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| February 01, 2008 | Friday | Muharram 22, 1429 |
Honing intelligence
Fireworks safety
‘Inheritors of paradise’
OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press
THOSE who believe in “evolution” just as a man of religion believes in God consider death as end of the process of evolution. But, according to the Quran, evolution doesn’t end with death.
CONVENTION demands that former judges abstain from freely expressing their opinion of political events for at least some time after they have retired or — as in Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s case — been arbitrarily deprived of their post. But the deposed Chief Justice was well within his rights to give a scathing response to Mr Musharraf’s uncalled for criticism of him during the president’s recent European tour. That it took so long in coming is, in fact, a bit surprising, considering the nature of the criticism which virtually took on the form of a well-orchestrated smear campaign. According to press reports, the president went to the extent of distributing a long list of Justice Chaudhry’s alleged misdemeanours among journalists at a meeting in London. Much of this is said to contain the same charges as those of the Mar 9 reference, which, as the deposed judge has pointed out in his open letter to world leaders, a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court had rejected as ‘illegal and unconstitutional’. It is unlikely then that President Musharraf’s attempts to convince the international community of the deposed judge’s improper conduct will be successful. This is especially so since his own credibility is being held in considerable doubt following his draconian measures last year to put curbs on democracy by silencing a judiciary that was finally seen as coming into its own, and suspending fundamental rights.
In displaying such unwarranted behaviour, President Musharraf has not done right by his office which should be above casting aspersions in public on the character of a person who once occupied the highest judicial post in the country. Morally, too, he is in the wrong by attacking a man who is detained and who has few means of defending himself against such charges — which have not been proved in a court of law — considering his restricted access to lawyers. In fact, it would not be wrong to suggest that Mr Musharraf is misusing his powers by indulging in such mudslinging.
To be taken seriously as a world leader, it would be in the president’s interest to show more decorum and modify his criticism of others, especially while abroad where presidents and prime ministers maintain at least a veneer of sophistication when talking of those opposed to their actions. Mr Musharraf’s famed ‘frankness’ may result in the opposite of the desired effect and, at a time when the chips are down, may be taken as a measure of his desperation and flagging political standing.
THE success of the operation against the militants in a Karachi neighbourhood serves to highlight the importance of precise and up-to-date intelligence in fighting terrorism. The operation was costly in terms of the lives lost; including those of two policemen, but the raid on the militants’ hideout and the arrest of some militants could not have been possible if the law enforcement authorities had not had accurate information about the activity and whereabouts of the criminals. Arms and ammunition, besides bomb making material, were recovered, and the police said it appeared the group was planning a major terrorist operation. Those who escaped in a hijacked car were later intercepted, two of them dying in a subsequent shootout.
What is significant about the Karachi incident and the success of the law enforcement agencies in apprehending the culprits is the role of intelligence gathering in this case. The fact is that there is no way of preventing terrorism except by nabbing the perpetrators of the crime even before they actually begin their wrongful operation. This pre-emptive action is possible only if the police is quick to pick up clues and trace those planning acts of violence. Thus it is important to note that no major act of terrorism has occurred in the US since 9/11 and in Britain since 7/7, because the police have been quick to act before the terrorist struck. This goes to show the success of these countries’ intelligence systems, helped, in no small measure, by the electronic gadgetry at their disposal. Militancy is now Pakistan’s number one problem. If there is any lesson to be learnt, it is that whenever a horrendous incident of violence has occurred, it has invariably been traced to the failure of our intelligence apparatus to do its job thoroughly. Given the nature of suicide bombings which are difficult to check on the scene where they take place, the role of the intelligence agencies assumes vital importance. This was evident in the case of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto — preceded by the bombing of her precession two months earlier — and the Lal Masjid episode when the law enforcers had presumably been caught unawares. They are expected to undertake the surveillance of suspects and potential sources of terrorism throughout the country and keep tabs on people within the establishment. The involvement of some serving personnel in several attempts on President Pervez Musharraf’s life shows that the militants’ tentacles have spread far and wide. Judicious cooperation with our ‘allies’ in the war on terror in the field of intelligence should produce better results if we were to get modern gadgetry and electronic tools and training for our personnel to trace out the brains behind suicide bombings.
DOES it have to take a tragic explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the heart of Rawalpindi city, which brought down a three-storey building and killed five people and injured eight others, to bring to public attention the continued existence of a thriving illegal fireworks business in the city? The latest fireworks accident is the fourth in the city since 1978 when the first major fireworks accident occurred that killed 65 people and injured over 100. On that occasion, subsequent raids the very next day on numerous fireworks godowns in the vicinity had provoked the shocking admission by the city authorities that a ‘large number’ of illegal firework stores and godowns existed in the city and cantonment areas, including two wholesale markets. The increasing frequency with which these fireworks-related accidents have been occurring in Rawalpindi since then — 1998, 2005, and now 2008 — is a reflection on the increasing impunity with which the business is being conducted in the city. More worrying is the fact that this also indicates the lack of adoption of safety standards by the fireworks business.
Countries which have legal fireworks businesses are usually also very proactive in maintaining high standards in the manufacture, storage and sale of fireworks. Apart from a model plan for the safe handling of fireworks, these countries also usually have consumer products safety commissions which closely monitor safety standards in the fireworks industry, beginning with the manufacturers who need to follow strict quality controls in making their products, and ending with the users who must be well informed about the safe and responsible use of fireworks. Thus alone can disastrous accidents be avoided. It is obvious that ad hoc raids on fireworks godowns, conducted after every major fireworks accident in Rawalpindi, is not the solution to the problem. If the authorities are unable to eliminate the illegal fireworks business in the city, perhaps it should consider regulating the business and setting safety standards. Whether fireworks constitute a legal or illegal business, safety is an important issue and explosions are usually avoidable accidents that can be prevented with caution and common sense. After all fireworks, as is the case with guns or dynamite, are only safe if properly handled.
Consider the implication of the following excerpt from the Divine Scripture: “Those who inherit Paradise as their permanent abode, were the product of moist earth, placed as seed in safe lodging. Then that drop of seed fashioned as a clot which turned into a lump on which were crafted little lump bones that were, later, clothed with flesh whereafter it turned into another kind of creation. Such are the divine ways of Creation, God being the best Creator. But, ultimately and surely, they will die to be raised again on the Day of Judgment” (Surah Al-Muminoon, Ayat 11-16).
Without challenging the modern scientific postulate, there is a consensus that, before the advent of man on earthly scene, numerous species of living creatures inhabited the planet for hundreds and thousands of years, and they perished to give ways for human supremacy and exploitation of earth’s resources. This happened strictly in accordance with the evolutionists’ law of the ‘survival of the fittest’.
Similarly, a man’s death doesn’t mean his extinction but entry into a new and subtler state of being that may last for thousands of years till resurrection in another form of life, call it ‘angelic’ or ‘etherial’. This will happen on the unpredictable Day of Judgment. When this event happens, those who had acquired angelic qualities in their life-time will find access to angelic zone, wherever it is located, and those who lagged behind and remained tainted with animal traits will have to bide time to be chastened to enter the angelic fold, which may be called by its popularly known name of Paradise.
According to Muslim mystics (Sufis) and those scholars who are inclined to mysticism, persons who have, by gradual progression, acquired the ability to gain access to Paradise will not enjoy undisturbed relaxation and respite there. Even after entering this ‘abode of peace’, the door of spiritual progress will not close on them. They will not be left alone to stagnate wherever they are made to stay. They will, in accordance with their latent faculties, move on and on to complete their journey to destination assigned by Divine Wisdom.
In the words of the Quran, “man is created in the best structure; then he is reduced to the lowest of the low, barring those who believe (in God) and do good deeds deserving an ‘ajr’, which can be translated as wage for unfailing labour” (Surah Watteen, Ayat 6). Those who are mystically inclined interpret also the following verses of the Quran in support of their notion of constant effort by souls of the “inheritors of Paradise” to do better and better instead of remaining content with status quo. The verse in question is: “Those believers who will be lodged in gardens under which rivers flow, their ‘light’ running before them as also on their right hand, will pray: ‘O, Lord! Make our ‘light’ perfect for us and grant us forgiveness’ (Surah Al-Tahrim, Ayat 8).
Man of moral leanings loves peace. Accordingly, the Quran calls Paradise ‘Darus Salam’ – Land of Peace (Surah Al-Anaam: 127). It is related, on credible authority that the holy Prophet exhorted his hosts on arrival in Medina thus: “Let peace prevail. Feed those who have little to eat. Pray to God when the multitude sleeps. This is how you will build an abode of peace and welfare.”
It can be said that peace is the ultimate state of happiness. The ideal abode of peace is heaven where one can enter only after death. There too the inheritors of Paradise will be praying for more peace. Those of us who are alive, can live in peace and create peaceful ambience all around us if we act on the Prophet’s advice to the Medinites to let peace prevail by feeding those who have little to eat and invoking divine help by praying to Him in the peaceful hours of midnight to let peace prevail wherever there is strife and conflict in the world.
While describing the distinctive features of Paradise, the Quran in its diction, characterised by brevity of words and abundance of substance, sets forth thus: “Gardens of Eden where the angels enter from every gate saying: “Peace be unto you because you remained steadfast” (AlRaad: 23-24). And those fortunate souls that will be lodged in Paradise ‘will hear no idle talk their in but only Peace, while having food morning and evening “(Mariam: 62).
Of all the afore-said distinctive features of Paradise what is the most striking aspect is the complete absence of any untoward and unpleasant affair to cause worry and anxiety of the kind one has to content with in one’s life-time, which the God-fearing persons suspect to be a kind of retribution for failings and lapses on their part.
The inheritors of Paradise will, in the words of the Quran, “hear good tidings of mercy from their Lord and His approval and approbation and un-ending pleasure” (Surah Tauba: 21). At another place in the Quran, there is a further description of the inmates of Paradise whose “faces will be whitened (free from sin) and who will dwell under God’s mercy forever” (Al Imran: 107).
Paradise has been described as a place where light prevails, darkness having been banished, and, thus, the faces of its inmates will shine and glow with light surrounding them from all sides. This ‘light’ will glide in front of them and on their right hand side” (Al Tahrim: 8). And the ‘sceptics and hypocrites’, while looking at them jealously, will entreat them “to look towards them so that they might borrow some light from them.” But, alas, their entreaties will be of no avail.Despite this, the Quran exhorts all men and women to “view with one another for forgiveness from God for entry into a Garden where of the breadth is as the breadth of the heavens and the earth” (Al-Hadid: 13-21).
If someone finds some difficulty in accepting the given scenario of future state of human life, he/she should keep in mind that cause-effect relationship, as is operative in the present world, will not be relevant there.
Although, to make an average citizen of this world realise that Paradise will be the fittest reward for good deeds performed in one’s life, the sacred Scriptures of Abrahamic religions present this abode of peace and happiness containing all accomplishments of joy and pleasure, in material terms, the fact remains that these pleasures are of allegorical significance, for the simple reason that it will be the soul, not human body, that will enter Paradise after Rusurrection.
According to an authentic saying of the holy Prophet, recorded in Muslim’s compilation of Prophetic ‘Traditions’, life in Paradise will be highly pleasurable and highly enjoyable but free from all material associations that characterise life on earth. The inmates of Paradise will eat, drink and be merry, but not in the literal sense, because what will reside in Paradise will not be human bodies but human spirits or souls, which will not depend on food and drink for sustenance and happiness as human bodies do.
Action is needed
Hewad, Peshawar
IN his speech to the World Economic Forum, Afghan President Hamid Karzai once again called for the attention of the world community to the activities of extremists in the region, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said that the recent incidents in Pakistan showed that extremism and terrorism could spread to other countries in the region within no time. He added that the countries in the region must do away with the temptation to use extremist forces for their ulterior motives. The world community, he stated, must try to find out the root causes and sources of extremism and help Pakistan and Afghanistan eliminate extremism and terrorism from the region instead of only giving advice…
According to the Afghan president…if the international community fails to identify the causes and the fountainhead of extremism and terrorism, and fails to take concrete steps to combat the curse, the world might once again face something like the two world wars. Pakistan and Afghanistan needed to be supported, he said. If … left alone at this crucial juncture, the fire of extremism and terrorism might engulf the whole region and then the whole world...
It is high time that the international community paid heed to the analysis by Hamid Karzai and supported the alliance of Afghanistan and Pakistan to obliterate extremism and terrorism and help these two frontline countries to boost their economy and infrastructure. The root causes and sources of extremism and terrorism must be … found out if the world community is interested in rooting out the curse. The leadership of the two countries has to join hands to fight obscurantist forces responsible for maligning the name of Islam and Muslims throughout the world. — (Jan 25)
The Muslim world is in shambles
Shahadat, Kabul
TYRANNY, inefficiency and blind following are the ills that have plagued the Muslim world for the last several decades. These ills are, in fact, sucking the blood of Muslims throughout the world. If the masses had the right to choose their own destiny, if the leadership had the ability to lead and if both the masses and the leadership of the Muslim world had not indulged in … following … the West, we could surely say that Muslims would have been far ahead of the rest of the world in all areas of life because Islam has … organisational concepts that might help any society excel in the different walks of life. Islam has always been a guarantee for peace and prosperity. Muslims would have been prosperous and peaceful only if they had adopted Islam as a way of life. They would have been … free from the shackles of imperialism…hunger, conflicts and social ills only if they had not blindly followed the West.
Regretfully, Muslim rulers kept Muslim masses hostage to their own ulterior motives … so much so that the masses lost everything they had. The Muslim masses have come to be clueless and helpless. Nobody cares for them anymore. They don’t have any … role in their own political and socio-economic affairs. The Muslim elite has always kept the masses ignorant. Hungry, broken, shelterless and weak, Muslim populations throughout the world are carrying begging bowls … It is to be accepted that as long as the Muslim elite does not shun their blind following of the West, and analyse their respective societies and revert to the people…the Muslim world will remain backward … and poor. — (Jan 27)