Bigotry in the land of saints
THE lynching of a Sri Lankan citizen and setting his dead body on fire by a religiously charged mob is an incident far more horrific than a terrorist attack.
It has cuddled the blood of peaceful citizens and left them wondering as to why savages have been set lose in the land of Sufis and saints.
The mob lynching of a foreign national in an industrial city, which exports valuable products across the world, has not only tarnished the country’s image but is a rude shock for the economic managers too who are struggling to improve trade balance amid growing joblessness and skyrocketing inflation.
The government lacking numerical strength to undertake necessary legislation to execute its agenda of change has gone too far on its populist course to keep its head above the water.
It has simply lost focus on governance.Rather than taking upfront inflation, institutional under-performance and financial instability it had been blindly promoting religiosity at the cost of the centuries-old norms of pluralism.
The ruling party, which had vowed to end elite capture and, consequently, sought votes to undertake financial and administrative reforms has ironically indulged in efforts to push the country back to the Middle Ages.
Beside resurrecting the concept of the State of Madina, it has thoughtlessly blended the curriculum of schools and religious seminaries and sought the implementation of single curricula across the country.
If the Quran has been included in the school curriculum, how much respect has been ensured for it?
Will the children carry the contents of the Holy Book in their backpacks, or will the schools be provided with a proper spaces to ensure its respect?
The question of interpreting verses is also serious in a country where sectarian affiliations get preference over civic responsibilities of the adherents.
Is there any guarantee that seditionists will not harass teachers and students on the pretext of desecrating the holy text?
The best course, of course, is to leave the issue of religious education to the family institution and, rather, introduce ethics in schools.
Religion falls into the realm of sacredness.Guidance in character building and undertaking welfare activities are duties associated with this institutions across the civilized world.
It’s an established norm that clergy keeps, mostly due to ethical compulsions, away from the decision-making process of the state — something that the Founder of Pakistan had advocated and advised in his address to the 1st Constituent Assembly.
Unfortunately, clergy got unusual space in politics during the independence movement.The Quaid had probably allowed it as a matter of expedition.
But after the objective was achieved, he wanted to send it back to its traditional task of teaching morals and undertaking welfare activities.
But this couldn’t happen duet to his untimely death.The country fell apart due to conflict between democratic and conservative forces but clergy’s role in politics was even strengthened and consolidated through 1973 Constitution.
The landed aristocracy has been using religious parties to block legislation concerning equality, freedom and justice.
The incumbent regime, a hostage to reactionary forces, has beaten its predecessors in enhancing the political role of the religious elite.
Instead of reforming the syllabus of Madaris and adapting it to modern requirements, paying salaries to teachers and providing stipends to students, the government has turned the entire education system upside down.
Only the Almighty knows the best how sincere the rulers are with religion but it’s quite worrying what will happen if the ruling party failed in fulfilling the promise of transforming Pakistan into State of Madina after taking the expectation level too high for the ambitious clergy.
Wherefrom will it bring the individuals of piety and personal integrity to establish such a state?
Should people expect any good from this government which has put the country in the cradle of ruthless capitalism in the last three years?
In a country with interest-based economy, inequalities, mostly originating in the colonial era, have become a norm, and the gap between rich and poor is widening with every passing day.
The promise of equality, fairness and justice coming from the mouths of those who are the root-cause of the problem, what will it result in other than chaos?
If the political lot of this country has gone so crazy with experiments, then it should better stay away from religion.
Why preserving human dignity, the mission of every religion, be ensured through administrative measures which purely falls in the realm of the government?
If investment is needed to get the economy back on its feet, the government’s entire focus should have been on deterring lawlessness rather than encouraging the rabble rousers.
At a time the economy is in a state of stagnation, the ratio of revenue to GDP is not more than 10%, the burden of internal and external debt has risen to unbearable levels and the common man is groaning under the weight of inflation, the lynching of the Sri Lankan national has put a huge question mark on the credibility of the government.
In a high-level meeting last week, the Prime Minister said such incidents would not be tolerated in the future and a comprehensive strategy would be put in place to this end.
Thus, the government has acknowledged that it is not ready to fight extremism and does not fully understand the seriousness of the issue.
Chaos is order of the day and it has found a loud expression in Sialkot incident.
The reason is that both the Central and Provincial Governments are not doing their duties well.
The federal powers were clear in the context of the 18th Amendment but no progress has been made in expanding the tax-net, boosting exports, cutting down public expenditure, stabilizing currency, amending the penal code and, finally, transferring financial, political and administrative powers to grassroots levels.
Ineptness and inefficiency is an irrefutable reality.Similarly, the responsibility for law and order, education, health and socioeconomic development falls in the realm of the provinces which they had to transfer the same to the local governments.
No progress is visible in this regard, too.Article 140-A, establishing third tier of government responsible for the provision of basic rights to the people, has been blissfully ignored and, thus, violated with impunity.
—The writer is politico-strategic analyst based in Islamabad.
