Dangerous fundamentalists are determined to scuttle the republic and drag us back into the dark ages. The latest attempt to block our entry into the 21st century is marked by screaming allegations of blasphemy and constitutional violations by the prime minister simply because she says she doesn’t approve of amputating limbs as punishment for criminal acts. Although the charges may appear farcical, we are forced to comment on them not so much because they lack substance but because they may shed valuable light on the deep crisis ahead.
Take the issue of blasphemy. Is it blasphemous to oppose man-made laws, especially those enacted by a despised military dictator and unequivocally opposed by the Federal Shariat Court? The PM, fortunately, is not alone in opposing the Hudood Ordinances. All the significant jurists in this country, most political parties, NGOs, women’s organisations, Human Rights groups and an overwhelming majority of legislators have recorded their adhorrence of these laws. Thankfully, too, a vast majority of adult Pakistanis have made their views known by consistently rejecting the mullahs at the polls.
Or examine the charge that any criticism of existing laws is a violation of the constitution. Isn’t it wildly ironic that in one breath the mullahs are rabidly critical of the constitution and want to maul it by imposing the Shariat Bill, while in another gasp they shriek about a democratically elected Prime Minister airing her views about a most contemptuous issue? Apparently, fundamental rights and freedom of speech exist only to facilitate the mullahs’ divisive utterances.
That said, it is instructive to note why renewed attempts are being made by obscurantists to whip up such a storm at this particular time. After all, reams of paper have been used to criticise the Hudood Ordinances and there wasn’t a squeak from the mullahs about blasphemy or constitutional violations over the last ten years.
This drama is clearly being enacted to create an appropriate psychological backdrop for the Shariat Bill which comes up for debate early next month in the Assembly. The Bill is dangerously sectarian. Its avowed objective is to overthrow the elected legislators’ exclusive constitutional prerogative to make and pass laws. By all accounts, and naturally so, a majority of parliamentarians of different political shades are opposed to it. The mullahs’ strategy is to whip up hysteria in the press and on the streets so that legislators can be emotionally blackmailed to turn a blind eye to the constitutional aberrations implicit in this bill. Because no politician can afford to be portrayed as ‘unslamic‘ or ‘anti-Shariat’, the mullahs believe that if sufficient pressure can be built up at all levels, they stand a good chance of browbeating Parliament to push through this legislation.
This ‘direct action strategy’ has been unfolding in the past few weeks on several fronts. Press statements, seminars, mosque sermons, lobbying, police instigation and finally street agitation is visibly on the cards. The mullahs will grasp at any opportunity to target the PM and the PPP and push them on the back foot. Gen Zia ul Haq’s barsi on the 17th of August threatens to be a most climactic moment when such sentiments will be expressed forcefully while the Assembly is in session.
Our tragedy is compounded by the fact that many opposition legislators, despite serious reservations about the Shariat Bill, are wilting under this insidious terror. Others in the COP don’t much care about democracy and constitutionality so long as the PPP government is undermined in Islamabad. A few, like Nawabzada Nasrullah, have allowed their personal grouches to obscure their vision and beliefs. And then, of course, there are those like Senator Sami ul Haq, the mover of the bill who has threatened to “blow up the National Assembly if the bill is not passed”.
It is distressing that new divisions within the PPP have erupted precisely when the party needs to close ranks and oppose the Shariat Bill with all its ingenuity. That is why it is all the more urgent that the PM should get off her high horse and rally round the faithful.