the talibanization of pakistan - cross post sindhgroups - mustafa sumoro

[Guest guest]

Excerpted from Prospect May 2003Islamabad express / The Talebanisation of

Pakistan, Pervez HoodbhoyHundreds of thousands of people poured onto the

streets of Pakistani cities during the first weeks of the war in Iraq. Impotent

anger found expression in burning effigies of Bush and Blair and ineffectual

attempts to boycott products like Coke and KFC. One might have expected that,

by now, America's war would have been declared by Pakistan's religious leaders

as a war between Islam and kufr (unbelievers).Our bearded ones generally lose

little time in declaring holy wars. And since Bush is an evangelical Christian

and uses its vocabulary unsparingly, Pakistani Muslims must perceive the war on

terror as an American-Christian jihad against Islam. Right?

Astonishingly, it has not turned out this way. In most protests, the

humanitarian and universalistic aspect has dominated the religious. Slogans,

banners and speeches follow, for the most part, what one finds elsewhere in the

world-"No Blood For Oil,Bush-Blair Crimes Against Humanity." Some are

explicitly Islamic in character and call for jihad, blame Jews and Christians

and so forth. But these are far fewer than expected.The reason is not difficult

to fathom. Pakistanis have been fascinated and touched by the tens of millions

who protested in London, Washington, Rome and other cities around the globe.

They see France taking on the US in the Security Council, the Pope condemning

the war as a sin, Rachel Corrie standing in the way of an Israeli bulldozer and

being crushed to death,thousands courting arrest in the US, and more. I did not

think that these overseas protests would have much impact on our mullahs. After

all, Pakistanis are born into xenophobia, taught to believe that they are

surrounded by enemies and subjected to poisonous textbooks in schools. I am

pleased to have been mistaken. I am even more pleased that there has been no

repeat of attacks on Christians in Pakistan. In previous months, anti-US

feeling following the arrest of al Qaeda members has sometimes translated into

murders of Christians.But this salutary impact of the war, although

encouraging, is incidental.

 

There are larger implications to follow for politics in Pakistan. One can, even

now, clearly spot the losers and winners. Among the former are ex-prime

ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both currently exiled and hoping

that Washington will somehow restore their power and loot. But, because of

their failure forthrightly to condemn the war, they are marginalised in

Pakistan.The real gainer from the Iraq war will be Pakistan's alliance of

fundamentalist parties, the MMA. The MMA has come out, as expected, with a

denunciation of the US and the demand that General Musharraf's government

suspend its co-operation with the US in hunting down al Qaeda. The MMA is the

only political grouping that has been able to mobilise huge numbers of people.

But, for the moment, an unspecified combination of carrots and sticks seems to

have dissuaded them from pushing through a resolution in the National Assembly

condemning the US invasion.The MMA, which has successfully formed the

government in two of Pakistan's four provinces, is angling to get into the

federal government too by trying to cultivate a moderate image. However, it is

firmly committed to the Talebanisation of Pakistan. Upon assuming office in the

provinces it governs, the MMA almost immediately proposed a ban on the playing

of music on public transport, required buses to stop dead at the time of the

five daily prayers and closed down video shops and cinemas.More lies in store.

New laws, expected to be passed by the Frontier Assembly soon, will follow

those of Afghanistan's former Taleban government. For example, women without

hijab and a chaperone may not leave their homes; shops shall not advertise sale

of sanitary pads; use of make up will be banned; male doctors may not treat

women patients; coeducation has been identified as a cause of fornication and

is to be phased out; family planning shall be declared un-Islamic.Musharraf,

caught between popular sentiment against the Iraq war and his regime's heavy

dependence on America, walks his usual tightrope. In January, in a

characteristically thoughtless statement, Musharraf declared that Pakistan

could very well be next on the US hit list. But he has refused to take a strong

stand on the Iraq war. And it seems fairly certain that if Pakistan had been

forced to vote on a UN resolution for war, it would have abstained.The growing

support for the MMA and the rise of anti-Americanism makes it evident that the

US cannot afford presentative democracy in most Islamic states. It is hard to

imagine any popularly elected government in Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Jordan,

Iran, or Saudi Arabia being acceptable to the US.The cost of America's

messianic mission to change the world will go well beyond the expense of

maintaining 1m soldiers on five continents. One cost is immediately apparent

here in Pakistan. Most Americans have fled in spite of the fact that the

Pakistani government is allied with the US. The few who remain hide their

presence. I am sorry about this-that I cannot invite my American friends and

physicist colleagues to my country again. Many of them have opposed the war.

But it is unclear if and when their security can be guaranteed.end of matter

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