What Muhajir and Pathan Can Learn From the Qur’an

By Umer Sultan| “Lets move from the Jahiliyyah to the nobility of Islam!”

The sanctity of Ramadan is meaningless for them. The open doors of Heavens are meaningless for them. Seeking forgiveness for the past shortfalls and asking Allah for guidance is meaningless for them. What is meaningful for them, however, is to shed blood of their Muslim brothers because Allah had created them into different languages and ethnicity.

Flickr: Mirza.smart

I am not talking about Syria in which the government forces are shooting down the Muslims praying in the Mosques. I am talking about the situation in Karachi in which over 300+ people have died and counting, where the city has been hijacked by mainly two secularist-ethnic nationalist parties-ANP- Awami National Party (Pathan) and MQM- formerly Muhajir Qaumi Movement (Muhajir). Target killings are the norm in the city, and the sins of the dead & their families is that they belong to one of the two ethnic groups- Pathan or Muhajir, or they happened to be the bystanders, where as, the PPP-Pakistan Peoples Party, is having a low-profile in the conflict.

Pathan are Pashto speaking people from the North Western region of Pakistan neighboring Afghanistan. Muhajir are Urdu speaking people who migrated from India to Pakistan. This insanity is also part of  the Global War on Terror. The MQM that claims to uphold the rights of Muhajir has

Pakistan’s Northern Regions left devastated after a record breaking Monsoon Rain

By Umer Sultan

Pakistan faced the worst Monsoon Rain which caused floods wiping hundreds of villages for ever, taking hundreds of lives including many that will never be able to make it into the official “death list.” The China-Pakistan road link is disconnected and the city of Peshawar, capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province from the rest of the country.

On Saturday, as I was helping my sister cook Halva, she said to me:

“It feels like our lives are very selfish. There are people

Pervez Musharraf has announced a major come back to Pakistan- Part 1

Mr General Retired Pervez Musharraf has announced a major come back to the Pakistani Politics for the next national elections. He has announced that he wants to provide the 3rd option to the Pakistani people with strong leadership.

Source: swingstateofmind.com

With the incompetency of the present Pakistani administration, and the resulting deterioration of the Pakistani society, Musharraf’s announcement has fulfilled his fan’s hopes. However, there is a concern among many others. The tenure of Musharraf as the dictator of Pakistan was not the era of idealism in the history of Pakistan as Musharraf might have envisioned. His idealism of Enlightened Modernism came back to hound him and led to his resignation in order to avoid the legal consequences of trashing the Pakistani constitution.

That history aside, I have my own concerns. I liked Pervez Musharraf when he took over Pakistan in a bloodless coup in 1999 and I still do for his personality. He has the leadership skills but his ideals and principles are very worrisome.

If Musharraf would run for the Presidency of Pakistan, people will vote him (actually his party) for his personality not for his (or his party’s) ideals. This is the mental plague the Pakistani people are facing today. The problems of Pakistan will never resolve if this mentality of hero-worship continues. People of Pakistan should look at the ideals & principles of the man and party before they vote.

His Values & Principles:

A] His ideals include Enlightened Moderation:-

In the words of Pervez Musharraf:

“The world has been going through a tumultuous period since the dawn of the 1990s, with no sign of relief in sight. The suffering of the innocents, particularly my brethren in faith — the Muslims — at the hands of militants, extremists and terrorists has made it all the more urgent to bring order to this troubled scene. In this spirit, I would like to set forth a strategy I call Enlightened Moderation.” The Washington Post June 1st 2004, A23.

He explained back in 2004 that this strategy is two-fold. First are the Muslims and that they have to shun violence, and extremism and that they need to be moderate in Islam. The second part of the strategy is the West, especially the United States that it needs to deal the issues of global politics with justice.

The report on Pakistan by Legatum Institute: Islamization, Rising Anti-Americanism & the Future of Pakistan

The Legatum Institute released a report on the situation in Pakistan and its future in near 2-3 years. The report discussed 8 topics regarding Pakistan: Economy, Civilian-Military Issues, Islamic Trends, Pashtun Nationalism, Pakistani Taliban, India-Pakistan Relationship, Pakistan-China Relationship and Pakistan-US Relationship.

The report mentioned 5 main challenges:

[1.] Threat of fragmentation and the loss of state control over various territories that undermine the integrity, sovereignty and solidarity of the country; [2.] Security and terrorism throughout the country; [3.] Economy; [4.] Governance issues including corruption; and [5.] Rebuilding the Pakistan Brand. (intro)

I will skip the Economy and Military chapters of the report and get into the Chapter 3 “Islamic Trends” of the report.

Islamic Trends: Islamists, Islamisation and the threat of Taliban:

How Pakistani Army Defeated Pakistani Taliban Stronghold and What US Army can do to defeat Afghan Taliban

I bookmarked a news report few months back, when Pakistani Army and Pakistani Taliban militants were going back and forth at each other without any definitive result. Then came a voluntary tribal militia, known as Lashkars, that aimed at securing the villages from the militants.

The attacks from the Pakistani Taliban and their cult made the lives of villagers threatened. The consequence of the military operation of Pakistani Army against P. Talibans and Taliban’s resistence was burden upon these poor villagers. The Tribal leaders based on their tribal shura (consultation) decided that their villages needs to be defended and secured. The leaders called for volunteers to pick up arms and defend their families and villages. The Pashtun tribesmen armed themselves against Pakistani Taliban, and took upon themselves to secure, relieving the Pakistani Army from their operation.

What a modern sophisticated, a well-trained and discipline army could not do; a volunteer force of tribesman with rifles and AK-47 achieved the goal for the Pakistani forces and for their villages.

Spokesman for Pakistani Major General Athar Abbas said:

“The military — in areas like Bajaur and Dir and part of Khyber — is encouraging these people to expel these militants and terrorists. They are so deep-rooted and widespread it may not be possible for the government and law enforcement agencies to completely get rid of them. Lashkars in Bajaur and Upper Dir — they are pretty successful, they are resisting, expelling all the Taliban.”

Can America use the same tactic in its fight against Afghan Taliban? Although the nature, agenda and the character of Afghan Taliban is different from the Pakistani Taliban, making Afghan tribal leaders in alliance with the security forces and treating them with respect can change the attitude of the local tribesman. Engaging with tribal leaders, voicing in their tribal jirgas and shuras, promising them security in return of keeping their village and tribe clean from Taliban, and fulfilling those promises if tribal leaders fulfill their part, can improve public sentiments towards the foreign troops.

US Forces cannot win if widespread sentiment in Afghanistan views NATO forces as the occupying force. They need Afghan public support, and that means Afghan people! Not just support from one city or two, or people sitting and enjoying their luxurious life having no concern of the local people whatsoever.

If people’s need for living is provided, there won’t be common people fighting US forces because of unemployment, or because their poppy fields were burned. US government should seriously pressurize the Afghan government regarding corruption. The needs of the people should be fulfilled by providing them public services. Trust between government and its people needs to be established!  For that engaging tribal leaders is imperative and only then Afghanistan can prosper.

Afghanistan has lived through many wars and destruction, its time people of Afghanistan should be able to live their lives without any geopolitical involvement.  Afghan people should be equipped with a system that can make their country stable and prosperous.

Bookmarked News report below:

Private armies on frontline of Pakistan war
By Sajjad Tarakzai (AFP) – Jul 11, 2009