KARACHI: In order to look for a ‘counter-narrative’, the state and the people must look towards Sufism “because it is the best counter-narrative in itself”.

This view and other thoughts were expressed at a meeting of rights organisations and political parties held at the Arts Council on Saturday.

The focus of the meeting was a ‘single-point agenda’ that could reinforce the “ideals and thoughts of secular forces in the country”.

The meeting was collectively organised by rights organisations in order to address the ‘post-Sehwan blast’ situation. Asad Iqbal Butt of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a few members of local parties, writers and columnists participated in the discussion.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf representative Dr Arif Alvi was also present.

He began by suggesting that “intellectual nurseries need to come into play as a counter-narrative tool which is missing at the moment”.

He was, however, criticised by other participants in the meeting over the allocation of Rs300 million in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget for the Darul Uloom Haqqania, a seminary in the PTI-ruled province.

“We cannot close down seminaries,” he said when asked about it.

One of the participants suggested that the money could have instead been used to open schools in the province.

Columnist Javed Qazi said that “Sufism is the best counter-narrative tool to use against terrorists. It only needs to be accepted by the state”.

He said that there was an ongoing campaign of hate against anyone who was liberal or open-minded.

“As a result, Sufism is not accepted in the society.”

About the dhamal performed by artist Sheema Kermani at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, he said the “idea was to not let the tradition stop due to fear”.

Rights activist Zulfiqar Shah criticised the “growing humanitarian work by banned organisations in calamity-hit areas.”

He also criticised the growing trend of “protesting through WhatsApp and Facebook posts”.

Zubair Rehman from the Communist Party said: “Controlling proxy wars from neighbouring countries by pro-Iran and pro-Saudia Arabia factions in Pakistan will minimise sectarian and terrorism-related killings to a large extent.”

The role of military courts was also criticised.

On this point, Shujauddin Qureshi, member of PILER, said that the “ominous role of military courts needs to be challenged by the civilian government”.

He questioned the information released after every major attack in which terrorists were claimed to have been killed.

“If that is so, we need to know who these people were. We do not accept military courts,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2017