Articles of the year 2005

The News that the British Government is enacting laws to deport anyone who incites hatred, is surely a little late. Their poisonous message has already taken root in the gullible young minds, and this hatred given a holiness value makes it doubly dangerous. It is almost Bush-like in its simplicity. Your either with us or against us. Translated by the Mullah would read:" you are either a Muslim or a Kafir" . Spells trouble for any Govt, anywhere especially when the Mullah would decide who is a muslim and who is not—ergo he decides who is a Kafir and who is not. Hence in Pakistan Sunni vs Shia it is the Mullah who decides and defines the enemy. What is worse is that Islam teaches one to live with people of other faiths, and the Mullahs interpretation of an intolerant Islam is so obviously false, otherwise we Muslims would never know any Peace. Unless all the infidels had been wiped out---- something even the maddest of Mullahs agree is just not possible.

However in Pakistan President Musharraf is facing a very serious problem. Some smart bureaucrat has suggested that we deport foreign students that are in Madressahs. Surely there is something wrong in this entire scheme. Those students are here to learn hatred ---and not teach it. Only a bureaucrat could come up with such an idea, and sell it. We must understand, it is the teacher who spreads the evil. The student only receives that which his teacher gives him. Indeed if we had foreign teachers in our Madressahs ,they should be removed, but students? I had suggested the Nationalization of the Madressahs in my earlier article, now it seems more relevant and important. It is definitely the teacher who must be controlled and not allowed to impart such evil. The activity can very easily be brought under Government supervision.

When all other activities in the country can be so easily monitored, surely the curriculum of the Madressah could be examined for violence and hatred. If TV, Movies, ad theaters can be screened of sex and violence, so too can hatred be removed from schools. This teaching is far far more dangerous in schools than it is on TV. The message of hatred in a young mind is a far more volatile mix. The talibanization of a people is inherently dangerous because the zeal is never ending. Because these young minds will try and out do each other in their race to prove who is the better Muslim, leading inevitably to death.

With the export of our Mullah brigade brought to a grinding halt by the new Western stance, we in Pakistan will face more intense exposure to the venom of the Mullahs. Like the remains of the Afghan wars—the legacy of Ziaul Haq, Kalishnakovs, and heroin, the Pakistani brand of hatred will now have to be consumed locally in the domestic market. The West has done well to identify the source of incitement and to react accordingly. We in Pakistan may expect more of our rabid preachers to return to us. How will we cope? We already have more than we need.

It is now up to the President to enforce strict rules against the spreading of hatred, and to establish a religious police whose only job should be the monitoring of religious preaching. Anyone found in violation of these terms should be charged with sedition, for the end result would be the downfall of the Government. This special police ( as suggested by the NWFP Govt in the Hasba Bill) should be brought into force immediately, and with all the force at his command. Mr President Sedition is a serious business, not to be taken lightly, whether religious or political, it is a serious matter because the very foundations of the State are under attack. We cannot deport the preachers of hatred , they are part of us , instead we must find a way to control and divert this energy.