aisal
Shahzad’s arrest has brought renewed focus on our already much maligned
country. Commentators with only a rudimentary knowledge of Pakistan and
its history have been speculating that perhaps Pakistan’s status as a
nation founded on Islam is the root cause, conveniently forgetting that
Pakistan was never founded on any Pan-Islamic ideals or theocratic
millennialism (as in the case of Israel) but was a result of a breakdown
on constitution-making between two representative parties in British
India. It is also forgotten that the founding father of Pakistan, Mohammed
Ali Jinnah, was a secular-minded lawyer who had explicitly ruled out
Pan-Islamism or Islamism of any kind as the basis of Pakistan…
A much more plausible explanation has to do with the
transformation during General Zia’s rule in Pakistan in the 1980s when
Pakistan was the most allied ally of the US in the war against the
Soviets. He not only Islamised the state in a very fundamental way but
also helped arm illiterate and uneducated tribes in the northwest. In this
it may well be said that Pakistan’s FATA regions have become hotbeds of
militant activity, not necessarily always ideological mind you. This is a
problem that Pakistan must urgently deal with as well as undoing the
Islamisation put into process by the US’s favourite General Zia for his
own sinister objectives.
Yet while this may explain how Faisal Shahzad, the son of
a top-ranking PAF official, got access to bomb-making know-how, it cannot
I am afraid explain how he got radicalised. The argument that Zia
Islamised the education system is no doubt a strong one but one that falls
short in this case because Shahzad presumably did not go to a state school
or a madrasa. He was most probably educated in a westernised institution
and took his British O Level and A Level examinations before proceeding
abroad. Unlike the murderer Kasab, he never was associated with a lashkar
or a militant organisation. So, where was he radicalised?
The answer is one that no one in the Obama administration
is willing to consider. However, those Pakistanis — especially of
Shahzad’s age — who went to the US in the late 1990s for an education know
the answer very well. Shahzad was probably indoctrinated not in a madrasa
in Pakistan or by the TTP in 2009 suddenly but rather on campus in the US.
As a 30-year-old Pakistani who went to college around the same time, I
know this from personal experience.
When I started college at Rutgers University in New Jersey
12 years ago, I was approached by a group of young bearded American Muslim
men wearing rocket jeans — the roar back in the day — who invited me in
their American accent to attend the on-campus meeting of the Islamic
Society at Rutgers University. When I attended what I believed would be
the college Muslim mixer, more than a few surprises awaited me. At the
meeting I was informed that now that I was in the US, I should be wary of
the “kuffaar” (all non-Muslims especially those “white devils”),
that all “non-hijabi women were sluts” and that “anyone who eats
from the dining hall is automatically out of the circle of Islam because
pork is cooked there”.
Boy, I thought to myself, I am from the conservative
Muslim country, not they. Then when the Pakistani Students Association
tried to organise a fashion show, a concert and a dance to showcase our
beautiful culture, the Islamic Society disrupted our efforts because it
considered itself the guardian of all ‘Muslim’ organisations on campus.
This touched off a rather serious feud between the FOBs (Fresh Off the
Boats) and ABCDs (American Born Confused Desis). Ironically, it was us
FOBs from the backward Pakistan who wanted to present a liberal image of
Pakistan and the ABCDs wanted to limit us to segregated iftaar
dinners and fundraising for Palestine and Kashmir. Ultimately, the
university administration bowed to Islamist pressure and refused us the
permission to hold such an event on campus. All this was widely reported
in the college press.
It was during their time in the US that many FOBs — in a
bid to fit in with the Muslim brothers — got radicalised and grew French
cut beards. I suspect Faisal Shahzad was a similar case. The Islamic
organisations on American campuses are even more hardcore than what we
have heard of the cancer of Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT), which is
plaguing Pakistani campuses. The kind of terror that these groups create
for individual Muslims on American campuses is at least as bad as the IJT
creates for Pakistanis in the Punjab University or Karachi University
though they are in no position to affect the overall environment of
campuses there because Muslims as a whole are a minority.
Anyway, there are enough such nutcases on American
campuses with access to (Noam) Chomsky and (Edward) Said, who they proceed
to twist and spin to their own liking, to create a very real anti-American
feeling. If you listen carefully, there is even talk of blowing up “idols”
of Mount Rushmore. These naďve Islamic soldiers against perceived American
injustices then head to Pakistan to make their way to FATA. This is what
happened with those five American Muslims who await trial in Sargodha.
No one is denying that Pakistan has a real problem with
Islamism, which has its roots in the Afghan War. It needs to be sorted out
and Pakistan and the US are doing what they can. I would also like
Pakistan to move decisively towards undoing General Zia’s legacy more
decisively than it has done.
What, however, is out of line is US secretary of state
Hilary Clinton’s warning of “severe consequences” for Pakistan if
something like the Times Square attempt succeeds. Clearly, if the Times
Square attempt had succeeded, the roots of it lie closer to the American
heartland than in Waziristan, which may or may not have served as
logistical support. Waziristan no doubt needs to be dismantled but the
extremist ideology that inspired the Times Square attempt is germane to
American Muslim organisations operating on American campuses.
Instead of threatening Pakistan, perhaps the US
administration should take a long hard look at Islamic organisations,
centres and mosques operating right under its nose.
(Yasser Latif Hamdani is a lawyer based in Islamabad. He
can be reached at [email protected].)
Courtesy: Daily Times;
www.dailytimes.com.pk