Global IssuesPakistanis Indifferent to Anti-U.S Rallies
Two of the country’s main religious-political groups have been calling on Pakistanis to come out and protest the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, but the public response has been lukewarm.
The terror attack on Friday that killed scores appears no reflection of any popular mood to come out ad protest against the U.S.
The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) failed to muster enough warm bodies at protest actions the past week against the May 1 U.S. operation in Abbottabad — near the capital — that killed bin Laden. Protests planned for tomorrow are expected to be no different.
On Friday May 6, the protests called by JI and JUI attracted only 100 people in Peshawar, capital of the north-west province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Rallies elsewhere in the province and other parts of the country also failed to draw crowds.
On Wednesday May 11, a protest camp by JI in Peshawar drew just a dozen participants.
Both parties, however, told IPS it was too soon to say that Pakistanis are refusing to protest bin Laden’s killing.
JI’s provincial leader Shabbir Ahmed Khan explained to IPS they hadn’t started the full-fledged campaign to protest bin Laden’s death because they were unsure that he had been killed.
'We are waiting for concrete proof regarding the bin Laden killing. Once we are convinced that the news about his death is true, then there will be full-fledged protests all over the country,' the JI leader said.
But Pakistanis in Peshawar don’t seem inclined to join such protest actions. 'We have neither taken part in last Friday’s protest nor will we be participating in protests scheduled for next Friday (May 13),' said Jamilur Rehman, a resident of Namak Mandi in the centre of Peshawar.
Rehman, 38, said he had been a regular participant in the anti-U.S. rallies in the past but had now realised that these religious parties were doing more harm to Islam than the United States.
JI and JUI are perceived to have used whatever issue suited their anti-American advocacy when its members ran for office in 2003, said Taj Muhammad Khan, a political activist of the liberal Awami National Party.
'Both got votes in the 2003 election and were able to form governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan only due to their support for Taliban and Osama bin Laden,' Khan said.
But their pro-Taliban or pro-bin Laden postures did not materialise in the form of any programme after they were elected. 'The people don’t trust them anymore because a majority regard them as opportunists,' he said, adding that JI and JUI members never showed a pro-Taliban or pro-bin Laden posture in government.
JUI lawmaker Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan refutes such perceptions. He called bin Laden a hero of the Islamic world who commanded immense respect among Muslims. 'We have condemned Osama’s death in the National Assembly and have planned more vigorous protests against the government and the United States,' he said.
He said people had yet to believe that bin Laden had really died. This is the reason they hesitated to come out and participate in the demonstrations. He said that they wouldn't allow the government to play into the hands of the U.S. any longer.
But local residents are pleased at the thin crowds protesting bin Laden’s death. Umar Daraz Khan, a local shopkeeper, said the religious parties as well as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have lost the popularity they once enjoyed.
'Earlier, the people considered Al-Qaeda and Taliban defenders of Islam but they have brought Islam into notoriety by burning schools, attacking mosques and carrying out suicide attacks to kill innocent women and children,' Khan the shopkeeper said.
JUI critics note that its head, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, seems to have gone into hibernation and has made himself scarce the past few days.
'We don’t have objections to the religious parties’ support for the Taliban, but they have not attempted to stop the reign of terrorism let loose by the Taliban,' said Aminullah, who teaches Islamiat or Islamic studies.
Aminullah added that Islam advocates peace and does not allow violence. But these religious parties have trampled Islamic values by turning a blind eye to the acts of violence by the Taliban, he said.
'The silence of the Islamist groups has proved detrimental, essentially promoting terrorism in the country,' he told IPS.
'The JUI has now asked the prayer leaders to condemn the Abbottabad operation in Friday’s sermons because they know that the people are sick of their pro-militants’ policy,' said Ihsanullah, a dental surgeon and resident of North Waziristan, the headquarters of the Taliban.
He said that thousands of people have evacuated from North Waziristan due to atrocities committed by the Taliban there and are living in ill-equipped camps in the adjacent district of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.
'Expecting public support amounts to living in a fool’s paradise. The Taliban are harming the people continuously and it was not possible for the religious groups to muster support,' he said.
In Dera Ismail Khan, the hometown of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, milk-seller Azizur Rehman said he believes that religious parties like the JI and the JUI will be forced to withdraw from politics after people rejected their calls for protest.
'Maulana Fazlur Rehman has done nothing for his people despite being in government for five years,' he said. 'Our district is worst-affected by terrorism because of its proximity to Waziristan.'
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service