Paradise lost – irretrievably

Saturday, April 25, 2009

By Aziz Akhmad

You cannot whip people into paradise. But the Taliban believe they can -- and they must. It is hard to imagine that, not too long ago, Swat was a place where people went for holidays and honeymoons, skiing and moviemaking, and where foreign and local tourists went trekking and sightseeing. Tourism was Swat's primary industry. Because of its natural beauty and peaceful and hospitable people, Swat was also advertised as 'paradise on earth'. Today, that paradise is lost -- it seems, irretrievably.

The only paradise one should long for, according to Sufi Mohammad, the virtual lawgiver of Swat, is the one promised to the pious after death. And, Sufi Mohammad is willing and ready to help you get there. He will whip you into it! He now has the legitimacy and legal support, which was denied to him before but was recently granted by parliament. Moving from August 11, 1947, to April 13, 2009, it has been one long journey for Pakistan. Backwards!

No matter what gloss one puts over the so-called Nizam-e-Adl, which is a euphemism for Sharia, or what spin one puts on the pronouncements of Sufi Mohammad, the Maulana is very clear in his mind. If there were any doubts, he removed them last Sunday, when he spoke to an audience of thousands in Mingora. He said there was no place in Islam for democracy -- and by extension, for elections and parliament -- nor for high courts or the Supreme Court, nor for lawyers. A poster displayed by someone in the crowd graphically -- and unambiguously -- explained the code of conduct the Maulana expected the people in Malakand Division to follow. The poster, crudely made, depicted a sword, dripping with blood, and a severed hand cut at the elbow. The message was clear: follow our code of conduct or else.

There is no room for holidaying, honeymooning, skiing and shooting movies in Swat any longer. Faiz, that master poet, must have the Sufi Mohammads of Pakistan in mind when he wrote the following lines:.

Faqeeh-e-shehr say ma-aye ka jawaaz kiya poochain/Keh chandni ko bhi hazrat haraam kehtay hain/Nawa-e-murgh ko kehtay hain yeh ziaan-e-chaman/Khilay na phool, isay intezam kehtay hain. Why ask the mullah if drinking was permitted. In his books, all beautiful sights, sounds and sensations -- even the moonlight, the singing of birds and the blooming of flowers -- must be banned.

The apologists of Nizam-e-Adl, and they are found both inside and outside parliament and the media, are trying to justify the system by recounting, among other things, the advantages of quick and inexpensive justice, and even fondly recalling the "golden period" of the Wali of Swat when a similar system of justice was in place and there was very little crime in the state.

First of all, quick justice is not necessarily the same thing as a good justice system. Lynching is also a form of quick 'justice', at least in the eyes of its perpetrators. It's true, though, that the prevailing justice system in Pakistan is broken -- like most other systems of governance -- and it needs to be fixed urgently. But it does not necessarily have to be re-invented. And secondly, if you want to hark back to the time of the Wali of Swat, then why not go back a little further to the time of Ranjit Singh, when his governor Hari Singh ruthlessly ruled NWFP. Sir Olaf Caroe, the last British governor of the province, mentions in his book The Pathans that mothers would put their bad-tempered children to sleep by using the bogey, Raghe Hari Singh, meaning Hari Singh is here. There was peace, but not justice. Sikha Shahi was the term coined for the quick and rough justice system of that era. Possibly, a few months from now, the mothers in Swat would be putting their irritable children to sleep with the bogey, Raghe Muallah Raidoo! (Mullah Raidoo being the name given to the Mullah Fazlullah who spread so much terror in Swat through his FM broadcasts.)

The ANP's argument in favour of Nizam-e-Adl is the least plausible. (By the way, had there been an ANP candidate in Islamabad in the February 18, 2008, elections, I would have voted for him. But, today, I don't know.) Their line of argument amounts to something like this: "We don't particularly care for Nizam-e-Adl but this was the price we had to pay to bring peace to Swat". There is an implicit message in the ANP's argument that since the federal government and the army didn't come to their help when they needed it, they had no choice but to enter into a deal with the Taliban. This argument is only superficially plausible. The ANP did have a choice. They could have quit. It might sound a bit trite but there is some truth in what Benjamin Franklin said some two hundred years ago: "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

It is Malakand today. It will be Mardan and Mansehra tomorrow -- and perhaps Islamabad the day after. There are already signs in the air that the Taliban windstorm is approaching Mansehra. Several letters to newspapers have pointed to the threatening messages received by individual families, shops and schools in Mansehra. It always starts with letters and messages. This is the familiar pattern. And don't forget, Sufi Mohammad's followers in Kohistan and Batagram had once before, back in the 90s, blocked the strategic Karakoram Highway that passes through Mansehra to press their demand for Sharia. And, as if on cue, Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid sprung from detention within days of signing of the Nizam-e-Adl regulation, essentially repeated Sufi Mohammad's message in his first Friday sermon after his release. Fasten your seatbelts -- and some pads on your backs.

The writer is human resources consultant based in Islamabad. Email: azizakhmad@gmail.com
Courtesy: The News International