EVENTS of national importance such as Independence Day or March 23 are marked by citizens in a variety of ways.

However, the appropriation of these occasions by extremist outfits is a troubling trend. While all groups should be allowed to freely express themselves, the line must be drawn when outfits believed to have links with militancy or that promote a violent worldview use national occasions and other platforms as a chance for a show of strength.

The Jamaatud Dawa is one amongst a number of such groups: over the last few years the organisation — which, as per the government’s own admission, is on the ‘watch list’ — has used national occasions to display its street power. This Independence Day was no different as JuD staged rallies in Lahore, Karachi and other cities under the banner of the ‘ideology of Pakistan’.

Take a look: Banned outfits operating under different names undermine state's credibility: Babar

The Lahore event was addressed by JuD supremo Hafiz Saeed. Other groups, most notably the ASWJ, a reincarnation of the banned SSP, and some rebranded ‘jihadi’ outfits, have also used national occasions to show their street power and ‘patriotism’.

In a related vein, lawmakers in the Senate on Wednesday raised the issue of banned outfits re-emerging with new names and identities, including that of ‘charity’ organisations.

As the PPP’s Farhatullah Babar pointed out in the upper house, this puts a cloud over the state’s counterterrorism efforts while the space given to extremist outfits also allows them to pressurise the government as well as parliament.

The JuD was specifically mentioned; for example the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation, a group linked to Hafiz Saeed’s organisation, is active in disaster areas, particularly the regions affected by the recent flooding. But if the state allows militant groups or their fronts to rebrand themselves and freely organise, counterterrorism efforts will not deliver lasting results.

Also, are these regular rallies and marches an indication that these groups wish to enter the political mainstream?

While some have contested polls, others have openly denounced democracy as being ‘against the tenets of Islam’; there is thus a need for them to openly announce their intentions — if they wish to enter politics, they should explain what led to the change of heart.

Secondly, it is valid to criticise extremist groups for changing names and participating in philanthropic activities. But it is also true that politicians and civil society have helped cede space to these organisations by not taking the lead in relief efforts or charity work.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2015

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