Does the Government’s Extreme Policies Generate Extremists?

 

 

 Do the Government’s Extreme Policies Generate Extremists?

 Mujeeb Khan

 

Daniel Pearl, murder in Karachi, Pakistan, 2002

 

Benazir Bhutto, murder in Pakistan, 2008

 

Jamal Khashoggi, murder in Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey 2018

  

  If we look at the murder of Jamal Khashoggi the murder of Daniel Pearl comes to mind. Both were journalists, one was a Washington post’s columnist and the other to the Wall Street journal’s reporter. Daniel Pearl was brutally murdered in Karachi, Pakistan, and Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The barbarity with which they were killed, it showed that there was no humanity in them. Daniel Pearl was killed because he was Jewish, and Khashoggi was dismembered for sharply criticizing the Saudi government. In Islam, killing one person is called killing all humanity. Then among those who are non-Muslims, Muslims have been responsible for protecting their lives and property. But those who wanted to spread Islam in the world and were leading Pakistan on the path of becoming an Islamic state. They are the ones who killed Daniel Pearl and Jamal Khashoggi.

  Not a single foreigner has ever been killed in Pakistan. Even long before Daniel Pearl, the western media representation used to come to Pakistan. But the people of Pakistan have never seen what their religion was. Religious fanaticism in Pakistan was promoted under the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haqq. Twenty-four years before the murder of Daniel Pearl, religious extremists, who had the full support of General Zia’s military government, were beating and killing liberals and progressives in Pakistan’s universities and colleges. Those who opposed General Zia’s Afghan policy were labeled Moscow’s agents. The Reagan administration, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, unwise Saudi, and Gulf governments supported General Zia’s Afghan adventurism. These allies agreed to start a jihad to liberate Afghanistan from communist forces. The Reagan administration announced plans to train, arms, and fund jihadists. Pakistan had given the CIA to set up training camps for jihadists on its soil. The governments of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states provided manpower for jihad. Afghan jihad had now become a US war. All Islamic parties in Pakistan supported Afghan jihad, and their leaders were General Zia’s allies. While pseudo nationalists stood on the sidelines. They were neither against jihad nor in support of jihad.

  Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was in jail in a fabricated murder case. Begum Bhutto was leading the people party for a movement to remove General Zia from power and restoring constitutional democratic government and demanding an end to all baseless charges against Bhutto, including a murder case. Under Begum Bhutto’s leadership, the people party was the only party that strongly opposed the game General Zia was playing in Afghanistan. We also participated in this movement. Our group was highly active in the university, we often met Begum Bhutto. For the first in Pakistan, I drank coffee in a meeting with Begum Bhutto in Larkana. We have always a good conversation with her. Whenever Benazir Bhutto was in Karachi, we used to meet her. She used to meet party officials and delegations from interior Sind, after these meetings, Benazir Bhutto would come to meet us on the lawn. Sanam Bhutto and some of her friends used to come and sit with us. The pleasant summer evenings and the full moon made the conversation more pleasant. Benazir Bhutto talks about her meeting with Bhutto in jail. She talked about how General Zia was harming Pakistan. Bhutto’s concerns were also expressed on this. After meeting Benazir Bhutto, we used to come to the press club, and in the meeting with her, the news of the conversation was given to the reporters. Undoubtedly, that Karachi was very civilized compared to today’s Karachi.

  Our first and last meeting with Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a memorable and historic one. After his release from Murree, Prime Minister Bhutto came to Karachi by train. All along the way, there was a sea of people at every station. This proved that the Prime Minister could have been elected unopposed. There was also a huge crowd at 70 Clifton. It was a great honor for us to have a brief meeting with a great leader, Prime Minister Bhutto. Bhutto said, “They will not leave me. This will be a long struggle; you people must continue to fight for democracy. That night, Prime Minister Bhutto was arrested in a murder case and taken to Lahore, and imprisoned in Kot Lakhpat Jail.

  Our struggle for Bhutto’s release and for democracy continued. I decided to start a newspaper at the university. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi helped achieve this goal. The newspaper was liked by the true supporters of democracy, liberals, and progressives at the university. My professors also appreciated it, at the university, General Zia’s pro-Islamic organizations prevented us from distributing newspapers, they were snatched newspapers from us and torn them. There was an atmosphere of fear and terror in the university. But our faith in democracy was stronger. Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979. At 8 o’clock I was passing near Mehran hotel. The newspaper vendor was standing on the sidewalk with a special supplement in his hand with a big black headline ‘Bhutto Hanged’. I bought it, there were tears in my eyes. The first and last meeting to the fore. “they will not leave me you people would continue the struggle for democracy.” It was like Ashura day, a gloomy and sad atmosphere.

  Jihadist attacks against communist forces were on the rise in Afghanistan. On the one hand, a flood of Afghan refugees was coming to Pakistan, and on the other hand, a plane loaded with jihadists was coming to Pakistan from the Arab world. CIA training camps were set up near the Afghan border. The stage of Islamic jihad against the communist forces was set. Another jihad was launched by General Zia and his Islamic extremist allies against a liberal and progressive system in Pakistan. Attempts were being made to introduce the Saudi system in Pakistan. In which general kings and Islamic leaders were princes. Extremist jihadists were killing liberal and progressive Afghan citizens in Kabul. On the other side in Pakistan Islamic fanatics and extremists attacking General Zia’s opponents. Jihad was not confined to Afghanistan. This was also happening in Pakistan.

  I met Selig S. Harrison in the ’80s, he was visiting Prof. Dr. Manzoor Uddin Ahmed at Karachi University, in his office Prof. Shamim Akhtar was also there, Prof. Shamim Akhtar introduced Selig Harrison to me. Selig Harrison was an expert on South Asian affairs, a journalist, Scholar of Carnegie Endowment for Peace. I had read Selig Harrison’s articles on South Asia, especially about Pakistan in Foreign Policy Magazine. Prof. Dr. Manzoor Uddin Ahmed knew him when he was at Columbia University in New York as a visiting professor. Prof. Shamim Akhtar asked me to interview Selig Harrison. I asked for time from Selig Harrison for an interview and he was willing to meet me at 3 o’clock. I arrived at his hotel InterContinental at sharp 3 o’clock. I asked Selig Harrison, why the Reagan administration is supporting Islamic fanatics and extremists in Pakistan. They are the biggest threat to our lives. They are beating and killing us in universities and colleges, we are living in harassment and fear, and the Reagan administration is supporting them. “It’s our government’s policy”, said Selig Harrison. Listening to this, I said to myself that this conversation was over. It means that neither you nor I can change this policy. I changed the subject and started talking about other things. “If you come to New York, see me,” said Selig Harrison.

  I went to Iran, many of my Iranian classmates become Ayatollah Khomeini’s supporters, during the movement against Shah they went to Paris and came to Tehran with Ayatollah Khomeini. Some of them would join the government, some elected members of parliament. When they came to Karachi, they asked me to come to Iran. There was an atmosphere of civil war in Iran at that time. It was an interesting trip to Iran. I saw for the first time what a revolution is. The Shah’s royal palace in the north of Tehran and extreme poverty in the south of Tehran were a big contrast. After returning from Iran, I wrote a book on Iran’s revolution.

  When I came to the United States, I met Selig Harrison at the Rockefeller Center in New York. Selig Harrison was writing a book on Baluchistan. He had me to translate some material, after writing a book on Baluchistan, he told me that he would now work on North Korea. In North Korea, there was no difference between his and my views, we both agreed that this issue can only solve by dialogue. Selig Harrison said to me ‘you go to the School of Journalism, University of Missouri, I’ll give you the letter, the director of the School of Journalism will help you.