Isolating Taliban surrogates in Islamabad

It appears the elected rulers have no intention of ending the policy of appeasement towards the extremists they inherited from the previous government… in fact they seem to think that since the dictatorship allowed so much rope to this religious mafia, a democratic dispensation can only do better by giving them a free hand to implement their mad agendas. The one-day training camp that the Lal Masjid brigade was helped to set up in the heart and capital of the republic some days ago with full participation of sundry Maulanas and a section of our dreamy citizenry who are waiting for the unlettered Taliban hordes to one day establish the Caliphate in Islamabad, is proof enough of the old policy’s continuation.

The presence of the Maulanas, who never utter a word of displeasure when girls schools are bombed and burned in Swat or elsewhere, at this ceremonial gathering of the Taliban’s local surrogates to reassert their power by reviving and reopening a women’s seminary that their supporters in the previous government had had to demolish when things had got out of control, was quite in line with their real anti-women thinking. Burning down regular schools where modern education is imparted to girls and reopening a seminary where women are taught to take pride in their inferior status to men fulfil the Taliban agenda of barring women from participation in national life. But the absence of any elected representative from the ruling parties at the Lal Masjid show does not encourage anyone to believe that their non participation in the black burqa rally also meant their disapproval. If the zealots’ jamboree happened despite the government’s disapproval (of which there were no visible signs) it shows the administration’s helplessness in establishing its writ even in the country’s capital. But it would be less difficult to understand it in terms of the government’s policy of continuing with the appeasement legacy or its inability to understand the difference between licence and liberty in a democratic society.

Given the intellectual caliber of the luminaries in power the last case seems to be the likeliest.

The elected government needs to be assured that it is more powerful than any dictatorial regime because it is legitimate and represents the will of the people in its right to rule. It can take harsh and unpalatable measures to establish the people’s writ over the land. The government of the United States did not budge from using force in quelling the illegal activities of the Branch Davidian cult led by David Koresh. The FBI attacked the stronghold of the cult in 1993 which resulted in the death of David Koresh himself alongwith 54 adults and 21 children. No dialogue was held with Koresh and no Jirga of drooling elders was sent to him to reach an accord or sign a deal for releasing kidnapped officials in exchange for accepting illegitimate demands of the outlaws. Similarly China dealt with an iron hand with the 1992 Falun Gong movement which was trying to subvert the state through a clever mystical ploy that ostensibly consisted in meditational exercises to make one a better person but with its thousands of followers and practitioners was organizing people against the state. It was fully supported by American agencies and its leader, Li Hongzhi was invited to visit the States and enjoy 7-star hospitality. But China said nothing doing sir, pack up and teach Falun Gong to Americans. We do not need you. The movement ultimately petered out despite massive publicity on its behalf in western media. No one hears of it any more.

The dreamy eyed amongst us in Islamabad who await the

Caliphate and look forward to a Pakistani Mulla Omar to emerge from the Lal Masjid, should be given a sound lecture on the real aim of the Taliban which is to capture political power. Their appeal to Islam is merely a ruse to befool simple people just as other politicians use other attractive slogans. The Taliban have ordered cold-blooded beheadings of our soldiers and sent suicide bombers in cities to rain death on innocent civilians. They want to destroy the multicultural and multi-religious structure of the Pakistani society. Their first targets will be the shrines of the saints and places sacred to other sects of our faith. Then they will attack places of learning. Since they have no knowledge of the higher things of life, they will soon weaken the state from within and endanger the country’s security and peace in the region. The people of Islamabad, specially the dreamy eyed who gather outside the Lal Masjid every time the Taliban surrogates stage a melodrama complete with hooded heroines, must know and try to understand why it is necessary to isolate this misguided band in our city and Pakistan’s capital. Surely we cannot stop an unsure government from sending another jirga to talk with the outlaws but this much we can do.