Introduction
In August 1947, the British
Empire divided the Indian Sub-Continent into two independent sovereign states,
one was named as Republic of India and the other was Islamic Republic of
Pakistan (Iqbal, 2018; Bhattacharya, 2013). The two states were so diverse in
comparison to each other that their inhabitants failed to cooperate even though
(McLeoad, 2008) they lived and died on the same soil for centuries. So, there
existed an unending opposition and rivalry between the two neighboring
countries which mainly focused the religious identity. To give a separate
identity to Pakistan, it was decided that Islam must be the sole agenda of the
country but it was never thought that which Islam (Boquerat & Hussian,
2011) and whose interpretation of Islam it would be? Thus implementing Islam in
Pakistan means opening the Pandora box because the Muslims are so diverse on
interpretation of Islam that they can hardly agree upon a single
interpretation, though they cannot decide the way one need to offer his/her
prayer (Fitzpatric & Walker, 2014).
Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan
was a moderate educated in Britain and adopted a lifestyle akin to British wanted
a modern interpretation of Islam (Butt, 2015) but he did not live long to see
his vision being accomplished, whereas, his followers adopted a fundamentalist
version of Islam which was opposed by the minorities of the country especially
the Hindus (Khan, 2012). The struggle between the fundamentalist and moderates
Muslims continued like a tug of war but at the end it was the fundamentalist
who won the game. In 1949, with the passing of Objective Resolution Pakistan
was provided with a blueprint of an Islamic state and its aftershocks were seen
during Lahore riots of 1953, thus the extremist mentality started drifting the
country towards extremism and last nail in the coffin was penetrated during
Zia-ul-Haq (r. 1977-88) regime when Pakistan participated in Afghan war/Jihad
(Hassan, 2008), thus, transformed the existing version of Islam from
fundamentalist to a Radical one (Crone, 2016).
Cold War in the Episode of Afghan Jihad
After World War II (1939-45), the
world was divided into two blocs, Capitalist vs Communist, the former being
headed by United States of America (USA) whereas the latter was commanded by
former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Post 1945 era witnessed
proxy wars between two mighty military giants to dominate the world through
their wealth, power and ideology (Robertson, 1997), so it was in such a
scenario that in 1979, the USSR intervened in Afghanistan to setup a communist
government by toppling the Islamist one (Kellner, 2003).
Initially, the Afghan forces
resisted the Soviets but failed to sustain their strike thus they cried for
help from the world and especially from the Muslim world (Barber, 2015). Fearing
the defeat of Afghanistan against USSR, Pakistan intervened into Afghanistan
through her Pashtuns areas located parallel to Afghanistan borders (Shirkey,
2016). Sensing the war to be slipping out of hand, Pakistan looked towards
America for help, it was also looking for a chance to normalize its
relationship with America and to ask her to lift the sanctions upon its country
imposed due to ongoing activities in Nuclear plant KANUUP (Kalinovsky &
Daigle, 2014). America under Truman doctrine felt that if they did not come in
aid of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Russians will be able to establish their
pro-communist regimes and the US will lose their allies into South Asia
(Apostolov, 2004).
Role of Pakistan in Afghan Jihad 1979-89
Pakistan became the frontline
ally of US against USSR, it allowed the US to use Pakistani territory against
the Soviets (Kukreja & Singh, 2005). With the assistance of America,
Pakistan set up training camps along its borders to train the Afghan and then
send them back to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. The Americans provided
dollars, weapons, information, training, food and backing to both Pakistan and
Afghanistan. (Riedel, 2014).
Similarly, Pakistan received a
large amount of cash to host the Afghan refugees within its borders and failed
to restrict the movement of refugees near its borders (Khan, 2010). The Afghan
refugees were no more different than the Pashtun speaking Pashtuns of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (formally North West Frontier Province NWFP) (Chatterjee, 2013).
They were having the same color, the same dress, the same language (though
their dialect of Pashto was a bit different but they speak Urdu with the same
dialect as the other Pashtuns), they ate the same food, they practiced the same
religion, in short they appeared more Pakistani than that of Afghani.
(Chatterjee, 2013) Such a similar identity posed a thread but was hardly sensed
and if sensed, it was ignored against the biggest enemy the Russian.
Militarily, the Afghan Taliban
were trained by forces of both America and Pakistan, though the major part was
being played by Pakistani forces (Kellner, 2003), thus they developed a direct
linked with the military of Pakistan-one of the most influential and powerful
institution in the country (Abbas, 2015). They were given the same weapons and
sometime advanced one and were trained on the same footings as of Pakistan army
which in coming days challenged the same forces (Kellner, 2003).
The efforts and preparation of
war continued for 10 years but ended in favor of Afghanistan, Pakistan and US,
but its aftermath were yet to be judged at that time. The first shock of
installing Taliban government in Afghanistan was felt by Pakistan within its
territory. (Adelman, 2016).
Events that led to Radicalization of Islam
Pakistan supported the Taliban
who were fighting against the Soviets in their homeland, for outsiders, it was
just a war like other wars, but for Taliban, it was not an ordinary war, but an
Islamic one (Jihad), which is to be fought against the enemy of Islam till
victory (Afzal, 2018). So, they won against one enemy of Islam the Soviets, but
what about those of Americans and those who supported them? The answer was
obvious (Williams, 2013). So, the Taliban started to preach their version of
Islam and jihad in Pakistan and radicalized the insane minds (Muehlenbeck,
2012). They attracted the Tabula Rasa
youth by providing them money, vehicle, weapons and a heroic training but with a solemn oath to obey their ameer which means they were challenging
the state laws and setting up their own government and they did it thus
Pakistan still regrets its folly (Ali, Banks and Parson, 2015).
Two deadly weapons of that time,
Heroin and AK47 (Kalashnikov) were smuggled to Pakistan and both were deadly
for human being (Hilali, 2017), the former controlled and insane the
mind/intelligence and the later destroy the body. Both of these were frequently
used to numb the body and minds of pro-Taliban supporters (Hilali, 2017). The
Taliban smuggled heroin to generate wealth but at the same time made their
followers addict to it so as to command infallibility of leader. Being
addicted/intoxicated, made the extremists merciless assassins, whereas AK47 was
used as a solution to every sort of disobedience and negation of command. That
weapon became a symbol of fear as guillotine became a symbol of death during
French Revolution (Hilali, 2017).
The government appreciated the
success of Taliban as being helpful to her against her war with India, thus
were patronized in Pakistan for proxy wars (Hashmi, 2014). The government
started funding them and strengthened them by allowing them to setup their own
educational institutions/Madrassah (Noor,
Sikand & Bruinessen, 2008). In such institutions, doctrine of Jihad was
widely taught and misinterpreted, the Talibs/Students
were groomed to be violent and deadly against anti-Taliban groups. They were trained to remain only loyal to
Taliban (Marsden, 1998). Their brains were so controlled that they were ever
ready to end their life upon the orders of their leaders (Marsden, 1998).
To make the situation worse and to patronize the
Taliban as hero, the media of that time sang heroic songs for the Taliban. They
were hailed as the true Muslims and custodians of Islam, an urge was shown for
Taliban model government in Pakistan (Matinuddin, 1999). The media was helping
the Taliban to catch the ignorant minds through the media. To the surprise of
media, the same Taliban banned it as being pro west and anti-Islam, that’s why
it is said as you sow, so shall you reap (Matinuddin, 1999).
Foremost Explanations for Radicalization of Islam
in Pakistan
The moot question arises why
Islam was radicalized in Pakistan though there were many other Muslim countries
in the world? There are numerous answers to this query but owing to its
limitations, the research will put forward the following answers.
First, it was Pakistan who
provided Yeoman’s service to the Taliban when their (Afghanis) territory was
attacked by the Russians, because they share a border of 1510 mile which is
porous (Collins, 2011) Similarly, across the border, the people shares a common
culture, there are families and properties of people on both sides of the fence
who are still in touch with each other. So, the families in Pakistan and its
state had to welcome them, finance them, trained them and then supported them
(Malik, 2016). That attempt was to get the sympathy of the Muslims Pashtuns
across the globe against the non-Muslim countries. In the back door, Pakistan
was trying to create a group by help of whom, she can avenge her wounds of 1971
war with India (Malik, 2016) So, she supported the Taliban with least bothering
that they cannot be relied up and will surely bounce back, and they did and
with a great force in 1999 (Fazli, Johnson and Cooke, 2015).
Second, Pakistan is an underdeveloped
country witnessing poverty and illiteracy to the extent that the families carry
out child marriages, force their children into child labor and even sell their
children just to keep the wolf out of their doors (Yasmeen, 2017). Whereas,
they are also suffering from intellectual poverty, they do not have finances to
acquire worldly education, so those who want to teach their children are forced
to admit them into religious institutions (Aziz, 2015) which are mostly
inclined towards Taliban’s ideology of Islam, thus bringing an end to Taliban
in Pakistan becomes a serious issue. There are hundreds and thousands of them
(Bayefsky, 2006). When compared to modern education, the Talban have a very
narrow world view, which lacks teaching of tolerance, their education has no
place for religious harmony, they follow the ideology of Nazism, i.e. rule the
world through sword (Bayefsky, 2006). Moreover, they are not ready to listen to
anyone except their own religious leaders, thus they challenge
every law and authority (Marsden, 1998). Therefore,
to control them through modern state law becomes an uphill task.
Third, during Afghan Jihad,
Pakistan experienced a martial law in shape of Zia-ul-Haq, who introduced
Islamization in the country, which attracted the Taliban of Afghanistan, as
they were also fighting their war in name of Islam (Rakisitis, 2012). Such
experiments of implementing Islam in Pakistan, making it a laboratory for use
of Islam radicalized the society; people were forced to become Islamic in
public; Islamic laws were documented and were used to crush opposition;
non-Muslims felt threatened in Pakistan (The Middle East Institute, n.d.), these
were steps which gave a new interpretation to Islam in Pakistan and diversified
the sectarian identity in the country.
Fourth, since inception,
Pakistani society is engulfed with the flames of religious hatred and animosity
(Rafiq, 2002). The Muslims are divided into numerous sects, each claiming to be
the true representative of Islam and its custodian. Who is a Muslim and who is
not is a hot debate and is decided by the sects; its result? Every other Muslim
in Pakistan is labelled as a non-Muslim (Rafiq, 2002). So, when the society is
already broken and is divided how can one expect them to counter an outsider
force? Nay, but they will welcome the intruders and align with them to weaken
the members of other sects, thus it became easy for Talibanised Islam to Radicalize Islam in Pakistan.
Possible Solutions to De-Radicalize Islam in
Pakistan
First, the state needs to educate
the illiterate masses and then substantiate them. Though acquiring education in
Pakistan till primary is compulsory and free but still reforms are needed to
get the positive result (Johnson and Maclean, 2008). Pakistan is considered
among those countries with least expanding in education. Least paid teachers
with least respect and facilities, corporal punishment is day on, day off
practice in educational institutions, unqualified and untrained teachers are
there to use the policy of might is right, ghost school and ghost teachers
exists, thus education department presents a symbol of worst corruption in its
every form (Johnson and Maclean, 2008).
Second, the state must initiate
poverty alleviation programs to bring an end to Poverty because the country is
witnessing joblessness, kidnapping, suicides due to poverty and terrorism to
get money. Tough it has initiated a number of program like yellow cab (Mujtaba,
2018), Benazir income support program and Ehsas
program but at the end they were meant to make the ruling elite rich (Hussain,
2020).
Third, system of justice need to
be rectified in Pakistan, there must be supremacy of law and justice should be
speedy (Jamshed, 2018). Pakistan falls in category of low income countries, and
its poor citizen could not afford expensive justice system, thus they prefer
Taliban’s version of justice, i.e. speedy and free; in case of non-availability
of Taliban’s model of Islam, the aggrieved takes the law into his own hands
(Sajid and Siddiqi, 2014), therefore, Pakistan needs to focus on its judiciary.
Fourth, the state must manage its
borders especially with Afghanistan as it is one of its worst porous border and
crossroad for Taliban (Durward & Marsden, 2009). The state needs to
demarcate its citizens as citizens of Pakistan instead of Muslims. Policy of
citizenship will keep outsiders at bay especially those who are hiding under
the mask of ethnicity. Then the state of Pakistan need to focus on syllabus and
teachers of madrassah as they have
become breeding and mushrooming ground of/for Taliban (Riaz, 2008). The state needs to check the
contents of subjects taught and should analyze the mentality of the faculty
members to ensure no radical, fanatic and hotheaded faculty should be there to
inculcate intolerance among the students. The state needs to revise the
pre-Taliban version of Islam in Pakistan, the vision that was held by Iqbal and
propagated by Jinnah, the version that was modern and was tolerant, the version
that was Islamic but peaceful (Sonn, 2010). When the above steps become
concrete then the state need to finally introduce Schism and Secularism,
because there is no shortcut and haste, if done the ignorant minds and
pro-Taliban groups will bounce back and do more harm, so slow and steady wins
the race (Phares, 2020).
Conclusion
When the Russians invaded Afghanistan, they not only disturbed the world peace by destroying Afghanistan but also disturbed the whole region especially Pakistan. The Russians fought for implementing their communist ideology but indirectly encouraged another ideology in that domain, an ideology which was more lethal and long lasting, the ideology of radicalization of Islam. It was the Russian invasion of Afghanistan that transformed the peaceful version of Islam in Pakistan into a radical one by allowing the radical groups to enter deep into Pakistani society and were funded and trained by Americans, thus to blame Pakistan and Islam for terrorism is a sheer myth but an unseen and unpredicted nefarious design of the then superpowers. As they helped the Taliban to radicalize Islam in Pakistan against their interest so it was also their responsibility to kill the evil mentality when they have gained their success. What they taught was that the radicalized ideology will soon die when left unfinanced, but they forgot and failed to analyze the literacy rate of Pakistan, they failed to judge the cultural dimension of Pakistan, they failed to see the perils of a porous border, in short, they failed to calculate everything but witnessing a temporary victory against the Russians in Afghanistan.
The Muslims hardly sacrifice
their lives until motivated by the spirit of Jihad and when motivated they do
not stop until they die or achieve their aim. The West flamed the spirit of
Jihad among the Muslims against the Russians but failed to consider the concept
of Ummah which will bind the Muslims
to fight against their enemies, though they can hardly be united on small
religious issues but in name of Jihad they are ready to be united without
thinking much. Thus war in Afghanistan radicalized peaceful version of Islam in
Pakistan into a jihadist one and the country is still burring in the flames of
that ideology and the super powers instead of helping their ally are blaming it
for mushrooming Taliban against the West.
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