Expressing doubts: ‘Military action is not enough to end extremism’

Activist Ibn Abdur Rehman stresses the need for a stronger narrative against religious extremism.

KARACHI: Military action is not enough to bring an end to the ideology of religious extremism, said prominent peace and human rights activist Ibn Abdur Rehman on Friday.

He was speaking about the country's current political situation at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist). Expressing his doubts about the efficacy of military courts at a time when public emotions are running high after the Peshawar school attack last month, Rehman emphasised the need to build a stronger narrative to counter extremism.

"We are becoming increasingly more violent and unreasonable," he observed. "When you hang a person, you free him and punish his family. There is no catharsis or realisation of guilt for him. If he has committed a crime, so does the state when it kills him."

With public opinion being largely in favour of the prosecution of militants, his outlook drew many questions from the eager students and academics present at the lecture. "How efficient can the military courts be when the evidence is being collected by the same police?" questioned Rehman. He also pointed out that some of the suspects were underage.

Asked about Pakistan being an Islamic state, he said that it was controversial whether a state could be Islamic. "A state is not a human being. This table and this microphone cannot have a religion," he said, pointing toward the two items. "Then how can a state have religion?"

A protégé of the poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Rehman is known for his insight, clarity of analysis and practical approach to problems. "I appreciate these demonstrations against terrorism but it should not just stop at that," he said.

Meanwhile, talking about the violence that led to a dozen people being injured at the demonstration held against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo by the Islami Jamiat-e-Talba, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, on Friday, Szabist president Shenaz Wazir Ali said that the altercations between the protesters and law enforcers showed intolerance.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2015.