A Farewell to Politics of Religion
By: Asif Mahmood
If the title suggests a propinquity to Ernest Hemingway’s epic “A farewell to Arms”, it is not unintended. If Ernest’s was a tale of tragedy and loss, this one is an account of both combined. How else one may comment on the outcome of recently held by-polls? People have once again proved that when it comes to political maturity they are light years ahead of our political parties, especially the religio-political entities. Voters appear to have had enough of amateurism and gave thumbs down to the politics of exploitation and non issues. At least for now it seems that the age of jingoism has been consigned to a long awaited and well deserved rest (in peace).
Unfortunately, long ago, our society was taken hostage by a certain section of clergy. They became self anointed custodians of almost every thing. From rituals to legislation and from domestic issues to international relations every discipline fell in their political purview. Interestingly though, People - on the other hand - never opted for clergy (MMA being a rarest exception, to prove the rule). Traditionally too, subcontinent has never been convinced by the ideology of its political clergy. The masses would rate some religious scholars very high but this devotion and association never materialized in outright political support. From Abul A’ala Modudee to Abul Kalaam Aazad and from Amin Ahsan Islahee (Tadabbar-ul-Quran) to Molana Ismail Salfi ( Hujjeyat e Hadith) no one could attract the masses in his role as a political leader. Abject political defeat of renowned scholars of uloom e quran and hadith sciences is reminiscent of the fact that the public at large considers religion and politics two different and separate domains. While people are profoundly eager to learn and understand the teachings of Islam from these scholars, they appear totally reluctant to elect them as their representatives to the parliament.
Their consistently poor performance in electoral politics notwithstanding, this particular section of clergy succeeded in having a powerful say in national affairs. This not only undermined the democratic norms so fundamental to any civilized culture, but also laid foundation for intrusion of apolitical entities in national politics. More than three decades of military dictatorship were not a mere “accident”, by any stretch. Even ZA Bhutto, arguably the most popular political figure, ended up appeasing the clergy who, even after having been defeated by the PPP and Awami League, were still the custodians of national interest. The “benevolent” dictatorship of General Zia-Ul-Haq bolstered this trend further, Afghan Jihad of the 80’s saw it growing to the unprecedented highs, and rest is- as they would say- all history.
Recent by-polls in Rawalpindi and Lahore have set the record straight by a fair margin. Poll results effectively dismembered the epitome of religious politics and the artificial edifice of political clergy has been finally sent crashing. It will add to my list of wonders if in near future any major political party seeks an alliance with the mansura. When you win with the margin of three to four dozens of thousands of votes belonging to the fallibles, who would require (except a PML-Q, of course) to plead for the support of three thousand Saleheen ?
As every crises poses an opportunity and from tragedy comes the wisdom so is the time for JI. Mr. Munawwar Hasan, the reigning Ameer of Jama’at-e-Islaami needs to read he riot act to his party cadres. JI policy framers must come out of their quandary and realize that this is the time to revisit their policies, through and through :
• A mere reliance on Anti America Rhetoric is no guarantee for success in politics, especially in the aftermath of MMA’s dismal performance in government after getting votes on the same slogan. People are more concerned with their domestic issues and ignoring these concerns for some apparently ‘Greater Cause’ reaps no dividends when it comes to casting votes.
• Country is heading towards two party system and pressure groups like PTI and JI owe their politics to electronic media. What they are doing is no politics this is merely a talk show politics. Maximum small parties can achieve is a limited politics only in few constituencies. National politics is swiftly drawing itself away from them.
• There is no more room for religious exploitations in politics. Voter is now mature. It is an uphill task to make fool of him by rubbing into his religious sentiments. One can exploit all the voters for some times and some of the voters for all times but no one can exploit all voters for all the times, that too without delivering even once.
• Merely criticizing the govt can never win you sustained public support. The public is keen to have an alternate offered to them in lieu of existing leadership, fortunately or unfortunately, however, religious parties have failed to come up with one time and again. Oversimplified statements like “ruling coterie is kowtowing to US” don’t address the complexity of the situation. Instead of showing statesmanship, religious parties have only demonstrated emotions when it comes to solutions.
• Undemocratic attitude of religious parties is also an obstacle to their political ambitions. They have always been found on the wrong side of political divide – siding with dictatorships; they held ministerial offices in Zia regime and were a “Friendly Opposition” in Musharraf era. They are vociferous in their tone and aggressive in their gestures when it comes to dealing with an elected government, but their sound and furry is inexplicably reduced to a whimper while confronting a Musharraf.
If there is a modicum of understanding and some oasis of commonsense and political acumen it is ripe time to utilize them. The one who always prefers to talk about Afghanistan, Kashmir or Palestine (and not about local miseries) must contest elections from Kabul or Jerusalem.
Hopefully, results will not be as appalling as witnessed in Rawalpindi and Lahore, but who knows !
Note: The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad and hosts a talk show on a private TV channel. He can be reached at m.aasiff@hotmail.com
If the title suggests a propinquity to Ernest Hemingway’s epic “A farewell to Arms”, it is not unintended. If Ernest’s was a tale of tragedy and loss, this one is an account of both combined. How else one may comment on the outcome of recently held by-polls? People have once again proved that when it comes to political maturity they are light years ahead of our political parties, especially the religio-political entities. Voters appear to have had enough of amateurism and gave thumbs down to the politics of exploitation and non issues. At least for now it seems that the age of jingoism has been consigned to a long awaited and well deserved rest (in peace).
Unfortunately, long ago, our society was taken hostage by a certain section of clergy. They became self anointed custodians of almost every thing. From rituals to legislation and from domestic issues to international relations every discipline fell in their political purview. Interestingly though, People - on the other hand - never opted for clergy (MMA being a rarest exception, to prove the rule). Traditionally too, subcontinent has never been convinced by the ideology of its political clergy. The masses would rate some religious scholars very high but this devotion and association never materialized in outright political support. From Abul A’ala Modudee to Abul Kalaam Aazad and from Amin Ahsan Islahee (Tadabbar-ul-Quran) to Molana Ismail Salfi ( Hujjeyat e Hadith) no one could attract the masses in his role as a political leader. Abject political defeat of renowned scholars of uloom e quran and hadith sciences is reminiscent of the fact that the public at large considers religion and politics two different and separate domains. While people are profoundly eager to learn and understand the teachings of Islam from these scholars, they appear totally reluctant to elect them as their representatives to the parliament.
Their consistently poor performance in electoral politics notwithstanding, this particular section of clergy succeeded in having a powerful say in national affairs. This not only undermined the democratic norms so fundamental to any civilized culture, but also laid foundation for intrusion of apolitical entities in national politics. More than three decades of military dictatorship were not a mere “accident”, by any stretch. Even ZA Bhutto, arguably the most popular political figure, ended up appeasing the clergy who, even after having been defeated by the PPP and Awami League, were still the custodians of national interest. The “benevolent” dictatorship of General Zia-Ul-Haq bolstered this trend further, Afghan Jihad of the 80’s saw it growing to the unprecedented highs, and rest is- as they would say- all history.
Recent by-polls in Rawalpindi and Lahore have set the record straight by a fair margin. Poll results effectively dismembered the epitome of religious politics and the artificial edifice of political clergy has been finally sent crashing. It will add to my list of wonders if in near future any major political party seeks an alliance with the mansura. When you win with the margin of three to four dozens of thousands of votes belonging to the fallibles, who would require (except a PML-Q, of course) to plead for the support of three thousand Saleheen ?
As every crises poses an opportunity and from tragedy comes the wisdom so is the time for JI. Mr. Munawwar Hasan, the reigning Ameer of Jama’at-e-Islaami needs to read he riot act to his party cadres. JI policy framers must come out of their quandary and realize that this is the time to revisit their policies, through and through :
• A mere reliance on Anti America Rhetoric is no guarantee for success in politics, especially in the aftermath of MMA’s dismal performance in government after getting votes on the same slogan. People are more concerned with their domestic issues and ignoring these concerns for some apparently ‘Greater Cause’ reaps no dividends when it comes to casting votes.
• Country is heading towards two party system and pressure groups like PTI and JI owe their politics to electronic media. What they are doing is no politics this is merely a talk show politics. Maximum small parties can achieve is a limited politics only in few constituencies. National politics is swiftly drawing itself away from them.
• There is no more room for religious exploitations in politics. Voter is now mature. It is an uphill task to make fool of him by rubbing into his religious sentiments. One can exploit all the voters for some times and some of the voters for all times but no one can exploit all voters for all the times, that too without delivering even once.
• Merely criticizing the govt can never win you sustained public support. The public is keen to have an alternate offered to them in lieu of existing leadership, fortunately or unfortunately, however, religious parties have failed to come up with one time and again. Oversimplified statements like “ruling coterie is kowtowing to US” don’t address the complexity of the situation. Instead of showing statesmanship, religious parties have only demonstrated emotions when it comes to solutions.
• Undemocratic attitude of religious parties is also an obstacle to their political ambitions. They have always been found on the wrong side of political divide – siding with dictatorships; they held ministerial offices in Zia regime and were a “Friendly Opposition” in Musharraf era. They are vociferous in their tone and aggressive in their gestures when it comes to dealing with an elected government, but their sound and furry is inexplicably reduced to a whimper while confronting a Musharraf.
If there is a modicum of understanding and some oasis of commonsense and political acumen it is ripe time to utilize them. The one who always prefers to talk about Afghanistan, Kashmir or Palestine (and not about local miseries) must contest elections from Kabul or Jerusalem.
Hopefully, results will not be as appalling as witnessed in Rawalpindi and Lahore, but who knows !
Note: The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad and hosts a talk show on a private TV channel. He can be reached at m.aasiff@hotmail.com