The killing of Salman Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti and the end of Jinnah’s dream
Pakistan is fascist state, not because our government and state organs are Fascists but collectively our people are too.
I know I am going to offend almost all the people by my statement, but it is the harsh reality of life today. If you are a liberal and/or a moderate and you don’t like it then suck it up. You are an endangered species in any case.
Alternatively, if you are a believing Muslim who thinks only people agreeing on your flavor of Islam have a right to be considered one then you are a fascist.
Sadly our society today has degenerated to the point where asking questions is considered blasphemy. We may have some of the smartest and brightest of the world but collectively we are bunch of idiots. We believe that learning by rot of the Quran is more important than making honest attempt of understanding the message.
The myth of the silent majority being kind and generous and moderate has already been broken and widely lamented by a few intellectuals post Salman Taseer’s brutal murder and the subsequent glorification of his killer.
The signs of a fascistic society has been there in the making for a very long time. We can trace the acceleration of it back to the end of Bhutto’s era in Pakistan, when he relented to appease the religious right in Pakistan – Banning of alcohol, declaration of Qadianis as non-Muslims. The dogs of religious right were let loose with all their ferocity on the masses during the Zia regime.
Zia, like all dictators craved for legitimacy and a dependable constituency. Since he was from humble origins and had neither land, nor money or political background he adopted the religious right to be his constituency. The right wing political mullahs never had support from the masses and consequently won any power. Hence they were amenable to the idea of coming into power through back door arrangements and they did.
The seeds of Islamisation were sown by our constituent assembly, which chose to pass the objective resolution making Islam a state religion and turning Pakistan into an Islamic Republic in complete contradiction to the vision of Jinnah.
The mass indoctrination of society in the militant version of Islam has made it utterly impossible for an honest open dialogue to happen and that is what has made our society and country a fascist one.
The blasphemy law that is causing so much trouble is a man made law created by fallible human beings. All the proponents of this law cannot deny the fact that it has been only used to victimize the already marginalized minority communities. Neither can they show that the Quran has any such explicit penalty for insulting the Prophets.
In Quran we see the Prophet’s of Allah being victimized, insulted and abused and preaching love and guidance in return.
However, to have such kind of discourse you will require rationality and level headedness that is missing completely.
In our dear country today Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, CPAs, and other highly qualified and educated people make excuses for the Taliban and absolve them of all the wrong doings. The media tacitly supports the killers of politicians killed in the name of religion and the masses enjoy lynching of common people – young and old, men and women in person and on TV.
I don’t know how much longer we can sustain our optimism of a turnaround or improvement in the state of affairs of our society.
Posted on March 3, 2011
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