Munawwar Hassan’s politics
If we prosecute and punish anybody for Munawwar Hassan's ideas, there would be no difference between us and Taliban.
The writer is a senior journalist and former head of Radio Pakistan. He tweets @murtazasolangi
It was outrageous but not surprising. For a long time, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has been mixing violence with politics. Its founder, Maulana Maududi, was sentenced to death for his involvement in the anti-Ahmadi movement of the early 1950s. With a small deviation, when the JI supported Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah against military leader Ayub Khan, it was hand in glove with military ruler Yahya Khan in suppressing the Bengali people’s struggle against the military government.
Now, the JI leaders criticise the military for interfering in politics, but the party has never done soul-searching as to why it has supported anti-people and authoritarian regimes in most years of its existence.
The party organised militant wings in former East Pakistan for the targeted killing of Bengali intellectuals, poets, artists and political workers. Its Al Shams and Al Badar paramilitary outfits ran amok in the eastern wing of the country to the last day.
Moreover, the party’s then Ameer, Mian Tufail, declared the draft constitution of Yahya Khan Islamic. The party was vociferous against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in its campaign not to recognise Bangladesh.
Then, the party shamefully joined the usurpers in Ziaul Haq’s cabinet. During Musharraf’s rule, the party, led by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, helped the legitimacy of the arrogant dictator by striking a deal with him.
Thus, the party has been a vanguard of vigilantism and intolerance. It has spared nobody.
It is a fact that from 9/11 till this date, JI activists have been caught providing shelter to al Qaeda leaders across the country. But Pakistan today is a heavily polarised country. And its soul is wounded. It needs healing. The country needs to come out of the intolerant mode. As much as we are divided today, we need to be united on a few common values. We need to engage ideas with ideas. We need to stop throwing stones and firing bullets at words.
As much as we argue and engage in heated debates, let us all agree that any change we wish to bring about in this country will only be carried out through the ballot. Let us agree on not stigmatising each other’s ideologies.
Munawwar Hassan has hurt our people and soldiers who have suffered at the hands of the militants by calling their head honcho a martyr. These militants had hit the great cultural and religious diversity of my country hard. They are directly responsible for blowing up of our schools, places of worship, markets, mass murder of our innocent civilians and brutal assassinations of our soldiers, policemen, military personnel and our security officials besides targeted killing of our political leaders and workers.
The JI needed to reprimand Munawwar Hassan for his irresponsible, callous and insensitive comments. The party needed to distance itself from the Taliban’s violent version of religion and politics. Instead, the Shura of the party has decided to support Munawwar Hassan’s anti-people stance and criticise the army.
Having said that, we must understand that whatever Munawwar Hassan has said, is an expression of his convoluted mind and warped understanding of faith. If we prosecute and punish anybody for his ideas, there would be no difference between us and the Taliban who fire bullets at people differing with them. Throwing books at ideas that we disagree with and prosecuting people for their ideas makes us the passengers of the intolerant journey that has got us to where we are today.
We need to take a deep breath and stop short of prosecution and banning the JI. The party should be allowed to pursue its politics without resorting to violence. Any effort to proscribe it or throwing its leaders behind bars would push it more towards extremism. Bad ideas are to be defeated by good ideas. Throwing them under the rug doesn’t make them go away. It would be better that civil society and political parties condemn Munawwar Hassan rather than the ISPR doing so. Had it been a country with no direct or indirect involvement of the military in its politics, it would be a different matter altogether. Therefore, the military too needs to exercise restraint.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2013.
Now, the JI leaders criticise the military for interfering in politics, but the party has never done soul-searching as to why it has supported anti-people and authoritarian regimes in most years of its existence.
The party organised militant wings in former East Pakistan for the targeted killing of Bengali intellectuals, poets, artists and political workers. Its Al Shams and Al Badar paramilitary outfits ran amok in the eastern wing of the country to the last day.
Moreover, the party’s then Ameer, Mian Tufail, declared the draft constitution of Yahya Khan Islamic. The party was vociferous against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in its campaign not to recognise Bangladesh.
Then, the party shamefully joined the usurpers in Ziaul Haq’s cabinet. During Musharraf’s rule, the party, led by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, helped the legitimacy of the arrogant dictator by striking a deal with him.
Thus, the party has been a vanguard of vigilantism and intolerance. It has spared nobody.
It is a fact that from 9/11 till this date, JI activists have been caught providing shelter to al Qaeda leaders across the country. But Pakistan today is a heavily polarised country. And its soul is wounded. It needs healing. The country needs to come out of the intolerant mode. As much as we are divided today, we need to be united on a few common values. We need to engage ideas with ideas. We need to stop throwing stones and firing bullets at words.
As much as we argue and engage in heated debates, let us all agree that any change we wish to bring about in this country will only be carried out through the ballot. Let us agree on not stigmatising each other’s ideologies.
Munawwar Hassan has hurt our people and soldiers who have suffered at the hands of the militants by calling their head honcho a martyr. These militants had hit the great cultural and religious diversity of my country hard. They are directly responsible for blowing up of our schools, places of worship, markets, mass murder of our innocent civilians and brutal assassinations of our soldiers, policemen, military personnel and our security officials besides targeted killing of our political leaders and workers.
The JI needed to reprimand Munawwar Hassan for his irresponsible, callous and insensitive comments. The party needed to distance itself from the Taliban’s violent version of religion and politics. Instead, the Shura of the party has decided to support Munawwar Hassan’s anti-people stance and criticise the army.
Having said that, we must understand that whatever Munawwar Hassan has said, is an expression of his convoluted mind and warped understanding of faith. If we prosecute and punish anybody for his ideas, there would be no difference between us and the Taliban who fire bullets at people differing with them. Throwing books at ideas that we disagree with and prosecuting people for their ideas makes us the passengers of the intolerant journey that has got us to where we are today.
We need to take a deep breath and stop short of prosecution and banning the JI. The party should be allowed to pursue its politics without resorting to violence. Any effort to proscribe it or throwing its leaders behind bars would push it more towards extremism. Bad ideas are to be defeated by good ideas. Throwing them under the rug doesn’t make them go away. It would be better that civil society and political parties condemn Munawwar Hassan rather than the ISPR doing so. Had it been a country with no direct or indirect involvement of the military in its politics, it would be a different matter altogether. Therefore, the military too needs to exercise restraint.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2013.