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  • Pakistan should look towards Turkey

    Daily Times, Pakistan
    Dec 7 2004

    COMMENT: Pakistan should look towards Turkey —Ishtiaq Ahmed

    The Quaid-e-Azam came to the conclusion that mobilising Muslim
    masses in the name of Islam to get Pakistan was one thing and making
    Pakistan a theocratic state quite another. On August 11, 1947 he
    portrayed unequivocally his idea of Pakistan in secular,
    liberal-democratic terms. But for more than half a century Pakistani
    governments suppressed that idea

    When Allama Iqbal composed the famous verse, Judaa ho deen siyasat
    sey to reh jaati hai changezi (if religion is separated from politics
    the result is tyranny), he was both right and wrong. He was right to
    the extent that politics divorced from morality can degenerate into a
    brute exercise of power by the strong. He was wrong to the extent
    that the word deen means not only religion in the narrow sense of
    religious faith, but a supposedly all-encompassing holistic way of
    life deriving from a dogmatic interpretation of Shariah that the
    state is expected to enforce through its legal system and
    constitution. In the later role, at least in the contemporary period
    all Islamic states — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan under the
    Taliban - have oppressed religious and ethnic minorities.

    In this connection, the Madinese State model of the Prophet (peace be
    upon him) and his pious caliphs can always be presented as
    counter-evidence to allegations of Islamic states being oppressive,
    but since we are far removed from that pristine period in Islamic
    history it is advisable to consider it an exception rather than the
    rule. It is even wise not to drag exalted names from the Islamic past
    into contemporary politics. How many times have we not heard about
    Hazrat Umar entering Palestine with his slave sitting on the camel
    and he walking on foot. Do let me know if any Pakistani president,
    prime minister or ministers ever do without air-conditioner during
    summer while most of our masses toil in the merciless May-July sun
    without even the shade of a tree.

    Or, do let me know when you see even a district coordination officer
    drive the car while his peon sits beside him or behind him. As a
    gimmick, of course, such antics have great publicity value. Thus one
    day when General Zia ul Haq went to his office on a bicycle from
    Rawalpindi to Islamabad (or was it in the opposite direction?)
    virtually the whole police force and the security fellows in that
    area were mobilised to protect him. It turned out to be nothing more
    than a caricature of the conduct of the pious caliphs. Not
    surprisingly, instead of becoming a regular practice it remained a
    one-time parody.

    It is a myth that the state in Europe was secular and the church
    represented only religious interests. The truth is that both together
    represented the Christian polity and the wars of religions fought in
    the 16th century were an ugly manifestation of fanatical religion in
    European affairs. Similar periods of fanaticism have ravaged Muslim
    history. However, one must point out that during its heyday Islamic
    Spain developed quite an enlightened and tolerant political and
    social order in which dissident Christians and Jews running away from
    persecution were accommodated at all levels of society. Also, the
    Ottomans practised wide latitude of communal pluralism which allowed
    considerable internal autonomy to the various millets (nations)
    consisting of Armenians, Greeks and Jews while the ruling power
    remained in the hands of Sunni Muslims. Such an arrangement, however,
    had no scope for individual human rights and freedom and therefore
    the Ottoman system remained a pre-liberal type of religious
    pluralism.

    The break with the system of religious polities in Western
    Christendom took place at the time of the American and French
    revolutions when individual rights (initially only for white men)
    were given constitutional cover. Among Muslims, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
    had the foresight to realise that if Turkey was to awaken from its
    medieval stupor it had to modernise its legal and constitutional
    systems. The Indian National Congress also came to the sound
    conclusion that if India was to be a democracy it could not be a
    Hindu state.

    The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, too, came
    to the conclusion that mobilising the Muslim masses in the name of
    Islam to get Pakistan was one thing but making Pakistan a theocratic
    state was quite another. Therefore on August 11, 1947 he portrayed
    unequivocally his idea of Pakistan in secular, liberal-democratic
    terms. But for more than half a century Pakistani governments
    suppressed that idea and Pakistan could not develop into a democracy.

    On the contrary, from the late 1970s onwards Pakistan fixed its gaze
    upon Saudi Arabia in search of an ideal and source of inspiration.
    This was most unfortunate because while the Saudis were most
    unwilling to share their oil-generated wealth with us they were very
    keen to foster upon us their closed culture of segregation of men and
    women, absence of political freedom, free press and media, and an
    antipathy for any intellectual or artistic endeavour.

    Consequently no university has ever been established in Saudi Arabia
    where political science, sociology, psychology or modern economics is
    taught. Saudi citizens are thus denied any opportunity to interact
    with the modern world in an informed manner. Saudi economic help to
    Pakistan therefore resulted in the proliferation of religious
    madrassas where thousands and thousands of pupils from
    poverty-stricken homes were indoctrinated to hate anyone who did not
    share their ideas and beliefs. It is not clear if all such
    institutions have now been closed down. The Pakistan government did
    express such an intention.

    I think the situation can change for the better in Pakistan if we
    study more closely how Turkey has successfully developed into a
    modern state and society. The Kemalist elite, particularly the
    military, has often been criticised for its rigid secularism, but it
    is important to point out that now that a democratically-elected AKP
    government, with an emphasis on Islamic values, has shown maturity
    not to disturb the secular basis of the state the Kemalist elite has
    adjusted to such a situation quite amiably.

    Educated Turks will tell you that being a Muslim does not mean
    rejecting modernity or secularism, but rather a willingness to
    incorporate the best ideas of the time into the legal structure and
    creating a modern citizenry capable of facing competently and
    effectively the challenges of the contemporary period.

    Even the highly suspicious and sceptical Europeans are coming around
    to the idea that Turkey is a successful Muslim democracy. Unless the
    conservative forces in Europe, particularly France, rally
    overwhelming opposition Turkey is likely to begin - after a top EU
    meeting in December - formal negotiations for membership in the
    European Union.

    We should look towards Turkey for an ideal.

    The author is an associate professor of political science at
    Stockholm University. He is the author of two books. His email
    address is [email protected]

    --Boundary_(ID_y1Y+41F1LZ4y9fvxWVSY2w)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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