Fighting Words, Hidden Pacts

The Pakistani military establishment's fondness for Islamist fundamentalists, jihadists and rightwing groups remains as strong as ever, and the May 15 Convocation of Deeni Madaris (religious seminaries), as well as the May 18 edict against suicide attacks provide the latest evidence to this effect.

On May 15, Wafaqul Medaris Al Arabia (a coalition of more than 9,000 Deobandi seminaries that claims to be the original patron and creator of the Taliban) organized a grand convocation in the immediate vicinity of the Parliament, Presidency and the Prime Minister's House at the state-owned Convention Center, with the full patronage of the present regime. Venomous speeches against the US were made on the occasion; jihad was glorified; government policies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kashmir were condemned.

The May 15 Convocation was both unusual and, in many respects, incredible. The state owns and runs the majestic Convention Center that is used for high-profile activities like South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Conventions. It is the most elite venue in Islamabad. Securing access for a programme is no easy matter, and it is not the kind of place that has often lent itself to extremist political or religious outburst. This is the first time that this facility was extended to such an organization, and to give vent to their fury against the US.

It is clear that two powerful players continue to dominate Pakistani politics - the Army and the mullahs (clerics). The convention creates doubts about Musharraf's 'enlightened moderation' and his claims of liberalism. There is mounting evidence that the regime is strengthening a miniscule but violent minority instead of encouraging the silent and peace-loving majority. The mullahs, it appears, are Army's 'B' team, and are bound to become stronger in future with the establishment's patronage. With the state's patronage, they will eventually come to dominate the entire political space in Pakistan, with the jehadi element becoming an increasing threat, both internally and externally.

The May 15 Convocation brought together thousands of Deobandi clerics from all over the country including the self-proclaimed 'spiritual leaders' of the Taliban - Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, former Inter Services Intelligence Chief (ISI) Hamid Gul, and Qazi Hussain Ahmad. Former Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and Minister for Religious Affairs Ejaz ul Haq represented the government. The Convocation, ostensibly intended to award outstanding clerics, sent out a strong message, emphasized particularly in speeches by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Fazl ur Rehman and Samiul Haq: politics and religion are intrinsically linked and cannot be analysed in isolation; and the mullahs are the greatest custodians of politics.

As Fazl-ur-Rehman declaimed: "Politics is the governance of a society the rules of which were set by Koran and propounded by the holy Prophet. Therefore, the Prophet was the greatest politician and statesman. Muslims are bound to follow him in all respects of life. Since the mullahs are the true disciples of the Prophet, politics is their religious right. And by doing politics, the mullahs are carrying forward the Prophet's mission. Politics is surely not the business of the Army."

Rehman also held General Musharraf responsible for the desecration of Quran in Guantanamo, and for The Washington Time's derogatory cartoon depicting Pakistan as a dog. He accused Musharraf of imposing the so-called modernism/liberalism on the nation at the West's behest.

In his prepared speech, Rehman recalled the days when the clerics would go door-to-door and collect food as alms. "The beggars of yesterday have now become a threat to global powers," he said, "Today, they are ruling the country. This shows clerics are successful politicians!"

Rehman accused the powerful nations of exploiting the resources of the weak nations through international treaties and argued that Pakistan should not adhere to such treaties. "The international treaties have imposed extremely unfair conditions on us completely nullifying our constitution."

Insisting that it was not the seminaries that were extremist or terrorists, he declared, "What the US has done in Afghanistan and Iraq sufficiently proves the fact that there is no terrorist/extremist bigger than America. The inhuman policies of the US are pushing the Muslims to extremism."

In his highly charged speech, Samiul Haq claimed that the big powers were working on a single-point agenda - the annihilation of the seminaries. "The international community is against only one thing, the seminaries. Its target is not the Islamic Army, the Muslim rulers, generals or the politicians. It is not concerned with our natural resources. Its target is only one - to label our seminaries as hub of terrorism and extremism."

The convocation passed a 14-point resolution, which included:

• The five wafaq (coalitions) of religious seminaries should be given the status of a board and their degrees/certificates should be recognized at the national level.
  
• The Seminaries Reforms Board should be immediately abolished. It is a violation of the agreement that the government had entered into with the five wafaq.
  
• Seminaries are not involved in any act of terror. Such propaganda is a Jewish conspiracy.
  
• We condemn the Agha Khan Board (AKB) and demand that it should be immediately banned.
  
• The proceedings of all the government and private events should start with the recitation of Koran and it should be made part of the law.
  
• The ban on the foreign students who want to come to Pakistan for religious education should be lifted and they should be granted visas.
  
• The government should stop patronizing the Hindu and European culture in the country and ban such NGOs that are involved in this crime.
  
• The state-media should stop promoting nudity.

The May 15 Convocation was extraordinarily well-organised. A media cell, equipped with computers, internet connectivity and photocopiers had been established at Lal Masjid; security was tight, and nobody was allowed entry without invitation. The proceedings of the Convocation were transmitted live through the internet. Some clerics who could not make it to the Convention Center participated online. Several observers were inclined to some skepticism regarding the administrative skills of the clerics, and suspicions were voiced that the 'ISI has sponsored this show.'

Arif Jamal - a prolific writer on jihad and rightwing politics - observed: "The Convocation marks a new beginning of relations between the Musharraf government and the Deobandi ulema. The conflict between the Musharraf government and the Pakistani Deobandi ulema that started with the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan and reached its climax with the attempts on the life of General Musharraf appears to be over. The Musharraf government's reconciliatory efforts towards the ulema in general and friendly acts towards the Deobandi ulema in particular have finally convinced them that the government is not hostile towards ulema. "

Musharraf has also back-paddled on the issue of seminaries registration and reforms in their curriculum. Jamal notes, further, "The government has been going slow on its reform agenda for the madaris for the last one year. It has considerably reduced its interference in the affairs of the madaris. It has also stopped issuing any hostile statements against the ulema and madaris. It has also exempted them from mandatory registration under the Deeni Madaris (Voluntary Registration and Regulation) Ordinance, 2002, which was an important demand of the madaris. It withdrew cases against some of the leading Deobandi ulema as a part of its reconciliation efforts…"

The regime's efforts to secure support from the Islamist right were also at least partially visible in the fatwa (edict) of May 18, issued by a group of 58 ulema, against suicide attacks in the country. Significantly, the fatwa exempted the masterminding of suicide attacks against 'foreign occupation', including such attacks in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kashmir. The impact of the fatwa, however, is expected to be negligible, since it has little backing from scholars of repute. As the Daily Jasarat columnist, Shahnawaz Farooqi, noted, out of the 58 ulema who issued the fatwa, 57 had no standing. "We have heard their name for the first time in our life. There is only one familiar name - Mufti Muneebur Rehman."

Farooqi went on to urge Mufti Muneebur Rehman to issue an edict against the Army. "Pakistani generals subjugate the country whenever they wish to do so. National, international and Islamic law does not allow such subjugation. Therefore, Mufti Muneeb and his clique of other so-called 57 scholars should issue another edict that should declare Army's dictatorship as un-Islamic." He added, further, that violent resistance against an oppressive ruler was also jihad, giving the example of Hazrat Ali's jihad against Yazeed. "Yazeed was a Muslim and Hazrat Ali had waged jihad against him. In the light of Muneeb's edict, Hazrat Ali's resistance against Yazeed becomes an act of terrorism."

The fatwa has been outrightly rejected by the dominant rightwing formations. Fazlur Rehman declared: "The edict has been issued under political compulsions. It is not based on Shariat but on politics. The government has bribed ulema to obtain the edict at the US behest. The US is responsible for introducing the trend of suicide attacks."

Interestingly, Mufti Muneeb's colleague Sarfraz Naeemi also disagreed with his fatwa: "The edict will benefit unbelief. The entire world knows the motives behind the edict. The greatest benefit will reach to the murderers of the Muslims - India, Israel and the US. At the moment, the Muslims are being massacred all over the world. Instead of issuing the edict of jihad against the butchers of the Muslims, Musharraf has bribed the ulema to get an edict against suicide attacks. The suicide attacks are not haram [forbidden in Islam] but are the supreme form of jihad. There should have been an edict against Bush - that whoever will kill him will go to the heaven."

The outcome of the fatwa came exactly after 10 days, on May 27, when the Shia shrine, the Hazrat Bari Imam, in the vicinity of the heavily guarded Diplomatic Enclave, witnessed a powerful suicide explosion that killed 25 people and injured more than a 100. The message to the government was loud and clear: the fatwa meant nothing. Extremist elements would continue to do whatever they deemed necessary.

Mohammad Shehzad is Islamabad-based freelance journalist and writer. Courtesy, the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal