Following the Militancy

By

Sattar Rind

We refuse to learn and be changed according to the world’s vision that we are not an irresponsible country and are considered to be ‘worldly’. In heightening that liability however we indeed are and, though it may not be taken for granted, ought to be without any doubt assumed as fact.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan, western in his style and culture, former fast bowler and playboy of his day, now intriguingly has the duty of launching the slogan to change the old Pakistan into the new one, which seems to be destroying it further.

He is rewriting textbooks, making the province which is being run by his party more Islamic. The province had already been observed as destructive following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakhtunkhwa culturally, ethnic and linguistically enjoying the same features.

In response to Russia’s invasion the United States started a resistance movement against the intervention with the support of the then president of Pakistan, General Zia.

The CIA and its allied rich Arab countries hired the criminal and intransigent Islamite Arabs and Afghan refugees providing them with training in the name of Jihad, naming them Mujahideen (holy warriors). This ultimately won the war against the USSR, the US Stinger missile being a large factor enabling them to gun down the Russian helicopters.

On the other hand, the national economy of the USSR was on the edge of collapse, eventually falling in 1991. The Mujahideen went back to rule the shattered country but were less sensible and started a civil war. In 1996 a new force had been created under the title Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan after defeating the all ruling parties and war lords of that nation.

A brutal, cruel and sadistic Taliban were ethically Pashto, though at the time of the attack on Kabul, the Afghani capital city was under the control of ethnically Tajik led government’s defense minister Ahmed Shah Massoud, the real power holder. He went back to Panjshir, in the northern part of Afghanistan and created a new group, known as the Northern Alliance. Massoud courageously resisted the Taliban and was never defeated but was assassinated by Al-Qaeda radicals on September 9, 2001, just two days before 9/11.

After 9/11 the US demanded that Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden be handed over to them to face justice but such a request was declined by Taliban leaders. As a result the US and NATO forces intervened with the Taliban seeking refuge in the province of Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan’s North Waziristan.

With this background and more than three decades of war in Afghanistan, over a million people had died, half a million Pakistani citizens killed alone in the last few years through suicide attacks by the Taliban.

Despite this, the ‘new Pakistan’ leader Imran Khan’s collation government, Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist at its core, still provokes the sentiments of the Pakistani citizens. Verses related to the Jihad are being inserted into textbooks to promote the Jihadist culture in the throughout schools in the Pakhtunkhwa province.

In Islam it has become dissonant in the way the number of scholars request that Muslim should decide things, especially the jihad through the ‘Ijtihad‘. Fundamental to the Islamic system is that scholars of Islam get together to discuss a point, it either moving to a different level if not in the latest state of affairs, or deferred for a time if in the greater interest of Islam, etc. It does not however mean that Muslims refuse to discuss the point in question.

The new Pakistan has not yet come into existence but its leaders are ready to show they are already in control. As stated earlier, Imran Khan’s governmental province is rewriting school books to make them more Islamic, removing pictures of unveiled women and changing material; even chemistry, physics, English, history and geography are being changed, this in the knowledge that the secular, liberal parties are contending with conservative religious parties for influence in the nuclear-armed nation of 200 million people.

The conflict is often fought out in the classroom. Professors or teachers have been accused of blasphemy and attacked, jailed or killed. The inserting of verses on the Jihad enhances violence, attacks and killing.

The changes made to history and science books included content about Muslims that had been replaced with material about non-Muslims, including Helen Keller.

The intended controversy with India ought to be changed into the Jihadist perspective. Similarly, Bangladesh has not been accepted as a free country in the academic books in Pakhtunkhwa, despite Pakistan officially recognising it forty two years ago. Pictures of women without head scarves have been removed and replaced with pictures where they are wearing one.

This has risen to such a level that the Peshawar University has introduced a new subject: Islamic Anthropology.

With this, Physics books for teenagers include Koranic verses regarding the creation of the universe and its ecosystem. The previous provincial government was headed by the more secular Party; they rewrote textbooks to remove some religious references.

It is however surprising for many that the British government is providing funds to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa totalling $29 Million for these changes. Isn’t it great?

Sattar Rind

Sattar Rind lives in Sindh, Pakistan. and is an Author with four books to his credit. three poetry and one on politics. As a Columnist he has written for a number of newspapers and magazines since 1991. Sattar can be contacted at the following email address: [email protected]