Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Why radical Sunnis have taken to the streets against Shias in Pakistan
In episode 579 of #CutTheClutter, Shekhar Gupta delves into the historical discord between Shias and Sunnis, and why the timing of the latest Sunni protests in Pakistan is odd.
The rising Shia-Sunni discord in Pakistan could either be a message to Iran or an attempt to divert attention from retired Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa’s corruption scam, said The Print’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta in episode 579 of ‘Cut the Clutter’.
Earlier this month, massive rallies were carried out by Sunni conservative groups and Deobandi followers in Karachi’s Shahrah-e-Faisal road. The participants chanted anti-Shia slogans and called the community kafirs (non-Muslims).
There were also calls to ban Ashura, the tenth day of the first month in the Islamic calendar, Muharram.
The reason Iran and Iraq fought in the 1980s was because Iraq was then ruled by Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath Party while the country’s population was a Shia majority.
This also explains why the Islamic State (ISIS) took root in Iraq after Hussein’s death. Shias were given power after elections which left Sunni generals and soldiers of Saddam’s army feeling disempowered and disenfranchised.
“So they went lock, stock and barrel with tanks and guns and everything to ISIS. That is part of the same Shia-Sunni complexity,” added Gupta.
However, Pakistan, which has about 21 per cent Shia population, was not formed along Shia-Sunni lines. In fact, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the country’s founder, was a Shia and Pakistanis have never held that against him. Similarly, the Pakistani Army has not made a Shia-Sunni distinction among its officers and troops, said Gupta.
But this changed in the 1980s when the so-called “jihad” emerged where the Americans, Saudis and the Chinese with the Mujahideen on their side conspired to defeat the Soviet Union in the Cold War era.
As a crucial partner of this effort, Pakistan became steeped in religiosity under President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq — a devout and committed Sunni Muslim.
roups like Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba — the first big Sunni sectarian outfit — now known as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, rose to prominence around this time.
Today, Sipah-e-Sahaba is the primary group behind the demand to ban Muharram.
Battle of Karbala
The Muharram problem between Shias and Sunnis arises from the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.
After Prophet Muhammad died in 632 AD, Sunnis believed Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s father-in-law, was the rightful successor while Shias believed Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet’s son-in-law, was the rightful heir.
A power tussle and a lot of infighting followed but in the end, Ali became the caliph. He was assassinated shortly after and his family left for Medina.
However, in 680 AD, one of Ali’s surviving sons, Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ali and his half-brother Abbas went to save the people of Kufah from the alleged tyrant Yazid but they were all killed.
Both al-Ḥusayn ibn and his half-brother were buried in Karbala and Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram, became an annual holy day of public mourning among Shias.
However, Sunnis in Pakistan are raising their voice against this event because “they think it demeans some colleagues or some followers of the Holy Prophet because people who fought on both sides of the Battle of Karbala were either the Prophet’s clan or from his inner circle”, according to Gupta.
Diversion tactics or message to Iran
The rise of sectarianism and conservative Islam in Pakistan has been fuelled by Punjab’s Tahaffuz-i-Bunyad-i-Islam Bill 2020, passed in July this year, which seeks to censor blasphemous books on the pretext of protecting religion.
According to a column by Pakistani writer Ayesha Siddiqa, the bill is “problematic” because it lacks consensus on key religious concepts between Sunnis and Shias.
There are also theories that these rallies are being used to divert attention from retired Lt General Asim Bajwa’s scam of his large personal business empire of a pizza chain in the US.
“As his [Bajwa’s] rank has gone up, his income has gone up…and how his income has increased during this period, depends on when he worked closely with the dictators,” Gupta said.
However, this could also be linked to Pakistan finding itself in a sticky position when many Islamic countries like the UAE are entering peace deals with Israel.
“Now CPEC [China–Pakistan Economic Corridor] is very crucial for Pakistan and China has strong vested interests in Pakistan. But it also has strong vested interests in Iran. So maybe this is a message to Iran, particularly at a time when all of the Islamic world is in some kind of an upheaval,” said Gupta.
Is Pakistan ready to recognise Israel?
By Suddaf Chaudry
Pakistan is one of Saudi Arabia’s closest allies, while Riyadh has been a key player in softening Israel’s image, a stance which contributed heavily to the recent signing of the so-called Abraham Accords between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE.
The Saudi-Pakistan alliance is heavily leveraged, with the latter often beholden to the wishes of the kingdom due to Islamabad’s current financial concerns.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan recently told a local news channel that his country would not recognise Israel due to the plight of the Palestinians, adding that even if the “whole world wants to recognise Israel, Islamabad would not do so”.
Arguably the biggest obstacle for Khan would be the myriad religious groups in the country, who hold a great deal of power and are implacably opposed to any recognition of Israel.
“The biggest religious groups are against Imran Khan. If the government ever decides to recognise Israel, the pressures from the religious authority will be a considerable challenge," said Mohammed Israr Madani, president of the International Research Council for Religious Affairs in Islamabad.
"The sectarian issues in the country are significant, coupled with the Iranian and Saudi tensions. Pakistan will ultimately wait and see what Saudi Arabia does.”
High-profile backing
However, Khan’s public condemnation of the deal contrasts with Pakistan’s covert meetings and information-sharing with Israel.
The landing of an Israeli jet in Islamabad in 2018 forced the Pakistani government to issue repeated denials of a visit by an Israeli delegation.
Additionally, several Pakistani leaders, from former President Pervez Musharraf to current Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have called for better relations with Israel.
In 2005, Musharraf made a bold public statement by shaking hands with then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Istanbul.
Qureshi, meanwhile, spoke to Israeli news platform Maariv in 2019, where he was quoted as saying: “We wish all the best for Israel. We have many friends in the region and we would like you to join them."
However, Ayesha Siddiqa, a research associate at the SOAS South Asia Institute, said any recognition would be a very difficult challenge internally due to the country's "chaotic democracy".
"The reality is politically the religious clergy have a lot of influence," she said.
Saudi strains
The erstwhile rock-tight relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan has been strained in recent years.
A recent political spat between the two nations centred on the kingdom's lack of support on the question of Kashmir.
The move by India's government last year to remove the special autonomous status granted to Jammu and Kashmir provoked fury from Pakistan, which has been lobbying the international community to condemn India's actions.
'The Pakistani military has been keen to develop relations with Israel … in order to challenge the strong bilateral ties between the US and India'
- Ayesha Siddiqa, analyst
However, the response by Saudi Arabia to the issue - long seen as a pivotal one for the global Muslim community - was seen by Pakistan as lukewarm, leading to condemnation by the country's foreign minister, who warned that he could no longer "indulge in diplomatic niceties" with the kingdom over the issue.
Khan and other Pakistani leaders have also been keen to draw parallels between the situation in Kashmir and the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories - if Pakistan was to engage with Saudi instructions and engage with Israel, it could end up undermining its stance on Kashmir.
Nevertheless, the Pakistani military, who hold enormous power in the country and facilitate a number of operations in Saudi Arabia, would benefit from an alliance with Israel.
“The Pakistani military has been keen to develop relations with Israel, the primary reason being it would significantly improve relations with the US, in order to challenge the strong bilateral ties between the US and India," said Siddiqa.
Iran disagreements
A crucial aspect of the normalisation accords has been the need by a number of Middle Eastern countries to present a united front against what they see as Iran's aggressive foreign policy.
Both Israel and the majority of the Gulf states see Iran as their primary enemy and this has helped facilitate the alliance.
In comparison, neighbouring Pakistan and Iran have continued to enjoy cordial relations and cooperate on a number of issues.
In the last month, however, Pakistan has faced significant anti-Shia protests across three provinces, with a turnout in the tens of thousands in Karachi alone.
Some have accused the state of helping to organise the protests as a means of sending a message to Iran. A number of the groups participating in the rallies have been known to receive Saudi funding to push their ideology.
Masood Ahmed Alvi, a religious activist from Islamabad affiliated with the Deobandi sect, said he had taken part in the rallies to try and push for the disassociation of Shiism from Islam.
“The majority of people in Pakistan are true believers of Islam, however the Shias are a bridge to us and the Prophet Muhammad - the Shias are copying the Islamic teachings and not fully following religious jurisprudence," he explained.
"The rallies in Multan, Karachi and Islamabad were all held for the same issue. We used to have a limited audience but now we are in our thousands who want to remove the bridge.”
Madani said there had been a shift in anti-Shia rhetoric in Pakistan, with a number of Shia groups being banned due to their relations with Iran.
"An interesting point is that the mainstream media ignored the protests; there was no coverage, which indicates the difference in state policy," he said.
"There has been significant discussion about whether this was a manouvre to influence the Saudis. However, the organisers of the event were not closely affiliated to the kingdom in recent times."
"There is confusion, however, as these sectarian groups do hold Saudi Arabia with great esteem. It remains to be seen what is the true meaning behind this event.”
Rise of Turkey
Observers have long suggested that the mantle of Sunni Muslim "leadership" may be passing from Saudi Arabia, with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seen as keen to position himself as the main voice on what are viewed as global Muslim issues.
Among other topics, Turkey has raised the “burning issue” of the Kashmir conflict at the UN General Assembly.
“The relations with Saudi Arabia may be entrenched; however, there are grassroot-level changes coming in from Turkey,” said Siddiqa.
Turkey has significantly bolstered its ties with Pakistan, with relations improving since the country failed to show its support for a Turkey-sponsored conference in Malaysia last year due to Saudi pressure.
The Turkish footprint in the country has recently increased, with soft-power cultural initiatives such as the television show Ertugrul, which centres around the founding of the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century and promotes ideas of Islamic transnationalism.
The show has attracted record numbers of viewers, with over 130 million Pakistanis tuning in.
With Saudi Arabia apparently failing to deliver on Kashmir and Palestine, Erdogan has enthusiastically taken up these issues which resonate on the Pakistani street.
"The very idea of connecting with Israel will only lead to revolt," said Siddiqa.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pakistan-israel-normalisation-ready-recognise
In Pakistan, a tweet can bring a death sentence
Marvi SirmedMarvi Sirmed is a Pakistani freelance journalist and human rights defender who previously served as a Special Correspondent for the Daily Times, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan. Last month, I sent a tweet — intended as a commentary on Pakistan’s problem of political abductions — that sparked a violent backlash of gender-based slurs, slut-shaming and death threats. By the next day, #ArrestMarviSirmed_295C became the top trending Twitter hashtag in my country, with countless people suggesting my extrajudicial murder. They took their inspiration from Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. (Section 295-C makes it a criminal offense to use derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet.) The hatred and calls for violence sent me into hiding, fearing that vigilantes might take matters into their own hands. The mere accusation of blasphemy has become a license to kill in most of the Muslim world, particularly in Pakistan. As an activist and journalist, I often speak about issues that my country’s powerful military establishment does not want aired. This time, I tweeted satirically about the rising enforced disappearances in Pakistan, specifically referencing the Baloch people, an ethnic minority that has been facing state persecution for decades: “An Islamic clergyman was describing to his followers that Hazrat Eesa [Jesus Christ, as used by Muslims] did not die, he was actually picked by the Almighty. One simpleton follower asked, was he, too, a Baloch?” Over the past 18 years, Pakistan’s military has consolidated its control over almost every aspect of Balochistan’s society, politics and governance. People there face intense oppression on suspicion of dissent. Anyone like me, who publicly criticizes the military or government, may find themselves targeted by blasphemy charges — which could mean assassination. India’s colonial-era blasphemy law was originally designed to protect the minority community following demands from the Muslim minority community for legal protection in the wake of offensive literature published in the 1920s. After Pakistan gained independence in 1947, however, the authorities increasingly used the law to target minorities and critics of government policy. At least 18 people convicted of blasphemy currently sit on death row in Pakistan, while another 19 are serving life sentences. More than 70 people have been killed before they could appear for trial. During one 30-day stretch in July and August, 42 cases of blasphemy were registered across the country. During the most recent spike in blasphemy accusations, a powerful coalition of clerics filed dozens of blasphemy complaints against several individuals from the minority Shiite Muslim community. This is unprecedented. While the numbers of those charged with blasphemy continue to increase, blasphemy vigilantism is not only encouraged but celebrated. Mumtaz Qadri, who killed Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011, became a kind of national hero. Leaders of the mob that lynched blasphemy-accused student Mashal Khan in 2017 were celebrated by politicians from opposition parties and defended by the provincial ruling party. Faisal Khan, the teenager who murdered U.S. citizen Tahir Naseem in the courtroom while he was standing trial for blasphemy in July, became a hero overnight and received public accolades. Judges, lawyers, politicians, law enforcement officials, professors and human rights defenders all operate in an environment of fear, knowing they could be targeted next. While the prospects of any Pakistani politician amending or repealing the blasphemy law seem slim, the Pakistani state needs to be pressured through the power of the purse. The United States remains Pakistan’s top donor, believing the country to be a partner in combating violent extremism and furthering democracy throughout the region — yet it continues to tolerate blasphemy vigilantism that has fueled terrorist attacks all over the world. Aid should be suspended until the Pakistani government, which is in dire financial straits, fulfills its commitment to clamp down on radicalism. The thought of losing financial assistance from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, among others, has previously forced the Pakistani government to make positive changes. Social media platforms must also ensure that the protection of online expression conforms to international human rights standards. In the past, the Pakistani government has attempted to unilaterally change licensing rules for social media sites to operate in the country, but there must be a global commitment to reject such blackmail. Finally, liberal democratic countries should employ the United Nations’ strategic framework to counter violent extremism and counterterrorism. This must include actions to curb anti-blasphemy vigilantism. The lives of civil rights activists and human rights defenders like me depend upon this protection. As I’ve learned, along with many others in my country, a simple tweet can mean a death sentence.