The writer is a lawyer and partner at Ijaz and Ijaz Co in Lahore
saroop.ijaz@tribune.com.pk
Joseph Kony is a formidable candidate for being the most evil man in the world. The criminal enterprise (rebel group, if you please) that he heads and runs is the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is responsible for mayhem, pillage, abduction, murder and rape, all at hysterical scales in Uganda and Sudan, most of it done through children. Kony’s stated objective is to establish a system of governance based on the original Ten Commandments; however, aside from willingness to kill in indiscriminate and large numbers for the said aim, Kony or the LRA have never bothered with expanding on their political philosophy. The driving principle is death and destruction.
The LRA can be used as plug or peg for pontificating on multiple issues in Pakistan every day. Criminal murderous organisations seeking blood in the name of faith: however one is made to think of it today for another (perhaps related) issue. Kony and the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) have something in common (surprise, surprise); both of them do not believe in any exceptionalism for kids, perhaps are not particularly sold on the idea of childhood at all. Kony uses child-soldiers to kill women, men and children. The CII believes that being a child is no grounds for protection from marital obligations. This is admittedly, a very cold phrasing of the CII stance. To put it alternatively, the CII is in favour of ‘Child-Marriages’. Bureaucratised language and legal terms such as Child-Marriages do not immediately communicate what is being proposed. Female children not mature enough to give consent for marriage can marry and more significantly, can be married off to probably older men. ‘Child-Rape’ is admittedly a more chilling term.
There are some who would say that it is only that the CII disagrees with the definition and parameters of adulthood. This is ridiculous; anyone who has children or really, has seen enough children, can claim to recognise who is a child when she sees one. It is too strenuous to argue with the CII on maturity being a separate concept from puberty etc. To resort to the old cliche, you cannot reason people out of positions that they have not reasoned themselves into.
This is not the first time that the CII has come up with bizarre recommendations (most recently, the DNA evidence in rape cases episode) and it certainly will not be the last. The CII has only advisory jurisdiction and should be ignored. Indeed, it should be ignored. However, that alone will not suffice. It has to be disbanded. As a general principle, one should be sceptical about bodies having grand-sounding names (The Guardian Council in Iran and Plato’s Nocturnal Council, e.g.) since they have a tendency of promising much more than they can deliver. The CII has displayed consistency in spending inordinate amounts of time thinking about women and the menace they pose to us as a society. The CII has almost always been like this; this is not new. What is very slightly new or different, is our reaction or in this case, non-reaction to it. Barring one or two political parties, nobody even issued token condemnation statements merely to say that “we will not allow our women and children to be left to the mercy of unbalanced old men” — not even that was said. The federal government responded with silence (which the CII in the ‘traditional’ interpretation might know to be tacit consent).
The problem with the CII is similar to the problem with PML-N and Mr Imran Khan: the mainstreaming of regressive ideas and unquestioning deference to it. Its implication in the war of narrative should have been obvious, the CII is on the other side from us in this conflict. However, what have now been muddied are the ‘sides’.
In Pakistan, the TTP have been compared with the IRA (incredibly ignorant comparison), the Tamil Tigers and the Maoists in India, while we are at it, even the LRA. Here is why the confusion on the ‘sides’ matters. In all the above conflicts (which are completely distinct from one another in most fundamental respects and some causes infinitely more defensible than others), to generalise, it is ‘them’ versus the ‘State’. The ideology of the State and the militant group are not aligned in most cases and are in direct collision. So, while there can and will be bloodshed in these scenarios, the overwhelming probability is that the State will exist, battered, weakened and perhaps broken up, yet still there. The State runs little risk of being taken over completely. The State will exist, since the promises made by the State to the ‘people’ (vaguely a majority of the population) are fundamentally different from what the rebels offer or demand. In our case, that was almost never true, starting from the Objectives Resolution, to the Islamisation of the Constitution, the Shariat Bill, the Federal Shariat Court and now, the CII, the promise of the State is to offer exactly what the militant group offers, certainly in a somewhat different form, yet at the elementary level: the same product. Of course, to trivialise it with a business analogy, the Pakistani State and the militant group offer to us the same product (spoilt for choices, are we not?) and the quibbling is on the quality, and of course, efforts to capture, an already quite ‘captive’ market share. Negotiations and Pervez Khattak’s proposals for offices are attempts at a merger, or with ‘miraculous’ new foreign reserves, perhaps a plan for an acquisition. The core remains the same.
The truly disturbing thing is that it does not really matter what side the CII is on. There is only one side now. Hence, with the latest CII issue, seemingly ordinary (one might go so far as almost saying ‘reasonable’) people agree with the CII, or are ambivalent, or would ideally want to change the subject. To demand the disbanding of the CII or in the interim, at least have women members, does not seem practical. Yet, it has to be done, if for nothing else than only for that it is the right thing to do, and for the record to show.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (12)
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@KAY: Why must we follow the interpretation of Islam by men who look backwards and appear devoid of justice and compassion, the hallmarks of a Muslim? Paraphrasing Tony Benn: What power do they have? Who gave them this power? In whose name do they exercise it? To whom are they accountable? How may they be removed? Allah is Just and Compassionate, the laws that these low intellects propose is neither.
The World is full of deviants running groups and organizations claiming themselves to be messiahs and interpreters of Faith. Indulging in violence to propagate their views while condemnable, is not something new. The message in most religions is very simple and direct. It does not need a preacher or interpreter to act as a bridge, to save the Soul of any individual. Looking for mediators in the Spiritual space to bridge the gap between us and our God is like trying to strike a bargain with HIM to offset our bad deeds. No one needs a pulpit to spread his wisdom.
CII is just talking what Islam approves/ sanctions. Until you stay a muslim, you must follow Islam.
I have an open question rather challenge to mullahs and even scholars. What is the minimum age of a child bride or there is none? What is the minimum age when the marriage can be consummated? Marriage is the most imp decision in one's life. When a female child is not allowed to vote, smoke, or testify in any legal matter how is she then fit to be a mother? If the kids are old and responsible enough to get married then there should not be any separate prisons for kids and they should be thrown in jail with adults if they commit a crime!
Might point out in simple layman's terms : In the 1400 plus years ago there were wars. Men were killed on both sides. Which resulted in many widows and marriageable girls. On both sides. The conquerors and the defeated. With, basically no one to take care of these widows and girls. Therefore it was imperative to have this 4 wives rule. Also, to produce the next generations of soldiers merchants scholars and such. This was not just confined to Muslims only. Other cultures practiced it through out history. The Vikings etc. are prime example.
Strongly worded and thought provoking, always worth reading you. The dis-service that the CII has done and is doing to Islam, should and will meet its just end and I doubt this will happen, as it should, through our leaders because they are complicit in this outrage.........but it will happen.
An aqd nikah without informed consent entered into by a minor is valid - this premise is very very hard to stomach. Even the defenders of child marriage who stoutly say in mitigation that sexual congress is not permissible until "puberty", must pause to consider that the pious men attempting to legalize pedophilia utter not a word to suggest that there should be legal protection for infants in nikah shielding them from molestation even prior to puberty. Indeed the idea that consent is needed from females whether child or adult is alien to many who view women as property. The conviction that men have an innate right to control women's sexuality is deeply rooted in Pakistani minds. Marital rape is not considered a crime. A consensual marriage entered into without permission from the woman's prior male owner (father/brother/nephew/cousin) is punished however, by the rape or kidnap of the man's female property, e.g., sister/mother/niece. The pious have also pronounced that it is a man's unfettered right to hold four wives, it would have been well if they had also said a word or two about the rights of women in polygamous marriages and the need for laws to protect those rights.
Saroop, These institutions are established to legitimize the fascist actions of the ruling class, and I am defining ruling elite in much broader sense. Liked you analysis and metaphorical examples.