Death at Data Darbar

The attack on the Data Darbar in Lahore on the night of July 2 reminds us of the monsters that reside within us. They are not, as some among us will tell us, from outside our borders but come from within. They have been nurtured over the years by successive governments and by our military establishments, initially to use against whom we saw as our enemies but now they are out of everyone's control and wreaking havoc on the country, tearing its fabric and society apart, bit by bit. Dedicated to Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh who died 966 years ago, the attack on the shrine left at least 42 people dead. While the extremists managed to execute their plans what they will never succeed in eradicating is the deep sense of sadness that has come with the attacks. The people of Lahore, and indeed millions across the country, hold a deep sense of emotional and spiritual attachment to Data Ganj Baksh and the other Sufi saints who spread their mystical, peaceful brand of Islam across the subcontinent. The bombings mark a devastating attempt to destroy this version of religion, with its gentle poetry, love for humanity and message of acceptance and replace it with the far more brutal brand of religion that orthodox forces have, markedly since the 1980s, attempted to forcibly impose in the country. And Data Darbar is not a place where hedonistic heathens gather to engage in Dionysian orgies but a refuge for those living on society’s edge such as runaways and the very impoverished.

What is all the more shocking is the attempt by these very forces to pass on the blame. The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which has been responsible for much of the obscurantism that enwraps our country in a stifling shroud threatening to crush away life and joy from its soul, has blamed ‘anti-Islam’ forces. This is absurd. The militants behind such attacks are the product of our own failure to tackle extremism. We should be asking why groups like the JI, the Tablighi Jamaat, the JUI and others have been allowed so much space in which to operate. While they may claim otherwise, their words and actions do not exactly foster tolerance or a spirit of humanity among their members and if anything the primary signal that is given is of adhering to a faith that is not only the best there is, but also that other faiths are far worse and need to be looked down upon and ridiculed. Through their messages which seek to narrow Islam and its broad vision to a mere sliver and to distort its most fundamental ideas such forces have played a part in creating the environment in which extremism flourishes and militant groups put down roots.  Rather than insinuating agents from across the border may be behind the bombings, as some officials have predictably done, we need to direct our energies towards taking on the JI and other groups that freely preach ideas directed against the Sufi vision and its notions of tolerance. The bombers who struck in quick succession at a time when the shrine was packed with worshippers as happens every Thursday night, quite clearly aimed to extract as heavy a toll of human life as possible. The attack is the worst seen so far in the series of bombings at shrines, and the first of its kind in Lahore. The terrorists who have moved into the country’s largest province have no morality and no conscience. They follow no code of religious belief, for none, least of all Islam, preaches murder and mayhem.

The bombings have shaken Lahore. We wonder if they will be enough to make the Punjab government re-think its strategy on militancy and develop a plan of action directed against it. Fewer and fewer people believe the claim from the PML-N that the Taliban or other forces affiliated to them do not exist in the province. They have a stronghold within it and are capable of striking at the very core of its capital city shattering the lives of all with an affinity to Sufism. The provincial government must accept blame for the fact that they are able to do so, that no attempt has been made so far to tackle extremist groups operating in the Punjab. Had this happened, we would not have seen what we did on the night of July 2.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2010.