A nation standing against the Mullahs and madersas, you will like this one..
Let us sing in chorus with Silent Majority
A.B.S. Jafri
Oh at what an achingly long last has our Silent Majority begun to articulate our anguish and heartaches! Last Thursday, a group of women banded together in Karachi and inaugurated what can be an Odyssey. One should wish most ardently that they have already made history, or started making it. If not, they certainly have produced a kind of daybreak through our irredeemably pitch dark night. These wonderful women, with a token sprinkling of men, organized a seminar and then put up a demonstration to protest against extremism — and plead for sanity.
This nation has been in the stranglehold of charlatans and quacks, trading their spurious wares in the most sacred of names known to civilized humanity. These purveyors of distorted half truths have dug themselves deeper in Karachi than anywhere in the country.
When exactly did the sun of sanity start sinking beyond our horizons? A difficult question to answer. To borrow a few words from the lament of Mirza Ghalib:
kab say houn kiya bataoun jahan-e-kharab mein...
For the sake of convenience and brevity, let us say that the sun of sanity started setting with the arrival of dictator Ziaul Haq at the helm of this adrift ship. Recall July 5, 1977. General Ziaul presented himself as the "soldier of Islam." This is no joke. His own words spoken to a nation in a traumatic daze. Only hours before, he had subverted the constitution of this Islamic republic. Of course, under the cover of the darkness of the darkest of nights in the life of this persistently abused nation.
This "soldier of Islam," began his career with the solemn promise to restore the country to democracy after elections "in 90 days." He stayed on for more than 3,600 days, mind you. And all those days he was harping on what he would have us believe were religious themes. During his long and disastrous misrule, he spread his own brand of 'Islam.' Behind his toothy smile he carried the immense burden of the bad conscience of a usurper for whom the least punishment was the shooting squad.
Most of the ultra-active clerics of today were anointed during that regime, by the man with false promises. Few in our brief half-a-century history have done more to disorientate the people of this country than that pretender claiming to be serving the cause of Islam.
Karachi remained his chief target. Because he suspected this city was relatively more educated and able to communicate with the contemporary culture of common sense and moderation. Note the country is in turmoil because of the seeds sown a quarter of a century ago. No city in the country is so helplessly at the mercy of extremists as Karachi. There are more deni madarasas in and around Karachi than anywhere.
Those who may be impatient to cite the example of some pockets in the north and north-west had better hold their breath. Those remote nooks had always had some such tendencies in a wholly illiterate and almost innocent way. In Karachi this is an entirely alien corn. And sown by the hands of none but the self-proclaimed "Soldier of Islam." No other city has seen such rapid proliferation of the deni madarsas as this educated metropolis, seat of industry, trade, commerce and also education. According to one educated senior citizen of Karachi, this city has well over one hundred thousand joints that are the nerve centres of diehard extremism. These are seminaries from where descend hordes of agitators who have an uncanny expertise in rioting, arson and destructive crafts.
In this environment, reeking with blackmail, intimidation and actual use of uninhibited violence against the sane citizens, the initiative of "Silent Majority" comes as a whiff of fresh air. Mark the irony in the fact that in this country, reverberating with noise and fury, kicked up by pseudo clerics, the majority feels too insecure to speak out, let alone to mount a protest. This is a measure of the fear of violence from the fanatics. When the armed forces of the fanatics are out in the field, the average law abiding citizen is driven to opt for the fallacious and defeatist line of least resistance.
How heartless the extremist elements can get is so glaringly evident from the use of raw youth as the cannon fodder in their warfare. Little children are displayed at the head of furious processions, brandishing automatic weapons, notably the notorious Klashnikov. As far as the decent people are concerned, display of weapons is not only in atrociously bad taste but also illegal and a cognizable offence. This brazen defiance with impunity is from the so-called religious parties and religious leaders and the reverend Maulana and Ulema.
There is so much of din and to-do about Jihad. If this is to be a dedicated effort to curb evil and promote virtue, it is welcome. Our society is perforated with consuming evils. What about corruption in public services? Do we need any proof of how fearsomely widespread and deep-rooted this evil is? What do we have these Army Monitoring Teams, the Criminal Investigation Agency, and the Accountability Courts in aid of? What prevents our 'religious leaders' from taking up cudgels against the corrupt? Why not plead for the social boycott of the known corrupt? Why not stage protests against corruption?
These pious men cannot see the condition of inner cities where millions of the poorer people live and suffer. In Karachi there is hardly a clean street. In this city an average of a dozen cars a day are taken away, mostly on gun point. Crime is on the rise. The other day the elected Nazim spoke of the need to promote tree plantation. No maulana, no ulema, has time to look at these evils on the one hand and social needs on the other and do the needful.
Equally dismaying is the attitude of the political leaders. They have been on an unearned holiday from common sense.
The moderate and sane citizen has stayed silent and indolent for far too long and with injury to none but the decent and the honourable in our society. By way of political demonstrations decency must be defended in a positive and activist manner. Honour must be upheld and protected in an articulate and assertive way.
The figure that has led this move is a lady who is revered by all and for all the good reasons, too. There can hardly be a nobler voice to intone with to produce a chorus articulating the sorrow of the soul of this nation. It is time for all good people to speak out.
Iqbal Latif
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
