Prime Minister Imran Khan’s latest article
IN his latest article carried by the Express Tribune of Islamabad PM Imran Khan has vexed eloquently on his dream of Riasat-i-Madina.
According to him the guiding principles of Riasat-i-Madina are unity, justice, rule of law, meritocracy, moral and ethical foundation, inclusion of all humans in progress and prosperity and finally the quest for knowledge.
All these principles are basic human values and all modern nation states have been built on these very core values and today they are an epitome of progress, prosperity, tolerance, freedom of religion and respect for human values.
After the Second World War the idea of a welfare state was put into practical shape by the countries of Western Europe in order to counter the creeping menace of communism that had taken roots in Russia in 1917.
From the 1950s to the present time we have seen the practical examples of a welfare state in the western countries including Canada and Australia and the most impressive welfare states are the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Today there are 54 Muslim majority countries in the world and not one country can claim to have adhered to the core values of Islam as enunciated by PM Imran Khan.
All the Muslim countries are devoid of democratic institutions and mired in religious extremism and bigotry, human values are trampled upon the elite rule the roost and non-Muslims do not have basic civic rights.
In Pakistan today we are in desperate need of rule of law and an end to the power of the dark and sinister forces of obscurantism, religious freedom and tolerance for other faiths and beliefs.
Academic debate on the finer points of theology, religious sermons or reminders of the past glory of the Islamic civilization will not help this nation.
Pakistan has had its fair share of trials and tribulations during the last 74 years.
We have seen the rule of military dictators and elected representatives but today Pakistan is in mortal danger from within, from the fanatical forces of extremism and our present rulers need to devote all their time and resources to counter this mortal danger and eliminate this creeping threat from our own Frankenstein monsters created by the forces of religious intolerance.
Today our political leadership has neither the will nor the intent to tackle this monster of religious extremism as they themselves have benefitted from it and are eager to gain more political mileage even to the extent of a political alliance in the next elections.
Statement issued by the Federal Information Minister Fawad Chowdry is an eye opener “Many people think that the remedial steps taken by us (The Government) are inadequate while the truth is that neither the government nor the state is completely ready to fight extremism” This statement by the spokesman of Imran Khan very clearly says that the present Government and state are not ready or willing to tackle the rising tsunami of extremism in the country.
It was only yesterday that the government capitulated before the extremist group of TLP and allowed it to operate freely as a political party even when the fanatics of this group had murdered eight Policeman on the streets of Lahore and Gujranwala.
This group has openly challenged the writ of the state but its leaders were welcomed by the top leadership of the PTI with garlands of roses.
At the same time the PTI government has been negotiating a deal with the TTP that has the blood of thousands of Pakistanis on its hands including the innocent children of the APS Peshawar.
How do all these initiatives of the govt. coincide with the principles of Riasat-i-Madina as defined by Premier Imran Khan?
Today the State of Pakistan has become so radicalized that any attempt by the country to counter the powerful forces of religious extremism could well backfire and this such an action is seen as too risky and nobody is prepared to take any action.
The very last opportunity to eliminate this horror was when the entire country agreed by consensus and formed the National Action Plan in 2014.
This plan, however, is now on the back burner as probably it has no relevance now. It is now time to take the bull by the horns.
This rapidly rising and escalating religious extremism is today the most serious challenge to survival, development and prosperity of the country.
It is not an easy task but it has to be done before it’s too late, First of all, the newly introduced syllabus must be cleansed of all extremist content and sermons on bigotry and intolerance.
The Prime Minister should call a special parliamentary meeting or a grand Jirga to debate the issue of violent religious extremism as it was done in 2014 resulting in the National Action Plan against terrorism.
An effective and practical policy should and must be formulated with the participation of all stakeholders.
All political parties should be barred from playing the religious card and raising emotional slogans based on religious injunctions.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
