[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain has been tormented with terrorism for almost over a decade now. Pakistain has been fighting the war against terror, and has lost thousands of innocent citizens who were not even aware of what their fault was. It is an unfortunate fact that Pakistain's soil is being used for extremism, a recent example of which is the September 22 terrorist attack on a church in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
city, killing over 150 and injuring around 200 worshipers. The faceless myrmidons claimed that it was in accordance with the sharia law. This is the view of an extreme mindset, but I was relieved to read an article by a holy man who quoted examples from the Koran and other important events in Islamic history, making a convincing argument that destroying non-Moslems' places of worship is against the Islamic religious tradition.
If one wishes to change how religion manifests itself in society, one cannot ignore the social function of religion and its interpretation by the religiously learned community. To recognise this function is to be able and willing to contribute to the religious discourse in the public domain. While I agree with the necessity and God-given right of an individual to interpret religion for one's own purposes, it can neither propel alternative discourses nor transform the existing ones, unless it is considered authoritative in the public sphere for its serious engagement with religion and tradition.
Salmaan Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, was assassinated by his own bodyguard in Islamabad for supporting an innocent woman, who was allegedly accused of committing blasphemy by a local holy man in her village. An illiterate woman, who is a Christian, has been in solitary confinement since November 2009 for a crime that was not even proved beyond all doubt. Her only crime was that she was a Christian. Taseer was assassinated because he spoke up against the misuse of the blasphemy law, which is used against the marginalised and the vulnerable. His assassin was praised as a hero by many and showered with petals as he was brought to the court.
Similarly, there are countless names who have been killed in the name of religion for having views against the Death Eater mindset.
This provoked a debate on Pakistain's blasphemy laws, which provide a safeguard only to Islam. Activists and NGOs spoke up to stop the abuse and misuse of these laws, but the Death Eater mindset threatened the same fate as Salmaan Taseer to anyone who even dared to think about amending these laws.
These faceless myrmidons are indeed so influential in Pak society that they managed to pressurse the government to the extent that it had to take a U-turn on its stance to amend the blasphemy laws. Now the question arises how the faceless myrmidons become so influential.
Largely, this is due to our education system. All over the world educational policies are revised after every five to 10 years, but in Pakistain, in the past 65 years, this has been done only three times. Life For All Pakistain, a humanitarian NGO, has been researching educational reforms, and they published a booklet of over 50 pages, which contains the hate speech material being taught in schools and how the minds of children are being manipulated. I met a Hindu teacher in the interior Sindh, who told me that he was forced to teach children against his religion, Hinduism.
What is being promoted?
When the education minister was questioned about the hate speech material being taught in schools, he simply said that he could not do anything, because if he tried to change anything he would be declared an 'infidel'.
But still, we have not lost hope. In a recent article by Ayesha Nasir, a former student of the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Lahore, after the attack on the Church in Peshawar, she wrote, "The prayers, which we were made to recite before the school day, began at the end of the last period, on special occasions, and sometimes even during recess, always included declarations of love and peace for our country. Today, I am sorry Convent of Jesus and Mary that I have failed you. Along with the so many hundreds and thousands of women you educated and instructed, I have failed to live up to your expectations. I, along with the dozens of Head Girls and Captains you had such high hopes from, have failed you. We have returned your messages of love and compassion with hatred. We have responded to your preaching of tolerance with intolerance. And today, we have murdered your kin when you did everything in your power to protect us whilst we remained in your care."
I read about Guy Fawkes, a man who was tossed in the clink
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
guarding a huge store of gunpowder beneath the British Houses of Parliament on November 5, 1605. When questioned after his arrest, he was asked why he planned to kill the king and all the members of parliament sitting with him. He replied, "A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy." He was paraphrasing Hippocrates who said, "Extreme remedies are appropriate for extreme diseases." It will be remembered that Hippocrates is regarded as one of the founders of modern medicine. Both Fawkes and Hippocrates were right, though perhaps the extremity of their remedies requires some modulation.
Education is the key to reforming the system in Pakistain. Only through education will the future generations be able to think and question. Reforming the education system is the root to counter extremism.
Currently, the government of Pakistain is trying to hold peace talks with the Death Eater groups. There have been over 214 acts of terrorism in the past four years, especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
. To hold peace talks with snuffies is indeed a challenging situation for the government, whereas recently the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) chief Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed in a drone attack by the US. The Pakistain government claims that this will affect and delay the process of holding talks with the TTP. Surprisingly, there has been a hostile reaction by the leading holy mans and even some of the politicianship against the killing of Mehsud.
Is holding talks the solution to the plague of terrorism? I want Quaid-e-Azam's Pakistain, where every individual is free to practise his/her religion. I want peace to return to my homeland.