Religion and progress
MR F. S. Ejazuddin’s article, ‘In Beijing, East is now West’ (Dec 17), relating to China’s progress in the last 50 years, is mind-boggling. Even the US, the only superpower, stands in awe; perhaps there is a lurking fear of being replaced. Napoleon’s advice was to let China sleep but China has woken up.
Propping up India against China by the US is futile. It won’t work, for the one and only one reason. China does not have the excess baggage of ‘religion’ to hold it back. Hindutva in India, the Jewish lobby, the evangelists and the neo-cons in the US will slowly but surely drag them down.
Pakistan in the late 1940s and the 1950s compared to the present day was less intolerant. We had a head start in many fields over China but whilst they progressed, we regressed. Today our religious parties run amok almost every Friday.
A strike was called on Friday, Dec 22, against the Bill of Women’s Rights. Dawn reported the next day on page 17 under the heading ‘Long march not ruled out: JI’.
Profr Ghafoor Ahmad says: “Gen Musharraf is inciting girls to dance and sing . . . ”. The chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Karachi, Mairajul Huda, declares at Lasbela Chowk: “The nation would not tolerate those who wanted to make their daughters dance naked at gunpoint. . . ”. Talk of fertile imaginations!
Mufti Muhammad Naeem in the same column claims a successful strike. Every successful Friday strike costs the country nearly Rs2 billion and untold misery to the daily wagers and street vendors. Ironically, on the same Friday, 32 mobile phones and nine vehicles were also reported stolen.
On page 22 Mufti Khalid Shah issues a ‘fatwa’ declaring jihad against all NGOs, including the United Nations and human rights organisations, and urges the people to attack their workers, vehicles and offices. Added to this myopic lot we also have to contend with the feudals and tribals and their hang-ups with jirgas, karo-kari and swara. The odds seem stacked against us. The glass for us is surely half-empty.
The so-called ‘alims’ will make sure that we remain anchored securely to the 7th century. Our green passport with its religious column, the only country in this wide world, Muslim or otherwise, to have such a column, will put us in the harassment line at every airport. Our government-appointed Ruet-i-Hilal committees will continue squabbling over the sighting of the moon. Eid Mubarak, Eid Mubarak and Eid Mubarak.
What bigger hypocrisy could there be than the religious parties finding support in their interpretations of the Quaid-i-Azam’s written words and speeches. His first address to the Constituent Assembly comes to mind: “Hindus shall cease to be Hindus and Muslims cease to be Muslims . . . . , etc, etc.” Instead, I wish he had said clearly without ambiguity: “We shall be the Republic of Pakistan with a secular parliamentary democracy”, period. Alas! He left this unsaid.
CAPT S. AFAQ RIZVI
Karachi