Pavocavalry re the rise of Islamists - July 2003:

Pakistan’s Islamic Factor

A.H Amin
7 July 2003

History proves that religion has been repeatedly used by various classes to secure their personal or class aims and objectives. Religion as a political factor to unite Indians against the British was introduced in politics by Gandhi. Gandhi represented the Hindu middle and professional classes funded by the business classes who were western educated, outwardly secular in outlook but relied on Hindu religious symbols to achieve their political ends.

When Gandhi sidelined Mr Jinnah from main congress leadership after 1921-22 Mr Jinnah also abandoned his initial ideology of Indian nationalism based on constitutionalism and adopted Islam as his slogan. In most of his political speeches Mr Jinnah stressed on the fact that the Indian Muslims were a separate nation and their unique religious and social practices entitled them to have a separate country.

This slogan was convenient and politically expedient to unite the pre 1947 Indo Pak Muslims against the Hindu dominated congress. In 1947 while addressing the constituent assembly of Pakistan Mr Jinnah clarified that his idea of Pakistan was a secular state where Muslims and non Muslims would politically speaking only be Pakistanis and religion would be a private matter.

Mr Jinnah’s line of reasoning was not immediately questioned by the religious right since Jinnah was an undisputed leader, but the question whether Pakistan was a secular state or an Islamic state was hotly debated in the constituent assembly of Pakistan from 1948 till 1956. The Muslim League and most other parties of this time were dominated by the professional middle classes or landlords who had merely viewed religion as a slogan to galvanize the masses and never wanted a theological state. The landlords wanted to get rid of a Hindu money lending class and a land reform threatening congress party, while the middle classes enthusiastically supported Pakistan because they viewed the new state as one with greater opportunities of advancement for their class since the Hindus who were more educationally advanced were eliminated from the competition.

The religious parties which had initially opposed Pakistan’s creation based on the idea that partition would only divide Indian Muslims now turned the table on the Muslim League by demanding that since the Muslim League itself declared that the Indo Pak Muslims needed a separate country to practice Islam, the new country must be based on the Islamic Sharia. The non religious feudal and middle class Muslim Leaguers led by Liaquat Ali Khan initially outmaneuvered the Islamists by moving the Objectives Resolution which paid lip service to Islam while preserving Pakistan’s initially envisaged secular ethos. The Islamists however were not pacified and the 1953 Anti Qadiani riots proved that the Islamists were a force to be reckoned with. However massive US aid from 1954 to 1965 marginalized the Islamists and strengthened the secular forces under the military dictator Ayub Khan.

In 1970 the Islamists were again unable to gain much except in NWFP and Baluchistan and the neo-socialist PPP and the nationalistic Awami League swept West and East Pakistan.
Islamists parties were strengthened between 1971-77 because of the 1971 defeat and because of some of Mr Bhutto's policies. In 1977 the religious right gained a new benefactor in shape of USA who viewed the Islamist dominated anti Bhutto Pakistan National Alliance as a safer bet than an anti US charismatic leader like Bhutto. Thus, the 1977 agitation and the Zia military coup of 1977 which toppled Mr Bhutto.

Pakistan’s military dictator decided keeping in view the immense political strength of the anti Zia PPP that his best bet to survive was use of Islam as a political slogan. Thus Zia’s Islamisation measures and the various stunts and ploys employed by the military junta to demonstrate that Zia was a true soldier of Islam.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan further strengthened Islamist forces not only in Pakistan but at an international level. Out of the Afghan War of 1979-88 emerged a promiscuous alliance of convenience like a Mutah marriage! Financed by the CIA and the Saudis, with Islam as slogan, and Jihad as the modus operandi. The Islamists because of sheer expediency became the darlings of Pakistan’s ISI and USA’s CIA. Many billions were pumped to support the anti Soviet Jihad. Islamist forces were able to consolidate themselves with lavish funds,advanced weaponry and elaborate organizational networks.

All changed after the Soviet withdrawal from Afganistan. The islamists now became a liability for USA and the Pakistani elite. The dirty war was over. The Islamists had done their job. Now they must not be allowed to reap the harvest! Thus a reversal of policies.

By 1991 however the Pakistani elite realized that USA no longer needed them and as a result Islamist forces once again received a boost. Both Nawaz and Benazir governments made many efforts to endear themselves to the USA but the USA snubbed both. Islamist forces as a result re-organized. In 1994-96 Pakistan’s government once again used religion as a slogan once the Afghan Talibans were cultivated. For some time, the Americans also saw the Taliban as a safe bet for oil pipelines. However, by 1998 the Americans realized that the Taliban were not good enough puppets and must be removed.

During all this time Pakistan’s economy rapidly weakened because of US embargoes and economic policies. The politicians and the military and intelligence bosses once again fell back on Islamist forces which were used to fight the bloody undeclared wars in Kashmir. The Kargil adventure of 1999 was the highpoint in this drama once regular Pakistan Army volunteers were employed in the name of Islam with disastrous consequences.

By October 1999 once Musharraf usurped power, Pakistan was a sidelined state till the 9/11 incident which proved a heaven sent opportunity for Pakistan’s military junta just like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had done for Zia the junta. Pakistan’s military junta now made a U turn and collaborated with the USA in fighting a war against Islamists! In 1979-89 the same military junta was with the Islamists because it meant US aid. Now the same military junta viewed the Islamists as persona non grata simply because it meant getting US aid. The same state continues till to date!

The chain of historic events above mentioned demands analysis. From 1937 till 1947 the pre-1947 Muslim elite employed “Islam” as a slogan to galvanize the Muslim masses based on the emotional Pakistan slogan based on Islam. Once Pakistan was achieved the same elite immediately made a U turn and declared that Pakistan was a secular state without justifying why 1 million Muslims were sacrificed to create a Muslim state where religion would be a personal matter. Thus HAFEEZ Jullundhri noted with sarcasm ‘Qaafle lut gaiy barbad ho gayay to kia hooa , Mutmain hain Qaafla Salaar apnay Kaam Say!

Between 1947 and 1976 religion was ditched as US aid came and the middle classes and the higher classes enjoyed great prosperity partly because of international aid and more because of elimination of the rich Hindus by mass genocide and control of evacuee property.

In 1977 religion was employed as a slogan because the middle and higher classes united with the Islamists simply because Mr Bhutto’s policies were a threat for the urban classes in Karachi, Multan and Lahore because of a variety of reasons including nationalization, quota system, liberal outlook etc. The USA financed the Islamists against Bhutto because they thought that the Islamists were a safer bet than Bhutto.
Between 1977 and 1989 Pakistan’s military junta used Islam as a tool because it suited their political and economic ends i.e because of the PPP as a political threat and the US military and economic aid in Afghan War.

Between 1989 and 1999 the Islamists once again received a boost because US stopped their aid and the civil and military elite once again picked up the slogan of Islam in danger.

Between 2001 and to date Pakistan’s military junta once again made a U turn and adopted an anti Islamist policy simply because it meant US economic and military aid.

The elections of 2002 strengthened Islamists forces thanks to the U turn of Pakistan’s military government after 9/11. The resultant sense of betrayal strengthened the Islamists morally. The Islamists for the first time emerged as a strong constitutional force which challenged Pakistan’s military junta in Pakistan’s parliament. Thus the MMA stand on LFO and against Musharraf’s US appeasing policies.

There is no doubt that a storm is gathering in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Arab world which this time will not subside. This storm is gathering because the Muslim elite has repeatedly used Islam as a convenient slogan , picked up at will to get aid from USA, and abandoned at whim once it meant not getting US Dollars.

The Islamists are on a strong footing today. This the start of a drama that would carry on in many acts. Since religion was used as a cheap slogan by the elite, now it appears that the elite would have a harder time in manipulating the common man.

Inflation , rising population , unemployment is strengthening the Islamists forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan by leaps and bounds. The US invasion of Iraq has further strengthened the Islamist forces since it has proved to be a spur for forces of resistance led by Islamists.

One Million dead in 1947 to create a country of Muslims. Two million dead in Afghanistan from 1978 till 2003. 100,000 dead in Kashmir from 1989 till date. 500 dead in Kargil. The many thousands dead in Palestine, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, all in the name of Islam! To make the Islamic world a safer place for military dictators who order military volunteers in the name of Islam but pose as liberals to get US aid. Kings and princes who gamble in Monaco and womanize in Paris but stage beheadings of small time drug dealers to give cheap thrills to the common man!

The day when the Muslim common man would question military dictators or kings about what they did to the aid money they got or the oil money they wasted in gambling or enjoying is not very far away ! Inshallah I hope!

In the next ten years a long bloody war would be fought between the Islamists and the opportunist forces in Muslim world which have again and again used Islam as a cheap tool to drug the masses. Now, the Muslim common man cannot be fooled or amused by cheap slogans or beheading of petty criminals. Now they want the heads of their rulers who have used Islam in the most Machiavellian manner for achieving their cheap personal and dynastic ends. This the decade of the decisive war between Islamists and anti Islamists. This war will not be won by superior weaponry or cheap slogans. This war will be fought in the shadows, covertly, and more motivated forces would finally carry the day. Many Roman Empires and many great dynasties would be destroyed in the process.

When the common man fearlessly snipes at the US soldiers in Baghdad or when the common man defies Rangers and so many other military entities and goes on with suicide bombings, wars can no longer be won by conventional forces with better weapons but weaker hearts.

The human heart is the most decisive weapon and the USA alienated it after 9/11.

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