It says much about the dynamics of power in this country that 60 years after the country’s creation, the so-called ’steel frame’ of the British Raj continues to be the predominant actor in politics. There is no question that of the two permanent institutions of the state, namely the military and the civil bureaucracy, the former has established itself as the senior partner, although it was the bureaucracy that was initially ascendant following partition. The reasons for the remarkable resilience of what Hamza Alavi very aptly termed the military-bureaucratic oligarchy are many, most relating to the national security imperative that has obsessed Pakistanis since 1947.

While on the one hand the oligarchic system of power has remained largely unchanged, social change has reconfigured Pakistani society so much that it hardly resembles what it was 60 years ago. It is perhaps stating the obvious that with modernization of society has come a realignment of social forces, including the emergence of entirely new contenders for social and political power.

Factors such as migration have dramatically impacted the culture, economics and politics of entire regions, while consumer-oriented technology has changed the meaning of time and space. Read more »

In the first of a two part series, Dr Sarfaraz argues that the Taliban philosophy is representative of Muslim political thought, except that it is heavily influenced by tribal traditions.

In the last few years, our region has seen the resurgence of religious extremism or, more precisely speaking, the phenomenon called ‘Talibanisation’.

Although the whole country is affected in varying degrees by the phenomenon, the problem has assumed ominous proportions in the North Western part of Pakistan — namely NWFP, FATA, and the Pakhtoon Balochistan. More recently, the Federal Capital has also fallen into the grip of clerical extremism.

One of the factors that led to Talibanisation in parts of Pakistan is the country’s foreign policy with regard to its immediate neighbor Afghanistan. It is now common knowledge how Pakistan supported the rise of Taliban in the late 1990s. Observers are of the view that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan serves as a model for all the contemporary extremist and Taliban groups in North Western Pakistan. However, it may also be noted that most Afghan Taliban leaders were educated in Pakistani religious seminaries. In fact, the term ‘Talib’ means student of a seminary.

One important aspect of religious extremism and Talibanisation in Pakistan is that most of these groups have a militant orientation and thrive on ‘violence’, so to say. These groups appear to have an outlandish political agenda that has growingly become a threat to the peace of the whole society. Therefore, it is most pertinent that one tries to explore the political philosophy of the extremists, especially the Talibans.

“We must study the emergence of Taliban in Afghanistan itself, because it is here that most of our local groups (of Taliban) have got their inspiration from,” opines Dr Sarfaraz Khan, former Professor School of Oriental and African Studies in London, currently teaching at Area Study Centre on Central Asia, China, Russia, Afghanistan at the University of Peshawar. He has also penned a book on the subject of the political thought in Islam, concentrating mainly on the Taliban phenomenon in the region. Read more »

Editorial from The News

The only way forward out of the current crisis emanating from the suspension of the Chief Justice of Pakistan is for the government to withdraw its reference. If it cannot bring itself to do that then it needs to engage in a dialogue with the opposition, and President Musharraf needs to choose either the army chief post or stand for re-election as a civilian candidate. The way forward is not by imposing censorship on the print and electronic media, which seems to be the new government’s tactic for now. Not only are the threats and warnings to the media that it must fall in line and keep the ‘national interest’ paramount going to not work in this day and age, they will be thoroughly counter-productive and only exacerbate an already tense situation. The reason for the clampdown on the print and electronic media clearly has to do with the thinking in the circles that matter in this country that the whole crisis has been blown out of proportion by the media and hence it will be deflated once the media, especially the TV channels, are brought under the censorship leash.

But the questions that need to be asked of the government are the following:

Who was it that made the Chief Justice of Pakistan non-functional?

What was the manner in which this action against him was taken and a presidential reference filed?

Even if the charge that he was fond of extra protocol or that he asked for favors for his son is true then isn’t that also the case with many senior state functionaries?

Furthermore, who carried out the attack on the office of Geo TV and this newspaper in Islamabad?

Who threatened a journalist of this newspaper on a Voice of America radio show and then proceeded to deny it, only to eat his words when a recording of the show’s transcript was aired on Geo TV? Read more »

PAKISTAN may have been created in accordance with the principles of democracy, but it is regrettable that since it became an independent state in 1947, it has been ruled by either members of the feudal elite or army generals. These regimes have been authoritarian in one way or another. Their disregard for democracy is considered legendary.

These regimes invariably sought to concentrate on strengthening their power and even used suppressive tactics to this end. The way that self-serving rulers treated the people of the country has been utterly ruthless and reminiscent of a colonial mentality. In such a situation, where successive regimes in the country were able to exercise their authority it was devoid of moral force and hence they could not enjoy popular public support.

The result of this unsavory situation has been that the people, who have been thoroughly disillusioned with the governments in power, adopted a complacent attitude towards politics. However, now a change in their attitude is discernible and the educated middle class, in particular, now appears keen to take part in the country’s politics. Evidently, after suffering at the hands of highly oligarchic regimes during the last 60 years, the people are no longer prepared to forgo their right to managing the country’s affairs.

The time has come when rulers in Pakistan, who for decades have remained overly relaxed about the people’s sensitivity to the denial of their legitimate rights also need to change their attitude. They must read the writing on the wall and, sooner than later, realize the fact that the future of Pakistan and its people hinges on democracy. They must also realize that a tiny ruling class cannot hold down indefinitely a population many times bigger its size. Read more »