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EDITORIAL: Lal Masjid and Maulana Fazlullah
Oct 27: The naib-imam of Islamabad's controversial Lal Masjid, Amir
Siddiqi, appointed to his job by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, held a press
conference at the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club on Thursday and said the 30
troops killed by suicide-bombers in Mingora the same day had suffered the "death
of infidels". Siddiqi supported the cleric-warlord of Swat, Fazlullah, because
the latter had "supported late Rashid Ghazi", who was killed in the military
operation on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. Amir Siddiqi is a nephew of Rashid
Ghazi killed in the storming of Lal Masjid in July.
The Supreme Court,
while returning the mosque to the control of the vigilante clan of Ghazi
Brothers, must have known that there was no clerical consensus in favour of the
rampant clergy of Lal Masjid. Because of Ghazi brothers' links with Al Qaeda,
the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal had kept clear of them, though its leaders had
continued to criticise the government from the sidelines. It is for that reason
that an unrepentant and defiant Siddiqi has criticised the MMA leaders, Qazi
Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, "for having played no role to stop the
operation".
The Supreme Court, in trying to resolve the issue, has added
its opinion to the politicisation of the Lal Masjid siege by returning it to the
Ghazi clan, and Siddiqi is exploiting this trend to the hilt. He has put all and
sundry, including the state institutions, under challenge by saying that
Pakistan's war against terrorism was "a war of infidels, killing its own
citizens to serve the interests of the United States". For more analysis in line
with Al Qaeda, Siddiqi has warned "the government that the situation in Swat
will be more dangerous for the army than that in the Tribal Areas and
Balochistan".
Many aspects of Lal Masjid have been ignored by the media.
For instance, the transformation of Al Qaeda into a sectarian organisation was
predated by the sectarianism of Lal Masjid whose founder was killed in 1998
because of his deep sectarian involvement. The vigilante onslaught of his sons
running Lal Masjid was clearly sectarian but it was ignored by the media and the
people. The judgment that restored the mosque to the clan has also overlooked
this aspect. The Aziz-Rashid duo began earlier this year with a clear sectarian
intent when they abducted a lady in Islamabad after accusing her of running a
brothel. Only the BBC website recorded the charge made by the lady that, while
they were dragging her family out, the Lal Masjid vigilantes had referred to the
Shia sect as a "sect of prostitutes". The media, in its frenzy to hold the
government accountable, ignored Rashid Ghazi's reference to "Shia lashkars that
the government was going to unleash on the mosque".
Equally ignored was
the reference made to the 300 "prophetic" dream-visions of Maulana Abdul Aziz in
the Urdu press. Was this meant to avoid comparison with religious cults in the
West that manifested the same syndrome of isolation-indoctrination-rejection?
After the suo moto notice, it was essential to make a deep analysis of what the
Ghazi clan was all about and why the country's clerical alliance was chary of
offering support to them. After challenging the state to face up to the Lal
Masjid challenge, the media turned tail and allowed the politicians to
politicise the issue, which in turn scared the clergy, leading to an
unprecedented showdown inside the Wifaqul Madaris headquarters in Multan where
the Deobandi warmongers finally won the day against their moderate
leaders.
Clearly, we are all responsible for the encouragement and
escalation of the elements that are bent upon destroying the state in the name
of religion. All those who oppose the government deliberately ignore the
separation of the government from the permanent institution of the state. When
any one of them comes to power he will have to capitulate to the very elements
he supports now. Daily Times
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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