Mutual Discontent

By Owen Bennett-Jones Reprint | | Print |

Mar 23 2017 - Western countries Britain amongst them have a tendency to tell Pakistan what to do. For years the cry was `do more! against the Taliban. And when Pakistan did eventually do more, there came `more still! It sometimes seems as if the West has a view on each and every area of Pakistani life. `Close down radical madressahs! `Dismantle the hawala system!` `Build more schools!` `Introduce family planning! `Chuck the Afghan Taliban leadership out of Quetta!` And so on. Many of these ideas have merit. But what would happen if Pakistan responded in kind. What would it tell the British to do? For many Pakistanis, the most pressing demand would be for British action on the MQM. For years now, they complain, the MQM leader Altaf Hussain, secure in his London home, has yelled threats down the phone line to rallies and other events in Karachi.After decadesof Britishinactivity, the rising number of complaints from Pakistanis, many of whom directly contacted Scotland Yard, has resulted in a longrunning hate speech investigation as well as another into possible incitement to violence.

Owen Bennet-Jones

But the MQM is just one of many issues.

There are other people making threatening speeches from the UK. Last year, Tanveer Ahmed was jailed for at least 27 years for the murder of Glasgow-based Ahmadi shopkeeper Asad Shah. Despite his incarceration, Tanveer has sent a series of audio messages from his cell in Barlinnie prison in Scotland, some of which have been distributed byclericsin Lahore.

In one message, Tanveer Ahmed told cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi that people should eliminate all the enemies of Islam.

He also spoke in defence of Salmaan Taseer`s assassin, Mumtaz Qadri. `Anyone who disregards the respect and honour of Ghazi Mumtaz Qadri he is the one who announced his enmity with Islam openly,` Tanveer was heard saying. `Whoever calls the martyr an assassin, he is vicious, unclean and f alse.

And then, some Pakistanis grumble, there are the schools in Britain that teach extremist or, more often, isolationist ideas to their pupils. Although there has been a shif t in of ficial attitudes in the UK in recent months, some schools are still teaching children that it is best not to become too friendly with Christians.

To take a specific example, one school in Nottingham has a history of isolating children from mainstream British life and of enforcing strict rules such as no make-up, no radios, no music with instruments, no mobile phones, no newspapers and no TV. EvenHarry Potter being devoured by other children in the UK was banned. Even though the British authorities have now started taking measures against the school, for the moment, it is still functioning.

Next up: British visa policy. Even as middle-class Pakistani students wanting to study at leading British universities find their visas subject to long delays and in some cases rejection, many Pakistanis, including senior officials, complain that hard-line clerics from extremist madressahs seem to have no such problems.

In December last year, to take just one of many examples, Syed Muzaf f ar Shah Qadri.

described by the Pakistani authorities as `prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order` and banned from preaching in Pakistan, was allowed into the UK to speak at a number of English mosques.

There are also cases of the British state rewarding hard-line members of the antiAhmadi Khatm-i-Nabuwat. In 2009, ToahaQureshi a trustee of Stockwell Mosque in London was given an MBE Member of the British Empire for services to community relations. Yet leaflets found in Stockwell mosque last year called for Ahmadis to be killed.

It is not just in matters of religion thatthe UK is perceived by some to play an unhelpfulroleinPakistan.Indeed,London`s most effective way of undermining good governance in Pakistan is, in the view of many Pakistanis, the way it accepts the illgotten gains of businessman and politicians who want to park their money in a place where it will be safe and sound and beyond the reach of Pakistani law.

There is a saying the Bible. `First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother`s eye.` It is perhaps a little unf air to quote that in this context many Pakistanis, af ter all, might now agree that the West was right to urge Pakistan to confront the TTP. Some other pieces of Western advice might also serve Pakistan`s long-term interests. But perhaps a little more willingness to acknowledge the West`s own specks would help reassure those in Pakistan who wonder if the UK and others really practise what they preach.• The writer is a British journalist and author of Pakistan: Eye of the Storm.

This story was originally published by Dawn, Pakistan