The authorities in Islamabad must not forget that they have been able to return Asia Bibi her freedom, after an unjust incarceration of nine years, at the cost of her security. She got back her freedom on the condition that she would have to leave her homeland, and live in exile for the rest of her life. That’s a failure of state institutions designated with the task of providing security to the citizens.
Meanwhile, the flawed set of laws under which Bibi was denied her freedom, and that have been responsible for the plight of many other Pakistani citizens remain unreformed. Alongside, the extremist mindset that dehumanizes others who may have different opinions and beliefs, leading to perpetuation of violence against marginalised social groups also continues to flourish. Despite the fact that state institutions have managed to crack down on the top leadership of the Barelvi extremist outfit Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), the popularity of the group and the organisational capabilities of its middle-tier leadership remain intact. This was on display last week in protests in Karachi following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the review petition. Several arrests were made after the participants turned to violence, damaging private as well as public property.
The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) government has yet to come up with a plan to deal with barelvi strand of extremism, and the worrying aspect of its popularity among a segment of the country’s population. Perhaps, the problem is that the leadership of the ruling party, like other mainstream parties, has yet to fully recognise extremism as a problem. This was evident in PTI leaders posturing during the election campaign. Taking a leaf from other mainstream parties’ books, PTI chairman Imran Khan, who now holds the office of Prime Minister, had attended a gathering organised by barelvi extremists in the hope of wooing votes. In the past few months, even the top leadership of unelected state institutions was seen photographed with extremists in private gatherings.
This raises serious question marks over the presence of political will to tackle the challenge posed by extremism. Ostensibly, it seems that the state has come to terms with the social support of the far-right religious lobby, whose political narrative revolves entirely around the country’s blasphemy laws. Even though it should have no bearing on the state’s duty to prevent the law’s abuse, but it must be reiterated that this law dates back to the days of the colonial administration, and has no grounding in classical Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, the state concerns itself with the barelvi far-right, it seems, only in moments when the group/s pose a threat to its sovereignty. This is a deeply flawed approach because it ignores the fact that those momentarily challenges become possible only because the group/s has free rein to spread its extremist ideology in the society. An effective approach will be to regulate activities of religious groups, including those of the barelvis, and not letting them indulge in hate speech against minority communities, or glorify terrorists like Mumtaz Qadri. Alongside, blasphemy law will have to be reformed to prevent its abuse.
The state also needs to rethink its strategy in dealing with the top TLP leadership. Instead of keeping them on remand, it would be more effective to bring charges against them and to get them punished for incitement to sedition and violence. This will send a clear message to the extremists, and set a precedent to be followed if the need arises in future.
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