Don’t demonise ‘the public’

Much has been written about the reaction of the public — which ranged from celebration to condemnation — to Salmaan Taseer's murder. As an expatriate observer, what I found most troubling about the aftermath was the complete inability of liberals and conservatives to even remotely try to put this tragedy in perspective. Condemnation of murder must be unequivocal but we cannot just stomp in fury and lament the tide of radicalism and write-off the country as so many English media commentators have resolutely done. All manner of satire and scorn has been hurled on the ‘silent majority’ of the Pakistani public, which has been sanctimoniously termed senseless vermin.

Perhaps this is part of the grieving process and, hence, can be considered in that light. However, the majority of the Pakistani public is not ‘immoral’ but simply apathetic to the plight of the elite. Even brave elite politicians like Salmaan Taseer will be considered so distant from the daily lives of those who toil in our farms or factories that their demise will often be passed over with a sense of detached ‘amusement’. In a nation of 170 million, if a few thousand activists agitate or celebrate, our punditry emotionally and summarily declares the country to be a basket case! Most people really don’t care to protest about such matters because there are incipient grievances and structural inequalities which lead them to find validation in their behaviour. Religious retribution provides an easy excuse for validation, but the problem needs to be considered in the context of why Pakistan’s politicians have lost connectivity with their public.

So my fellow liberals, please stop dehumanising the Pakistani public. By doing so, you are actually providing further fodder to the fanatics who will simply use your selective outrage against you. Instead, consider how the problem of radicalism can be resolved by collectively humanising politics. The blasphemy law may be considered an embarrassment for educated pluralistic societies but there is plenty of precedent for it worldwide. Since the law was promulgated at the behest of religious sentiments, it is impossible to reform it without involving religious parties. However, the liberal elite have such contempt for anything religious that they, too, are unwilling to interact with clerics in a civilised manner.

What we need now is a national effort at reconciliation between the religious right and the secular left. As for criminals like Qadri, they need to be tackled through the legal process — which means that there will be a defence presented. Showing contempt for those who may present a legal defence for a criminal or might even sympathise with his twisted rationale serves little purpose. There are laws for those who incite hatred and violence and they should be implemented. The ulema should be brought together in a consensus-building session to focus on this matter immediately. It should be noted that several clerics in other Muslim countries (even Saudi Arabia) have condemned targeted assassination in such matters.

The treatment of minorities is a growing concern in many Muslim countries. Even in ostensibly progressive lands such as Malaysia, there have been several instances of legal discrimination that the country is trying to grapple with. The Organization of the Islamic Conference would perhaps be a suitable venue for Muslim states to collectively address this matter and consider a collective response to prevent radicalisation through informed and deliberate consensus-building. Forcing secularism down the throat of a society which has deep religious convictions never works, as Turkey has learnt after 50 years of experimentation with this approach. So let’s consider both hard and soft tactics to solve this problem as a nation.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2011.