Whither Enlightened Moderation

The latest patch up between the NWFP provincial government and Taliban of Swat and South Waziristan buries the much touted President Musharraf’s theme of enlightened moderation in those beautiful valleys famous for their natural beauty. While the agreement in Waziristan is more of tactical import, the one with the Taliban of Swat and Malakand paves way for the ultra conservative band of Islamic faithful to establish an Islamic system of their choice in their areas of influence whose replica was in vogue in Afghanistan before the advent of NATO forces and consequent defeat of Taliban.

For almost a year now the die hard obscurantist Muslim militants were stubbornly braced against the contingents of Pakistan army in a dare-devil battling that has surprised even those military strategists who previously thought that flushing out Taliban from the embattled areas was not a big deal. The causalities suffered by Pakistan army besides its military personnel being taken prisoners speak for the tenacity, resilience and guerilla tactics employed by disorganized and ill equipped Taliban militants to keep a mighty army at bay.

The Nato command in Afghanistan, or specifically the United States have sternly disapproved the agreements between the Pakistan government and the Taliban, although they were more critical of the understanding being brought about between the tribal fighters of South Waziristan and the NWFP government. The statement of the spokesman of NATO in Afghanistan to the effect that such agreements could “let militants rest, reconstitute and then move across the border” is a warning shot to restrain Pakistan from reconciliation with the Islamic extremists.

But notwithstanding the chagrin and opposition of the US and NATO, the appeasement movement is a step in the right direction as far as the pacification efforts in tribal areas are concerned. But to allow the radical Islamists in Swat and Malakand to enforce their brand of Islam is tantamount to the creation of a theocratic regime within a state. The writ of the government and sovereignty of state is at peril of being rubbed into dust. Whether constitution of Pakistan sanctions the establishment of a peculiar system of Islamic Shariah within an Islamic state, is open to question The Shariah laws to be enforced in the religious regime to be established by Taliban in the areas under their control would militate against or at least defy the constitution, the law of the land and norms of a civil society.

The Taliban of Swat have already moved fast to burn the shops selling televisions, destroying western music and film video cassettes, radios, dish antennas and all kind of electronic equipment that they think was anti Islam and breeding immorality. The strict model of Taliban’s Islam demands growing a long beard, pray five times a day, deny education to the girls and summary punishment to the sinful and felons. The withdrawal of some of the army units from Swat and Malakand signals the government’s tacit approval to leave the ground to the Islamic militants to deal with the local population in any way they like. It is quite clear that despite use of force the government of Pervez Musharraf failed to subdue the rag tag militants.

About a month ago the new democratic government released Sufi Jan Muhammad, the spiritual chief of TNSM (Tehrik Nifaze Shariah Muhammadi) who had spent almost seven years in jail for launching Jihad in 2001 against the coalition forces in Afghanistan. His son in law Maulvi Fazlullah revived the Jihad after the Lal Msajid episode last year.

With the government’s surrender to radicals it can well be argued that the theme of enlightened moderation that was central to the governance of President Pervez Musharraf had only a face value and that the necessary conditions were never created for its acceptance by the people. The society on the contrary appears to have gone in the reverse gear. The chaos and morass that we see around in Pakistan is colossal. The author of this otherwise a worthy recipe of modernizing the society should be tried for feeding the people upon a philosophy that landed the country into a quagmire. Instead of serving its pristine objective, the doctrine conversely nurtured religious extremism. It is beyond debate that the idea of enlightened moderation was simply a hoax and finally there is neither moderation nor enlightenment.

While president Musharraf should resign for a multitude of factors, he should admit his stark failure for not ushering Pakistan into a civil society and at the end of the day capitulating to those who would put Pakistan on the road to an Islamic system that is neither Islamic in true sense nor humanistic.