Leadership vacuum in Balochistan

THE exit of the big three — Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Nawab Khair Bukhsh Marri and Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti —- from the political landscape of Balochistan has created a leadership vacuum in this province.

These leaders, who once dominated the political scene of the province, have ostensibly disengaged themselves from the current politics. The vacuum created by them is now being filled in by religious elements harping on anti-American sentiments.

The ideology of nationalism has thus been replaced by a new religious force which will continue to dominate the politics of the province for years to come if the nationalists fail to adopt a pragmatic approach to the new economic and political realities.

They have already paid a heavy price for doing fractionalized politics and for not taking a clear-cut stand on the US action in Afghanistan and for keeping a distance from a military regime on one pretext or the other.

A few years back when Nawab Khair Bukhsh Marri, chief of the powerful Marri tribe and popular nationalist leader known for his leftist leanings, and Sardar Ataullah Mengal, a nationalist, ended their self-exile to return home, there was a general feeling among the nationalists that they would open a new chapter of political accommodation and understanding among the various nationalist groups. Besides, they were expected try to settle tribal feuds.

For years Balochistan has been in the grip of tribal feuds. Many tribal sardars have been assassinated and property worth millions of rupees has been destroyed in clashes among various tribes. The feuds have destroyed the traditional fabric of Baloch society.

There is no doubt that in their absence many important developments have taken place in the province. The religious parties have also established themselves and their area of influence is now extended to areas which were once the stronghold of Baloch nationalists.

The people had expected that Marri and Mengal would play an active role in bringing about rapprochement among nationalist groups and devote their attention to the settlement of disputes among the various tribes.

Adding to the disenchantment and despondency among the Baloch people was the self-confinement of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti after the murder of his son, Salal Bugti. He has confined himself to his hometown, Dera Bugti.

Taking advantage of the Nawab’s inactivity, the agencies boosted the rival faction of the Nawab and created other problems for him.

Nawab Bugti was expected to play a leading role in Baloch politics. He could have united all factions of Baloch nationalists and also achieved a coalition with Pakhtoon nationalists because he was once equally popular among the Pakhtoons.

But his engagements in tribal feuds limited his political role. On the other hand, no other personality in any faction of the Baloch nationalists is in a position to play a national role to bring unity in the fractionalized nationalistic politics.

The departure of the big three from politics has raised many questions in the minds of political workers. The more they try to find the answers to these questions, the more confused they become.

Sardar Ataullah Mengal, who preferred to live in London and left the political affairs to his scion, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, is the head of his own faction of Balochistan National Party and was barred from taking part in the 2002 election because of the graduation bar.

The BNP (Mengal) which was the single majority in the 1997 polls has this time secured one NA seat and two PA seats.

Nawab Marri has never shown any enthusiasm about the Baloch national politics after his return from Afghanistan when he ended his self-exile when the Taliban captured power in that country.

Instead, he keeps himself busy with the rehabilitation of his tribesmen who returned with him from Afghanistan after 14 years of self- exile.

He was also kept engaged with the Bijarani section of his tribe who had revolted against him and refuse to accept him as their chief.

There were differences between the Bijarani faction of Marris and the followers of Nawab Khair Bukhsh Marri. Discovery of oil deposits in the Bijarani area has further strained the relations between the Bijaranis and the followers of the Nawab. The Bijaranis wanted that oil drilling should not be carried out in their area without an agreement with them.

They blame the Nawab’s sons for striking a deal with the government for exploration of oil in their area. On the other hand, the Nawab’s followers blame the agencies for creating a rift between the two factions of the Marri tribe and for “exploiting the strained relations between the two factions to their advantage.”

The situation took a serious turn after the death of Justice Khuda Bukhsh Marri, a notable personality of the Bijarani faction, which led to the imprisonment of Nawab Marri. He was released on bail because of his fragile health.

Thus, Nawab Marri is in troubled waters. Moreover, his age and health have rendered him immobile while his scions have never been politically active.

Observers are of the view that the role of the big three seems to have come to an end for various reasons. First, the political conditions of the province have changed. They argue that Balochistan needs a new leadership which should see the political and economic realities of the province beyond the narrow tribal and parochial parameters and mobilize the people on a new political and economic basis.

Gone are the days of ideological conflicts. It is an era in which people want more jobs, more education and health facilities.

They have learnt that mere ideological slogans would not solve their problems. The election has proved that fractionalized or smaller parties could not deliver the goods. It needs a larger forum and a vast mass mobilization programme.

New infrastructure facilities in many tribal areas have already opened avenues for development and provided new opportunities for socio-economic activity. This has created awakening to some extent among the people and has dealt a crippling blow to the tribal system.

A mass awareness programme is needed to enlighten the people and narrow the traditional communication gaps between the tribes. People by the large have tasted the fruits of new socio-economic changes.

Secondly, the politics of militancy and ideology of the sixties have lost their appeal. It is a positive development to see that all political parties in the province are now committed to parliamentary democracy and want to bring about socio-economic changes through democratic process.

Besides, the people of the province have bitter memories of the militant movements which have failed to achieve their desired objectives.

Under the changed conditions, if the nationalists want to continue to play an active political role in the province, they have to revise a new strategy and have to join the democratic current.

Although both Marri and Mengal, because of health reasons, are not in a position to play an active role in parliamentary politics, they may influence politics of the province through their successors.

Mengal’s son Akhtar is already leading his faction of the Balochistan National Movement (BNM). Khair Bukhsh Marri’s sons Ghazen and Changenz Marri could also play an active role in politics. For this, they have to settle their tribal feuds and have to join a political party.

Mir Ghous Bukhsh Bizenjo’s scions — Bizen and Hasil Khan of Balochistan National Democratic Party — Dr Abdul Hayee of the Balochistan National Movement, Prince Mohyuddin Baloch and Dr Abdul Hakim Baloch and Meem Khan Baloch of the BNP (Awami) must realize the gravity of the situation and shun fractionalized politics and work for a wider nationalist forum free from tribal and parochial approaches.

The message of the election is clear: a new leadership must step in to replace the old tribal guard, prove its credibility by fulfilling popular demands in the changed geo-political situation.

The coastal belt of the province has become an important trade route to Central Asian countries. A new era of prosperity and development could take place in the province and new forces will emerge after the completion of the Gwadur deep-sea port and the Makran coastal highway.

The new leadership must keep all these factors in view while framing a new strategy and political policy.

Senior story writer honoured

KARACHI: Dr Mosharraf Ahmad, fiction writer, researcher and educationist was the chief guest at the literary committee meeting of Karachi Press Club on Wednesday. Author of a story collection and another under publication, Dr Ahmad remains a recluse, not known to many for his valuable contribution to Urdu fiction and literature.

Shaukat Siddiqui in his presidential discourse admired him as a dedicated researcher and a good story-writer. He recalled his meeting with Mosharraf Ahmed in 1984 who had come with a short story which impressed Shaukat Saheb and inspired him to write a foreword, for his story collection ‘Jab Sheher naheen boltay’. MA had not been properly acknowledged, and not recognised to the extent he deserved, SS said. MA edited periodicals, wrote highly readable columns for newspapers, and also researched — his paper on ‘Angaray’. The most provocative anthology of literary pieces from the progressive writers of the 30s, was one such valuable writing, SS recalled.

Papers were read on the person and literary merits of MA by Nasim Anjum, Waris Raza, Shafeeq Ahmad Shafaq and Rauf Niazi. Ali Haider Malik paid his compliments verbally and Mumtaz Soomro, a Sindhi language writer admired MA for his ‘Saintly nature’, quoting a verse from Sindhi.

Rauf Niazi analytically studied the stories from ‘Jab Sheher naheen boltay, admired the writer’s symbolic prose and defined him as a Progressive Writer steeped in socialist consciousness. His stories reflect agony of battered souls, of migration and homelessness, loss of values and nostalgia. MA, he said, has a distinct style of modernism presented in classical mould. Shaf Ahmad Shafeeq eulogised MA for his lucid style, who wrote for the common people, his symbols like ‘Tree’ and ‘scent’ giving a unique flavour to his stories. ‘Despite being a modernist, he does not confuse, SAS opined.

Ali Haider Malik was rather harsh on all those contemporary writers who indulge in self-projection and arrange ‘Jashen’ (celebrations) for themselves. MA, he said, was a selfless and self-effacive person. “The society we are living in is totally false and deceptive and the writer’s role under such conditions is to present only the truth and nothing but the truth, despite small compromises that one is quite often made to enter into, Haider said. Writing in our time was the task of the prophets and therefore it should be treated as worship. In Haider’s opinion, MA appeared on the literary scene in the decade of 60s, when the wave of modernism was at its peak and the Progressives were losing ground. The stories of MA, since not strictly ‘jadeed’, therefore, went un-noticed but his mark on Urdu fiction shall always remain intact.

Mosharraf Ahmed at the end spoke briefly about his writings and thanked all those present in a voice choked with emotion. Rashid Noor did the compering.—HA

Sharia in perspective

THROUGH the verses (22:41) revealed in Madinah, Allah has promised His help “to those who, if power is given to them in the land, will establish prayer (Salat), pay the poor due (Zakat), enjoin virtue (Maroof) and forbid vice (Munkar)”.

This promise contained in the Quran, is applicable to the religious parties of Pakistan also because of the common belief that the revelation holds good for all times and climes. But, this help is conditional.

The objective of the religious parties should not be to demonstrate their strength through the ballot box and capture political power, or pelf and prestige, but to make the simple message of Islam implementable in a society located at a stage in the Time-Space continuum which differs in many respects from the society and global environment of the time and place when the heavenly revelations contained in the Quran were received on earth.

So, while no one should dispute the right of the ecclesiastical parties to seek popular mandate at the hustings which is a modern democratic process, every one who voted for them or not will, at the same time, be quite justified in expecting that the chosen religious elite will accept the present day norms, in the same spirit as they accepted the modern system of ballot paper. In other words, they should take recourse to ‘Ijtehad’, or re-interpretation in today’s situation, an institution which has been abandoned by them after the eminent jurists of the Abbaside era completed their task of interpreting the Quran and the Prophetic sayings.

The ‘Salafi’ movement — go back to the roots — may have to be modified as, otherwise, it may not be possible to implement the spirit of Ayat 41 of the 22nd Surah, Al-Hajj quoted in the opening sentence of this essay — i.e. inducing the Muslims to pray and pay Zakat and creating a workable mechanism to encourage what is recognized as virtue and discourage vices that are commonly perceived as evil deeds. While praying and paying Zakat (ignoring the sectarian differences in their details) may not generate heated controversy among the ‘faithful’ as these do not demand re-interpretation or Ijtehad. However, there will, however, certainly be problems in enforcing them. Should their compliance be a la Taliban, or Tehran or Saudi Arabia?

So, our clerics have to give it a thought and work out a practicable strategy that will not face too much resistance. It should be taken for granted that there will be some opposition even to enforce the obligatory prayer and collection of mandatory Zakat.

Apparently, though not actually, it appears that it would be easier to enjoin ‘maroof’, understood mostly as virtue, and forbid ‘munkar’, taken mostly to mean vices. The latter term covers immorality, depravity, obscenity and all those evils like drunkenness, gambling and prostitution to tackle which certain metropolitan cities in the West have deployed ‘vice squads’ of special police.

Re-interpretation of the words ‘maroof’ and ‘munkar’ in modern times will be very necessary. The Taliban viewed beard and burqa as the biggest virtue and invented ingenuous methods of enforcing this virtue which we need not discuss here. But the fact remains that in spite of the Taliban’s coercive apparatus having been withdrawn, majority of the Afghan men do sport beards and majority of the women cover themselves in the traditional top-to-toe burqa, because the beard and the burqa have been a part of the Afghan tradition and culture rather than a religious virtue.

Marmaduke Pickthall, the British Muslim and an eminent orientalist and a devout believer, has translated ‘maroof’ as kindness and ‘munkar’ as iniquity, instead of virtue and vice respectively. By no stretch of imagination can kindness and equity be understood as the religious requirement for men to sport a beard and for women to cover themselves with an Afghani burqa or even with the liberally designed Iranian veil that leaves the hands and the face uncovered. Similarly, iniquity cannot be synonymous with moral offences and shortcomings and the sinful acts recognized as such by almost all religions.

What is being aimed at by referring to Pickthall’s translation of the Quranic words ‘maroof’ and ‘munkar’ quite differently from what has been the general opinion about the true meanings of these words, is that there is a pressing need to re-define these key Quranic terms before thinking of enjoining maroof and forbidding munkar through legislation or by executive order, now that the religious parties will be in a position to participate in legislation at the federal level and issue executive orders on the provincial level.

Before concluding, let me invite attention of the competent forum to Ayat 90 of Surah Al-Nahl: “Allah enjoins justice and kindness and giving to relatives, and forbids lewdness (‘fahashe’) and abomination (‘munkar’) and wickedness...” This translation is based on Pickthall’s rendering of the verse. Here, he has translated munkar as abomination instead of iniquity as preferred by him while translating the verses (or Ayaat) quoted in the opening sentence. This shows that the meaning of certain key words in the Quran differs as the contexts in which they appear in the Scripture differ.

Being conscious of his incompetence to suggest the most suitable meaning of the Quranic key-words maroof and munkar, all that this writer can do is to point out that this Ayat of Surah Al-Nahl which is the concluding part of the ceremonial sermon which is read out on each Friday, prior to the congregational prayer, in Sunni mosques all over the Islamic world since the time of Caliph Omer bin Abdul Aziz, does suggest their link with ‘justice and kindness.’

So, it is high time our ulema define and specify maroof and munkar before actively considering what to enjoin and what to forbid and by what means — persuasion or penalty or both.