Sectarian terrorism has once again been revisited in its worst form after a lull of almost two years. Seventeen innocent people were killed and 37 reported injured in a shootout in a religious congregation in Village Malhuwali, in Attock district of Pakistan. The phenomenon of sectarian killing was rampant throughout the '90s and became extremely bloody in 1995-96, when in Punjab alone the sectarian killings were responsible for up to 500 innocent people losing their lives on an annual basis. However by 1998, the outburst of frenzy, bigotry, obscurantism and planned sectarian violence, which had an adverse psychological impact on the social fabric of our society, went underground and peace and tranquility seemed to have resurfaced, for reasons best known to the various sectarian groups. The government of the day had nothing to do with it.
Once again there is a re-emergence of this dreadful phenomenon while a military government is in power, which speaks volumes of the state of law and order prevalent in the country, not to mention complete apathy of the successive governments to tackle this menace, which has religious, social and political moorings. Though it adds to the list of problems and challenges faced by Pakistan today, it is imperative that the present military government takes cognizance of this politico-religious upheaval and comes out with concrete proposals to annihilate this menace. Otherwise, the social and religious milieu of the country will remain impregnated with all sorts of dangers.
Islam is the religion of peace and tranquility. It attaches highest sanctity to innocent life, human and non-human. Islam has declared in most emphatic and unequivocal terms that, "As for those who divide their religion and break it up into sects, thou has no part in the least" (Al-Qur'an). At another place, God says: "Those who are divided amongst themselves after receiving clear signals or fall into disputations for them there is drastic chastisement" (Al-Quran).
From these two verses of the Holy Quran, the Islamic point of view regarding sectarianism can be gauged and the criminal actions of the various so-called pristine religious groups in the name of Islam are rendered repugnant to the Divine injunctions of Islam. Surely if Sunnis and Shi'a had a peaceful co-existence for hundreds of years all around the world, then a reason to a have a bloody rift in Pakistan on this basis must have other causes.
Roots Of Sectarian Fanaticism
The recent sectarian terrorism, which has manifested itself in its worst form, is deeply rooted in the religio-historical factor during the pre-partition era of the Indo-Pak subcontinent. There were and still are two versions of Islam in the subcontinent. One was that of the diehard Muslim clerics who had a conservative, orthodox and obscurantist frame of mind and who placed more stress on the legal and penal side of Islam. The other version was that of sufis who gave more importance to Islam's moral, humanist and humanitarian side and therefore they presented Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance, love, compassion, justice and human brotherhood. The sufis and saints were God-fearing, kind-hearted, benign and benevolent men who, through peaceful and effective preaching, converted non-Muslims to Islam.
Some of the misguided Muslim clerics on the other hand followed their favorite hobby of committing takfir (declaring someone an infidel) as they did in the case of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Maulana Shibli, Allama Mohamad Iqbal, and M.A Jinnah. Unfortunately in the subcontinent the extremist version prevailed and the version of the sufis of the ilk of Allama Mohammad Iqbal failed to influence the mind and the thinking of the average Muslim.
With the formation of Pakistan under the leadership of Jinnah, a general euphoria and secular spirit ran high. Sir Muhammad Zaferullah Khan, an Ahmedi, was a member of Pakistan's first cabinet. Meritocracy was the guideline, and not the religious affiliations, of those appointed to the positions of power and responsibility. The liberal and secular spirit guided and dominated Pakistan in the early years. Jinnah was once asked what sect he belonged to. In response, he asked the questioner what sect did the Prophet (pbuh) belong to.
When in 1952 the Qadiani/Ahmedi issue was raised for political ends, the then-religious oriented Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin refused to kow-tow to the anti-Qadiani/Ahmedi demand or dismiss Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan. The reason was that during those days Pakistan followed the Qur'anic edict, "Unto you your religion and unto me my religion" (Al-Quran).
Since the early 1970s however, Pakistan's entire political milieu has undergone a change for the worse. The present wave of religious intolerance and sectarianism may be traced back not to the Zia era, as is simplistically done by most commentators and political analysts, but to the political developments and political polarization that ensued in the early 1970s, during Bhutto's era.
In the 1971 general elections, the three major religious parties - Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiatul Ulema Islam (JUI) and Jamiatul Ulema Pakistan (JUP) - entered the election fray for the first time in an organized manner. All these three religious parties were the adherents of conservative Islam and their relative success in the elections manifested that for the first time after independence, the euphoria of secularism and liberalism was dying.
More importantly, these parties somehow came to hold the balance of power between the main political parties, and they exploited their vantage position to gain a considerable share of political power. Bhutto's decision in 1974 to declare the Qadianis as non-Muslims was made to do nothing more than gain political expediency vis-ŕ-vis these religious parties.
By 1977, the leadership of the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) came into the hands of such religious groups, who were instrumental in toppling the arrogant and seemingly invincible Bhutto from power.
With Zia coming to power, ostensibly with popular support, he started to build his own constituency by supporting the Sunni religious groups, which created an impression among the Shi'a community that Zia's government was moving rapidly towards the establishment of a Sunni Hannafi state in which the Islamization of laws was seen to reflect the Islam of the dominant community with the result that a Shi'a party with a significant following, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafaria (TNFJ), emerged on the political scene. Thus, by creating vertical divisions in the society, Zia helped dilute the combined opposition and resistance to his regime. With Zakat funds flowing easily and freely into the Sunni camp, the Deeni Madaris started to mushroom at a lightening speed. In 1957, the total number of such religious schools was 150; it had reached the number of 5,500 by late 1997.
As a result of the ever-increasing gulf between the Sunni and Shi'a communities becoming more intense, violent offshoots of the main religious groups started to appear during the 1980s. Thus emerged Sipah-e-Muhammad (SMP) an offshoot of (TNFJ), and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an offshoot of (JUI). Similarly Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an even more militant offshoot of (SSP), has been on the rampage for the last few years, striking innocent citizens with impunity. These extremely violent religious groups, with domestic as well as foreign support, have managed to arm themselves with the latest weaponry and with an unbridled stock of fanatics who were churned out from the deeni madaris. The scenario looks very grim, where innocent citizens are targeted in broad daylight in the holiest of places; i.e., Imambaraghs and mosques.
Can Sectarian Violence be Eradicated?
Sectarianism is a venom that has spread in Pakistani society and has vertically divided it into an incorrigible lot. Before it becomes too late, a multi-pronged strategy has to be devised and implemented by the present government along the following lines:
a) An account of the curriculum and syllabi of the deeni madaris must be taken. At the time of partition, there were a few Shi'a madrassahs and about 137 traditional Sunni madrassahs. The total number of schools has gone up to 5,500, and according to reports, about 750 schools are said to have a pronounced sectarian orientation while 100 were imparting military training.
In such a scenario, it is the obligation of the government to have a thorough examination of the kind of teachings imparted by the schools to the young children who graduate from these schools as professional killers and as narrow-minded, bigoted and intolerant mullahs.
b) An audit of the Zakat funds is imperative. Started during the Zia regime, the flow of funds from the Zakat money was used to earn his constituency. However, since a large number of these schools are not registered, to keep a check on their activities is a daunting task. At the outset, the schools, which are bestowed with Zakat funds, must be registered and then monitored by the formation of a monitoring body. Any madrassah leaning on sectarian pronouncements must be penalized by the cancellation of Zakat funds.
c) A complete track of funds flowing into these madrassahs should be made. It is a known fact that Saudi Arabia and Iran are actively financing Sunni and Shi'a madrassahs respectively and are carrying out a sort of proxy war in Pakistan. Such a situation must be dealt with through diplomatic channels by the government and the respective countries should be told emphatically not to indulge in such killing activities and sectionalizing of Islam, which is detrimental to the solidarity of the Muslim Ummah. Most importantly, the cross-border flow of money must be scrutinized microscopically, so that the help these groups get from various hostile intelligence organizations such as Israel's Mossad and India's Raw is curtailed.
d) The sermons given from the pulpit of mosques and Imambarghs should be monitored and if they incite sectarian hatred, governmental action should be taken.
e) The free mobility of arms should be checked with iron fists. The large influx of weapons coming from across the border should be countered by the border agencies armed with men of integrity and patriotism so that they do not connive with the evil forces.
f) Last but not least: The progressive ulema should independently try to propagate the idea of peaceful co-existence between all sects and should wage a jihad against the onslaught of sectarianism.
The recent wave of sectarian violence must be dealt with using an iron fist and by force, or else Pakistan will become a victim of disintegration, which would be a great blow to Muslim regional security. The injunctions of Allah regarding unity amongst Muslims must always remain a beacon of light. The spirit of tolerance that was given by Jinnah after the partition must not be forgotten. Moreover the current government must heed the precedent set in the initial years of the governance of Pakistan with regards to meritocracy. Following the famous maxim, "where there is a will, there is a way," the present government should divert a major part of their energies to curb and annihilate the menace of sectarian violence
Asim Mian is a freelance writer for IslamOnline from Lahore, Pakistan. For feedback, e-mail editorial staff at
ejaz@islam-online.net
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