However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
the appropriation of these occasions by hard boy outfits is a troubling trend. While all groups should be allowed to freely express themselves, the line must be drawn when outfits believed to have links with militancy or that promote a violent worldview use national occasions and other platforms as a chance for a show of strength.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
is one amongst a number of such groups: over the last few years the organization -- which, as per the government's own admission, is on the 'watch list' -- has used national occasions to display its street power. This Independence Day was no different as JuD staged rallies in Lahore, Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and other cities under the banner of the 'ideology of Pakistain'.
The Lahore event was addressed by JuD supremo Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
. Other groups, most notably the ASWJ, a reincarnation of the banned SSP, and some rebranded 'jihadi' outfits, have also used national occasions to show their street power and 'patriotism'.
In a related vein, politicians in the Senate on Wednesday raised the issue of banned outfits re-emerging with new names and identities, including that of 'charity' organizations.
As the PPP's Farhatullah Babar pointed out in the upper house, this puts a cloud over the state's counterterrorism efforts while the space given to hard boy outfits also allows them to pressurise the government as well as parliament.
The JuD was specifically mentioned; for example the Falah-e-Insaniyat
...the current false nose and mustache of Jamaat ud-Dawa, which was the false nose and mustache of Lashkar e-Taiba...
Foundation, a group linked to Hafiz Saeed's organization, is active in disaster areas, particularly the regions affected by the recent flooding. But if the state allows Death Eater groups or their fronts to rebrand themselves and freely organise, counterterrorism efforts will not deliver lasting results.
Also, are these regular rallies and marches an indication that these groups wish to enter the political mainstream?
While some have contested polls, others have openly denounced democracy as being 'against the tenets of Islam'; there is thus a need for them to openly announce their intentions -- if they wish to enter politics, they should explain what led to the change of heart.
Secondly, it is valid to criticise hard boy groups for changing names and participating in philanthropic activities. But it is also true that politicians and civil society have helped cede space to these organizations by not taking the lead in relief efforts or charity work.