The youth of Pakistan seems to be tired of the myriad politicians that seem to march around with false promises regarding a better Pakistan. They are to be turning towards more religious figures to which they can relate. Apparently the bearded mullahs are not what they are looking for. Instead they have found their saviors in the forms ranging from Zaid Hamid to Farhat Hashmi to Zakir Naik. But does this phenomenon end with figures like Zaid Hamid marching the nation to a better world. Lets hope so, But before we do that, its better to have a grip over what the dichotomy is all about.
First come the undisputable facts. During the early 1990s, Pakistan was receiving huge chunks of money for development by the Saudis and the United States. But let us not kid ourselves. Most of that money was going towards training the Taliban that were going to fight the USSR when the time came. Apparently the time did come and they did fight. After they had successfully managed to throw the USSR out of their country they were deemed useless by the United States so the country was left to rot. Absence of any kind of developmental funds left the country in a huge crisis. You had trained muslim fighters looking for Jihad. But fighter will be fighters and not policy makers, therefore the country faced a civil war.
Now the blurred part starts. When the US entered Afghanistan in a self-proclaimed war against terror the Taliban started disappearing. Whether it was just because they went underground or they entered Pakistan no-one knows for certain. What we do know is that soon enough we had our hands full with terrorist dominating our northern areas. So the question is, are they the same people who were trained by our intelligence? The enlightened minds seem to think so. But there are some who don’t. Information brought to light may suggest that involvement of RAW in Afghanistan has led to some religious dichotomy where we have misguided souls with their own notion of Jihad going and blowing themselves up in Pakistan. But the interesting part is, Afghanistan has a lesser amount of innocent casualties by a suicide bomber. Here in Pakistan, the bomber targets chunks of innocent people. So are these bombers the same Taliban that were trained by the ISI? Their idea that we are following an American mindset, therefore we must die is accepted as their mode of thinking by many uninformed intellectuals. But the same mindset applies to Afghanistan where cat-walks and foxtrots are starting to dominate the picture. Why not target Afghanistan. It is not that difficult to form a clear picture about the people who are making our lives more miserable each day.
So we seek reformation in a pure Islam. An islam that teaches us the disciplines of life. We are taught tolerance, but is tolerance really the answer? We have our sovereignty infringed upon each day as drones cross our boundaries and kill innocent civilians. We have confirmation of involvement of extremist Hindu elements in major acts of terrorism. We have a rising death toll where the only crime of the victims is their nationality. So what has tolerance given us so far? It has been 9 years since we are tolerating the deaths of our brothers and sisters. We do not hate them because of their self-proclaimed freedoms. We hate them because they kill us every day. This is the reason we look for answers outside the realms of silence and being meek.
As far as the notion of Zaid Hamid goes, why cannot people accept that you have someone with the ability to unite masses. Whether you like it or not, Mumbai attacks have shown how much love the Indians harbor for us. Drone attacks show each day the affection and respect the United States has for us. So is there really a question of why we have hate burning inside us?
Social reformation is not an abstract concept. It is achieved by means of deciding upon a way of life. Throughout time, we have been caught in a debate of whether we want a Pakistan that is secular or theological. We are therefore, caught in a compromise that has been labeled as a system of Government by the constitution. We are arrogant rigid people and apparently we are not close to deciding what is best for us. As far as the Quran and the Sunnah go, we label it as subject to time and therefore in need of modern interpretation. To what extent should we really fall before we realize that we are chasing a ghost. A secular Pakistan is not acceptable because Islam itself is not limited to us. No matter how much we make ourselves believe, accepting religion as a personal matter leaves room for interpretations by the individual himself, that leads to distortion of social and moral norms. Therefore, welcoming a secular Pakistan will be saying bye bye to our culture. And please, let us not even think of comparing us with India as any informed intellectual knows that the secular India is nothing more than a façade created by the BJP to cover areas of extremism.
So area are simple and the choices are laid out there. We have been warned centuries ago that there will be people who will be with us and they will promise a better Islam, but their way will be completely wrong. It’s about time we realize who these people are. We need to make a better Pakistan. Let us forget our differences and just follow a man who can actually shows the right path for once.
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