Bravo Dr Riaz Ahmed

Published April 8, 2017
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

THE callous idiocy of the state was on full display during the arrest of Karachi University Professor Dr Riaz Ahmed and the registration of a case against him for allegedly being ‘in possession of a weapon illegally’.

The sub-inspector of the Rangers on whose complaint the illegal weapon case was registered also said in the FIR that he identified the professor as a man who had spoken out in favour of the (social media) activists accused of blasphemy (after being disappeared by the mother of all agencies).

The official of one of the premier uniformed forces operating in Karachi credited with robustly putting down lawless gangs and armed, thuggish political activists did not say in his complaint that those disappeared and accused of blasphemy had since reappeared and were cleared of the charges.

One really wishes that even if the low-level official hadn’t, his ‘thinking’ senior officers had bothered to explore the record of the outspoken professor, for that would have revealed a man who does not believe silence to be an option.

He raised his voice against MQM leader Altaf Hussain and the MQM’s excesses when doing so in Karachi entailed great personal risk; he protested against the targeted killings of Shia Muslims and members of the minority communities as well as the extrajudicial executions of those detained but never brought to trial. There is hardly a cause that Dr Riaz Ahmed has not stood up for.

A self-avowed Marxist, the soft-spoken professor told BBC Urdu he also unequivocally condemns the blasphemous material against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as he considers such caricatures/writings as an imperialist conspiracy to further the goal of Islamophobia and to demonise the Muslims by provoking them.


What reassurance does the state need that we are all on the same side?


The 52-year-old Dr Riaz Ahmed says that in his over two decades of activism he has neither thrown a stone himself nor instigated anyone to do so. He has exercised his right to protest legally and peacefully, but even this wasn’t acceptable to the authorities — the same ‘authorities’ that discouraged dissent and listened to not a single voice of reason when they were plunging headlong into what I can only describe as suicide in supporting religious extremists prone to terrorism as pawns on their national security chessboard.

Neither was any voice, other than their own wisdom’s, given a hearing when these authorities were neck deep in follies, whether in former East Pakistan or more recently in Kargil. Disagreement has often been likened to treason even when hindsight proved time and again who was actually right and representing the long-term interest of the federation.

This incredibly wise state has also embarked now on a mainstreaming exercise of militant organisations of different persuasions if those involved, at least for now, have spared our forces and not attacked them directly. But there is no deradicalisation programme to support such an initiative.

That there is a common ideological thread running through some of these organisations and those that have attacked the state does not seem relevant. You are kosher if you have fanned sectarian flames, even committed murders, as long as you have been a good boy and not challenged the state.

Of course, the state must see itself as different from its citizens, its subjects, because some of those earmarked for the mainstreaming project have bloodied their hands in churches, other places of worship and struck across the length and breadth of the country at ‘soft’ targets.

The problem is with the belief of the state and some of its institutions that they represent the national interest and thus are the repository of all patriotism in the country. Anyone falling out with their approach and thinking must, by definition, be anti-state and hence worthy of the harshest penalty.

How many times need one argue that such a belief has brought us to the precipice of disaster, and if the ongoing battle against terrorism does not make that apparent what else will? What reassurance does the state need that we are all on the same side? Do our hearts not bleed for the martyrs on the frontline?

Dr Riaz Ahmed’s travails were triggered when he, along with other academics, tried to address a news conference in order to demand the release of Dr Zafar Arif, their septuagenarian former colleague, who has been in detention despite failing health for joining MQM-London.

I remember Prof Arif from my university days when he taught philosophy and was an inspirational figure for all progressive students. In fact, his dismissal order by the then martial law administrator listed “hobnobbing” with student troublemakers on the Admin Block pulya (culvert) as a charge.

This talked of the disdain of the Zia regime for the left as the right-wing Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba and its backers in the teachers’ fraternity were given carte blanche to do as they pleased. Dr Zafar Arif was assaulted more than once by IJT members.

Frankly, I was surprised when he announced he was joining the MQM and would address a news conference, as there are few examples of hardcore leftists finding common cause with an ethnic political party. But did I also believe Dr Arif had no right to do this or that he was a traitor?

Not for a moment. He has always stood for causes he believes to be legitimate and, even if I may disagree with him on this occasion, how can I or anyone else not protest against his imprisonment if he has not broken any law nor been indicted for non-bailable offences/crimes in a court of law?

Despite the recent successes of the military operations and sacrifices of our soldiers, paramilitary forces and the police, the country will need to fight a sustained, long war to eradicate terrorism. Surely, assigning such a high priority to silencing peaceful dissent is misplaced, even foolish.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2017

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