‘Terrorism and extremism must be wiped out’

Book focusing on factors breeding terror and extremism launched

Karachi

In today’s savage society where freedom of thought and expression has been circumscribed, where social media has turned into Bundu Khan’s shop, where libraries which once were the redeeming feature of every locality have become extinct, the virus of terrorism will surely be bred.

These thoughts were expressed by internationally noted intellectual Dr Aaliya Imam while speaking at the launch of the book “Dukhtar-e-Hafsa” by noted journalist Razia Sultana at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday evening.

Dr Imam, who was presiding over the book launch, said that today there were dead bodies all over, and total heartlessness seemed to prevail among humans.

She saluted Razia Sultana, the author of the book, for having brought this unfortunate change in the human psyche to the fore.

Journalists, she said, were people who dug deep into the human psyche and human emotions and as such they could perceive the shortcomings of society much better than others could. In this regard, she said, “I salute Razia”  as a tribute to her depth of vision and her perception.

Columnist Muqtada Mansoor praised Razia Sultana for commenting so profoundly on an issue which is total negation of human freedom.

Said Mansoor, “In the novel, we see the spirit of a journalist who wants to speak out on the aberrations of society”. However, he said, the most redeeming feature of her novel was the way she had pinpointed the virus of terrorism and extremism.

He narrated his own experience when he visited  Bagh in Azad Kashmir immediately after the killer quake of October 2005 and saw for himself the way women who had lost their families in the tragedy were being abducted and traded by unscrupulous capitalist elements.

He said that it was a hideous scar on the collective conscience of our society. The novel, he said, told us how young people were being isolated and brainwashed into committing acts of terrorism and extremism, all in the name of religion.

He quoted articles 8 and 9 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which laid down that the safety and security of every citizen was the exclusive responsibility of the state.

Author Razia Sultana said, “My aim is to tell the people that if a person is intrinsically good, he cannot be influenced or pressurized by inimical forces.”

She questioned as to how arms and ammunition reached the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, which is the capital. She contended that our society was totally bereft of justice which bred deprivation, which in turn bred rebellion and phenomena like terrorism. “Ours is a corruption-riddled society,” she said.

Journalist Asfar Imran said that journalists were the main people in society who wrote and pinpointed issues. He said that Razia, through her very incisive novel, had helped the journalists hold their heads high.

Senior journalist Zaib Azkar said  that Razia’s book was a piece of ideal investigative journalism. The novel brings up issues of terrorism and religious extremism and how the major powers exploit these differences to attain their vicious ends, he said.

“Razia is a political historian in the style of Quratul Ain Haider or Khushwant Singh. Her style is very much like Bapsi Sidhwa’s Crow Eaters or The Bride,” said former Sindh minister and noted journalist Agha Masood Hussain.

He said the book proved that Razia was a really perceptive and tender hearted person who felt for the trials and tribulation of human beings.

While lauding Razia’s chaste language, Akhtar Baloch said that Razia had done well to let the women dominate her novel as thus far we had confined women to a limited space. Razia had undone this unhealthy tendency, he said.

In a nutshell, Razia Sultana’s novel Dukhtar-e-Hafsa, is the story of a girl, Ramsha, who is living a happy and contented life with her family when one October morning (mis)fortune turns the tables on her and all her family are killed in the killer earthquake and she finds

herself all alone without an iota of support in this inhospitable world. The novel traces her journey to  a madrasa in Islamabad and then to a foster home where she is married off to a man who turns out to be a militant and is killed. Then the book describes Ramsha’s fate which ends with the end of her life.

The underlying theme is how terrorism and extremism have just sucked the life out of our society and emaciated it to the point of miserable existence.