The rise of right wing religious extremism in Pakistan

The assassination of the governor of Punjab, Mr. Salman Thaseer, by one of his bodyguards, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadir, marks another incident where right wing religious extremism has raised its ugly head in Pakistan. Mr. Thaseer has been one of the few astute politicians lending active support to the moderate voices in Pakistan. Mr. Thaseer, as an individual does not quite fit the bill of a typical Pakistani politician. A modern, educated and tech-savvy individual, he has often earned the wrath of the religious fanatics for his actions. The latest of such actions was him meeting with Ms.aasia Bibi, the Christian woman convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death after arguing with Muslim fellow workers who refused to share a bowl of water with her, saying it would be “unclean”. Mr.Thasser called for the annulment of the blasphemy law, under which there is a mandatory death sentence for the offence of blasphemy against the Prophet, and also urged President Zardari to pardon her. The blasphemy laws were enacted by Zia-Ul-Haq to appease the hardliners and they have proven to be the biggest impediment to the moderate voices in Pakistan. Time and again there have been cries for the withdrawal of these laws; however, none in the political establishment so far has proven to be audacious enough to initiate such a move.

The rise of right wing religious extremism has its genesis during the rule of the late dictator Zia-Ul-Haq. Zia’s military regime was characterized by state-driven Islamisation, including reforms to the legal and education systems; support to rightwing religious parties and their madrasas; and creation and patronage of Islamist extremist groups for the U.S.-supported anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. Since then many of the hard-line religious groups have been part of the various governments thus jeopardizing any moves to restore normality. The hard line right wing political parties received a further fillip under Mushraff when he started appeasing them to keep his political boat sailing. Musharraf supported religious rightwing parties at home to offset his popular moderate political opposition. Numerous parties propagating a hard line extremist ideology where brought into the fold to provide political support. After a rigged election in October 2002, a six-party alliance of rightwing religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) formed a majority government in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and a coalition government with the Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) (PML-Q) in Balochistan. After his inglorious exit, there seemed some hope for the return of a moderate political climate. The assassination of Ms. Bhutto brought the two erstwhile foes PPP (Pakistan’s Peoples Party) and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz) together and they formed a coalition government. However, differences soon crept up amongst them and PML-N withdrew support to the PPP government. Mr. Zardari, who was at the helm, then followed Musharaff by seeking the support of the religious parties to stay in power. Such stratergies of political appeasement have certainly increased the clout of the religious fanatics.

The reactions that followed the death of Mr.Thasser stand as a testimony to the clout they enjoy. The immediate support the assassin received, revels the firm entrenchment of hard line feelings in the minds of many Pakistanis. Qadir was declared a martyr and a facebook page created which had innumerable likes and comments celebrating his actions. President Zardari did not attend the funeral, no leading cleric was prepared to perform the last rites for Mr. Thaseer and few Pakistani politicians came forward to condemn his murder and some 500 religious Pakistani leaders praised his killer and urged Muslims not to mourn Thaseer’s death.

However, the widespread condemnation of the killing in the social media and the huge crowds which gathered to mourn Mr. Thaseer’s death provide the only silver lining in an otherwise bleak Pakistani political society. Such actions provide a great hope that moderate voices are still alive in Pakistan and Pakistan won’t turn into another Afghanistan. The onus now lies with the moderate political parties like PPP and PML-N to restore normalcy. To start with they should distance themselves with parties promulgating hard line extremism. They should lend their support to the moderate voices and shouldn’t blink in expressing their condemnation to any fanatical events. More work should be done at the grass root level to obliterate extremist feelings from the minds of the Pakistanis. In short, we need more Salman Thaseers.