The Religious extremism

7/29/2019 The Religious extremism

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The religious notion of the fore-fathers of Pakistan and their vision for the

role of religion in the national politics of this country was entirely different

from the present days radical views. Although, this country was acquired in

the name of religion, it was not the objective to make it a theocratic state.

Unfortunately, the current security threats to the very existence of this nation

are inevitable upshots of religious extremism. This extremism has distorted

the global image of the country and as a matter of fact the

militants have put the future security of this country at stake. In this

situation, the whole society is terrorized and fear prevails all around.

Furthermore, earlier on the militants activities were limited to tribal areas

but now they have reached to settled cities and towns. Even more

disconcerting is the fact that in some cases these elements are winning

popularity in the weaker segments of society. Massive reformation in the

government structures, education system and societal taboos would be

needed to regain the confidence of the masses and the perpetuity indemocratic processes and elimination of

despotic tendencies in the political system of Pakistan. This paper attempts

to analyze the genesis of religious extremism in Pakistan. At the end it also

presents various measures for improvement..What does this religious extremism stand for? It can besimply defined as an out right opposition to rationalthinking in the field of religious teaching and learning. Its hall

marks are: Subjugation of women with a relegated permanentsecondary position. Absence or curtailment of female education. Confinement of women to the four walls of their homes. Total rejection of enquiry and research in the field ofreligion. Intolerance of difference of opinion and capitulation andelimination of dissent.

Rejection of aesthetics and fine arts in daily life. Curbs on cultural activities. Creation and promotion of propagandist literature. Gross violation of human rights of the dissidents andopposing camps. Complete black out of modern knowledge. Disdain and scorn for modern technology.


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albeit with devastating effects for the general well being ofthe Muslims. In fact, the well being and welfare of theMuslims has never been their target, their sole aims in lifehas been the preservation of and enforcement of their old

fashioned and redundant doctrines which they preached inthe name of Islam but were diametrically apposed to thetrue spirit of Islam. These elements stepped aside thePakistan movement in United India. The movement had beenstarted, pioneered, and led by Muslims with modern thinkingthat spread the celebrated ideals of equal opportunity ofprogress provided in Islam irrespective of the cast, creed,color and region.

Extremism has existed to some extent in our society;however its impact on the society was not that much

worrisome. It was after the Pakistans involvement in Sovietwar in Afghanistan, extremism started significantly affectingthe society. Pakistans involvement in the big power game inAfghanistan, to support US interest and Afghan brethren,brought amalgamation of Afghani tribal culture in Pakistaniculture. The Mujahideen ideology was a motivational factorto recruit Jihadis who fought against Soviets. TheseMujahideen were having full support of the USA; Pakistanigovernments also left unchecked, the rise of Jihadis within

the country. More and more people from other Muslimcountries as well as from the inside of Pakistan started beingrecruited for Afghan Jihad. The easy excess to weapons andwealth provided by US brought drugs and Kalashnikovculture in Pakistan. After the disintegration of USSR inDecember 1990, US interest ended in the region, thiscreated a power vacuum in the region, paving its way of civilwar in Afghanistan amongst many tribal groups, Mujahideenunited themselves under the banner of Taliban and occupied

the majority of Afghan territory (Approx 95%). They endedcivil war and established some degree of order in thesociety, but the negative consequences of Taliban regimewas their forceful imposition of religions ideology on others.In Pakistan also, there are considerable number ofsupporters of this ideology.


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Another factor giving rise to the religious extremism inPakistan is the proxy wars of different Muslim states being

fought in Pakistan i.e. predominantly of Saudi Arabia andIran, Saudi Arabian government is follower of Wahabiideology and Irani government follows Shiite ideology,followers of both the ideologies live in Pakistan. So both thecountries are fighting proxy war in Pakistan for thedominance of their co-religionists in Pakistan.

There are certain factors responsible for the heyday of

Talibanization and extremist ideology in Pakistan. Mostprominent is the inability of governments law enforcementagencies and security forces to control and monitor theareas where terrorist networks have developed. Theseagencies have also unchecked the increased concentration ofarms and ammunitions in certain areas of the country. Inaddition to it, government has not regulated the Madarisasystem in the country. This has provided the operators ofMadarisas, an opportunity to propagate the ideologies that

are not in line with national interest of the country. The LalMasjid and Jamia Hafsa events are prime examples of havoccreated in the country. This situation has highlighted ourinstitutional incapability to control the deployment ofmilitants in key locations. It has also further given rise toTalibanization and extremism in the country because thoseinnocent students who were used as human shields by theterrorists were killed, who were guilty of no sin, resultantlytheir family members, tribesmen and co-religionists are

revolting against the government because of indiscriminatekilling of innocent people along with panic creators.

Efforts have been made by various quarters of the society toeradicate extremist mentality from society, but thisextremist psyche is increasing and getting hold, behind the


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success of this phenomenon there are various reasons. Thechief reason behind growth of extremist mentality in oursociety is the hopelessness amongst masses living in Muslimcountries, this hopelessness is mainly attributable to two

factors; firstly due to absence of the mechanism wherebygeneral will of masses in the society could be brought intothe political system (due to the presence of despotic culturein politics of Muslim countries), second reason is the growinghegemony of USA, in its persecution of Muslims, to takeover the control of mineral resources of Muslim countries.This has resulted in revolting attitude in Muslims in generaland Pakistanis in particular. The hopelessness in Pakistan iscomplemented by inability of political system to deliver and

resolve the basic problems of the people. Due to continuousfailures of democracy in Pakistan (because of elitesdominancy in Pakistani democratic setup), people have lostfaith in the current form of democracy prevalent in Pakistan.The feudal setup has destroyed the national fabric byenabling the concentration of wealth in few hands resultingin deficiency of social justice. This concentration of wealth infew hands has raised the problem of poverty and peoplehave to opt for forceful means for the resolution of their

problems, they become dacoits, join mercenaryorganizations and conduct suicide attacks for financialgains.

A blend of illiteracy to poverty further aggravates thesituation, people who do not have knowledge and education,formulate their belief system on the basis of prejudices andbecome infected with ethnocentrism (a tendency in which

people believe their own culture and religion to be mostsuperior all over the world). The class driven educationalsystem has been instrumental to support prejudices i.e.education is not provided on equal footings in Pakistan, thechildren of elite class go to modern English medium schools,where they are provided up to date knowledge but the poorwho cannot afford the education of their children send their


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children to Madarisas, which are run by Maulvis, who haveno exposure to the English, science, social sciences andmathematic. Students graduated from these Madarisas donot posses any technical skills (that facilitate them to seek

job), this raises the unemployment. The unemployed youngmen, having prejudicious attitude, hatred of political system,much deeper hatred against America, in their pursuance tochange the system, become easy target of mercenaries.Who use them in the name of Allah and conduct variousterrorist attacks from them.

Consequently, the extremism exerts very grave impacts on

the society, it creates a vulnerable situation, whereby lawand order situation deteriorates and writ of the governmentis challenged by the individuals and order of the system is introuble. Frequent terrorist attacks are the result of thissituation; Pakistan is one of such countries in the worldwhere most of the terrorist attacks happen. This scenario issource of a great threat to internal stability of Pakistan, asthe security of the state institutions as well as the generalpublic is at stake. The terrorist attacks on religious

occasions, further engrave the sectarian violence and createtensions between communities and people of differentsectarian backgrounds living side by side. This creates anoverall state of social distress.

In addition to the social and cultural consequences, theextremism has very deep negative consequences oneconomy of the country. The law and order situation;

terrorist attacks, vandalism & strikes are very harmful forthe business activity of the country, due to this the investorbecomes shy and lack of investment in the industry shrinksthe overall economic productivity. The contraction ofeconomy affects the purchasing power and overall well beingof the common men. Moreover, the killing of solebreadwinners of families killed in terrorist attacks is creating


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the disastrous situations for the victims of terrorism andextremism. On foreign front, the situation is veryembarrassing for Pakistan, causing very bad name for thecountry.

The military operation started by current government tocurb the extremists and Taliban in Sawat and Agency areasis a brave step, but it has both positive and negativeconnotations. The positive consequences are in a sense thatgovernment is iron-handedly crushing the panic creators,who are challenging writ of the government. This approachis helpful in the short run. However, in the long run this

approach is not result oriented, because the governmentoperation is indiscriminately killing the innocent and culpritboth. As the tenure of army operation will increase it willincrease the innocent killings, therefore the army operationwill loose its legitimacy amongst the masses and will proveto be victorious for insurgents. Therefore army operationmust be completed in minimum possible time with minimumpossible civilian causalities.

For the lasting solution of problem government needs toaddress the underlying causes behind extremism. It shouldformulate policies to remove the social and economicdisparities. For the wherewithal of people, creation ofemployment opportunities is needed and employmentopportunities need business activity which further needsinvestment. In the current distressed business scenario,government needs to invest in social sector to uplift the

economic condition of people; special focus is needed in wartrodden areas. The governments initiatives of NWFP &Baluchistan packages are trend setters in this direction butstill a lot is needed to be done. Along with this (for thereligious harmony) the government needs to devise amechanism for a dialogue between different schools ofthoughts, to remove the conflicts and sectarian violence.


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Another aspect, on which the government should intervene,is the regulation of Madarisas in Pakistan. Madarisas areproviding a very essential service to the nation by providingthe religious, boarding and lodging facility to children of poor

families. However, there are some black sheep among themwho are working against the interest of state, governmentneeds to regulate the Madarisas and devise a curriculum forMadarisas which also include modern education along withthe religious education; government also needs to invest inMadarisas to improve their condition. Last but not the least,government law enforcement agencies active intervention isneeded to minutely monitor and control the terroristmovements and reduction of arms and ammunitions in the

country.

No matter how strong the governments efforts are tomanage extremism in the country, it needs cooperation atindividual level to attain success. There is role of privateorganizations and individuals units of society such as afamily or tribe to inculcate the norms and values in societythat prohibit extremist culture. Family is the basic unit of

society, the basic change towards the retreat of extremistmentality is to be initiated at family level. The role of ourUlema is also of a significant importance, they should focuson eliminating the differences rather than fighting on minuteissues. The intellectual also need to guide the society,discuss on thorny issues and help to find the midway, whichenables to retain the gist of religion while integratingPakistanis into the rest of modern world. Apart from stepstaken in sociological, religious, cultural and ideological

direction, the measures are needed at economic as well;upper class consisting individuals who are financially well off,need to discharge their fiscal and religious duty bycontributing for the poor. It should be noted that Pakistanipeople contribute humungous amount in charity but thecharity is used for fulfilling the current/ running needs of thepoor, efforts are not made to create institutions that provide


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employment for the poor, we need to work in this direction dont provide poor the fish instead teach him how to catchfish and you provided him wherewithal.

Extremism is one of the social evils faced by our country,causing violence, hatred, terrorism and great vulnerability toour society. It has its the roots in our flawed foreign policiesin the past, mainly on the northwestern frontier, our socio-polotico & economic situation has provided conduciveenvironment for the extremism to flourish. Extremistmentality has severely deteriorated the businessenvironment and economic situation of Pakistan.

Governments efforts via military action are handy in shortrun, but in the long run government needs to focus onchanging the living conditions of people in areas whereextremism is increasing. Individuals also need to cooperatewith government for the eradication of extremism; there isvery important role family, ulema, intellectuals and the welloff (upper class), for the control of extremist ideology in oursociety. We have to take the issue of extremism serious anddevise concrete measures for its eradication or else our

society will be in the state of anarchy and civil war.An Overview of Prevailing Situation and the FutureVision

There is a dire need to root out extremism andfundamentalism that pose a threat to the sustainability andstability of Pakistan. At this stage of economic turnaround,the country needs to focus on its socio-economicdevelopment activities. In fact, it was first time in the historyof Pakistan that the religious parties showed a strongdominance in 2002s election. The reasons for which arerelated fully a reaction to the invasion of Afghanistan by UStroops in 2001 and secondly as to oust main secular politicalopposition parties, Musharraf brought the religious partiesinto mainstream of politics as to justify his rule to alarm theworld of the increasing religious extremism in Pakistan.


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The results of elections of 2008 have brought a relief ascomparing the results of 2002. In fact, during the election of2008, the hard liner religious parties have generally beenrejected. The MMA (Mutahida Majlis-e- Amal), which is a

foundation of six religious parties, had attained fifty seats inthe 2002s elected parliament, although, it also showedsome presence in the assemblies of NWFP (present KhayberPakhtoonkhaw) andBalochistan provinces (Bajpaee Chietigj, 2008). Thissituation indicates that the people of Pakistan have greatlyrejected the intrusions of extremists in the politics ofPakistan. It is now to be seen whether they are furtherprepared and ready to throw away their claims and controlfrom the societal affairs also. In comparative terms, the

situation although abysmally bad is not yet hopeless whenwe compare it to therecurrent manifestation of religious extremism in Europe inthe past millennium. The number of places of worship burntand destroyed, the people, families groups and wholeassociations killed and annihilated the barbaric execution,and wars fought over a distressingly long period of nearly900 years witnessed in Europe is many timesmore what we have seen in Pakistan. In fact, we compare a

mole with a mountain when we talk of that.The realization of the ailment has been quicker in thiscountry. Certainly the European experience has guided us incomparative terms and possibly we have to take a clue fromtheir experience to overcome this problem. The present dayPakistan shows an explosive situation, where there aresuicide bomb-blasts every other day carried out by themilitant extremists. These terrorist out fits are out there interrorizing the whole nation leaving no place or nobody safefrom being their target. The worrying some part of this wholeprevalent situation is the complication regarding thecharacter of the onslaught carried out by the extremists.Unfortunately, there are two main factors which have led tothis sorry state of affairs.


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Firstly, the terrorist out fits are no more just the Al-Qaeda orTaliban but now comprise of alliances and support localPakistani Taliban, religio-political parties and varioussectarian groups. These have all become part of the terrorist

network in Pakistan, making the whole complicated andtough to handle. Secondly, the militantextremists have mostly been based in the tribal belt andtheir activities were linked to FATA region. But not any more,they have now, especially after the army operations havenow spread out to settled cities of Pakistan. Keeping in viewthe above factors, the current security situation is highlyhostile and explosive. Pakistan nowadays is passing througha very critical phase. Along with terrorism there are numberof other serious

concerns in the form of poor economy, bad governance,sectarianism, fragmented and intolerant society, coupledwith corruption and weak democratic trends.But, the threat posed by militant extremists is the gravest ofall. Suicide attacks have become as a routine in the lives ofthe people of Pakistan. There is immense insecurity andterror in the society. In the early phase, the terroriststargeted the security personnel, or foreigner or installationonly, but now there is no discrimination as their targets now

includes civilians, women, children and students. The hotels,market places, mosques even hospitals are no more safe.

The activates of the insurgents have become a challenge tothe state machinery especially the intelligence securityagencies, as now the terrorists have spread out to all areasof the Pakistan and they seem to be changing their targetsand strategy every time. In the circumstances, one may askthat what is thepossible way out of this quagmire? No doubt, this is animportant question and for a better future, the countryneeds to focus on the following:1. Moderation in society.2. No extremist religious speech shall be allowed on loudspeaker in any case.3. Use of loud speakers be confined only to azan (call forprayer) every day and to Arabic sermon


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during the Fridays congregations.4. Minimum standards be set and enforced for religiousauthorship and orator ship.5. The controversial literature of all schools causing hurt,

desecration and fuelling fire is banned oncefor all.6. Religious dictums be issued under a license from thegovernment and not by any private board orwafaq (charity).7. New mosques shall be built with the approval of thegovernment and the local populace.8. Education in Madrassas be mainstreamed.9. Technical and vocational training for Imam, Muazzan andKhudam of the mosque and Imambargahs.

10. Gradual affiliation of the madrassa with governmentuniversities and colleges.11. Community councils for religious madrassas.12. Ban on inheritance in the stewardship of mosques andmadrassas.13. Emphasis on essence of principles of Islam in daily liferather than lip service without substances.14. General spread of customary education by making itmore productive relevant and result oriented.

15. Provisions of speedy justice to deny allurement to privatecourts established by the extremists.16. Promotion of cultural activities and fine arts.17. Encouragement of female education and femaleparticipation in all walks of life.18. Re-opening of mosques to the female.19. Government control of all new mosques.20. Promotion of consensus based finding of the council ofIslamic Ideology.21. Immediate closure of all madrasas associated withbanned militant organizations.22. Media has to take a very responsible position andassume a very enlightened role.Islamabad needs to form both short and long termstrategies to deal with the threat of radicalization that has sooften led to terrorism (Rana Muhamamd Amir, 2010). It is


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thus clear that the resolution lies in long term education andre-orientation of the people and the rulers. The process willbe long and painstaking slow but there are not short cutsand better if the country makes a start on a long but a

straight road rather than traveling swiftly but always incircles. True democracy also offers great hope and it may bepossible to the debate on controversial religious issues in theparliament rather than decided in the streets. Serious effortsare requirement to lessen Pakistans international image asfundamentalist, terrorist or extremist state.

The Religious extremism

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