Lal Masjid, The End to the Beginning of an Islamic Revolution ?

Ghazi Abdur RasheedBefore I begin, let me be clear on the issue that I do not hold the Ghazi Brothers in high regard to what they did these past few days, they used women and children as human shields to take an entire city as hostage and in effect ridiculing my country as a nation we harbor terrorists. Lets also be honest about the fact that what Musharraf did was quite simply needed, there were no two ways about it and had to be done.

Accepting the fact that Musharraf was right to end this siege, I contest that it should have been done far sooner then even this week long stand-off. He should have nipped the bud six months back when it initially started to take shape. We as Pakistanis knew it was a disaster in the making, the world watched in amazement, the western media pleaded us to put a stop to this radicalism.

But surprisingly Musharraf slept right through it, leaving the issue on a pot to boil, and perfectly to our expectations it landed to becoming a far bigger issue than what could have been had if this military ruler acted in a timely manner, everyone saw it coming

Front page headlines today across Pakistan showed a definite chance of a peaceful resolution, but sadly the wee hours of the same morning everything fell apart, what happened is probably a mystery but an attempt can be made to get the true picture.

The Islamic Scholars who were responsible for mediation felt that the draft presented by them to the government after consent from Ghazi Rasheed should have been nearly acceptable had if the government wanted to end this disaster, but when the revised version came back from the Presidency they claim it was entirely the opposite and along with the draft came a 30 minute window to sign and simultaneously no mediators were allowed to help convince the new terms. It was as if the 30 minute window was a simply the green signal to attack and a death warrant served onto the militia inside

It is being reported that Musharraf hopes to address the nation on Wednesday evening to clarify the Lal Masjid issue and attempt to convince the nation that he did it for the sake of Pakistan. I suspect this will be his opportunity to accept a ‘second’ standing ovation from his western allies for a job well done according to their specifications. The word standing ovation brings back flooding memories of a similar event barely three months back where we saw him celebrating in Islamabad after the blood bath in Karachi on May 12th.

Lal Masjid SmokeThe rent-a-crowd then was far from embarrassing yet he held up his hands in jubilation and tried to pin the blood bath onto the Chief Justice Iftikhar, but the people of Pakistan saw through that lie. This time he played his media cards well and kept the cameramen far from the event, hence maintaining an iron clad grip on the flow of information.

The official version was usually strikingly different the one offered by the Ghazi Brothers who were interviewed by a number of media outlets to share their point of view. The Ghazi Brothers naturally presented a hard lined image but throughout the crisis everyone listening felt that there was a definite chance of dialog.

Had if a peaceful resolution occurred, I feel the western allies would have seen Musharraf as a weak pawn not worthy of an extension in power. But now the US will be the first one to applaud the General quite literally offering him a safe extension to a few more years of fame to riches.

Musharraf I feel must have also dreaded, that letting these militants go free would have made them larger than life heroes, but sadly now the death of Abdur Rasheed Ghazi there is a growing sentiment in his favor. Its strange but Pakistanis tend to be far more forgiving to the dead, and let us not forget Ghazi Abdur Rasheed died for a far cause local to Pakistan, he argued against the growing evils in our Society, which even a moderate, left leaning individual like myself see it happening. We must remember its not the US-Evil-Ghost propaganda as portrayed by Osama Bin Laden which can be a little unrealistic for someone who has not gone to the US, yet he found thousands of militants ready to stand up.

But Ghazi Abdur Rasheed stood up for an issue which we see everyday, he stood up for civil reform and he accused the government in allowing this to happen under the cloak of Enlightened Moderation despite having sworn to uphold the Islamic Sharia. These growing evils in our society combined with a failing economy drives people to desperation and can easily influence any moderate individual to take up arms all for the sake of an Islamic Revolution.


Posted

in

, , ,

by

Comments

20 responses to “Lal Masjid, The End to the Beginning of an Islamic Revolution ?”

  1. Haris Avatar
    Haris

    As far as I saw tv I could not see anything about people being released who were used as human shields. Rather, all the girls that came out yesterday were weaping and saying that their teacher was martyred.

    It was not Ghazis who ridiculed our country. It is musharraf who is responsible for all the humiliation this country and its people are suffering.

    Right now I feel disgusted with myself in my helplessness.

    A friend of mine has just told me that according to eidhi he needs 1300 coffins and kafans.

  2. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar
    Adnan Siddiqi


    they used women and children as human shields to take an entire city as hostage

    Really? Are you sure you are not talking about Iraq or Hezbollah?

  3. Babar Bhatti Avatar

    Your analysis is right on that the govt delayed all remedial measures and allowed the issue to get out of hand. The social injsutice we have in Pakistan is unbelievable and can trun ordinary citizens into hard-liners. The REAL tragedy would be if we fail – yet again – to hold the corrupt elements responsible.

  4. pm Avatar
    pm

    Operation Silence had several objective many of them of already being discussed and known to the public, but there are few other which are not obvious. I would discuss those in these comments.
    Fear of Army: During the CJP saga it was becoming clear that urban people are getting more and more vocal against the army. The fear of army which used to be hallmark during Zia era and in 90s was now fading. It was important for army to make sure that people realize the might of army. For this purpose the things like curfew , heavy bombing and if you are following the press briefing from DG ISPR you will realize how that fear is deliberately being instilled in the public. Not only public but upper class people were getting less afraid of army might, if anybody has seen the interview from Mufti Taqi , he was reluctant to tell what was changed in the agreement he also mentioned how the commander (perhaps Lt. Gen Tariq Majeed) said rudely to all the people to get the agreement done in half an hour. The whole story will be never known about this, but it seems that army objective was fulfilled. Here are few of my predictions that will show if this objective was fully achieved.
    1. Supreme Court will announce a favorable decision for PM (Pervez Musharraf).
    2. Lawyers (specially likes of Kurd) will now be silenced.

  5. pm Avatar
    pm

    Objective 2: It was difficult for army to take actions against the people who were vocal during the CJP saga. This was due to the fact that these people were actually “Liberals and any action against them would raise an international outcry. Since this distincion (Liberal Lawyers and Fanatics Moulvis) was very obvious during the CJP rallies. It was imperative to somehow make sure that the CJP rallies should somehow be branded as radicalist mullahs so that any action against them can be construed as action against radicals for the consumption of international media. The achievement of this objective is not yet known however following predictions will show how much this have been achieved.
    1. In the upcoming days most of the rallies whether from CJP (which it seems to me will not be many) or from the public against this operations (which will obviously be labeled as radical) , there will be strict actions during these rallies.
    2. Some of the vocal lawyers are either going the arrested or will be silenced during the days to follow.

  6. Fahad Avatar
    Fahad

    Yaar the biggest winner is aunty shameem…

    maulvi aur fauj kept fighting….

    Aunty shameem became famous..her rates must have trippled or quadrupled. =D

    regards
    Fahad

  7. Asad Asif Avatar

    Fahad, do you have proof of your statement? You just committed buhtan + gheebut. Congratulations.

  8. Adnan Siddiqi Avatar
    Adnan Siddiqi

    Asad bachay ko kion dant tey ho? tum bhe tu yehi kaam kartay rahtay ho different forums par;)

  9. Haris Avatar
    Haris

    by James Baldwin

    “If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own. For if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.”

  10. Muhajir Avatar
    Muhajir

    Dead fish swim with the stream

    I had no regard for Ghazi but now I do. He proved he was not just another big mouth Maulvi.

    He stood for what he claimed and died on it. May Allah give him Jannat. Ameeen.

  11. phir sai Avatar
    phir sai

    ریٹائرڈ لیفٹنٹ جنرل راحت لطیف نے کہا کہ جذباتیت کی ابتداء لال مسجد والوں نے کی اور انتہا حکومت نے کر دی۔انہوں نے کہا کہ حکومت چند لوگوں کو معافی دیکر اس خوں خرابے سے بچ سکتی تھی لیکن ایسا نہیں کیا گیا۔ انہوں نے ہندوستان کی مثال دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ انہوں نے اپنے تین سو مسافروں کی جان بچانے کے لیے مولانا مسعود اظہر اور ان کے ساتھیوں کو رہا کر دیا تھا حالانکہ وہ لوگ ہندوستان کی نظر میں بہت بڑے مجرم تھے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ اس کے مقابلے میں پاکستان نے اپنے لوگوں کی جانیں چانے کے لیے اپنے ہی ملک کے لوگوں کو معاف کرنا مناسب نہیں سمجھا۔

  12. J Khan Avatar
    J Khan

    The incident of Lala Masjid is a logical conclusion of the policies of Government of Pakistan since the Afghan War.Mujahideen and Taliban were created by Pakistan Government to defeat the Russians and creat a puppet,muslim fundamentalist regime in Afghanistan.Mudrasas were funded openly by Government of Pakistan with the collaboration of CIA and Saudi Government.These madrasas are un-regulated,and is a big business for the ignorant and illiterate mullahs.The number of fundamentalists produced by these madrasas are on the increase.This incident is only the bigining of the problem …..future hold lots of surprises for this country ….Thanks to the policies and leadership pf this country.

  13. Kashif Avatar

    We are being dragged in another confrontation. I would label it as Mother of all Confrontations. However this confrontation between seculars and islamists may become the catalyst to connect all factions and splinter groups into one body which will rise and revolt to implement Allah's law.

    Maybe Ghazi made mistakes and his stand against anti-islam elements was not proper but the way he was killed, he became a hero.

    qareeb hay yaro rauz-e-mehshar chupay ga khuston ka khoon kyon kar

    jo chup rahay gi zuban-e-khanjar lahoo pukaray ga aasteen ka

  14. 1.21 Jigowats Avatar
    1.21 Jigowats

    For a sober reflection on the Lal Masjid debacle, see:

    http://playingagainstthespin.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/what-next-for-pakistan/

  15. FAIZ KHATTAK Avatar
    FAIZ KHATTAK

    JAAG PAKISTANI BAN JA MUSALMAN

  16. Asad Avatar
    Asad

    Napaak Fauj ko Islamabad conquer karnay peh Mubarakbaad! (how many times has an army conquered Islamabad anyway?! quite an achievement by all standards!)

  17. Tariq Avatar
    Tariq

    HAZARO SAAL PEHLEY UTHI JO TALWAR YAZEED KI,
    AJ BHI KUT RAI HEY GARDANEI MUSALMAAN KI,

    Aye Shaheed Teri Shahadat Ko Na Bholey Ga Yeh Jahan,
    Tu Kal Bhi Zinda Tha Tu Aj Bhi Zinda Hey.

    Mulana sahab humesha zinda rahein gey.. unki soch humarey liye aik maksad hey or pakistan mei shariat nafiz hoker rahey gi b’coz v r living in ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OK PAKISTAN.. q k Mujhey Zaat-e-Ilahi per pura bharosa hey or mei humesha dua kron ga l ” Allah sub ko hidayat de” (ameen)

  18. salman hanif Avatar
    salman hanif

    u stink and every thing u said is not true . Musharaf is the discrace for pakistan and if qaide azam was he would cry to see the country in such bad shape

  19. Karim Avatar
    Karim

    the ghazi brothers were basically thugs who used the issue of sharia to gain power for themselvers. the students were brainwashed fanatics. how can u not forget how his brother tried to escape wearing a burqa. these people were opportunistic rats of the highest order. if this is the start of an islamic revolution it will result in an mullah led government which is even more pathetically inefficient and corrupt than the present one.
    as for the issue being the spread of vice in pakistani society. how can u trust the afghan linked mullahs to stop the vice, when their backers in the taliban and the tribal areas are the worlds greatest drug traders and are also heavily involved in gun smuggling, robbery and the trafficing of stolen goods. the mullahs simply are going to take the simple minded pakistani pulic on a ride in the name of sharia.
    the lal masjid women threatened to throw acid on the face of women who didnt cover their face. well most women in pakistan dont cover their face, the quran only stresses modesty of charachter and the covering of the head. not to dress liken a ninja. if its left upto them the crazy fanaitc cows would be thorwing acid on your mother’s or sister’s face you dambasses, simply because they dont follow the version of islam they like. this country is going bonkers. i hate this shit.

  20. Saqib Rauf Avatar
    Saqib Rauf

    What ever any body would say it is admitted by every body that Ghazi is a hero