After fifty years, Pakistan is a ship without moorings in viable statehood. The state has cut itself off from the modern vision of its founding fathers and plunged backwards into medievalism. Faced with growing anarchy, it is doomed to perish unless its institutions are radically reformed to meet the challenge of a new millennium.
Nowhere is the state’s erosion more evident than in the submission of the country to malevolent litigation against elements of popular culture. A case in point is the absurd complaint admitted by a civil judge in Lahore against a leading theatre personality., Ms Madeeha Gauhar is charged with the “crime” of publicly “embracing” former Indian prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, a friend of her family. Because the Lahore judge succumbed to pressure, another crackpot case has come up in Karachi accusing Ms Gauhar of publicly “dancing” with Mr Gujral. Meanwhile, a zealot has challenged our greatest living folk singer Pathanay Khan for saying that he is “spreading the word of God through his music”.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should, of course, pay heed to this sinister trend and put a swift end to it. But no, he is much too occupied banning pop music on PTV and dreaming of legislating additional “Islamic” measures so that he can earn dubious plaudits from the proponents of what parades as “shariah”. Further afield, judges are currying favour with the lunatic fringe by convicting non-Muslims under the notorious blasphemy laws. A Christian has been sentenced to death by a judge in Sargodha. Another judge has jumped on the medieval bandwagon and awarded 25 years imprisonment to a Shia for blaspheming (the “statements” of Sunni “eye-witness” were apparently sufficient to condemn the accused). Meanwhile, dozens of innocent citizens are rotting in jails across the country for allegedly blaspheming and the state of Pakistan is unable to reform a law that is patently defective and divisive.
Last year, a commission on women’s rights headed by Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, now a Supreme Court judge, submitted a report recommending that the laws which discriminate against women should be removed from the statute books or radically reformed. But this government has had no time to read that report. As a matter of fact, PML women leaders have had the gall to say that they are not aware of the contents of the report. The commission has recommended that the “hadood” laws be removed and reduced to the status of “tazeer” so that some measure of relief can be granted to those women entrapped by men under the draconian Zina Ordinance that equates rape with fornication and demands four “pious” witnesses from the rape victim. Additionally, the law that equates the testimony of a woman to half that of a man violates the constitution which outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex. But, of course, as Mr Sharif has demonstrated so forcefully in recent times, he doesn’t give a damn about the constitution.
Women constitute over 50% of our population. If such disabilities (which club them with the minorities in terms of social status) are placed on them, crippling their right to full citizenship, how can Pakistan progress? For instance, under the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance a Muslim woman’s blood money is half that of a Muslim male, as in the case of non-Muslims. Their right to be eyewitnesses is also curtailed in the same manner. But the most blatant assault on natural rights comes in the form of the separate electorates imposed by General Ziaul Haq for which there is absolutely no explanation except religious prejudice. Deprived of proper representation, non-Muslims have consequently become fodder for the blasphemy law.
Instead of taking stock of this continuing assault on state institutions and constitutional laws, Mr Sharif believes in further kowtowing to the lunatic fringe. He has now withdrawn the appeal brought before the Supreme Court by his own government in 1992 which sought to block a judgement of the Federal Shariat Court abolishing bank interest by calling it “riba”. This is bound to have far-reaching adverse repercussions not only on the market economy which Mr Sahrif so ardently advocates but also on ordinary citizens. The “borrowers” who will benefit from the abolition of bank interest will be member of the elite (including Mr Sharif and his family) who have defaulted over Rs. 200 billion to public sector banks, the “lenders” who will be victimised will be common people, orphans and widows, whose meagre interest savings will be outlawed.
The cultural wasteland and political anarchy that has already overtaken Afghanistan because of “ideological purification” is creeping into Pakistan. The warrior-priests whom Mr Sharif is trying to appease have more political muscle than the political parties because our elected representatives have abdicated their responsibility to the state. If the electorate had wanted medievalism, it would have returned the religious parties to office. But it has done no such thing. Why don’t our ruling politicians listen to the voice of the people?
Pakistan must put its house in order before it dies of internal suffocation. Or before other nations choke it off economically by legislating against its anti-people laws.