Pakistan: Democracy Besieged
By Ram Puniyani
12 January, 2011
Countercurrents.org
The shooting of Salman Taseer, Governor of Punajb, Pakistan (4th January 2011) by his body guard is a serious attack on liberal values in Pakistan. Taseer had opposed the blasphemy laws in Pakistan and called these laws as black laws. The story began with his meeting Aasiya Bibi, a Christian, who has been jailed under blasphemy law. Taseer called for clemency for Bibi, opposed these laws and also said that the minorities need to be protected in Pakistan. This annoyed the orthodox elements, and their reaction is here for all to see. In the aftermath of his death the events in Pakistan have been a matter of grave concern. The murderer, Malki Mumtaz Hussain Kadri, has become a sort of Hero for a vocal section of conservatives, while clergy, Mullah concerned, refused to conduct the last prayer for Taseer.
The blasphemy laws as they exist in Pakistan are far away from the liberal interpretation of Islam. Prophet himself was totally open to the critics. His level of tolerance for dissent is poles apart from what is being propagated as Islamic by the fundamentalists in Pakistan. To cap it all even the Prime Minister of Pakistan and Chief Minister of Punjab have maintained a silence on his death, a major incident by all accounts.
Salman Taseer, after his appointment as Governor of Punjab has been a vocal opponent of orthodoxy. He did have a progressive outlook and was promoter of education for girls. All this was a matter of opposition from those holding intolerant views, couched in the language of Islam. Even a year ago one moderate cleric had to leave Pakistan when he received death threats for his moderate interpretation of Islam. With the murder of Taseer and the reactions observed, one is saddened with the state of affairs in Pakistan society.
This law of blasphemy and other ordinances going against the grain of democratic norms and progressive values got firmly rooted in Pakistan during the regime of Zia ul Haq, when the alliance of Military-Mullahs became stronger. As such Pakistan society has been a victim of the opponents of democracy for a long time. Right after the formation of Pakistan, in the name of Islam, the feudal-communal elements came to the fore and increased their social and political power. With the death of Jinnah, there was no controlling factor for the communal elements and sectarian policies. As such the very formation of Pakistan today is seen as some sort of a movement by many, while as a matter of fact the core reason for formation of Pakistan is many a time missed out. And that core point is the long term goals-designs of colonial-imperialists powers.
England, to be soon joined by the rising power US, were determined to create a base in South Asia to counter the rising tide of Communism, socialism and nationalisms with the flags of socialism in the decade of 1940s. Imperialists perceived that these trends of national liberations are going to hamper the exploitation of nations being done by them. One can go to the extent of saying that Pakistan was deliberately created by unleashing and promoting communal forces leading to communal violence and the surrender of nationalist elements and to the rising tide of violence in the country. The leaders like Jinnah, Nehru and Patel might have their stands which sounded to be the cause of partition, but that is a superficial and partial layer of truth. The dynamics of ‘divide and rule’ did create the communal streams from the declining sections of Princes and landlords, to be joined by a section of educated middle class and elite. The national movement under Gandhi called for the secular democratic state, while the communal streams envisaged Muslim state, Hindu state. At surface the argument was that this is a Hindu nation from times immemorial so we should have Hindu state or that Muslims will not get justice in Hindu dominated India, so a Pakistan will be for Muslims, protecting their interests.
At deeper layer the dynamics of politics of feudal classes and feudal values persisted and gradually these elements and their politics transformed themselves into the modern language retaining their core value systems vis a vis caste-gender relationships. An artificial construct of Nation based on religion was whipped up, duly supported by the ruling colonial powers.
After partition in Pakistan the process of social change remained much more stunted, giving rise to a situation where the prominence of Military and Mullahs under the control of US became the major political-social power. The democratic elements in Pakistan have been struggling all through to keep alive the values of liberalism and human rights, but the odds against them have been very heavy. In Pakistan the democracy has been the victim of the triple A, America, Army and Allah (Mullahs). Hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the social dominance of military has stifled the progress of democratic norms. After the coming to power of Zia ul Haq, after the formation of Al Qaeda with US support, the situation became much worse. From the decade of 1990s the fundamentalist onslaught has affected the Pakistan society in the worse direction. Pakistan has also been a victim of terrorism in a serious way.
Here, in India, while we see the Pakistan society in a very homogenous way, the truth is, Pakistan has different sectors; groups whose interests are very diverse. The attitude of civic leadership, e.g. the statement of Asif Ali Zardari, for amicable settlement of the Indio-Pak disputes did not gel well with the mindset of military, whose interests lie more in continuance of the strife between these two nations. The influence of Al Qaeda and the Madrassas which came up in Pakistan to train Al Qaeda through US support has increased the impact of fundamentalist elements and the conservative-orthodox values.
One must say the civic society in Pakistan has been the major victim of US imperialism. In India the major perception about Pakistan is that it is a place where Islam, Muslims, and Terrorism are the major markers. Amongst large section in India, Pakistan is regarded as an enemy state. This view is again far from the total reality in Pakistan, where the progressive elements are giving a strong resistance to the attacks being made by intolerant politics. Taseer’s murder is yet another attack of fundamentalism on the liberal values and democratic space in our neighboring country. His murder has come as a big set back to the preservation of liberal values. There has to be a demand for release of Aasia Bibi and giving the due punishment to the killers of Salman Taseer.
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