Shahbaz Sharif and the “Spare Punjab” Doctrine

Not all lives are worth the same to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

In a shocking display of callousness, Mr. Sharif publicly requested the Taliban cease targeting the Punjab province…but to carry on business as usual elsewhere in the country. This “Spare Punjab Doctrine” gives extremists a free pass to extremists and essentially justifies their actions throughout Pakistan!

There aren’t many words that can capture the CM’s utter lack of humanity or its shocking implications? Has he turned a blind eye to the people the Taliban have massacred in Lahore’s sister cities of Karachi and Islamabad? Does he not consider the grief and anguish of residents in Peshawar and the NWFP to be genuine? Is he accepting of the blood of Pakistanis – so long as they are not in his province?

All Pakistanis are equal. The Taliban and other extremist groups do not discriminate; their purpose is strike fear into the hearts of all Pakistanis and to destroy our culture and spirit. In a previous post, we wrote about the pain suffered by the people of Lahore. We understood the extremists’ desire to attack large cities and called for a spirit of unity.

Yet with his comments, CM Shahbaz offers up all Pakistanis as sacrifice so that Punjab may be safe from harm. Sindh and Peshawar, areas hit with attack after attack, perhaps do not matter to him and his party.

Pakistanis need to move beyond regionalism and religion. Pakistanis are first and foremost Pakistanis. The country boasts of diversity – there are many different ethnicities and languages spoken by our people – and none is less sacred than any other. Our fight against the Taliban is a fight to keep all our people safe and prosperous.

The CM’s remarks have been roundly denounced by other officials. Perhaps the harshest criticism comes from the Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. The Army Chief called for a one-on-one meeting with CM Sharif, in which the reprehensible comments were the main topic. The CM was told that his remarks could potentially undermine the entire military operation in which over 2,000 army personnel, countless Pakistani civilians and scores of foreign aid workers had lost their lives.

His words have caused a firestorm, as they absolutely ought to and now he stands in defense. To be sure, his people will commence a strong campaign of damage control but can anyone ever forget the reprehensible sentiment expressed so breezily? There is no doubt the public will be told that the words were taken out of context, that the media has twisted the CM’s message, etc et al.

But Pakistanis cannot be made fools of by a shoddy political tactic; we cannot stand by and allow a man of power to attempt divisions within our nation. We cannot allow anyone, of any party, to exploit the dire situation caused by religious extremists.

Extremists are happy to accept the CM’s offer, as evidenced by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman has said that the organization would stop targeting public and government places in Punjab if the provincial government gave an assurance that the Taliban would be spared from any action. As Punjabis make up a solid number of the Pakistani Army that request is essentially impossible. Our Army will NOT stop its fight, our people will not bow to the ideology of hatred and our cultures will not be divided.

What Chief Minister Sharif has said is unreservedly heartless and the public is correct in its furious reaction. We will not tolerate this attitude in anyone who claims to be a proud Pakistani.

Pakistan Zindabad.

The truth will set you free

How many deaths will take it til they know that too many people have died?

Innocence lost, lives brutally snatched away. Weeping women, stunned men, dead children.

It becomes easy to lose count of the terrorist attacks when they happen in rapid-fire succession. It becomes easier still to keep from crying, as the deaths desensitize you time and time again.

But some things become harder.

It becomes harder to call extremists “Islamic” when they insist on killing students at segregated Islamic universities. It becomes harder for men like Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan to watch the families of the victims wail in agony, since their sympathies are only for terror suspects killed by American drones. It becomes harder still to box extremism in the far-flung regions of the country.

I see something in the images of terror’s after-math. Amidst blood-splattered rubble lies a complicated reality: extremism is not just in FATA and the NWFP. It is slowly seeping into the heartland of Pakistan and will continue this trend; it has already reared its ugly head in the capital city of Islamabad, and threatens the urban centers of Lahore and Karachi. The entire country is on its way to a culture of fear and paralysis.

Pakistanis must, absolutely must acknowledge this. When will the country realize that the problems and failings of Pakistan can never be pegged on conspiracy theories, involving any combination of Israel, America and India? The problems are home-grown, the failings are organic.

To save Pakistan, we must realize that extremism is breeding, at an alarming rate, throughout the nation. The threats are real, sickening in their unreasonable goals.

Just look at who they have killed.

The dead are not enemies of Islam. They are teachers, police officers, aid workers, students, children too young to even understand why someone can hate. The victims are ordinary, hard-working Pakistanis, they lived with allegiance to their country’s flag and wanted a stable life. They are dead, and undoubtedly more will die. But the question is…how many more deaths will it take before Pakistanis fight back and save their nation?

Pluralism in Pakistan…and not a moment too soon!

At an iftar in honor of the visiting Governor of Sindh, Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan and the Mayor of Karachi, Syed Mustafa Kemal, Ambassador Husain Haqqani spoke movingly about what it means to be a Pakistani.

“This embassy is the embassy of all Pakistanis, regardless of ethnicity, province, religion, sect,” he declared.

In one fell swoop, the Ambassador made it clear that more than six decades after being carved out of British India, the national identity of Pakistan was finally on its way to being recognized.

That Pakistanis should have had such a struggle defining themselves will hardly come as a shock to those familiar with its history. It is a nation that has consistently longed for democracy but has been prone to military dictatorships and martial law. It is a nation that has turned down the idea of the theocratic state, yet has been (and still is) vulnerable to extremist Islamic ideologies.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah sought a nation that would guarantee Islam – the security Muslims so desperately wanted to practice freely. The Quaid’s brilliance lay in his ambivalence – Islam played a massive role in what became communities and then states and who the leaders would be to inherit those states – but the role of the religion in government was never clearly defined.

Earlier generations, too, wrestled with the relationship between Islam and government. The revered Muslim thinker, Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) championed the thought that an Islamic state would protect the concept of “universalism.” The universalist valued the pluralism within Islam. Another noted thinker, Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979) was a staunch believer in “one-and-only-way-of-Islam,” and would go on to found the Jamaat-i-Islami Party in 1941.

The goal to equate “Pakistani” with “Muslim” was a critical error in judgment. Furthermore, it opened the door to loud disagreements and then appalling violence when Pakistanis sought to define “Muslim.” The Ahmadis have been treated with disdain for not following proper Islam, and indeed, denied citizenship because of this. The Shia minority is routinely accused by the Sunni majority for not believing in the right interpretation of Islam. Pakistan has been wracked with sectarian violence, hundreds killed and the nation living in a culture of fear…over what? A national identity.

It is high time we stop being uncertain about our identity. The lack of consensus has harmed us beyond belief. While the Zardari administration has many clearly stated domestic goals, one of the implications of its policies has been to redirect the public’s thinking. Working towards stability in the NWFP and FATA, taking care of the IDPs, uniting other parties behind a peaceful and progressive agenda, the PPP is en route to making Pakistan a country for all Pakistanis…”regardless of ethnicity, province, religion, sect.”