An intolerant nation
Submitted by Rashid.
Fruits of the tree planted by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
An intolerant nation
Editorial in The Dawn
Monday, 19 April, 2010
We are reaping the harvest of the seeds of hatred sown in the seventies and eighties. Pakistan is becoming an increasingly intolerant nation where religious and sectarian minorities live in fear and are awarded little or no protection by the state. Difference is unacceptable to the obscurantists who want everyone to toe their line. And if that takes intimidation, torture or even murder, then so be it, for no option is unavailable to the self-righteous who believe that they alone have seen the light.
From Zahid Aziz:
The same issue of The Dawn contains a letter to the Editor in which the writer states that in the early days of Pakistan, most bureaucrats, except a few, “were role models of professional excellence and integrity”. He gives the example of his own father. See this link.
There are several examples of eminent members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement in the government service of Pakistan who set the highest standard of integrity and probity. The leading one is that of Mr Naseer Ahmad Faruqui who rose to be Cabinet Secretary in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which position is the head of the Civil Service. Others include Dr Allah Bakhsh, Chief Chemical Examiner, Karachi, Mian Ghulam Abbas Tamim, Auditor-General of Pakistan, and Dr Saeed Ahmad, Director Health Services, West Pakistan.
They could not be made to swerve from the path of duty by any inducement. If one of their relatives applied for a job and asked them to use their influence in his favour, they reacted by doing the opposite and ensuring that he was not given favourable treatment.
From ikram:
The virtuous conduct of the persons in the letter to the editor of The Dawn and of the Jamaat that Dr. Aziz points out are in step with message of The Quran:
2:188. Do not appropriate one another’s property with inequity (and by false means) nor seek to gain access thereby to the authorities so that you may appropriate a portion of (other) people’s property by sinful means (and bribery) and that (too) knowingly (that you have no right to do so) [Nooruddin]
This verse should be displayed at the entrance of every court and government office in Pakistan.
From Usman:
The quote below is from an article on the blog of Mr. Reza Rumi recently published in an English weekly in Pakistan. It expresses similar sentiments and calls for Sufi Islam. What the author may not realise is that to declare Ahamdis as heretics most expressions of Sufi Islam are now officially and un-officially heretical in Pakistan. The result is apparent.
“A journey that commenced with the Right’s struggle to capture political space in the 1940s, and with the state’s cynical support, has culminated in capitulation to such forces. The gradual erosion of Jinnah’s Pakistan has also led to the ascendancy of all that Pakistan was not supposed to represent. The Ahmedis are hounded on a regular basis, the Shias are being murdered, and even the Barelvi majority feels unsafe given the high-profile murders of their leadership. What we have is a curious mix of a Wahabi-Salafi variant of Islamism with several local offshoots, which are not averse to using violence and butchery as weapons.
The propagation of Islam in the subcontinent was the handiwork of Sufis and sages who showed the path to a large number of people through the message of tolerance, harmony and reconciliation. Violence simply did not deliver in this part of the Islamic world.”
See full article here.
From Hameed Jahangiri:
I cannot hold back a personal experience of utmost professional honesty I had with current Ameer of Lahore Ahmadiyya Jamaat Prof. Dr Abdul Kareem Saeed Sahib.
In 1990 I was trainee doctor (intern) in Department of Medicine in Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. I had special interest in sub-speciality of Psychiatry, where I spent most of my time, rather than main stream Medicine where Dr Kareem Saeed used to be. So come time of graduation I found that the other Intern got glowing tributes in recommendation letter Dr. A. K. Saeed wrote for him and I got a brief hand scribbled note written in faint ink. Being human I was thinking he would be generous with me as we had close family and spiritual ties and we are supposed to “stick together” in environment of ruthless discrimination we both lived in. I complained to him about this. He calmly replied that it is factual statement, as I spent more time in Psychiatry where my interest was, so he did not see me much in Medicine ward and he is recommending me for further studies in Psychiatry. I reminded him jokingly that this other Intern he so favors has made degrading remarks about Ahmedis. He laughed and said it does not matter.
In short, that short but honest note helped me in getting Residency spot in Psychiatry in USA in a program and this other Intern is now great admirer of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.
Point is not indulge in hero-worship but to give “credit where credit is due”.
From Rashid:
Not the voice of the creator
Column by Ardeshir Cowasjee
The Dawn
Sunday, 02 May, 2010
“The waves indeed swept through the country, the first manifestations of intolerance, bigotry and their accompanying violence coming in 1953 with the anti-Ahmadi riots in Punjab. The rot grew and was given full impetus in 1977 when socialist democrat Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (who throughout his life showed few signs of fanatic zealotry) miserably surrendered to the mullah fraternity in the hope that he could cling on to a fast disappearing power seat. From then on, with the advent of Gen Ziaul Haq and his particular brand of religion, the descent has been swift.
Those who followed either exhibited little will to stem the rot or were hand in glove with the forces of darkness, the enemies of tolerance. Jinnah’s Pakistan has virtually ceased to exist, but there are still some who hope it has not yet been interred for ever.”
See this link.
From Usman Khan:
“this other Intern is now great admirer of Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement” [Hameed Jahangiri,April 27th, 2010 at 7:17 am]
Thank you Mr Jahangiri, for sharing the little but profound story with us. I have always felt that the best ‘da’wa’ is the one that is a) by example and b) has no need for making the da’ee’s confessional identity known.
As humans, we are attracted to good humans, confessional identities are secondary. This is to affirm, rather than deny, that the inspiration for a good human being will (often) come from his religion, and therefore her religion would not be secondary as far as she is concerned.
I would rather be moved by a young person’s praiseworthy behaviour to ask about her parents, already expecting them to be even better than their handiwork, instead of the rather typical and predictable experience of some person telling me how wonderful their parents are.