Controlling the narrative

Maulana Abdul Aziz is seeking to revive his campaign to enforce Shariah law

Extremism in Pakistan has a number of focal points and a cast of key players that have changed very little in the last decade. One of those focal points is the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad — government owned and funded — and one of the key players associated with the Lal Masjid is Maulana Abdul Aziz, who is not government funded but appears to enjoy a charmed patronage instead. Both have come sharply into focus once again and for all the wrong reasons. Attempts to keep the lid on Abdul Aziz looked to have failed when he arrived at the Lal Masjid to lead Friday prayers, accompanied by a number of women from the nearby Jamia Hafsa mosque. The city administration had warned him, on pain of arrest under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order and Section II-EE of the Anti-Terroism Act (ATA), not to go ahead — which he did anyway.



The cleric is seeking to revive his campaign to enforce Shariah law — or his own version thereof — nationwide, but his call for his followers to rally at Lal Masjid produced a thin crowd which was closely managed by the city administration and thankfully, there were no untoward events. It is plain that despite being on the ‘fourth schedule’ of the ATA, the Maulana is free to do much as he pleases, and the state chooses to allow him to do that. He and his ilk — he is not alone and there are many others — consequently dominate and own the narrative; the dialogue that goes on day-to-day between the various individuals that sway public opinion and the collective subconscious. Let us be under no illusion, the state has chosen not to construct a countervailing narrative to that of the extremists. True, there have been moves against some preachers of hate speech under the National Action Plan (NAP) and true some funding for extremist groups has been interdicted; but as to constructing and then nationally rolling out a counter-narrative to extremism, there has been nothing beyond a ringing silence. Until that silence is broken, extremism will hold powerful sway, and that with the unspoken support of the state itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2015.

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