Prophecy and the Mullah: Hotel Mohenjodaro

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As Marx said religion is an opiate used by powerfull to lure and lull the weaker. So religion is used a slogan to solve the problems of weaker nations in past too. It becomes a problem when religion is dragged into every affair of the state and nation. Like framers of constitution first named it Islamic Republic and later words like Quran & Sunnah were added. Islamic Ideological Council & Federal Shariat Court were ways to strengthen the hold of mullahism. Then Afghan jehad deepened the foundations of the mullahs. Operations like Wana and etc wont make any difference. Mushy should remember that the solution to this problem lie not in barrel of gun but in something else.

These are the wrong policies that are firing back ... Laws of IRP need to be amended and few to be repealed. Only than can we start the process of getting rid of mullahism.

Pakistanis love to bet on every new horse but dislike horse-racing. what I mean to say is that they put their hope on individuals but do nothing to strengthen the democratic institutions and system. No single individual can deliver without the help of strong institutions and even in the case of god, he relies on strong organized religions for his kingdom. All military generals in Pakistan are fraud when entering politics from back door. They adopt whatever is most convenient for them to prolong heir stay in power. Islam was convenient in the wake of PNA movement and US interest in beating up Russians in Afghanistan, so Zia adopted. Same is true in the case of Musharraf. Now it is convenient for US support to go against fundamentalism, so he does. Just look at this idiot`s earlier statements in favor of Taliban before 9/11 when he was trying to create a popular base with the help of mullahs and jihadis. MMA was put together with the help of ISI as second line of defense behind QML. If today communists take over Russia, invade Afghanistan and US willing to kick them out, you bet, Musharraf will be Zia II.

YLH , Pakistan needs a huge media discussion, seminars along with a revamp of its current Pakistan Studies in order to remove this wrong notion that Pakistan has a religio-theological foundation.
THe moment Pakistani people understand that Pakistan need not re-assert its Islamic intent of conforming all its Acts and procedures there under to the Shariat in order to be a `true` Pakistani- then we have foound a cure for mullahism.
The only hope is the secularization of Pakistan movement which would cure Pakistan of these ba$tard mullahs by discrediting the idea of their necessity in the temporal existence of ordinary Pakistanis.

What Mullah rule?

All I see is YLH type ``gora goo chatters`` sitting at the top of every dept. and every org. in this country since 47.

Even Lashkar and other Jihadi org. were planned and created by the Dera doon and oxford graduates.

Ballu...

Agreed!

By the way an enlightened Pakistani and an enlightened Indian Historian have written a great book on South Asian History called `South Asia : A Historical Narrative` for the colleges in Pakistan... The Pakistani Historian is Mohammad Younis and the Indian Historian is Aradhana Parmar.

In my opinion this is the most important book to come out in recent times.

-YLH

any government that puts a man on the moon before educating its people or creating broad economic prosperity is a tyranny and should be replaced. that govt is not better than a deluded monarchy.

as for the ``prophesy``, every man and his donkey knew that the race was on to put a man on the moon (Kennedy said that in early 60`s) and one did not have to look further than saudi arabia to see a mullah-cracy in action.

i think the (original and current) writer should have thought this through.

We are tolerating the mullah in the name of Islam, because the preamble to our constitution of 1973, like the one in 1956, says clearly that all the authority is with Allah and we, as His representives, will act on His behalf. When you create a theocracy, you have to tolerate the priestly class and we are a theocracy, that is why we are tolerating the mullah.

As to role of Islam and the priestly class in Islam, it reminds me of what one British historian said of the Holy Roman Empire. He said, that it was neither holy, Roman or an empire! Likewise, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is neither a republic or Islamic. As to its being Pakistani, the jury is still out.

We tolerate the mullah, because are ignorant in the teachings of our own religion and are afraid to challenge him due to our own complexes derived from our psuedo western mannerisms and imitations. We are afraid of the mullah, because having ignored the vast majority of our people in the pursuit of self interests, we recoil in horror at the levels of mutality the mullah finds in the politically disposed and economically ignored people of Pakistan. We are afraid the mullah, because we created him to serve our needs and because, now he has grown beyond our powers to control him.

Who bought the mullah into politics? No one, but the British educated and trained lawyers turned politicans of early Pakistan gave him all the access into the marbled halls of politics, just to cover up their own lack of legitimacy.

Who aided and abetted the mullah? The generals of the Pakistani army, who were trained in the British tradition and spoke with clipped accents and drank their whiskies with soda and water.

YLH, your article is very pointed in its condemations and it highlights a few good observations, but remember: the rise of mullocracy (if there is such a word) has always been made possible by the levels of political illegitmacy of our rulers. The mullahs have always benefitted by rulers, who in the eagerness to be seen as legitimate pandered to the exhorations of the mullah, only to see the mullah`s political hunger being more whetted than appeased by such acts of political capitulation.

Ciao

``Pakistan shall not be a theocratic state- to be run by priests with a divine mission``


If only we would have followed those words of wisdom... real Islam would have not been an endangered species in our region.

Manto

Fully agree with the Theme.

But a long distance is yet to go. MMA is completely out of sync : and is no different than Al Qaeda. (the scene of crime leads back to the army)

My only hope is new private TV channels which are presenting different views to the public.

NHK

7 by Mantolives on July 2, 2004 11:43pm PT

Will try to get hold of it! Thanks!

A very well written article Hamdani Sahib. You have really hit the nail on its head. I always thought that Zia`s bigoted `Islamization` has done more harm to Pakistan than all the previous Looters (read: politicians) combined. Zia was a Mullah for whom the Urdu adage `Neem Mullah, Khatra -e- Imaan` aptly fits. I fervently hope and pray that President Musharraf succeeds in making Pakistan progressive and liberal state and undo all the damage done over the years.

Maulvis are not alone in their obscurantism. Denial of reality is a common human weakness: the flat earth society was doing very well in the US until just a few decades ago; billions of people around the world dont understand the basics of evolution, and would never believe that 10-15 million years ago their ancestors were just another species of ape in east africa that lived on trees, that a couple of billion years ago they shared a common ancestor with trees and plants.

The only difference is that most people dont try to impose their ignorance on the rest of society, while mullahs do.

someone here needs to get off their high (preaching) horse -- and im not talking about the writer of the article

#2 by nikki7777 on July 2, 2004 2:40pm PT
Well, history has shown that India by trying to retain its` secular image against all onslaughts, both foreign and domestic -- yes -- tell that to the people of gujarat

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Nice Article.
#5 Ballukhan I think the root cause lies in the feual society and dictatorship.The problem is more social than religious.If a class struggle can bring the feudals down and bring democracy, the religious problems will not be too difficult to solve.
As an aside,I think it was Ghulam Abbas who wrote that fantastic story ``Anandi`` on which Shyam Benegal made his memorable film-``Mandi``.
I have learnt more about life from writers like Manto and Abbas than any religious scriptures.