Preventing More Lal Masjids

Journalists disallowed to visit hospitals

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The authorities on Tuesday barred journalists from visiting all major hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The decision was apparently aimed at preventing the journalists from assessing the exact number of causalities in the operation against the Lal Masjid militants. Most of the injured people were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi.

Private television channels reported that the police and troops had been ordered to shoot at journalists trying to gain access to the injured persons. Journalists were also stopped from entering the Fauji Foundation Hospital in Rawalpindi. Journalists who tried to enter the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the Federal Government Services Hospital and the Capital Hospital were told by the security personnel to stay away.

mantolives #43 ``The Mullah element has been discredited... 1. For wearing Burqah and evading death. 2. For using women and children as human shields. ``

you are one pathalogical liar!

1- subsequent events have proved that Abdul Aziz was not escaping death. If he were, he would have taken his wife and daughter and sick mother with him. Also, the fight his younger and considerably mellower brother put up against the state machine only suggests that a more headstrong Abdul Aziz would never have escaped from death

2- By pakistani government`s own account, when Ghazi Rashid was shot, he was with 3 other male companions. No children or women as human shields. No suicide belts found. No booby traps. And, at least until the recent news, no reports of foreigners.

Have some shame and stop lying with a straight face. We understand that you have a problem with Muslims, but it still is possible to make a valid argument without resorting to lies.

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``Who are the Indians fighting? The Pakistani military or the `Shariatists`? Is the enemy`s enemy one`s friend? Is Fazalur Rehman Khalil for the Shariat or is he a puppet of the military? ``The line``, my dear kaal, is going to redefine things and make things clearer. You know it helps to take sides. ``

GT, my man, are you an acadamic? You tend to make simple things very complex imho :)

``Who are the Indians fighting? The Pakistani military or the `Shariatists`?``

For the Indians it is one and the same thing.

``Is the enemy`s enemy one`s friend? Is Fazalur Rehman Khalil for the Shariat or is he a puppet of the military? ``The line``, my dear kaal, is going to redefine things and make things clearer. You know it helps to take sides. ``

Not always, GT. Sometimes it just helps to sit on the sidelines and mind one`s own business.

GT:
Pakistani liberals are morons. Ten years ago when Taliban were inflicting a thousand Jamia Hafsa`s on Afghanistan, everything was hunky dory. Don`t fall for the charms of paki liberals. They are the enablers of islamic terror in the region. They want to offer infidel blood to Allah as a recompense for their debaucherous (unislamic) ways: fund and advocate ``armed resistances``, the world over.

Re: # 48

saimashah,

``Once again, the lack of knowledge among Muslims about Islam/history and people of Islam, is to blame. `

........ so you are suggesting that we should teach more islamiyat and islamic history in our schools ? .............. and who would set the curriculum for this kinder and gentler islam ?....... i suggest the us state department - what do you think ?

(Long post)

Dear Stuka, Raw_Dust etc.,

Let us forget Pakistani liberals and `lines` for the moment. The co-ercive powers of two states - Pakistan and India are growing day by day. You would agree with me that this is a bit frightening. No? OK think of the police stations, prisoners without trials, an admiral`s grandson going scot free after driving over pavement dwellers, .... I can go on and on but you get the picture. It is indeed disgusting isn`t it?

But how come we always end up supporting this disgusting state - and by extension those who run the state for their own benifit? Why is it that we always end up agreeing that those who oppose the state are actually all `bad people`? How come the state is always fighting these bad guys - the Pakistanis (Indians), ISI (RAW), naxalites, terrorists etc. etc.? Why do we never see the state coerce the good guys? Though in real life, perhaps all the state coercion that you get to see (not on TV or the newspaper) are vis-a-vis good simple people? Is there something that we are refusing to see? Is there something that we are refusing to listen too?

That is what I am talking about and have been talking about for a long time. It is the STATE stupid. And the only line that exists is the one between the individual and the state. Unfortunately, the state is a necessary evil. All that we can do is to check its power (at least try to). See it that way and all the other lines become clear -

For example, use the court to check the dictator ... etc. etc.

The killing of innocents in the garb of killing terrorists is unacceptable for a strong state. Not being able to stop terrorists killing innocent people is in the same sense unacceptable.

Finally, I have been talking about the importance of religion. Why? Well it is very simple. In our parts the govt. (army etc.) are mai baap for the common people. For the common people nothing can be higher than the raja (prime minister, general etc.). They are unapproachabe and one can barely think of opposing them. But everyone will agreee that there is one being above them and that is God. They will rise against the corrupt raja if they know that God is with them. Liberals miss this simple point totally.

``The Lal Masjid battle is part of the wider civil war within the Islamic world waged by totalitarian forces that seek redemption through violence. Their cancerous radicalism pits Muslims against Muslims, and the world at large. It is only peripherally directed against the excesses of the corrupt ruling establishment, or inspired by issues of justice and equity.

Note that the Lal Masjid ideologues – and others of their ilk – do not rouse their followers to action on matters of poverty, unemployment, poor access to justice, lack of educational opportunities, corruption within the army and bureaucracy, or the sufferings of peasants and workers. Instead their actions are concentrated entirely on improving morality, where morality is interpreted almost exclusively in relation to women and perceived Western cultural invasion. They do not consider as immoral such things as exploiting workers, cheating customers, bribing officials, beating their wives, not paying taxes, or breaking traffic rules. Their interpretation of religion leads to bizarre failures in logic, moral reasoning, and appreciation of human life. ``

Bravo.

neembu #70 very succinct and accurate. who wrote this?

Re tahmed# 71
It’s the last two paragraphs of this article.

Regards,


Faruk

Re: # 69

GT,

... i am deeply moved ........ so what do you want me to wear to the sit-in ? .......... how about a tie-dye shirt, a grateful dead bandana and water buffalo sandals ?............. i assume you are supplying the weed, but i will bring my own bong ?............. are we going to much on marijuana cookies and talk about the dictatorship of the proletariat ?........... i love the proletariat - i live in islamabad and i am a communist ........... i hate the bourgeois and the petty bourgeois ............... long live the people ! ............and please pass the roach ... thank you !

Echo Sahib,
Welcome back! Whether we agree or not, whether your index eclipses or falls below my own dismal one, I continue to respect your viewpoints and the passion with which you express them. Please do continue writing, even if you have to use a muffler (or silencer for our Anglicized Paki brethren!) to keep the censors at bay. :)

Re: # 74

:)

Storming the mosque humiliated Pakistan

By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 11/07/2007


As the the Red Mosque in Islamabad was stormed, President Pervez Musharraf must have been praying it would not end in the massacre of innocent women and children. But even before the shooting had stopped and the bodies counted, it was clear that this had been a pivotal action in Pakistan`s internal ideological battle.

The storming of Lal Masjid has increased opposition to Gen Musharraf among those who are sympathetic towards the Taliban in Afghanistan and who oppose his backing of the US-led war on terror. Radical Islamists have been roused by what for them was an emblematic act of martyrdom.

It is supposed to be election year in Pakistan and the big question is whether the debacle has helped or hindered Gen Musharraf`s chances. From the beginning of the crisis, the general`s critics have questioned the timing of the mosque drama and suggested that it was contrived to draw attention away from a domestic political crisis.

Gen Musharraf has been beleaguered since his attempted sacking of the chief justice. His standing has been dented by faltering American support and the killing of more than 40 people by his political allies in Karachi in May.

To some extent, Lal Masjid will have re-established his damaged credentials as a bulwark against terrorism. He has had to enforce, brutally, his policy of enlightened moderation. By storming the mosque, he has been drawn further into a battle he had hitherto tried to avoid.

Gen Musharraf has always striven to balance the demands of America, which has bankrolled his regime to the tune of $10 billion since 2001, and Islamic radicals.

This equilibrium has been underscored in blood in recent months, whereby every military action taken in Pakistan`s tribal areas against pro-Taliban militants has been met with a series of suicide bomb attacks against soldiers and officials.

The murky relationship between jihadis, the mainstream military and Pakistan`s military intelligence agencies is in flux. Many of the main jihadist groups that have fought in Indian-held Kashmir and Afghanistan, and that are suspected of infiltrating militants into Lal Masjid, were financed and trained by military intelligence.

The tens of thousands of jihadis were considered to be a ``strategic asset`` by Pakistani generals, but now high command is at a loss over how to decommission this ``freelance`` force.

The dark arts practised by the top brass over the past few years to control the radicals - fattening the established radical religious leaders with political power and cash -are losing their sway as a younger, more extreme generation of radicals has come to the fore.

Gen Musharraf`s American backers may come to look at Lal Masjid as a metaphor for his record on controlling extremism. His drive since 2002 to reform madrassahs has failed because of opposition from hardline groups.

Pakistan saw a spectacular rise in madrassah numbers in the 1980s, when the schools, backed by funding from the West and Arab countries, became recruiting grounds for volunteers fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Some madrassahs later supplied recruits for the Taliban.

Lal Masjid is a case in point. Critics noted that the Red Mosque first earned a reputation for militancy in the 1980s, under its founder, Maulana Abdullah, who used to work for Pakistan`s military intelligence.

When he was assassinated, the mosque was taken over by his sons, Abdur Rashid Ghazi and Mohammed Abdul Aziz. Both were at one time in the pay of the government as civil servants.

That the Walter Mittyish revolutionary Ghazi has been transformed into an Islamist hero as result of Pakistan`s anarchic governance is lamentable.

After he was accused of being involved in a Musharraf assassination plot, he boasted of how he merely lay low in Islamabad while the army scoured the country. The charges were later dropped.

When he was arrested after weapons were found in his car, again intelligence official ordered his release.

The Lal Masjid circus always had a contrived air of a deus ex machina, so when Ghazi declared yesterday, ``My martyrdom is near``, it was doubly tragic. He had his strings pulled by greater forces - either intelligence agencies or militant groups.

So what will Gen Musharraf`s coalition backers make of Lal Masjid? He had planned to be re-elected by the existing assemblies. The US State Department disagrees. Last month, it issued a statement saying he would seek re-election from parliament after elections due later this year.

A State Department official said recently that Gen Musharraf had already pledged that, if he ``continues in political life``, he will ``put aside the uniform``. ``We would expect him to follow through on his commitments,`` he said.

That points towards a scenario whereby he would jettison his uniform to preside over a broad-based secular coalition, possibly headed by the self-exiled former PM, Benazir Bhutto, whose previous governments were twice dismissed on charges of corruption.

Pakistan, in its 60th year, with its clownish antics and humiliating and resentful reliance on American money, has the aspect of a sorrowful, nuclear-armed circus.

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#77 Chowk Staff,
I am not able to read the wise words of Echo Sahib. Has his rating dropped low again. Please get the jumper cables and turn on the juice. :)