Months before her assassination, Benazir Bhutto argued over a television interview that most of thePakistanis were moderate, and that the radicals were in minority. Not only in Pakistan, but in anysociety the radicals have always been a minority. Yet, they can be overwhelming minority. They are likethose tiny little viruses which cannot be seen by our naked eyes, yet can kill us.Our society today is full of such viruses. They are killing our social life. Just the other day I met with agrandchild of one of our founding fathers who complained about the indoctrination in the schools. Our little innocent children, their pure minds are being poisoned with fanaticism. Even the greatgrandchildren of our founding fathers are exposed to such indoctrination.What are the moderates doing about this?Some of them even argue, “What is wrong in being fanatic about one’s religion?”My Lebanese friend, a granddaughter of Syrian Mufti, warns me: “What is happening in your countrytoday happened in our country some 16 years back. At that time, we did not take things too seriously.When we started taking things a bit seriously, it was too late.” Indeed, until this date the country is tornapart between the different factions of one and same society.Coming back to Pakistan, even at this darkest hour, we cab see a tiny ray of hope…. And, that is all theopposition parties with nationalistic agenda in favor of the people of Pakistan marching together in thefight against radicalism. The Pakistani society is in need of a major surgery. Some rotten parts of itssocial body must be removed. It is hurting, it may even disfigure Pakistan — but the surgery cannot bedelayed. Otherwise, the entire body is affected.At this hour, even to think of elections, fair or otherwise — may not be wise at all. The oppositionleaders must understand, and understand it well that any dispute between them shall only benefit theradicals. More than ever, at this hour Pakistan needs a very strong government. This hour calls for astrong united civil front, for there is still another unfinished homework that must be finished — that of cleansing the Pakistani army, Intelligence, perhaps even police, of their radical elements.It is high time that our politicians learn their lessons from Pakistani experience: Radicalism in any formmust not be tolerated. There can be no moderation on this issue. Tolerating the radicals for short term political gain is not only dangerous but can be fatal to national integration.Another lesson that we must learn from Pakistani experience is that, “Having a superpower as an ally isnot enough”. At the end of the day, we must clean our own dirt. Nobody else is going to clean it for us.Let us, therefore, not rely on any superpower. Let us go back to the vision of our founding fathers: TotalIndependence in the fields of politics, economy and national/cultural identity. This, then, is the onlyvision that can save us!
The Jakarta Post, Opinion -
December 29, 2007
«Being conscious of our faults, having the guts to correct themIs it truly Asia or sharia? Lessons from neighboring Malaysia»This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Jakarta Post. You canfollow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0feed. You canleave a response, or trackback
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Anand Krishna’s Writings » Blog Archive » Pakistan’s darkest hourhttp://www.aumkar.org/eng/?p=43 of 416/06/2009 8:33
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