Mohammad Jamil
According to reports, four of the five bloggers that went missing last month came back three days ago, and meanwhile the fifth one would have reached his residence. This is the first time that neither media nor independent analysts accused intelligence agencies of picking them up except Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy – a compulsive critic of military, who was suspicious that well-coordinated act could not have been done by the militants. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chauhdry Nisar Ali Khan slammed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for lodging a case against Salman Haider and other activists who went missing last month for allegedly committing blasphemy. “How is it possible that the FIA registered a case against someone without prior investigation,” Chaudhry Nisar was quoted as saying in a statement. However, FIA denied having registered a case against the activists. “I can confirm that we have not registered any such case,” FIA Deputy Director Noman Ashraf Bodla said.
He added: “We receive a lot of complains but it does not mean we register a case against each application. This news is completely fake.” The question is how Interior Minister could say that the case has been registered when FIA denies having done so. Earlier, media reports suggested Bodla had directed an officer to call Haider to the FIA office for investigation following a complaint from Lal Masjid’s Shuhada Foundation. Anyhow, Interior Minister is under obligation to satisfy the families of those bloggers because on the face of it FIA had picked up the men. Allegations on social media networks Facebook and Twitter and by right-wing TV hosts that the missing men were blasphemers had caused alarm to their families. Anyhow, the FIA has barred the professor from flying abroad until the case is finalized on an application of Shuhada Foundation.
The application submitted by the chairman of Muhammad Tahir “Civil Society of Pakistan,” alleged that the missing activists including Salman Haider and Waqas Goraya had been hosting Facebook pages with inflammatory and blasphemous content. They were allegedly running anti-religion and anti-Pakistan pages on social media under the guise of freedom of speech. No group had claimed responsibility for their disappearance. It is believed that Haider ran a popular group ‘Bhensa’ on Facebook on which messages and videos were shared against fundamentalist religious groups as well as the Pakistan Army. In April 2015, prominent rights activist Sabeen Mahmud was killed by militants. The principal planner of her assassination later said that he killed her because, “she was generally promoting liberal, secular values.” In May 2014, Rashid Rehman, a human rights activist and lawyer, was assassinated by militants in reprisal for his willingness to represent people charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
The problem is that some social activists critical of other sects except their own demand freedom of religion when they do not wish to give the same to others. Perhaps this has happened in case of five bloggers. Reportedly they opposed particular sects and at the same time they were critical of the military. Some social activists and so-called champions of democracy have the penchant to criticize the military and its agencies. In the event militants attack them or kidnap them, the government and its agencies are blamed for that. The problem is that because of lack of socio-economic justice, unemployment and ever-rising prices it is difficult for the majority of the people to keep their body and soul together. Furthermore, the government has failed to provide education and health facilities to the impoverished section, who are frustrated, which makes Pakistan breeding place for extremists and terrorists.
Indeed, there is let up in terrorism, as military have dismantled their infrastructure and hideouts in PK and FATA, otherwise religious radicalism and extremism had posed an existential threat to Pakistani society and state, as terrorists have been attacking whenever and wherever they wanted. The government of Pakistan is fighting the terrorists militarily and has also vowed to address the problems faced by the people in socio-economic and development fronts. Yet, the level of success on both counts leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately comprehensive and vibrant counter-terrorism, anti-extremism and counter-radicalism strategies are lacking, and there are grey areas and ambiguities in the existing policies. There is need to create public awareness on the perils if terrorism, radicalism and extremism are left unchecked. Some political and religious parties have been arguing that the government should not use force against militants, and address the causes that give rise to extremism and terrorism.
In fact, Islam rejects extremism in all of its forms and manifestations, and the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has also been exemplary so far as the virtues of tolerance and forgiveness are concerned. Unfortunately, we are living in an extremist society where Islam does not seem to prevail in its true spirit. Our actions, dealings and characters are devoid of the teachings of Islam. Our moral degeneration could be gauged by the fact that Pakistan is one of the most corrupt countries of the world despite the fact that Islam ordains honesty and fair play in human dealings. Likewise, Islam makes it obligatory to receive education but the malaise of illiteracy is rampant in Pakistan. The government should implement social action plan in letter and spirit, and sleeping cells of the extremists and terrorists should be dismantled.
