Defining public order

A PROTEST by students in Islamabad was attacked by the police on Wednesday, even though the demonstrators had been peaceful until the law enforcers resorted to all-out assault. A day earlier too the police had opted for strong-arm tactics at an anti-Musharraf rally in the capital city, and in particular appeared to target the daughter of a former Supreme Court judge. Across the country, members of civil society, lawyers, students and journalists have all borne the brunt of police brutality in recent weeks under Musharraf’s emergency rule and undeclared martial law. Leave aside for a moment the legality and moral footing of the Provisional Constitution Order and every extra-constitutional step taken since Nov 3 by a military ruler turned civilian president. True, conscientious objectors have knowingly chosen to violate the ‘law’ as it stands today, which has stripped citizens of basic rights such as freedom of expression and movement. But as we have had cause to remark earlier, nothing — even under the emergency rules that masquerade as the law of the land — can justify state violence against peaceful protestors. The police may have their orders but all they are entitled to do is arrest demonstrators, not thrash them mercilessly. But skulls continue to be cracked and songs of freedom met with swinging batons.

Any anti-establishment lawyers who had not yet gone underground were being picked by the police on Wednesday under Maintenance of Public Order, apparently to pre-empt a march planned for Thursday to show solidarity with ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. According to a senior Islamabad police official, “participation of people in such protests is increasing, which is a threat to peace”. Let’s stop here for a second. Who is entitled to define ‘peace’ and ‘public order’? Musharraf and his baton-wielding enforcers, or the citizens of Pakistan? Like ‘national interest’, these concepts are open to interpretation and can be used and abused by the rulers as they see fit to further personal instead of collective goals. What is seen by some as maintenance of public order is subjugation, plain and brutal, for others.

President Musharraf has made it clear that the politics of ‘agitation’ will not be tolerated even after the emergency is lifted on Dec 16. He has also instructed the interim provincial administrations not to allow any protests and sit-ins in the run-up to the elections scheduled for Jan 8. In other words there will be no room for public dissent in Pakistan, even when the Constitution is restored. How such arbitrary definitions of agitation and protest will affect electioneering remains to be seen. Under the code of conduct announced by the Election Commission, pre-approved rallies at designated venues are allowed but processions have been banned. These rules, for whatever they are worth, must apply to every political party irrespective of its acceptability to the establishment, federal or local. Going by the track record, this could be a vain hope.

Illegal migrants’ death

THE death of three Pakistanis on the Turkish-Greek border and the deportation of 58 others by Ankara serve to highlight the menace of illegal immigration and the accompanying tragedies. The three were part of a large group of Pakistanis who were trying to enter Greece from Turkey illegally on the way to western Europe. This is not the first time that Pakistanis have died while trying to sneak into foreign lands. Many have drowned when their rickety boats sank or when they were asked to jump into the shallows to swim to safety and to the prosperity supposedly waiting for them. The main motive behind the urge to migrate is obvious — escape poverty. If economic opportunities were available in plenty, no Pakistani would think of becoming a migrant, much less illegal, and devise ingenious methods to evade the law. If therefore illegal immigration is to be halted, there is one obvious solution: eradicate poverty, develop Pakistan and make it a land of opportunity. This state of bliss, however, is not within reach in the near future.

For the short term, the least the government can do is to focus attention on the scores of recruiting agencies which have been for decades thriving on the miseries of innocent people, not necessarily semi-literate villagers. While some of these agencies may be operating lawfully, most of them have little compunction about making money at the cost of human lives. Their modus operandi includes forging passports and visas, asking the immigrants to pledge or give money in advance out of the wages they will earn, and sending them on hazardous journeys, knowing full well the risks involved. Unfortunately, very few recruiting agents have been tried for their crimes. It also does not stand to reason that the recruiting agencies operate without the connivance of the corrupt among the Pakistan immigration staff. While the criminals among the recruiting agents must be taken to court, the government must also create awareness among the people of the hazards of illegal immigration, the likelihood of would-be immigrants landing in prison and the risks to their lives.

Attacks against Kurd rebels

WHILE Ankara’s ire against Kurdish guerrillas attacking targets inside Turkey is nothing new — on Wednesday eight more Kurds were killed in ongoing clashes in southeast Turkey — its recent military crackdown on rebel bases in northern Iraq is not the solution to the festering problem of Kurdish rebellion. The insurgency has its roots in socio-economic grievances, including the denial of ethnic rights. There is no doubt that the rebel PKK is a violent organisation whose battle against Turkish forces has resulted in some 40,000 deaths. But there is also no denying that its demands for national rights have struck a chord with many Kurds. Many of them have never accepted their distinctiveness as an ethnic group being subsumed by a single state (Turkish) identity. Kurdish rights have been long in coming. Under international pressure and domestic compulsions Turkey has eased some restrictions, including those on language, but it could do more to actually celebrate ethno-cultural diversity instead of clamping down on it. Turkey has to move beyond showing a grudging acceptance of the Kurdish identity. The latter, if promoted, is not likely to threaten the pillars of the state — if the state is fair to all in terms of cultural, political and economic rights. This is a far better option than carrying out military operations in Iraq, especially at a time when the volatile politics of the Middle East can cause matters to spiral out of control.

In all this, it is necessary to actively engage moderate Kurdish organisations both in Iraq and Turkey. Although they believe in greater rights for the Kurds, many moderate Kurds have few illusions about carving out a separate state. Ordinary Kurds are sick of the long history of conflict between PKK rebels and the Turkish military. The ones in Iraq have suffered equally under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. They would be only too happy to leave the past behind and get on with their lives in a representative political milieu. Many feel they have achieved this under American protection in northern Iraq where the Kurds have formed a regional government. To find their peace disrupted by a threatened Turkey will only cause hostilities to increase and give more fodder to Kurdish separatists in the region.

Notion of thankfulness in Islam

THE attribute of thankfulness (Shukr) which is an abstract idea but, as the reader may find, the Quran provides ample substance to a keen reader of the Book to comprehend the notable differences between thankfulness and thanklessness (Kufr, in Quranic terms).

And this realisation is bound to change one’s mindset which will be reflected in his/her actual behaviour and conduct. So, this is how the holy scripture seeks to bring about positive changes in people’s thinking and personality, provided the belief is there that the contents of the Book are divinely revealed.

The Quran informs us that, after recounting His blessings and favours heaped on him and the Israelites in general before and after his anointment as divine messenger, God said to Moses (pbuh): “Be among the thankful” (Surah 7, Ayat 144). Thus, to be thankful (Shakir) is like behaving as a ‘believer’ – believing in God being the Creator. And its opposite is unbeliever (or Kafir) behaving as one who does not believe in the existence of God Who created the marvellous universe.

The difference between thankfulness and disbelief is fundamental if we examine the implication of Ayat 114 of Surah 7 and the context in which it occurs. What the Almighty had said to Prophet Moses, the latter transmitted to his followers while recalling the divine support and favour which had led to their miraculous escape from the oppressive rule of the pharaohs of Egypt.

He had also said to his people that “God had proclaimed: if you give thank, I will give you more; and if you deny my favours, my punishment will be dire.” (Surah 14, Ayat 7).

Thus, thankfulness to God is the main plank of a divinely-revealed religious infrastructure like Islam. The Quran coveys this through Ayat 147 of Surah 4 which puts the question: “What concern has God for your punishment if you are thankful (for His mercies) and believe in Him?” It is worth noting that in the above Ayat thankfulness to God has been equated with belief in Him.

No wonder, the opening Surah of Quran (Al-Fateha) begins with acknowledgement of thankfulness for His mercies and kindnesses by “praising Him as the Lord of the worlds, the most Beneficent and Merciful”. We are told that for practical demonstration of this thankfulness, we should glorify Him when we enter the night, and enter the morning and at the sun’s decline and in the noonday” (Surah 30, Ayat 17).

This is exactly in compliance of this Ayat that the five-time prayers in the course of each calendar day have been made obligatory for us who belong to the last batch of the recipients of God-given guidelines.

We have also been informed that it is not only the human beings who have been commanded to offer prayers of thankfulness day in and day out, but that even those ethereal beings “Who bear the (Divine) throne and all who are round about it, hymn the praises of their Lord (Surah 40, Ayat 7).

At another place in the Quran, there is a statement, for our attention, that “the seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein praise Him, and that there is not a thing that does not hymn His praise, although you do not understand their praise”. (Surah 17, Ayat 44).

By stressing the importance of thankfulness and by informing us that all the material and non-material objects in the universe have their own ways of expressing their thankfulness, God asks us to express our thankfulness to Him by offering the five-time prayers, as will be evident from Ayat 130 of Surah 20, addressed to our Holy Prophet which lays down the time-table of these prayers: “Celebrate the praise of the Lord before the rising of the sun and before it’s going down and glorify Him during some hours of the night and at two ends of the day.” (Surah 20, Ayat 130).

The five-time prayers assume a new significance if we keep in mind that each time we pray, we fulfil our obligation to thank Allah for having made us the best of His creations.

The Quran does remind us of the elevated status assigned to the humans among all animate and inanimate things that He has created and expects from us, who are the most sensible and intelligent creation, to bow down in reverence before His invisible presence as many times in the day and night as He has considered practicable for us.

It will be appropriate that before ending this piece, the following excerpt from the Holy text is reproduced which is one of the most superb delineation of the ideas of metaphysical and transcendental import – matters which lie beyond human experience: “He (Allah) directs His commands from the heaven unto the earth, then it ascends into Him in a Day whereof the measure is a thousand years of what you reckon.

“Such is the knower of the invisible and the visible, the mighty, the merciful who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay; then he made his seed from a despicable fluid: then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit and equipped him with hearing and sight and heart. But still you give Him small thanks!” (Surah 32, Ayat 7-9).

This Quranic description of man’s creation is not meant to give us an insight into the physical processes of man’s origin but to impress upon men and women who read the Quran understanding the meaning of the text, that they should ponder and think deep on the subject of their own creation and they having been blessed with organs of sight and sound and a heart capable of ‘feeling’ that which is experienced through the audio-visual organs.

Once a person reflects on Allah’s munificence in having created him / her as human beings on this planet which they share with non-human beings, he / she will arrive at the conclusion that, on this account alone they owe a debt to the Creator which they can hardly repay. Such a feeling is very likely to induce in the person concerned to pray to God, bending on the knees and then kissing the earth indicating the humility and lowliness before Allah.

OTHER VOICES - Pushto Press

Utmost care needed to save civilian population

Civilian population has been wounded in the cross fire between the security forces and armed militants on Saturday and Sunday in North Waziristan. During the shelling, bullets ripped through Saladar Khan’s house, killing a six year-old child and three women.

The incidents in North Waziristan took place at a time when the Election Commission of Pakistan has announced a schedule for general elections in the country and political parties are immersed in hectic negotiations amongst themselves….

On the other hand, security forces are engaged in fighting against the armed militants in Swat which has caused mass migration of people from the area.

Since last year, security forces have succeeded in pushing back the armed militants and foreigners in North Waziristan. But the heavy bombardment in the area has wreaked havoc for its civilian population and this might result in tremendous resentment in North Waziristan.

For long, the gallant people of the tribal areas have defended the borders and continue to fight foreign elements. Therefore, all damage caused to these people might go against the interests of the war on terror.

It is true that in recent times, substantial development projects have been carried out in our tribal regions, but care is needed to protect the masses from being hurt in this battle with foreign terrorists….

One wishes to see the people of tribal areas live in peace and tranquility and this can only happen when its people are not continuously caught in the cross fire. We, therefore, urge the government to make sure that the civilian public is not destroyed in these deadly assaults. — (Dec 3)

Anybody may judge

The character of almost all groups and individuals stands exposed in the numerous trials and tribulations in recent Afghan history….But there are still some who may not be aware of the true colours of various groups in Afghanistan….

A number of Internet websites have recently disseminated information released by the American Archives.

This gives one a clear idea about who has been fighting for whom and with whose support during the Taliban rule in the country. The US ambassador to Pakistan writes a letter to the US ministry of foreign affairs in 1999 which states: “Due to the financial crisis in Pakistan and due to the straining of relations between the Saudi government and the Taliban on the issue of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban are facing financial difficulties at a time when the adversary of the Taliban, Ahmad Shah Masud, is generously supported by Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

“Pakistan, though, sends a million dollars every month to support the Taliban but this amount is far less than what Ahmad Shah Masud gets from all these countries. The Iranians have developed close ties with Panjsher and send their support through Kolab.”

The second part of the same letter says, “The Iranian military and Revolutionary Guards have established a base in the east of Panjsher valley and are fully active in support of Ahmad Shah.”

The readers should, now, judge the present actors on the Afghan stage…. Who has been fighting for whom and why?

The Afghan people should be aware of all those who now present themselves in a different light.

— (Dec 3)

––Selected and translated by Khadim Husain