A united front

As originally conceived, the National Action plan gave as much importance to countering the hateful ideology of extremist groups as it did to operations against militant outfits. That aspect of the NAP was quickly forgotten with little effort made to shut down incendiary preachers or hate groups pretending to be charities. Now, at last, there is the beginning of an attempt with the issuance of the Paigham-e-Pakistan – a document signed by over 1800 religious scholars that attempts to fight back against the extremist message. The declaration forthrightly states that suicide bombings, spreading sectarianism and launching jihad without the consent of the state are against the dictates of the religion. Vitally, the Paigham-e-Pakistan includes scholars representing all schools of thought. Presenting a united front and showing that the words and actions of extremists do not represent the mainstream of the country is an important first step in defeating their ideology. But for now this is little more than a start. Respected religious figures in the country and around the world have issued similar declarations before but seem to have made little headway in weakening the support extremist groups receive from a small slice of the population.

The important words of the Paigham-e-Pakistan will have to be followed by strong action. Groups which do not heed the message of the declaration need to be isolated. If they preach violence, they should be banned and their funding frozen. All too often, banned groups have been allowed to re-emerge under new names and carry on as before under the benign eye of the state. The government’s job becomes even more difficult because of the impression created by many who hold or have held positions of power that they support extremist groups. Be it Pervez Musharraf or serving ministers or those in the opposition, all too often it has been more convenient for political actors to appease such groups rather than confront them. The apotheosis of this was the abject surrender after the Faizabad dharnas. The Paigham-e-Pakistan, if it is to hold any weight, needs to be accompanied by the determination to forge a new path. Perhaps the effort can be followed up by the media and other pockets of influence to reach the maximum number of people. The initiative must be pushed forward and used as a tool against those that are willing to use any means to challenge the writ of the state.