** MMA talkin’ **
Vote-Winning Pakistani Clerics Tone Down Their Rhetoric. Anti-U.S. Talk Replaced By Words of Peace To Woo Secular Parties
Lahore, Pakistan – Dressed in flowing robes, turbans and long, wild-looking beards of various colors, the aged Islamic clerics would hardly seem the type to be chased down by paparazzi and power brokers.
But since winning unprecedented gains in national elections earlier this month with vows to oust American troops from Pakistani soil, the once- uninfluential religious scholars of the United Action Forum have become media darlings – followed everywhere they go by packs of hard-nosed journalists.
“We welcome the attention, the chance to explain our position,” Qazi Hussain Ahmad, one of the alliance’s most prominent leaders, said in an interview.
“We are for the service of mankind, not against any country or any people, longing for a world where people come together to live and work in peace as equals,” he added in near perfect English.
Ahmad and the forum’s prime ministerial candidate, the pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, are beating the pavement all over the north of Pakistan, addressing lawyers’ and doctors’ groups, and women’s associations.
Formerly fiery speakers who long ignored any controversy their remarks might elicit, forum leaders are now pursuing a concerted effort to make themselves palatable to the mainstream. They hope to persuade secular parties to partner with them in a coalition for the new Parliament.
“They certainly are trying to paint a positive picture of themselves, but this sudden diplomatic onslaught doesn’t hide their past words and deeds,” said one British diplomat in Islamabad after a reception Wednesday where the foreign press corps grilled forum leaders on everything from jihad to women’s rights.
Forum candidates took a whopping 25 percent of votes cast nationwide in the Oct. 10 elections, making them the third largest group in the future Parliament. The alliance also won control of the legislature of North West Frontier province, along the border with Afghanistan.
They did it with harsh words for the U.S.-led war on terror and President Pervez Musharraf’s support of American efforts to oust the Taliban regime.
“We are against the foreign policy adopted by Musharraf. It was imposed by the outside, by America, and he accepted it,” argued Rehman, who often applauds the Taliban for establishing law and order inside Afghanistan during its tenure.
During the campaign, forum leaders called for an end to all U.S. operations inside Pakistan – in particular, actions by FBI agents to hunt down Taliban and al Qaeda remnants hiding in the tribal areas along the border.
They also campaigned to begin an Islamic revolution in Pakistan, replete with the enforcement of Shariah law, with the goal of wiping out Western influences.
Ahmad has publicly called for an end to honor killings, forced marriages and sexual harassment, and he promised “honor, respect and dignity” :k: for women.
“We will abolish co-education and will set up separate universities for women,” he promised female forum supporters in Peshawar earlier this week.
But Ahmad spoke from behind a curtain and told the women, “You will have to live according to the teachings of Islam.”
Laying down the forum’s post-election line in the interview, Ahmad said:
**“We are telling the world: If we are given the task of finding those who are attempting to operate against the norms of humanity in our territory, we will succeed in finding them and bringing them to justice. But we have no need of foreign troops. Their presence is counterproductive.” **
The forum’s ascension alarms not only foreign diplomats but also many urban Pakistanis.
“Where can we go for some freedom when we, as Muslims, are unwelcome in most civilized countries?” asked Karachi businessman Hassan Kamal. **“Living under fundamentalists is definitely not top of our ‘to do’ list.” **
But several prominent analysts caution that such worries may be the result of misconceptions.
**“The religious parties are nowhere near the Taliban in terms of knowledge and background. They do believe in the adoption of Islamic laws in Pakistan, but not many people really understand the difference between Shariah and tribal or traditional norms,” **said M.S. Jilani, an analyst in Lahore.
The burqa, the all-encompassing garment Taliban officials decreed women wear, he argues, stemmed from tribal traditions, not dictates of Islam.