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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44272)	7/15/2003 6:46:33 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

MMA’s poor tactics The German government has put on hold all new projects and investments in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) after the rightwing Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal government in Peshawar forced a Pakistani non-governmental organisation to scuttle a project for the welfare of women. The project was funded by the German government and the money was being disbursed through its own network of German NGOs that have offices in Pakistan and routinely channel money to their Pakistani counterparts for projects in the social sector. According to The Friday Times, which broke the story last week before the official announcement of the decision July 13, a Pakistani NGO was given funds to set up a shelter home for destitute women. The project upon completion was to be jointly inaugurated by the NWFP Governor and the German ambassador to Pakistan. The MMA government, however, began to object to the shelter, with clerics denouncing it as an attempt to embolden women and tear them away from the traditional values and culture of Islam and the region. When the NWFP government was told that this was not correct, some people came up with the argument that the home was to be used for unethical purposes and the people of the locality where it was being set up were upset with the whole idea. This objection, too, was countered and the government was asked to provide evidence of its allegations. It could not do so. None of this surprises us because these arguments and this modus operandi is old, tired and worn out, though it remains an efficient tool in the hands of vested interests that range from conservatives sections of society to mullahs and governments that feel threatened by the good work the NGOs are doing and even intelligence agencies whose fossilised concept of security forces them to view NGO-wallahs with suspicion. Similar allegations have been levelled in the past against human rights activist Hina Gillani’s shelter home in Lahore with the mullahs calling it a whore-house. This is an expression of entrenched patriarchical attitudes mixed with a literalist and misplaced exegesis of Islam. The mullah realises that empowerment of women can be the beginning of a real social revolution. To thwart that prospect he employs arguments that range from blasting “women-lib” as a western concept (even as he mentions in the same breath that Islam has truly liberated women) to criticising the West for objectifying and commercialising women. So the mullah’s Islam has liberated women by keeping them indoors because outdoors she would be exploited. In the meantime, despite thick and repeated coatings of so-called Islam in all spheres of life, women continue to be exploited in this country in many ways. But this is not all. Apparently, the unsaid motive behind the whole move was the desire by some Jama’at-e Islami leaders to grab the property where the shelter home had been built. When they were frustrated in their attempt to do that, they got the NWFP government, of which they are the second largest component, to close it down. The German ambassador tried to meet with the NWFP chief minister to resolve the issue but Chief Minister Akram Durrani avoided a meeting. Even the governor appointed by General Pervez Musharraf wiggled out of his earlier commitment to jointly inaugurate the house with the ambassador. The German government’s decision follows an earlier decision by the World Bank to review assistance to Peshawar following similar problems in the social sector aid programme. But there is still more. This time it is Balochistan, where without MMA’s support the ruling Muslim League-Q cannot remain in power. So at the demand of the MMA, the Balochistan government has set up a 14-member council to review all laws and see whether they are in conformity with the shariah as defined by the myriad controversial decisions of the Islamic Ideology Council. The new committee will be headed by Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf and nine out of its 14 members belong to the MMA. Should this sound alarm bells? Definitely. If it is a political ploy by the MMA to put pressure on the federal government to obtain concessions in other areas, we must protest the tactics as totally misplaced. Given the unhealthy light in which this province has recently come to be perceived — violent sectarianism, border clashes, Al Qaeda-Taliban fugitives — a dose of extremist Islamisation by official quarters will exacerbate the situation and raise the hackles of Islamabad. Why are the MMA governments in these two provinces playing such deadly games that hurt the whole country? Do they want General Musharraf to send them packing so that they can claim martyrdom instead of having to face accountability for bad governance? Why can’t they concentrate on doing some material good for the people who voted them into power? The perception is rapidly gaining currency that the MMA is the most negative force in the country. It is only a short step to being considered the most anti-national entity in the country. The sooner the leaders of the MMA realise the enormity of their national responsibility and the fragility of their provincial fate, the better for all concerned. * dailytimes.com.pk