State failure and extremism

Pathologies and symptoms of state failure in Pakistan; failure to counter religious extremism is most obvious one

There are many pathologies and symptoms of state failure in Pakistan among which failure to counter religious extremism is the most obvious one. The monster of religious extremism — intolerance of other sects in Islam and religious beliefs and acts of targeted violence against minorities — has been in the making for decades. While the extremist groups, leaders and movements have been on the rise and creating greater public and social space for themselves, the state institutions and the ruling groups have been surrendering their power and shirking their responsibility to protect security of life and freedom of citizens. The narrative of state failure in Pakistan — an intellectual taboo some decades back — is for real now. Failure to recognise the state failure and do something about it is bound to further weaken the state and make society more vulnerable to attacks from the religious extremists.

There is little doubt about who I am talking about; yes, those who use our sacred religion or any other religion for violence of all forms from hate-speech to physical harm like murder, militancy, terrorism and suicide bombings. These people no matter what elevated positions in religious or social hierarchy they occupy, their choice of violent means for achieving their social or political objectives makes them an enemy of the people, society, and even the religion they pretend to profess. No religion by its spiritual values, moral ethos and teaching allows violence against society, which the nation-states — based on citizenship and multi-faith populations — represent. Actually, if we look at the past 40 years of history of the region, the connected theatres of a terrible war, religious violence has taken a structural form, a stubborn character and growing religious industry.

More than 70,000 citizens have lost their lives among whom a good number of those killed are from the Shia sect, Ahmadis and Christians is an undeniable fact. What kind of a state and society we are, if people professing a particular faith, which is a fundamental right universally acknowledged, can be targeted, killed and even expelled from their ancestral places. Is religious freedom only for the majority, the powerful?

The personal tragedy of tens of thousands of children, women, scholars, poets, intellectuals, political and social activists, soldiers, policemen and tribal maliks makes the tragedy of Pakistan. The tragedy is further compounded, as it goes on and on with ruling groups —the PML-N — taking the course of political expediency. In the face of these horrible acts of violence, it wanted to negotiate with the TTP even after the terrorists had trashed seven negotiated agreements. The security forces took decisive action, leaving the ruling political clique to a choice between watching from the sidelines or following in their tracks.

A new religious group, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik, has paralysed the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi by marching from Lahore and occupying Faizabad interchange. Once again, we see political expediency shaping the choice of the ruling clique. The response of the PML-N is no different in this situation than a normal attitude of a banana republic. Failure to act in such situations created by religious groups is a normal response of the government.

The power of extremist groups has grown because the power of the state to act in support of law, justice and in public interest has considerably declined. Popular support has rarely energised religious extremist groups; instead, it will always be the inability of governments to act against them in support of the law when they have to.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2017.

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