DR S AUSAF SAIED VASFI reiterates Muslims’ concern for Pakistan’s raison d’etre with which it had been brought into existence, laments that almost all its rulers ‘military as well as democratically elected’ had little
“How many towns have We destroyed because their people were steeped in inequity, so they lie befallen down upon their turrets! How many wells lie deserted; and how many towering palaces lie in ruins! Have they not journeyed in the land that their hearts might understand and their ears might listen? For indeed it is not the eyes that are blinded; it is rather the hearts in the breasts that are rendered blind.”
– Al-Hajj 45, 46
We, the Indian Muslim leadership and Muslims in general, who constitute a major segment of Indian populace, are not much concerned about who stays or becomes President or Prime Minister of Pakistan. Our concern is for Pakistan’s raison d’etre, its rationale, its philosophy, its very justification, the motive with which it had been brought into existence.
OBJECTIVE
Pakistan has been brought into existence to prove what Islam is, what ideals of an Islamic state are, what Islam stands for, what Islam abhors most, what Islam approves of, what is politics in Islam, what is Islamic economy, what is Islamic diplomacy, what is Islamic executive, what is Islamic parliament, what is Islamic judiciary, how an Islamic state behaves with its neighbouring states, how international relations are conducted by an Islamic state. What, in brief, is a model Islamic State.
During the last 60 years of its existence, Pakistan has been ruled by military for more than 45 years. These men in uniform had little to do with the Pakistan Ideology and more to do with how to perpetuate them into power and thwart the emergence of democracy.
The less said the better about Pakistan’s democratically elected representatives like the late Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his illustrious daughter Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Nawaz Sharif. None of them was in tune with the basic ethos of Pakistan. In addition to that in no case, the integrity of Caesar’s wife was beyond question.
NO SECOND
But what the present incumbent, Mr. Pervez Musharraf has done has no parallel. Following the 9/11, he has virtually transformed Pakistan into a satellite state of the United States. In the meantime, Washington with the active cooperation of Islamabad, pulverised Afghanistan and decimated various Islamic forces that it had itself conceived, patronised and promoted.
At domestic level, Mr. Pervez Musharraf had to, under sustained US pressure, take many unpopular decisions. But the most reprehensible one was putting Islam into neutral gear. One sees a deliberate attempt at obliterating Islamic values and traditions. There is evidence to suggest a well planned campaign to create doubts about the very basis of Pakistan. We understand the President understands that Islam is not just permitting the faithful to say Salat, observe fasts, pay Zakat and perform Hajj.
CONSTERNATION
It is with consternation that Pakistanis see their prime institutions developing cracks. The National Assembly has been reduced to a debating society. It is not the parliamentarians or the leader of the ruling party’s writ that runs large. Their task is to dot the “Is” and cross the “Ts” of the president.
The National Assembly has never been found weighty enough by the President to have consultations on important national or international issues. Pakistan as an Islamic Republic does not feel proud after what the army operation did in Baluchistan and other tribal areas. Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder seems bound to boomerang on Islamabad sooner or later.
The President has muzzled his guns against the judiciary by suspending the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The crime of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary in his remark that “combining the offices of the President and the Chief of Army Staff was a controversial point.” The General who aspires for a second term as president-in-uniform smelt a rat in this remark. The chief justice was made to wait for five hours at the Army House to see the President, who preferred to meet him in the well creased uniform to be followed by handing over the order of his suspension.
DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY
Justice Chaudhary, obviously, is different from Justice Munir who invented the “doctrine of necessity” and Justice Anwar-ul-Haq, who followed his predecessor in endorsing the pernicious doctrine. Justice Chaudhary appears to be a man of sterner stuff who has refused to legitimise cantonment democracy.
“How dare you?” is perhaps in the genes of the General. Otherwise how would his apologists explain the use of extraordinary force against the lawyers supporting the sacked Chief Justice?
Musharraf is not covering himself with glory by such hitting-bellow-the-belt tactics. He received a drubbing at the hands of a Judge of the Supreme Court on July 2 when Mr. Justice Khalil-ur-Rahman Ramdey rejected the government evidence and ordered sweep of courts and judges homes for saying devices. The file presented before him contained “vexatious and scandalous” material, photographs taken inside Justice Chaudhary’s house, as well as anonymous complaints and derogatory remarks about senior judges.
Lone Exception
Two of three military rulers of Pakistan exited with less-than-honour. The exception was Gen. Zia-ul-Huq who, seizing power in 1977 entered into the bad books of the US for his “over-emphasis” on Islam and strengthening of fraternal ties with the Islamic world. By a knockout gas, his plane, carrying the US Ambassador in Pakistan also, was blasted. He died with honours.
General Ayub Khan, who quite unimaginatively ruled from 1958 to 1969, handed over power to General Mohammad Yahya Khan Qazilbash. Mr. Ayub’s rule was punctuated with isolation, unpopularity and sickness. General Yahya Khan, who was more unpopular than his predecessor, was gobbled up by Bangladesh.
General Perwez Musharraf feels vulnerable at the hands of his own fraternity today. To quote New York Times (June 30): Well aware of the importance of backing within the Army, Gen. Musharraf called a meeting of his Corps Commanders and principal military staff earlier this month, apparently to ensure their support. The Military Public Relations Service issued an unusually long press release in that vein. The Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers of the Pakistan Army affirmed to stand committed for the security of their country under the leadership and guidance of the President and the COAS,” it read, referring to the Chief of Army Staff … Such assurances only underscore the General’s insecurity.”
There is a common point between the Saudi extremists, who had seized the Haven in the 1980s and their woolly-headed counterparts in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad, who compelled the patience-exhausted authorities to act, resulting in casualties. Both were admirably against the Americanisation of their respective countries. But both were sincere idiots. Because no sovereign government, Islamic or otherwise, tolerates state within state.
FUN-LOVING ETHOS
The fun-loving ethos that has, of late, developed in Pakistan baffles us, the Indian Muslims. The money that is spent on “Menhdi” before marriage is a small case in point. “Basant” is welcomed amidst razzmatazz. So happens to be the case with “Jashn-e-Bahaaran.” On the other hand, the tribal Panchayats can, and do, issue verdicts to dishonour a chaste woman, whose brother had deflowered the rapist’s sister. In the name of “honour killing” any inconvenient wife can be liquidated.
Think of a scenario in which Pakistan could have scrupulously adhered to Islam and the world would have seen Islam in operation. Would the neighbours of Pakistan have remained what they are today after viewing the unparalleled equanimity and equilibrium found in a Model Islamic State alone?
SOLUTION
Our thinking is: stepping down of General Perwez Musharraf or his longevity in power, return of Ms Benazir Bhutto or amnesty to Mr. Nawaz Sharif is not the solution of Pakistan’s problems. The solution lies in return to the basics, in return to the Pakistan ideology, in return to the Qur’an and Sunnah! Better all of us remember the Devine warning:
“How many towns have We destroyed because their people were steeped in inequity, so they lie befallen down upon their turrets! How many wells lie deserted; and how many towering palaces lie in ruins! Have they not journeyed in the land that their hearts might understand and their ears might listen? For indeed it is not the eyes that are blinded; it is rather the hearts in the breasts that are rendered blind.”