumstances. “Her husband died three years ago, leaving her with four children. That’s as far as I can tell you because she insists her husband was healthy,” informs Ms Hassan.

Non-acceptance and lack of willingness for transparency on the part of women are some of the challenges facing a number of non-profit organisations working on HIV/AIDS.

Statistics gathered by the Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan claim that an estimated three million drug addicts exist in Pakistan, out of whom an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 contract the disease by injecting drugs. “Many of these drug addicts are also professional blood 'donors’, making the probability of HIV transmission from them to the general population extremely high,” says Ayesha Hasan.

Shahnaz Parveen, familiar with the pattern of AIDS, lost her younger brother who was a drug addict. “It is the worst kind of disease someone can get in this society because the doctors are also afraid to treat the patient. I am sure he got it from wearing second hand shoes which he had bought,” exclaims Shahnaz Parveen during the instructional meeting.

Ms Parveen is not the only one ignorant of the causes. Most of the women believe that HIV is transferred through mosquito bite or is as uncomplicated as the simple use of sharing the same towel as the patient’s. The rest reserve their understanding of the disease to its transmission through sexual contact only.

Under this community awareness programme activities are carried out with young impressionable school children to make them more aware of the fatality of the HIV/AIDS.

They are encouraged to articulate their understanding of the disease through poster and slogan writing competitions. “Students also take part in quiz competitions and speeches,” explains Ayesha Hasan.

During these sessions Ms Hasan informs the group about the HIV/AIDS programme being run by the government of Pakistan. “We have told them about the free of charge facility run by the government for conducting HIV blood tests, which they are advised to take regularly. We also distribute easy to read booklets and at the end of the session ask participants to sum up what they have learnt. In the beginning of the programme most of them didn’t know much about essential hygiene practices. Now, few of them advise their husbands to use new razors for shaving,” states Ms Hasan.

The programme emphasises on dispelling myths and stigma attached to this disease and provides women with information on how to prevent HIV from spreading. “According to an estimate, women are 40 times more at risk of getting AIDS and also happen to be its carrier which can be passed on to children. That’s why it is important to educate them as it might be the only difference between life and death,” believes Ms Ayesha Hasan.