The Elusive Reconstruction

Re: # 2

Romair: There is a flawed assumption going around, that the MMA lost the LG elections. The MMAs components, have traditionally neer performed well at a local election, the stark difference between Federal/provincial/local tiers for elections is usually not well understood, it is in fact a reflection of the intelligence of the average pakistani voter compared to pundits...at the National level the MMA sweeped NWFP and did extremely well in Baluchistan and Sindh, but those results did not translate to the provincial level in the same ratio..in local elections people rarely vote Mullah. Despite that statement, while the ANP has made a resurgence (in part because it has reconciled with many dissidents and in part because it is no longer the party that everyone else wanted to defeat)..it still performed well only in areas where it had a vote bank even in 2002.

Finally for the simple maths sense: The MMA has turned itself into the effective opposition in Karachi to the MQM...remember its previous win was solely due to a MQM boycott. Also the MMA had only 2 districts under their control besides karachi..upper and lower dir..and they shared power in peshawar and mardan. This time around they will have a far larger number..in the end make no mistake the losers of this election were the PPP and PML-N..and thats what the establishment wanted.

The type of incidents the author mentions regarding the MMA asserting itself in the streets and bringing up controversial legislation of dubious value are quite routine for organizations who have no real grass-root support but would like to project that they have such support.

I must disagree with the author on his implication that the rise of MMA and organizations of that nature represents a worldwide tussle of some kind in the minds of Muslims (as the author so floweringly puts it – “the existential dilemma of a culture torn between religious values and modernism,…”). Such tussles may exist in the minds of intellectuals – but not in those of the masses – the vast majority of which are simply concerned with mundane issues of life (like “bread and butter”).

The author also dumps unfairly on the intelligentsia, on the one hand criticizing them for not doing their part while ignoring his own admission that the reach of such intelligentsia is scarcely skin deep.

Given a choice, most people have a “live and let live” attitude toward life. In case of Pakistan, I don’t believe that the mainstream political parties were given a chance – certainly not during the last sham “elections” which were heavily manipulated by the armed forces – I don’t need to get into that stuff since those facts are well known to this crowd. In the fact that MMA were “winners” – I see an indirect rejection of the army’s manipulative scheme by the population – they refused to crown the “king’s party” to the extent they could!

Individuals like Urstruly (who one would assume have a deeper level understanding of the theological aspects) can play a positive part by actively working to separate the core and benevolent values of Islam from its dogmatic aspects – the only way to do it credibly is when it gets done from the “inside” – not when GWB announces that it is “a religion of peace”. This, in my view, will certainly be a better approach than emphasizing the “exclusive” aspects of Islam because – once started, the process of excluding others takes a life of its own – it knows no end and hurts the practitioner sooner or later!

``- Their leaders have placed their own sisters and daughters into the women`s seats in the Assemblies, much like other parties
- They send their own kids abroad to study, while trying to end co-education in their provinces
- They have recently split, along opportunistic lines. JI has formed alliances with ANP. And JUI has formed alliances with PPP. So much for their stances on Shariah, etc. Apparently, seats are more important than any religious ideology ``


Yes that is what I am trying to convey here that they have also been corrupted and discredited as well. What did you expect in a society where we have developed a culture of ``bandar baant``. Now, please explain to me, towards whom, people should look for their greivances - military, that disenfranchised them in the first place - or the discredited people who themselves dont know where they are going. This is ultimate disenfranchisement. I don`t know for how long MMA with its stunts like that of Hasba Bill and other shannanigans will be able to maintain a projection of modicum of enfranchisement? Just as they will collapse, so will the Pakistani society. Resources are scarce, and those who are controlling them have no intention of sharing them to the lesser beings and an economic embargo and handicap is just on its way. In this situation the law of nature acts in only two possibilities: either a force emerges from inside and destroys everything creating a bigger chaos than there already is before establishing order or a force from outside comes and establishes order - which is even worst.

Just imagine a family where parents raise their kids diligently teaching them all the tricks and trades of corruption and incompetence day in and day out. Guess how the kids will turn out to be? They will turn out to be stupid, immoral, and cowards. A responsible government is like a parent to its people. Unlike parents people must have a choice to get rid of incompetent and corrupt government - but when incompetent and corrupt stay in power with guns then guess how they will be removed. That is what I am hinting to.

Urstruly #1: ``whether we like it or not the fact remains that MMA is the last line of defence against total anarchy and civil war``

I am not sure how you have come up with this conclusion. Could you kindly elaborate....

While I think people, on this site specifically, go way overboard in blaming maulvis for all of Pakistan`s problem (perhaps because they don`t want to put the blame on themselves), it is quite far-fetched to consider the MMA the solution, also.

MMA is simply a political party. Nothing more, nothing less. That is how it should be treated. They not the moral, religious gaurdians of society. Nor are they the, ``last line of defence`` against anything. No one in Pakistan has the right to declare themselves the last line of defence against anything. Do keep in mind that the MMA was hand in hand with Zia, and with the Taliban.

The MMA should be give all the political space to operate, like all other political parties. They should not be banned like the ridiculous banning of religious parties in Turkey. Other than that, they should not be placed on any higher moral ground. They do everything that all other parties do. For example,

- Their leaders have placed their own sisters and daughters into the women`s seats in the Assemblies, much like other parties
- They send their own kids abroad to study, while trying to end co-education in their provinces
- They have recently split, along opportunistic lines. JI has formed alliances with ANP. And JUI has formed alliances with PPP. So much for their stances on Shariah, etc. Apparently, seats are more important than any religious ideology

The MMA has lost in the recent local bodies elections. They even lost in the areas, where they, themsleves conducted the elections. They completely lost in Karachi. They lost seats to ANP in NWFP and to the Baluch nationalistic parties in Baluchistan......

Political parties in Pakistan should be judged on one fact: how well they do in removing poverty/maintaining law and order. Not on how hard they are working to secure the religious (or secular) forts of Pakistan...........

whether we like it or not the fact remains that MMA is the last line of defence against total anarchy and civil war - discredit them, eliminate (assassinate) them or corrupt them and country will plunge into a quagmire worst than 1970-71 debacle and tragedy. That is the sad truth of Pakistan. Militaries, especially fascist ones cannot keep a country together for long; examples are too numerous to quote- from Bangladesh to Kashmir and from USSR to East Europe and from Afghnaistan to Iraq.

The flip side of the coin is even sadder than that. Discredit the military or even disbaned it and country will still remain intact, flourish nd prosper.