Fighting extremism: ‘Religion plus politics equals disaster’

Blaming the US is not the solution, their involvement will lead to militancy.

KARACHI: The screen came to life with tears streaming down the face of a young widow holding her child. Her husband, who was a member of the Awami National Party, was tortured and beaten to death because of his opposition to militant groups in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi journalist Shahriar Kabir’s emotional documentary ‘Portrait of Jihad’ was screened on Thursday at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) to generate a discussion on militancy in South Asia. The film was produced by the South Asian Peoples Union Against Fundamentalism and Communalism to highlight the struggle of Bangladesh against religious militant organisations. The film was followed up by suggestions to help improve the current situation in Pakistan.

Kabir said that there was a need for an effective secular civil society to directly counter religious extremism and terrorism in the sub-continent. “The situation in Pakistan is as bad as it once was in Bangladesh, if not worse,” he said while talking to the media. “We, the people of Bangladesh, have organised a movement to counter terrorism, it involves the power of unity within civil society, against militancy.”

People will not rise up against militancy on their own and need strong leadership for the struggle. “Thousands of people joined Anna Hazare in India because he took a stand,” he said. “Religion must not be blended with politics as it is a recipe for disaster.” He added that most of the countries in South Asia were directly affected by religious extremism and militancy.

The journalist-cum-film maker went on to discuss how the majority of the Bangladeshi population was anti-fundamentalism and anti-violence. He suggested that a regional conference on Sufism in Pakistan should be organised to weaken religious militancy.

The journalist went on to talk about education in madrassas and said that Middle Eastern countries funded them while poverty drove people to send their children there for free food.  Secular education must be promoted and the same curriculum should be followed in schools and madrassas.

According to Kabir, in order to encourage a progressive educational system the government must set aside for money for it  and reduce the military expenses. “Militancy in Pakistan increased after the 1971 war because of the military operation in East Pakistan,” he said. “The generals were given key positions post 1971 and that encouraged them to exploit Afghanistan as another battleground with the American support in the 1980s.”

He concluded that blaming the United States was not the solution and their involvement would only give birth to more militancy as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th,  2011.