The ugly face of religious intolerance showed its true colours once again on Sunday in a small town near Dera Ghazi Khan. The shrine of the 13th century Sufi Saint Syed Ahmad Sakhi Sarwar was hosting its 942nd Urs-cum-spring festivities when two suicide bombers detonated themselves outside the shrine. Hundreds of devotees were gathered at the shrine to pay their respects when the first suicide blast took place outside the gate. Pandemonium ensued and some 20 minutes later another bomber ripped through the remaining human chaos to cause a maximum amount of damage. It is now being reported that two more bombers were set to explode themselves to cause even more havoc but they were arrested before a further bloodbath could ensue. The total death toll has reached a devastating 50 while more than 100 people have been injured, many of them critically. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility, which comes as no surprise as almost all the terror attacks carried out in Pakistan can be attributed to them.
Once again, our society has suffered a terror so deadly it does not recognise humanity nor does it refrain from targeting innocent men, women and children to spread mayhem and tragedy. This attack is the sixth major attack on shrines since 2007 in an attempt to frighten away the followers of the overriding faith that exists in the subcontinent — that of Sufi mysticism and participation in the culture of the shrine. It is this culture that is considered shirk by the fundamentalist militants who preach a radical and bloody streak of Wahabi Islam. Previously this was thought of as a battle between the Wahabi militants who have infiltrated the region with their imported brand of jihadi Islam and the Barelvi sect that goes to shrines and believes in saints. However, the culture and traditions of Sufi shrines are not confined to one or the other sect. As a matter of fact, throughout the Subcontinent, the inclusive and tolerant message of the Sufi saints is what helped the spread of Islam and even now attracts all sects, even non-Muslims to its embrace. This culture and these traditions represent the greatest obstacle to the extremists’ imposition by force of their narrow, literalist and purist interpretations of religion. Hence the campaign of bombing shrines that has afflicted Pakistan since the jihadis decided four years ago to turn on their mentors and Pakistani society generally.
Attacking the most sacred sites in the subcontinent — shrines — the militants are trying to first obliterate all remnants of Sufi Islam (the original message of the faith in the subcontinent) after which they wish to spread a stringent interpretation of a medieval brand of ‘Islam’, more in tune with Pashtun tribal traditions wedded to a rigid jihadi doctrine. However, this attack and the others like it betray a certain desperation on the part of the militants. When taking on the majority, there is no way the militants will win. Such attacks, while causing wide-scale devastation, will only serve to anger the many and turn almost all against this murderous version of a religion the militant minority will never get the opportunity to impose.
It has become even more pertinent now to nip this warped religious mindset in the bud. Better performance by our intelligence establishment and security apparatus is more necessary than ever. One of the arrested bombers is reportedly an Afghan refugee, relaying that it is vital to keep tabs on the real ‘foreign elements’. For the citizens, public awareness campaigns must be promoted to educate the people on suspicious activities and people, especially during sensitive times where religious activities and congregations take place.
This is our country and this is our culture that the militants are trying to destroy. It is time to take a determined stand to wipe out this scourge that rests on the hate-fuelled fabric of intolerance and brutality. *
SECOND EDITORIAL: ZAB’s death anniversary
Interior Minister Rehman Malik briefed PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman President Asif Ali Zardari on the investigation report into Benazir Bhutto’s murder on the death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) on January 5 in Naudero, but stopped short of making it public. The stated reason is that a premature release could compromise progress in the case. Even last year, the public was left high and dry when the report was not presented on Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on December 27, despite an announcement by the party. The sensitivity of the matter notwithstanding, the PPP must keep in mind that the longer it takes to bring all the perpetrators to justice and informs the public of what exactly happened and who was responsible, the more there will be disappointment and disillusionment, not only amongst the public at large but even amongst the PPP’s own members. Three years is a very long time for an investigative report to have been completed.
The other highlight of ZAB’s death anniversary was a reference filed by President Asif Ali Zardari in the Supreme Court for reopening the case of the ‘judicial murder’ of Bhutto. Contrary to all the negative speculations that it is merely a move to embarrass the judiciary, the PPP stance that they want to rectify a historic wrong has merit, so that Bhutto’s place in history is redeemed. The footnote on his life is that he was hanged for a murder. It is now a matter of record that the judges hearing this case were under immense pressure, as has been admitted by Justice (retired) Nasim Hassan Shah. Legal experts argue that the law of the land suggests that the actual perpetrators of the murder and those accused of complicity or approval are to be dealt with differently. Even if, for the sake of argument, it could have been proved beyond reasonable doubt through a free, fair, transparent and impartial judicial process that Mr Bhutto had approved the murder of Ahmad Raza Kasuri, for which he was handed down the death sentence by the Lahore High Court, subsequently upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the appropriate sentence should have been that of life imprisonment, not death. But since the judicial process itself was biased, not only at the High Court level, but also the Supreme Court, his guilt or innocence remains to be proved. The redemption that the PPP aspires to for its founding leader is not only a matter of correcting a historical wrong, it is also actually the first in what should be a long series of steps the PPP should have taken whenever it was in power to correct past wrongs. *
Source : http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\05\story_5-4-2011_pg3_1
Once again, our society has suffered a terror so deadly it does not recognise humanity nor does it refrain from targeting innocent men, women and children to spread mayhem and tragedy. This attack is the sixth major attack on shrines since 2007 in an attempt to frighten away the followers of the overriding faith that exists in the subcontinent — that of Sufi mysticism and participation in the culture of the shrine. It is this culture that is considered shirk by the fundamentalist militants who preach a radical and bloody streak of Wahabi Islam. Previously this was thought of as a battle between the Wahabi militants who have infiltrated the region with their imported brand of jihadi Islam and the Barelvi sect that goes to shrines and believes in saints. However, the culture and traditions of Sufi shrines are not confined to one or the other sect. As a matter of fact, throughout the Subcontinent, the inclusive and tolerant message of the Sufi saints is what helped the spread of Islam and even now attracts all sects, even non-Muslims to its embrace. This culture and these traditions represent the greatest obstacle to the extremists’ imposition by force of their narrow, literalist and purist interpretations of religion. Hence the campaign of bombing shrines that has afflicted Pakistan since the jihadis decided four years ago to turn on their mentors and Pakistani society generally.
Attacking the most sacred sites in the subcontinent — shrines — the militants are trying to first obliterate all remnants of Sufi Islam (the original message of the faith in the subcontinent) after which they wish to spread a stringent interpretation of a medieval brand of ‘Islam’, more in tune with Pashtun tribal traditions wedded to a rigid jihadi doctrine. However, this attack and the others like it betray a certain desperation on the part of the militants. When taking on the majority, there is no way the militants will win. Such attacks, while causing wide-scale devastation, will only serve to anger the many and turn almost all against this murderous version of a religion the militant minority will never get the opportunity to impose.
It has become even more pertinent now to nip this warped religious mindset in the bud. Better performance by our intelligence establishment and security apparatus is more necessary than ever. One of the arrested bombers is reportedly an Afghan refugee, relaying that it is vital to keep tabs on the real ‘foreign elements’. For the citizens, public awareness campaigns must be promoted to educate the people on suspicious activities and people, especially during sensitive times where religious activities and congregations take place.
This is our country and this is our culture that the militants are trying to destroy. It is time to take a determined stand to wipe out this scourge that rests on the hate-fuelled fabric of intolerance and brutality. *
SECOND EDITORIAL: ZAB’s death anniversary
Interior Minister Rehman Malik briefed PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman President Asif Ali Zardari on the investigation report into Benazir Bhutto’s murder on the death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) on January 5 in Naudero, but stopped short of making it public. The stated reason is that a premature release could compromise progress in the case. Even last year, the public was left high and dry when the report was not presented on Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on December 27, despite an announcement by the party. The sensitivity of the matter notwithstanding, the PPP must keep in mind that the longer it takes to bring all the perpetrators to justice and informs the public of what exactly happened and who was responsible, the more there will be disappointment and disillusionment, not only amongst the public at large but even amongst the PPP’s own members. Three years is a very long time for an investigative report to have been completed.
The other highlight of ZAB’s death anniversary was a reference filed by President Asif Ali Zardari in the Supreme Court for reopening the case of the ‘judicial murder’ of Bhutto. Contrary to all the negative speculations that it is merely a move to embarrass the judiciary, the PPP stance that they want to rectify a historic wrong has merit, so that Bhutto’s place in history is redeemed. The footnote on his life is that he was hanged for a murder. It is now a matter of record that the judges hearing this case were under immense pressure, as has been admitted by Justice (retired) Nasim Hassan Shah. Legal experts argue that the law of the land suggests that the actual perpetrators of the murder and those accused of complicity or approval are to be dealt with differently. Even if, for the sake of argument, it could have been proved beyond reasonable doubt through a free, fair, transparent and impartial judicial process that Mr Bhutto had approved the murder of Ahmad Raza Kasuri, for which he was handed down the death sentence by the Lahore High Court, subsequently upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the appropriate sentence should have been that of life imprisonment, not death. But since the judicial process itself was biased, not only at the High Court level, but also the Supreme Court, his guilt or innocence remains to be proved. The redemption that the PPP aspires to for its founding leader is not only a matter of correcting a historical wrong, it is also actually the first in what should be a long series of steps the PPP should have taken whenever it was in power to correct past wrongs. *
Source : http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\05\story_5-4-2011_pg3_1
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