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The proceedings of April 20 in the
Senate, where the opposition along with some members
of the treasury benches prevented the law and
parliamentary affairs minister from tabling the
Nizam-e-Adl resolution, may provide some partial
relief to Pakistanis all over the country, worried
at the prospect of a brutal Taliban government, much
like the one that more or less destroyed Afghanistan
during its rule their from 1996-2001. The senators
– belonging to the MQM, JWP as well as the PML-Q
-- were correct in opposing the regulation from
being tabled in parliament because they felt that
they did not want to lend their stamp of approval to
something that was becoming increasingly reviled
throughout the rest of the country. Also, it should
be remembered that when the regulation was presented
before the National Assembly last week, it was
preceded by a naked warning from the Swat Taliban
and the TNSM saying that any legislator who did not
endorse it would be deemed a "non-Muslim"
– and the implications of this should be as clear
as daylight; that he or she would be considered an
apostate and deemed worthy of being killed.
The attitude of the parliamentary affairs minister
was irresponsible to say the least, especially his
remark that there was no harm in tabling the
regulation before the Senate since it had already
been presented before the lower house. There is
considerable harm in it, Mr Minister, because such a
regulation is anathema to the Constitution and
shouldn't have been acceded to and drawn up in the
first place by the government. It puts the
government in a very weak position and gives all the
benefits to the Swat Taliban – which they have
been using to their maximum advantage. They have not
laid down their arms, they have continued their
bombings of paramilitary, military and police
personnel, they are continuing with their
kidnappings of government officials and opponents in
general, and they are forcing the population of Swat
to adhere to their rigid interpretation of Islam.
On April 20 alone, several security personnel were
kidnapped in Swat, including those who were taking a
dead colleague's body in an ambulance to his native
village (the man was one of the victims of the Hangu
suicide bombing a few days ago). Another ambulance
and its driver were kidnapped and several people
were abducted from Khwazakhela including a local PML-Q
leader. Reports were also coming in from various
Swat villages and towns of the local Taliban forcing
markets to close during the time of prayer. In
addition to this, the Swat Taliban have crossed over
into Buner and despite several warnings by the local
population of that district to leave, have not left
it. In a purely Machiavellian tactic, they have
agreed to guard a well-known Sufi shrine of the
district (clearly they have no love for Sufis but
are doing this only to secure their presence in the
area). They have also made inroads into Mardan and
even Nowshera districts where one report indicates
that most shopkeepers who used to sells CDs have
switched to other trades and that barbers have
stopped providing shaving services to their
customers. In Mardan an NGO's office was bombed last
week and a female staffer was killed and reports
have come in from Mansehra as well of families with
working mothers being harassed and warned to stop
sending their women out of the house.
So, the Senate may have grown a spine and may have
noticed that this is certainly not the kind of
Sharia that the people of Pakistan would want to see
imposed on them. After all, it isn't for nothing
that the people of the country have never ever voted
even in substantially significant numbers for
religious parties. They have voted for the PPP, the
PML-N, the ANP, the MQM and the PML-Q, and of course
the BNP and the JWP and they are looking to the
leadership of these parties to provide them with a
coherent strategy to deal with this very clear and
present danger to the country and its people. The
response by the interior adviser that a report had
been sought on what Sufi Mohammad had said in
Mingora on April 19 is nothing but an eye-wash and a
ploy used by Mr Malik to deflect the MQM's rightful
anger and frustration.
For the prime minister to say that Richard Holbrooke
should not be worried about what is happening in
Pakistan or that he (the prime minister) does not
consider the views of Sufi Mohammad on democracy and
the judiciary worthy of comment is to miss the point
entirely. Mr Gilani, it is not just Richard
Holbrooke is who worried, most Pakistanis are
greatly worried about this threat. You and your
government had better do something to assure them
that you and your government – and the military
– are serious in combating it. Brushing the threat
under the carpet and pretending that it doesn't
exist, or that it exists in a magnitude which is far
less than what public perception makes it out to be,
will not help. Surely, it is better to be safe than
sorry in such a situation – especially when the
'sorry' bit relates to a scenario where Pakistan as
we know, with the 1973 Constitution as a guiding
principle may have ceased to exist. |
