Extremist views: Hate literature finds a market in Islamabad

Magazines give pro-Taliban spin to news from Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD:

Zarb-e-Momin is like most other magazines and newspapers available in the market.  It aspires to glossiness but doesn’t quite get there and is filled with a mix of news and analysis. But there are a couple of differences that make it stand out from your typical weekly. It does not carry a single photograph of human beings and, despite a law requiring all publications to do so, does not have a masthead giving the name of the publisher, editor or printing press.

Zarb-e-Momim describes itself as a “complete Islamic” magazine but its content shows that to be a euphemism for spreading hate and extremism. It’s front page shows a hand draped in the Stars and Stripes moving around pawns on a chessboard along with a accompanying photograph of American soldiers standing by coffins of US army men, an exception to its no human photographs rule. The accompanying article is filled with hate, openly asking for people to fight this Great Satan. Another article explains that Iraqi scientists had been kidnapped by Mossad.

Such publications, often openly inciting rebellion against the state and preaching hatred, occupy a murky space between tacit approval and enforced bans. A police official, who was only willing to speak about these magazines on condition of anonymity, said that there is no official policy regarding hate literature. According to him, police action may be taken against those known to print, transport or sell these publications but there are very few outright bans.

The official said one of the few publications that officers have been recently told to crack down on is Ghazwa, the weekly magazine of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.  For the rest of the country, says the official, it is up to the provinces to decide which publications are banned and it is also their responsibility to enforce the ban.

Meanwhile, at a stand near the bus terminal in Sitara Market, Spaida-e-Sehr Aur Tamtamata Chiragh, a book written by Ayman al Zawahari, takes centre stage. All it is missing is a shiny “by the new leader of al Qaeda” sticker. Unlike the militant magazines that sell for less than Rs50, this book costs a pricey Rs600.

Al-Qalam divides its space between promoting Jaish-e-Mohammed and promoting conspiracy theories against foreigners and its supposed collaborators. It also includes a cartoon that is concerned more with hate than laughter. Intriguingly, within Al-Qalam’s pages is a pamphlet that simply lists the names of select mosques around the country, the mullahs in charge there and their cell phone numbers. While such hate literature is freely available to those seeking it out, the police official claimed that it was not as widespread as it had been. “If we are given the orders to do so it will not be that hard to make them disappear,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2011.