It is, of course, the inadequacy of the official machinery which allows forces like the FeI and its parent body to move into people’s lives in this fashion — and, for quite natural reasons, win favour with them. Precisely the same sequence of events took place after the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 floods. It is unfortunate that the government has not learnt its lessons and has allowed this to happen again. Of course, victims of natural disaster need help, but it should come from state agencies and their humanitarian partners, not those who seek to use occasions such as these to put across their own message, even while doing good work. This is especially significant in our context, where extremism has spread like wildfire.
There are indications the JuD is using the opportunity offered up to it on a silver platter, to present its message, which may not necessarily be to everyones benefit. Residents at camps say they are reminded to pray, while prayer mats and copies of the Holy Quran have been generously distributed. There is, despite JuD denials, obviously some degree of coercion involved. Hindu families have also been made to attend some preaching sessions. This is a situation that needs to be addressed. The many orthodox forces which still operate in our midst should not be permitted to exploit the helplessness of people caught up in a natural disaster, and this can happen only if the government agencies responsible for such tasks take their duties more seriously and prevent other forces from moving in.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2011.
COMMENTS (19)
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If other things are considered justified for a while, how can an Editorial give impression of the distribution prayer-mats and Holy Quran as a negative activity in a Muslim society (while having no evidence of coersion ???????? Is it newspaper's policy ???????? Can some offcial justify it ??????
so it seems that preaching Islam (the only duty we were given by Allah) is not likely .. no wonder we are in such a mess...
i think JuD doing very well by helping people in flood affected area, while we are sitting in our comfortable rooms throwing comments without having any idea what is hunger and camp life..
May Allah help us all...
w.salam
Poor need food, they dont mind who is providing it whether Muslim, Christian or Jew.
ITS JUST SAD!!! Express Tribune is SO biased against the Islamists! Look at how a simple news item has been moulded with the biased views of the Liberal elites sitting at the ET office and a positive effort has been made to sound so negative only to give a bad impression of the Islamists.
atleast do not critisize good work done by any organization.
I am astonished to see that a paper of an Islamic country is coming up with such an editorial that condemns that charity of an organisation just because it has asked people to offer prayers and distribution of the Quraan. I feel justified in saying that such papers are definitely funded and run by foreign aids to instill their own values secularism and the so-called libralism and civilization.
@Abdul Rehman Gilani : not those who spread the message of Islam
What the flood affected people need desperately is basic essentials like food, shelter etc and not message of islam however great it may be. Muslims don't need this message as they area already in it. Non-muslims don't need it as they have the message of their own religions. So Hafiz Saeed can keep his message to himself.
@harkol:
The real "devils" are those who preach secularism( check out what it means by the way) claiming to be liberal and not those who spread the message of Islam.
@Shehriyar:
Absolutely.
@Muqarrib: Very Well Said.
Hafiz Saeed is a great person, May you live long Sir.
Secular minded forces one day destroy Pakistan. Pakistan will be crippled when such type of thoughts propelled and instilled in our society. If JuD is doing right work so whats wrong in it,
A religion that has survived 1400 years hardly needs be pushed down anyone's throat like this. A religion this old is bound to have different interpretations and wrong, violent and regressive interpretations need to be ignored.
If Pakistani public has any sense they'll see to it that these regressive forces are marginalized. Otherwise they'll just ensure their 'barbadi'. 'Shaitan' like Hafeez can never be a force for the good.
Good editorial. The above comments do not know that Christian charities also help non Christian people and there is no tag of praying and indoctrination. Many Muslim countries are being helped by such organizations. What I have heard is that non Muslims are not given any aid by Islamic outfits. WE are all human beings and it should not be made a condition to follow one faith or another as a condition for help.
Well, don't help the affectees and also don't let others to feed them. Let them die of hunger and diseases. Shame on those who have all praise for the non-Muslims phianthropists, even if they are involved in converting Muslims to Christianity or other religions, but hate those philanthropists who have Islamic credentials.
Is it a hate Islam or hate poor editorial? could anyone please tell me?
In Pakistan ,it has become a fashion to criticise despite to appreciate.Pakistan is a Muslim country and to ask a Muslim to pray or educate any Muslim is not a bad thing but unfortunately it is declared a crime by some people who did not like Islam.If a Muslim forcefully asked to act then it can be said that the matter is wrong.When a Christians do this act nobody raise objection and in rural areas of Sindh many Christian missionaries are doing same things but only Muslim organization are blamed.But everyone should aware that Pakistan is Muslim country and there is no banned to ask pray and distribution of Holy Quran.
In Pakistan when someone does good there is always some other Pakistani who will find faults in other's charity work.
When Christian missionaries are allowed to distribute milk in glasses with Jesus' picture imprinted on them, and secular NGOs are given liberty to propagate secular ideas, so what's the objection with Islamic charities doing the much needed charitable work and instilling Islamic values.