Islamic radicalism seeks to gain strength in Pakistan

The clash between moderates and extremists in Pakistan today is a microcosm for a larger struggle among Muslims everywhere, according to the National Geographic magazine.

Washington, Aug 22 : The clash between moderates and extremists in Pakistan today is a microcosm for a larger struggle among Muslims everywhere, according to the National Geographic magazine.

The cover story of the current issue says that successive Pakistan Governments have spent billions on the military to hold the country together - creating a pampered and self-serving monolith of mostly Punjabi generals while neglecting the basic needs of the people for justice, health, education, security, and hope.

Lately, these grievances have spilled onto the streets, as lawyers and other opponents challenge Pakistan's military government and demand a return to civilian, democratic rule.

Meanwhile, six years after 9/11, the forces of Islamic radicalism are gaining strength and challenging Pakistan's moderate majority for the soul of the country, the story says.

Don Belt, a senior editor at the magazine, who wrote the text of the pictorial essay, stresses that, from the start, the founders of Pakistan intended their nation to be a refuge for Muslims, not an Islamic state. Pakistan's founder wanted the country to be a model of how Islam, merged with democratic ideals, could embrace the modern world.

He writes, "More than anyone, it was General Ziaul Haq who created Pakistan's current generation of Islamic radicals, and the climate in which they thrive."

A large majority of Pakistanis were, and remain, moderates, Belt writes, adding whether by temperament or tradition, most Pakistani Muslims are more comfortable with the mystical and ecstatic rituals of Barelvi Islam, a colourful blend of Indian Islamic practice and Sufism.

It was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Belt author points out, that led to the growth and rise of jihadi and fundamentalist thinking, and mushrooming of Deobandi madrassas.

More than 10,000 of these schools operate across Pakistan today, compared with fewer than 1,000 before General Zia took power. Thousands more operate unofficially.

The article showers high praise on Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, whose "one-man charity is now an acclaimed international foundation. His single, beat-up old station wagon has grown into a fleet of 1,380 little white ambulances positioned across Pakistan, tended by thousands of volunteers. They are usually first to arrive on the scene of any tragedy."

Edhi's operation relies on donations; he refuses to accept government money or even a ride in someone else's car. He travels by ambulance, in case someone needs help along the way.

Edhi is often attacked as "un-Islamic" by Pakistan's hard-line mullahs, who cite his policy on infidels - he has none. "I'm a Muslim," says Edhi, "but my true religion is human rights."

Belt points out that recently at Musharraf's bidding, parliament passed a bill to restrict the activities of NGOs and human rights groups.

"Even as he promotes 'enlightened moderation,' Musharraf accuses such groups of humiliating Pakistan by publicising abuses, and declares them a threat to the national interest," he adds.

Such rhetoric only emboldens the Islamists, whose influence is growing across Pakistan.

Belt writes that the call for jihad is rising across Pakistan, but in the northwest the Islamists are taking control. Ever since 9/11, thousands of Taliban fighters have found refuge among their fellow Pashtun tribesmen in Peshawar, Quetta, and the mountainous tribal areas along the Afghan border, especially North and South Waziristan.

ANI