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It has been a long season of surrender. Any symbol that presents an alternative to rigid interpretations of Islam bears the wrath of hardliners. Take one of the first precursors of a sad change defined by a surge in militancy — the instance in early 2009, when Rehman Baba’s shrine near Peshawar became the target of a bomb attack. This was followed by a disappointing cancellation of the urs at Bari Imam and in July 2009, the Auqaf Department banned dhol legend, Pappu Saeen, from performing at the Shah Jamal shrine in Lahore. After a decade-long run at the dargah, Saeen was charged with drug peddling and ousted from the premises. However, protests by activists, civil society and the media, brought the acclaimed artist, who has taken his Sufi music across the globe, back to his spiritual quarters in January 2010.
These episodes, unfortunately, pale before the tide of butchery that was to follow—in July 2010 Data Darbar, Lahore, was the target of suicide bombers who killed 35 people; a devastating blast then ripped through Sakhi Sarwar Darbar in Dera Ghazi Khan, killing 41 devotees; eight people died in Karachi’s Abdullah Shah Ghazi explosion, and Baba Farid Shakar Ganj’s memorial at Pakpattan also endured a hit. Shocking statistics reveal that the last two years have witnessed close to 16 assaults on spiritual sites.
As foreign press has reported, a vast majority in Pakistan follows ‘Sufi-inclined’ religion – they honour urs, Qawwali, the laying of chaadars at these sites, tying the mannat bands and distributing langars (food for the poor). The rituals may be similar but every saint has his own story, which classifies his followers. Therefore, mazars not only uphold ideals of peace, inter-faith harmony, tolerance and secularism, they are our safety valves.
Through the ages, they have acted as seats of catharsis as well as hope in poor, deprived societies. Today, the capacity of our religious establishments to provide space for dialogues that address inner conflicts stands substantially eroded. This is a repercussion of the disturbing anti-social overtones — ambiguity to violence and intolerance — that constitute the ‘new’ face of our faith.
Sufism dispels the false narrative that the faith was spread by the sword on the debris of civilisations and settlements and it poses a formidable challenge to radical ideology.
Spirituality, then, becomes an antidote to pain. It assuages insecurity, social injustice and hopelessness by becoming a psychological halfway house between people and poor welfare mechanisms.
In times of natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes and savage social inequality in education, health, law enforcement, and employment, catharsis is taking on hostile forms — crime, mob fury, fierce protests and suicides speak of the dire need for both emotional release and the illusion of seizing dreams. The fact that Pakistan is left with approximately 400 psychiatrists that primarily cater to those with means, only deepens the angst and impairs social accord.
This is accompanied by a gaping void in areas that provide distraction such as libraries, cinemas, theatre, public amenities such as regular and theme parks, open air theatres and other avenues of relief that are secure and cost-effective, if not cost-free. Also, as historians observe, the extremist stand is for the privileged. It is the colour and customs of these traditions that fills dispossessed lives. This is accessible, impartial social welfare at its best.
Regrettably, the deeper communal significance of seats of mysticism is lost on militants who use the easy excuse of heresy to cut a swathe through these sites and the sense of consolation that comes with them. The question is what are the determinants of such blame? Who can sit in judgment on a quest for solace? Can these assaults not be seen as strategic moves to demonstrate the extent of militant outreach as well as reveal the susceptibility of the state?
For this reason, the focus has to be on an enhanced police force with extensive counterterrorism training and spy services that can reach the backwaters of the country to thwart such heinous designs.
The state must quell the rising desire to paint mystical practices as elements that dilute real Islam with a boundary that ensures that belief, spiritual or orthodox, is entirely personal; that secularism and pluralism form the core of the Sufi culture, which is why it serves myriad purposes in our society, beginning with its pivotal role in spreading the religion when it came to South Asia; and that murder, under any guise, is faithless.
