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Islamic students chant anti-government slogans outside the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) in Islamabad.(Reuters photo) |
The contingents of Pakistani paramilitary troops, policemen, and policewomen have been deployed around the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid), Islamabad, as the countdown starts for a much-anticipated battle, right in the heart of Islamabad between the Islamic vigilantes who call themselves Pakistani Taliban and Talibat (female students) and the state apparatus, the flag bearer of General Pervez Musharraf's enlightened moderation.
This current showdown, started after female students campaigned against vices including the abduction of a brothel owner, is said to be part of a broader struggle in the country between the ruling military elite and emerging forces of Islamization, and whenever operations begin in the heart of Islamabad, it will not only break the ceasefire between Taliban and Pakistani security forces in the two Waziristans, but will also break the shackles of all compromises in the society between the ruling junta and pro-Islamic forces in the different segments of society and at various tiers.
Pakistan's Taliban Show Teeth
| There were visible signs that the government wants to overwhelm management of the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa at all costs. |
News of the present standoff not only brought in hundreds of armed Waziristanis — whose sisters and daughters are students in Jamia Hafsa seminary (run by the Red Mosque management) — into Islamabad to support brothers Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz, who run the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa, but it has also made dozens of the madrasah's students get their act together to mark solidarity with the two brothers. Besides, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan has directed its cadres in all cities to retaliate in the form of protest calls in case any operation is organized against the seminary and the brothers.
Earlier, when female students of Jamia Hafsa occupied a public library in January to mark their protest against the demolition by government authorities of those mosques that were built on unauthorized land in Islamabad, the government planned a comprehensive operation.
Elite police forces (commandos) were deployed around the mosque. There were visible signs that the government wants to overwhelm management of the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa at all costs. In a matter of hours, around 5000 armed militants came down from Waziristan and gathered in the mosque to support it and the madrasah.
Haji Omar, Chief of the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, threatened Islamabad in clear words that if the government tried to take any action against the Red Mosque, the Pakistani Taliban would storm in Islamabad.
"This support from Waziristan forced the government to pull out; they had planned the target killing of Maulana Abdul Aziz and myself otherwise," Deputy Administrator of Jamia Hafsa Ghazi Abdul Rasheed said.
The Turning Point
| Sources in Pakistan's Ministry of Interior have confirmed operations are ready to clamp down on militants of the Red Mosque. |
A very powerful fatwa (religious decree), issued in the Red Mosque a few years ago, — that a funeral prayer and Muslim burial is prohibited for any soldier who is killed fighting in Waziristan — was the turning point of the Pakistani army's defeat by militants in South Waziristan and North Waziristan. The fatwa was later signed by 500 other scholars. The fatwa instigated many cases of order defiance within Pakistan's armed forces in Waziristan.
Dozens of soldiers refused to fight against Waziristani tribes. From those events onward, the Red Mosque continued to score victories over the Pakistan establishment, whether it was after the July 7 London bombing operation or seminary female students occupying a public library or shutting down the brothel. The government did not have any option but to retreat, and the Red Mosque jacked up its struggle for a new level.
Well-placed sources in Pakistan's Ministry of Interior have confirmed that operations are ready to clamp down on militants of the red Mosque anytime soon, but the million-dollar question is whether this will end the struggle of self-styled Islamic vigilantes. Is this struggle meant for the closure of music centers or brothels, which have existed in society for decades, or is this something very deep that would also broaden the scope of this struggle?
"They Are All Powerful"
Kaneez and Omar Shiekh run a guest house in Islamabad's F-11 Sector. Kaneez comes from the city of Jhang and Omar comes from the city of Sargodha. They both run the guest house that is known for its unscrupulous activities.
After interacting with them — while sitting in a commercial organization where they came to sign a document for car leasing —, they proudly mentioned the name of a person — known to be one of the oligarchs of the present system — who visits their guest house once a week, after 7:30 p.m.
"Indeed, they are all powerful. We are always afraid to sign any deal with them. If we refuse, they can put us in serious trouble, and if we do sign a deal with them, a dangling sword for a possible default by them would be hanging over our heads. In case of their default, we would be unable to take any action against them because they are all powerful," said Malik Arshad (not his real name) after Kaneez and Omar Shiekh left the office. "This is an everyday story now. Every other day, we face a similar problem from people like them," Malik Arshad maintained.
The intensity of the problem can be measured by a fact that the Presidency itself has recently issued a warning against some members of parliament and ministers who are actively supporting vice dens of gambling and prostitutions.
"Nightclub Culture"
| Such a kind of social climbing was never common in the days of former premier Benazir Bhutto's democratic period. |
The culture of social climbing through unscrupulous means has become so common that it is the reason behind many people's appointment in high public offices, even though they were failures in their careers. In folk jargon, it is termed as a blessing of the "nightclub culture."
The growing differences between the rich and poor are added woes and give further chances for placing these examples into the hands of self-styled Islamic vigilantes who gain mass support for their reactions.
The Islamic hard-line elements enthusiastically taunt this nightclub culture and social climbing through unscrupulous means as being a "gift" of Western thinking that's dominant in Pakistan through General Musharraf's vision of enlightened moderation.
Nevertheless, such a kind of social climbing was never common in the days of former premier Benazir Bhutto's democratic period, when the government was West-friendly and secular with all convictions. Nor was this social climbing common in the days of former premier Nawaz Sharif's government that was quite moderate and liberal, if not secular.
Obviously, democratically elected governments have to rely on representatives of the people and cannot just rely on the basis of wealth or an influence acquired through money. On the contrary, no matter how honest they are, dictatorships have to carve out some basis for their existence and endurance, like what General Pervez Musharraf's government did by picking politicians who were booked under accountability court cases and then using those cases to force them to change loyalties.The other social climbers also found their way in the absence of a political vacuum.
Musharraf: Part of the Solution and the Problem
Similar causes were put in perspective by Husain Haqqani, director at the Center for International Relations, Boston University, and senior fellow at Hudson Institute, who called Musharraf's regime "both part of the solution and part of the problem" in the global struggle in war against terror, in his testimony on March 21 before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the US House of Representatives.
| A premier national newspaper calls it a "creeping coup," but in fact this is the march of Islamists from the mountains of Waziristan to Islamabad. |
Haqqani criticized that most discussions in Washington see General Musharraf rather than the Pakistani nation as the linchpin of American policy in the region, and that he is not ready to promote real democratic forces in the country.
On the day marking Prophet Muhammad's birth, Islamabad was tense and everybody expected a serious operation anytime soon against the Red Mosque. Musharraf's speech on the life of the Prophet turned against the Red Mosque and he announced that he is not terrified of the Red Mosque and the brothers.
Security agencies that carry out operations in the Red Mosque are split up, but the struggle between Islamic vigilantes and the flag bearers of enlightened moderation has a very long way to go.
A premier national newspaper calls it a "creeping coup," but in fact this is the march of Islamists from the mountains of Waziristan to Islamabad.
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