Asia-Pacific, Development & Aid, Gender, Headlines, Human Rights

PAKISTAN: Military Ruler ‘Floored’ by Burqa Brigade

Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Apr 8 2007 (IPS) - For a tough military ruler, who in recent weeks removed the chief justice from office and allowed police raids on leading newspapers, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appears curiously paralysed by roving bands of the ‘burqa brigade’ – veiled female religious scholars armed with sticks and ready to enforce Shariah (Islamic law).

Last week, ordinary citizens were stunned when students of the Jamia Hafsa, a seminary for girls attached to the influential Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in the national capital of Islamabad, abducted Akhtar Shamim and two of her relatives for allegedly running a brothel in her house. They were released after two days, but only after Shamim publicly repented her ‘immoral’ activities.

“We have not broken any law; there is no law in this country,” Ume Hassan, the principal of the seminary has been quoted as saying in the media. She has repeatedly insisted that her students were only trying to enforce the Islamic edicts because the government has failed to do its job.

The vigilante action has reminded many of the Taliban (Islamic scholars) movement in Afghanistan, which grew from students opposing communist rule to taking over that country and ruling it tyrannically until ousted in December 2001 as part of the global ‘war on terror’ prosecuted by the United States and its allies.

Lately the Taliban, which has been undergoing a strong resurgence using the porous border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan as its base, has begun to exert its influence in the national capital.

Speaking with IPS, I.A. Rehman, director of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said he believed the vigiliantes were not going away in a hurry because they enjoyed some degree of patronage. “It will take time before it simmers down because the holy trouble makers have friends in the government and the army.”


Asad Sayeed, the noted economist and commentator, warned that it would be very hard for the Musharraf government or any other government to resist what appears to be a fundamentalist sweep. ‘’We (Pakistanis) are in for this (version of the) ‘war on terror’ for a very long time, no matter who is in power.”

In January, Hassan’s students forcibly occupied a public children’s library here and have since been staging protests against a government campaign to raze mosques encroaching on state-owned land. Rather than risk the wrath of religious leaders by vacating the illegal occupation, political leaders are rebuilding the mosques.

Encouraged by their success, the girls, backed by their male counterparts from Jamia Fareedia, another religious institution administered by the Lal Masjid, have been roving through Islamabad, asking music and video shop owners to close down their businesses. The girls have begun asking women to adopt the Islamic dress code.

Taliban-style ‘Vice and Virtue’ squads have been ‘’harassing and terrorising ordinary citizens in the name of Islam” said a joint statement issued by the HRCP and several other non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The statement urged people to ”rise against these extremist religious, bigoted forces and secure the future of the present and future generations”.

As vigilante groups force people to accept their way of thinking, the Lal Masjid has announced the setting up of a ‘Shariah court’ inside the premises of the mosque to hear complaints and decide them in accordance with Islamic law. “Somebody has to purge our society of the evil, because the government is not doing its job,” said Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, one of the two cleric brothers who run the mosque.

On Friday the Ghazis gave the government one month, starting Apr. 6, to either follow Shariah law or watch it being enforced through their parallel system. They also warned that any move to deploy security forces against them would be resisted by suicide squads.

Musharraf has, uncharacteristically, taken to pleading with civil society groups and religious leaders to help him out. But some say this could lead to a dangerous confrontation between different sections of society.

Anees Haroon, who heads the Aurat Foundation, a prominent women’s rights organisation, said it was ‘’irresponsible” of Musharraf to seek support from civil society groups. “It’s a very dangerous proposition and may lead to civil war if two factions of society are pitted against each other.”

Haroon’s view is supported by Syed Talat Hussain, anchor with the TV channel Aaj (Today). “Who will take on the mullahs (religious leaders)? Why is he (Musharraf) asking us? It’s the state’s job, not ours.” The state is ‘’still powerful enough to tackle it, if it wants to”.

On the suspicion that the students’ movement was being orchestrated by people in power, Hussain said: “There is a likelihood that the emotions of the students are being manipulated by the top leadership, but I seriously think that these students have been so indoctrinated that they genuinely believe it is their divine mission to cleanse the society.”

“It does seem a playact designed to create fear of the dangers of the Taliban and to legitimise Musharraf’s continued rule in the eyes of the west,” is how eminent physicist and peace activist A.H. Nayyar sees the situation.

“The west no longer views Musharraf as a security against the onslaught of Islamic extremists. They view these developments as his government’s failure, or a conscious policy of some sections of the government, to allow more space to Islamic hardliners and extremists,” commented Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based defence analyst.

But Nayyar warns: “If Musharraf is only playing a game, then he is playing with fire. The Lal Masjid clerics may today be mere tools in his hands, but such is the tide that they could tomorrow be claiming the title of Ameerul Momeneen (head of an Islamic state) and even enjoy a large following. If the military has not learnt lessons from its past mistakes making use of religious fanatics, then I fear for the country.”

Eminent religious scholars have expressed their indignation at the Talibanisation attempt. Mufti Mohammad Naeem, principal of Jamia Binoria institution in Karachi, said: “From the Islamic point of view, what these students have done is highly condemnable. Who are they to be the prosecutor, judge and executioner?”

“If this is not nipped in the bud now, it can spread like wildfire and then it will be totally uncontrollable,” Naeem told IPS. “But because these hardliners are using women on the frontline, the state must ensure nobody gets hurt or things can take on an ugly turn.”

The Ghazi brothers have long been a problem for the Musharraf government and have openly criticised his policies on war on terror. They are known to have strong links with the seminaries in the border areas.

There are also rumours that the Lal Masjid and the seminary have been building up an arsenal of weapons within heir premises. “The question is if we are stockpiling, where was the military intelligence? Their offices are just a few metres from our seminary. Were they so blind that they did not see any suspicious goings on?” the Jamia Hafsa’s Ume Hassan has been quoted as saying.

 
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