The world in which you live undoubtedly has the hand of millions of nameless people in the evolution of its beliefs, borders and economies, but the origin of this evolution is the religion of only a few thousand people united, determined and full of passion.
When these few thousand crossed the Rubicon River with Julius Caesar, their determination made history as great as the Roman Empire. When those few thousand entered Makkah with the Mercy of the Universe in triumph, every stone, every particle lit up with the light of their feet. When those few thousands clashed with the Byzantines under the leadership of Khalid bin Waleed in the battle of Yarmouk, the lesson was hidden in the clash of swords and the clouds of dust that victory is not in weapons but in the passion of the heart.
They were only a few thousand who liberated Jerusalem along with Salah al-Din Ayubi in the field of Hattin and became immortal in history. A few thousand of these joined the conquerors of Constantinople with Muhammad the Conqueror, who left the funeral pyre of the Byzantine Empire and raised the banner of the Ottoman Caliphate for the next four hundred years.
When those few thousand stood up to Martin Luther, the religious monopoly of Catholicism was overthrown. When those same few thousand united with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, the reverberations of the Industrial Revolution shocked the world. A few thousand took the pulse of the world economy when they gathered on Wall Street with Charles Doe, Edward D. and Charles M. These few thousand Japanese, under the Meiji Restoration, transformed a poor island into a great commodity power, and filled every street, every factory, and every hand with the glow of labor and skill.
A few thousand such people laid the foundation of Pakistan along with Muslim League and Quaid-e-Azam, lighting the lamp of hope and determination. When those few thousand united with Deng Xiaofeng, the world saw the miracle of China where every city, every factory, every road became a dream come true. A few thousand people, together with Ren Zheng, took the ordinary company Huawei to global heights and advanced technology amazed every mind, every hand and every eye.
Think how much power there is in these few thousand. If these few thousand come together for a pure purpose, they can build nations, change the world and have the ability to change the course of history, but unfortunately, if a few thousand come together with evil intentions, they can spread darkness and create havoc and this is not an exaggeration, but a terrible reality that is reflected with its bitterness in the streets, markets, offices and news headlines of our own country every day.
A dreaded question has been echoing in homes, offices, markets and gatherings of friends for the past few years. Has religious fanaticism in Pakistan become so deep that there is no way back? Many friends say that extremism has crossed dangerous limits and this poison has permeated the entire society and when every day in the news we see killings in the name of religion, cases against clerics and announcements of so-called jihad against the state, this fear is not just an illusion but the bare face of reality. This appalling reality forces us to tread carefully with every word and every point of view carefully, lest it come into conflict with someone’s faith or political ideology.
Despite all this situation, I think there is still a glimmer of hope in the society today that we are far from the point of no return and time is not completely out of our hands. If you look at the public level, this society as a whole is free from extremism. Go out on the street, different people including rich and poor, male and female, educated and uneducated and you will find that the majority are against religious extremism. People love their religion but they are not fanatics. Of course, there will be some hardliners, but they are in the minority, who are as important as salt in flour.
Now look from the state angle. The country’s three major political parties have a secular identity and people have always voted on the basis of their issues, leadership and employment rather than religion. Religious extremism has not taken root in the army, judiciary, bureaucracy and media. Yes, on an individual level there may be some people in these institutions, but overall the majority are balanced and realistic.
Social attitudes also show that the majority of us are far from extremism in our daily lives. Our society is not as completely free as the West, nor as strict and narrow-minded as Afghanistan. We love our religion, we pray and fast, we perform Umrah and Hajj, but we do not lack in enjoying the pleasures of life. Have aspirations and want to live a normal life and that is our greatest strength.
Now the question arises that why extremism is increasing? The reason is actually very simple. Over the years, religious groups have been given an open exemption for various expedients and this open exemption has made some power-hungry individuals in these religious groups crave influence. They used the age-old differences between sects for their own benefit and made it an opportunity to inflame public sentiments.
Sectarianism is not a new problem in our society but it is a centuries old problem in the subcontinent which is still dividing the people of the region by generation. Apart from some worldly people, even today, despite this division, the common people feel soft or distant, being limited to each other only in the love of Allah and His Prophet, but the lack of study and lack of interest in the trend of research has turned this division into a rare opportunity for some miscreants.
These people stir up the sentiments of the common people by fabricating fabricated stories about the character of Islam, Hadith and historical events through their flaming speech and use the common people’s love for Islam in a wrong direction. Thus, by changing the direction of reality, the beliefs and feelings of the common people are provoked and the foundation of extremism is laid.
But this problem is not only ours. Almost every region of the world has tasted the poison of fanaticism in the name of religion or race in its time. In America, a secret organization like the Ku Klus Klan oppressed blacks in the name of white supremacy. In Europe, “neo-Nazism” sought to revive racism. The Arbaaz militia in Serbia, numerous extremist organizations emerging in Southern Europe, the National Socialist Japanese Workers’ Party in Japan, and the RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party in India all traded on hatred in the name of religion or race.
The only difference is that these countries, barring India, eventually controlled these groups through state power. There the state did not show any interest but the law came into action. Extremists involved in killings were sentenced to death, many received life imprisonment and their organizations were completely banned. Parliament made clear legislation against such militias and their meetings, processions and hate speeches were all criminalised. The result was that the state gave the society a chance to breathe again by bringing the dirty politicians in the name of religion, color and caste under the law. There, hatred was considered a crime, not an opinion, and that was the reason why the state won there.
The expedient silence of the state proved to be the biggest mistake in Pakistan, where turning a blind eye to the activities of certain parties for mere temporary political gains gave them an opportunity which they took advantage of very cleverly. Today, when their activities have gone beyond limits, it has become difficult to control them. These parties reached parliament, their leaders issued fatwas of rebellion, and the state was often a silent spectator. It is absolutely true that protest is the right of every political party in Pakistan, but the Constitution of Pakistan also draws attention to some duties to exercise this right, but when the incidents directly or indirectly related to the statements and actions of the same party are counted, the reality is different.
In the past ten years, the records of the workers of one of these extremist parties include incidents of vandalism, mob justice, lynching, dragging in the streets, desecration of dead bodies, and during this period, the national exchequer directly or indirectly caused a loss of about thirty-five billion rupees. Whether it is the Sialkot factory incident or the burning of minorities, especially the Christian population, or organized violence against them, the question arises whether it is right to consider them a democratic political party or should they be listed as an armed group?
The constitution of Pakistan, which these people use as an argument for their protest, is clearly written in Article 256 of the same constitution that any private organization that will work in the form of a military organization will not be allowed to be formed and such an organization will be considered illegal. All over the world, when an organization starts stealing people’s lives and property, killing and obstructing the state, then the duty of the state is to take effective and timely measures. The question is, how did we delay so much that it is now difficult to take action?
One of the reasons for this extremism is also those people who like to call themselves progressive, but do not get tired of giving arguments in the name of protest in favor of such groups. These ladies and gentlemen are requested to go to the houses where bodies were burnt, children’s fathers were killed or mothers’ laps were torn as a result of their democratic right protest. Go there and tell them that the killers were actually religious or political activists who were just protesting. Perhaps then they will realize how thin the line is between philosophy and delusion.
The fact is that religious extremists are not capable of any debate or logic. They force not only the voice but the argument. They declare the questioner liable to death, and when the debate is over, chants are raised, violence is spoken and bodies fall. There is no need to stop explaining such people because they themselves rise to destroy the very freedom under which they are allowed to speak. The person who talks about their rights is not actually a supporter of religion, but of corruption. Their political rights are the same as those of groups like the TTP, Taliban or Boko Haram, that is, only justice.
If the state wants, their strength can be broken in a few years. But the question is, does the state really want this? The real wound is leadership, she fears. Courage has been replaced by expediency in the halls of power. Someone is afraid of vote, someone is afraid of fatwa and thus the state, instead of being a living entity, is trapped in the shell of paper announcements, time limits and political statements. It is very easy to ban a group but the ideology is not affected by the ban rather it continues to breathe under the ground. So the real battle is one of understanding, of consciousness, and that is the battle we shy away from.
Now we have to adopt a unified, clear and fearless narrative. A narrative that comes from the conscience of the state, not from the profit and loss of the politician. This battle cannot be won with slogans but requires a solid, continuous and relentless strategy. A strategy that spans four directions. which is based on economic justice so that poverty does not turn into emotional slavery at the hands of a religious or political leader, which is based on transparent politics so that false political and religious garb is not used for votes. Where there is rule of law so that perpetrators of hate speech and violence cannot escape any political blessing and where the direction of the journey towards social reform can be set so that the fuel of ignorance that keeps extremism alive is gone.
At the same time, we have to bring forward the moderate voices sitting on the pulpit and mihrab so that they can speak sense in the noise of extremism. In the hands of the youth, not only the mic of social media, but also knowledge, awareness, employment and direction will have to be managed, otherwise the same hands that raise slogans today may also lift stones tomorrow.
This fight is not easy. The real battle is of understanding, of consciousness, and that is the field in which we always lose. Here are the profiteers of the past, the same faces, the same interests. But now the decision is of courage. If the state wants to, it can do today what it did yesterday by bridging the gap between Sunni and Shia. The only condition is commitment, a commitment that comes not from the lure of votes but from the voice of conscience.
This struggle is not political but existential. It is a question of our children, our religion, our society and our dreams.
