Threat of radicalisation

DAWN (Editorial)
10/ 12/ 2007

THE setting up of a 'law and order' force is the latest from Maulana Fazlullah, the self-proclaimed, virtual ruler of Swat. The country-mullah has been emboldened to take this step because the government has been looking the other way all this time when he was busy broadcasting threats to the local people to abide by Shariah laws or face his wrath. It's been a step-by- step advance on the radical cleric's part, which amounts to more than just testing the waters. Next came the setting up of a summary trial court under Islamic law which Fazlullah himself heads at his village, Imam Dheri. Besides, vigilante volunteers are going around at his behest in Swat to enforce religious law. Attempts by extremists at blowing up a second-century BC Buddha rock carving, too, have gone unnoticed. Is it any wonder, then, that the mullah's henchmen, whom he calls his commandos, are now patrolling the area using a squad of some 15 vehicles mounted with machineguns, to maintain 'law and order' and to ensure smooth running of traffic? What's next on his agenda? Here's a full-throttle attempt at Talibanising society which is being allowed to go unchecked for unknown reasons.

The withering away of the state is no more a Marxian axiom in parts of Pakistan today; but the state has been withering for all the wrong reasons. There is no hope for a utopia emerging in the dangerous bargain. This march backward to the dark age brought about by the Taliban in Afghanistan just before 9/11 is now engulfing large parts of the Frontier province. While North and South Waziristan may be the extremists' outposts, huge tracts of settled areas such as the Peshawar-Kohat-Bannu-Tank belt and now Swat falling to home-grown Taliban rule is a serious cause for concern.

The shadow of the Lal Masjid operation in the heart of Islamabad, too, still lingers. It is far from over as far as the cousin-cleric of the slain firebrand Abdur Rashid Ghazi is concerned, who has been made the custodian of the mosque under Supreme Court directives. The rhetoric coming out of the place is as lethal and laced with threats as to remind one of Ghazi's intolerant ways of imposing Shariah. With parliamentary elections round the corner, the constitutional crisis over Gen Musharraf's eligibility for another term in office and the challenging in court of the national reconciliation ordinance hanging in the balance, there's a need to do more than just fire-fighting the threats posed to society by extremists. Ignoring the emerging radical threat will bring no bliss, much less order to the chaos spreading all around.