Appeasing fanaticism

This refers to the editorial, ‘Appeasing fanaticism’ (April 1). The editorial makes a partially correct assessment of the mayhem created by the self-righteous theocracy and its brainwashed cohorts. How the crowd reached the Red Zone and how it brought the capital to a standstill for four days are not the bigger issues. The religious right has succeeded in extracting concessions from a lame duck government and thereby repeated history. The clueless government has set up a committee to inquire into security lapses that led to this melodrama. A very serious issue has thus been relegated into a policing matter. This shows the myopic nature of perspectives of the federal government on matters affecting the survival of the state.

We have once again heard the demand of enforcement of Nizam-e-Mustafa which the clergy used in 1977 to overthrow the first directly elected prime minister of the country. This demand raises alarming questions about the intentions of the PMLN regime which has turned the most critical issue into an administrative problem to be handled by police inspectors and SHOs. If Z A Bhutto could not survive the onslaught of the so-called Nizam-e-Mustafa, how will Nawaz face this challenge? This is the real challenge to the existence of Pakistan as a democratic and peaceful state. The editorial comment rightly concludes that the government has preferred appeasement of religious right as a viable option.

B A Malik

Islamabad

*****

This refers to the editorial, ‘Appeasing fanaticism’ (April 1). The editorial says it all. The government’s weakness and inefficiency are really pathetic. First, by their inefficiency and lack of foresight they allowed the mob to come right into the heart of the Red Zone without any resistance. The protestors would have damaged or even taken over state buildings like the Parliament House, etc, had it not been for the army and the deployment of the 111 Brigade.

Perhaps a lot of us are thankful that the situation has been handled peacefully through negotiations. But it should be realised that the government’s leniency has encouraged fanatical mobs and their leaders, and created a very bad precedent.

Zaheer Ahmed

Islamabad