WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Pakistani Muslim radicals -- in their first
response to President Pervez Musharraf's recently unveiled plan to separate
religion and politics -- Monday vowed not to let their country become a secular
state.
And in a region bordering Afghanistan, hundreds of supporters of an outlawed
Islamic group threw stones at police while protesting Musharraf's ban on five
militant organizations.
Used to the support they received from the country's military establishment
during the Afghan civil war and for their incursions into the disputed Kashmir
region, the militants were stunned when Musharraf decided to turn the heat on
them. Monday's statement, signed by 12 of the largest militant Islamic groups,
is their first response.
In a speech praised as "historic" by President George Bush and other
world leaders, Musharraf pledged last week to "cleanse Pakistan of
religious extremists." He also vowed to "keep politics out of
mosque" and decided to extend government's control over thousands of
Muslim seminaries where, he said, the mullahs were "preaching jihad and
violence."
He has ordered all madrasas, the country's thousands of religious schools, to
register with the government; asked the mullahs not to make political speeches
inside mosques; and ordered his ministry for religious affairs to prepare a
standard curriculum for all madrasas.
He also ordered the ministry to "keep the holy war" out of the
curriculum and instead include "English and other modern subjects,"
enabling the students to seek jobs outside the religious establishment.
Most of the leaders -- and many followers -- of Afghanistan's former Taliban
regime studied at these madrasas, which continue to produce thousands of
Taliban every year. The very word Taliban means "students" in Arabic.
Musharraf now has pledged to put an end to this.
He also has prevented religious organizations from collecting funds for holy
wars and banned madrasas from receiving financial assistance from outside
Pakistan.
His moves, if implemented, will weaken the very basis of Pakistan's religious
establishment, say observers.
Already derided by middle class, educated Pakistanis, the mullahs depend
heavily on the madrasas for retaining their influence in the society.
Every year, thousands of children from poor families, mainly from rural areas,
join the madrasas because they provide free education, free meals and two sets
of clothes every year. The madrasas are run on the money they receive from
affluent Muslims, both in and outside Pakistan.
While studying, the students participate in every rally, protest meeting or
public demonstration organized or approved of by their teachers. Once they
graduate -- after spending 10 to 15 years of their formative age in madrasas --
they tend to remain loyal to their schools wherever they go.
This allows the ulema, as the teachers of these madrasas are known, to collect
thousands of supporters whenever they need to show support for a cause or
reject another. "This gives them enormous power, much larger than their
actual strength in the society," says Murtaza Haider, a former Pakistani
journalist who is now an assistant professor at Canada's McGill University.
"They cannot win them elections but thousands of dedicated supporters can
bring any city to a halt," said Haider. "As soon as they receive
orders from their teachers, they fan across the city, throwing stones, stopping
buses and closing shops."
This is what the Pakistani government, and officials in Washington, feared when
Musharraf decided to support the U.S. military operations against the Taliban
regime in neighboring Afghanistan.
As expected, the ulema were able to bring thousands of their students and
sympathizers out in the streets. Rallies and protest meetings were held daily
all over the country.
But Musharraf deprived them of what they wanted the most: martyrs to gain
public sympathy. There were some clashes in which some protesters were killed
but in general police and paramilitary troops stayed away from the militants.
They patrolled the streets and protected businesses but did not interfere when
militants tried to force shopkeepers to keep their shops shut or bus drivers to
keep their vehicles off the road.
Within a few days, people were fed up with the daily protest and ignored the
militants' pleas to shut their business in sympathy of the Taliban.
This proved Musharraf's point that the silent majority is against religious
extremists but does not come out to say so.
His new strategy of keeping the mullahs out of politics, announced on Jan. 12,
is based on another assumption: "Most Pakistanis want to separate religion
and politics but militants exploit their religious sentiments in the name of
Islam."
"We will not allow this blackmail to continue," declared the
Pakistani leader while announcing his crackdown on the militants.
Reports from Pakistan indicate that the government once again wants to use the
strategy it employed during the initial days of the Afghan war -- let the ulema
and their supporters protest as long as they do not attack others.
But as reports from the northwestern valley of Dir -- where militants threw
stones at police -- show the militants this time want to engage the security
forces.
The police in Dir stayed away from the militants and did not interfere with the
supporters of the outlawed Movement for the Enforcement of Mohammed's
(religious) Laws, who had organized the rally. But once the speeches were over,
some militants went over to the police and started throwing stones at them,
injuring six policemen.
The group has threatened to hold more rallies if hundreds of religious
activists arrested recently were not released.
Authorities in Pakistan have so far arrested more than 2,000 religious
activists and sealed more than 600 of their offices since Musharraf's Jan. 12
speech.
The leader of a particular group, Sufi Mohammed, led thousands of Pakistani
tribesmen to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. Since returning to
Pakistan, he has been arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for
keeping illegal weapons.
Already disheartened by the collapse of the Taliban regime, most militant
groups were apparently quiet when Musharraf ordered the crackdown. However, as
media reports indicate, it appears they were silently consulting each other and
now have come up with a strategy.
Since Dir was always their stronghold, they started their protest there but the
leaders addressing the rally said more protest meetings would be held in other
parts of the country as well.
And in Islamabad, a pro-Taliban leader declared that religious scholars across
the country have rejected "the so-called reforms announced by President
Musharraf."
Maulana Samiul Huq, who heads the Defense of Afghanistan and Pakistan Council,
told a news briefing in the Pakistani capital, "We will not accept any ban
on religious organizations, mosques and any move to damage the Islamic identity
of Pakistan at any cost."
The council is an umbrella organization representing a dozen religious groups
opposed to the U.S.-led war on terrorism. It led the anti-U.S. protests during
the military operations against Afghanistan's former Taliban regime.
"The Americans want to make Pakistan a secular state but we will not let
this happen. We will offer every sacrifice to protect our Islamic values,"
said Huq.
And he was supported by a rival religious leader, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who
urged Musharraf to "abandon his action against the religious schools and
religious organizations ... and harming national interests for appeasing the
United States and India."