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#Pakistan - Editorial: With yet another lynching, the state must realise futility of quick fixes to combat extremism -

Is there really no end to our days of shame? The savagery that we witnessed just two months ago in Sialkot erupted once again, this time in Mian Channu, Khanewal district, where, on Saturday, a violent mob bludgeoned to death a mentally ill man accused of desecrating holy verses.

Not content with that, they continued to beat the bloodied body of Mushtaq Rajput. The police could do nothing; it was from their custody that the victim had been snatched. They had failed to save a life, just as they had failed to save university student Mashal Khan in 2017, and Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara — whose remains were repatriated with state honours — last December.

True, a day after the Khanewal lynching, the police did rescue a blasphemy suspect in Faisalabad from an angry mob that had surrounded his home. But their quick action here, and in some other cases, is overshadowed by a barbaric public mentality for which no law is a deterrent especially in matters of faith.

There is a reason for that — one that we have underscored on these pages time and again. Successive governments have capitulated to the rising forces of religious extremism. From the TLP that has laid siege to the capital on more than one occasion, to the murderous TTP that has left no stone unturned to target men, women, children and security forces, the rulers have been open to engaging with all. What more can strengthen the sense of impunity in the dark forces that are propelling this country towards collapse?

We all knew that the government would swing into ‘action’ after Khanewal. We’ve seen it before. Religious leaders condemned the incident. Police rounded up suspects. And while there were no state honours for Mushtaq Rajput who was buried in the local cemetery, the prime minister pledged to crack down with the full force of the law. On what though? The issue goes well beyond the misuse of the blasphemy law.

Certainly, parliamentarians and the ulema should discuss it and revisit it. But when there is anger and toxicity in a society that has been fed on flawed ideologies and regressive narratives fanned by the state, it is time to acknowledge that the damage done is more insidious and deep-rooted than we think. And it will be years before it can be reversed. Only when it realises the futility of resorting to quick fixes will the state be in a better position to fight extremism.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1675164/what-have-we-become

The life of slavery of Pakistani women who are forced to 'marry' the Quran

Marrying a woman to the Quran is an abusive practice in Pakistan's southern province, Sindh. Many feudal lords wed their daughters or sisters to the Quran to renounce their inheritance rights. One 'Bride of Quran' shares her story.

Some can’t take it and go mad. Others become apathetic and slowly fade away. Most live a nightmarish life, trapped in the hellish web of an inhumane tradition.

These girls are waitresses, child minders and slaves born to serve the family.

They are the “wives of the Quran”, Pakistani girls whose lives have been mortgaged by their families: instead of marrying men, they are forced to “marry” the Holy book of Islam, the Quran.

They learn its contents off by heart and have to hang the text around their wastes with a cord. They live segregated lives and no boy that is older than 14 is allowed to approach them. A life sentence they have no say in.

The tradition, known as the “Haq Bakshish”, literally means “renouncing the right to marry”. It is an ancient and cursed tradition that is still widely practiced in the Sindh province and in some parts of the Punjab in Southern Pakistan.

Arabic international newspaper Asharq Al Awsat says that in 2007 there were an estimated ten thousand Quran brides in Sindh.

The roots of this tradition are economic more than religious. This is explained further in a 2011 US Department of State report on human rights in the world. It said that this practice is prevalent among the families of big landowners. When a suitable husband cannot be found for a daughter or a sister among the members of extended family (cousins and uncles, Ed.), then it is preferable to keep the girl cooped inside the family home than divide the land, giving a portion of it to the girl as a dowry and letting her marry an outsider.

This keeps her portion of the land within the family and under the protection of her father or brother.

Under Pakistani law the Haq Bakshish tradition is punishable by a seven-year prison sentence, but no one dares report such cases. This is partly due to the fact that the families involved belong to the Sayyid caste, which claims its members are direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed.

These pure-blooded Muslims are often leaders of institutions. This is why Quran brides are hidden away, making it impossible to get official numbers.Very rarely some cases do come to light. For example, in 2011 a 28-year old couple, Fahad Amin and Shahnila Naz, married against the parents’ will and held a press conference in Lahore speaking out against the death threats they received for violating the Haq Bakshish code.“Half the women in my family,” the girl told the Daily Times, are married to the Quran. They are treated worse than servants and are forced to look after children and animals. One evening all of my family came to my room, sat on my bed, opened the Quran and said: ‘Here is your husband.’ I managed to escape; I got to Fahad and we got married in a court. But they are threatening me, I’m scared….”

It is not known what happened to the rebel couple in the end.

https://www.ucanews.com/news/the-lives-of-pakistans-brides-of-the-quran/68919#

Pakistan’s all-powerful military to determine Imran Khan’s fate

Pakistan has been in turmoil politically and economically amid rallies and movements to ouster Imran Khan and rising inflation and growing debts, however, his fate will be decided by the all-powerful military.

Called by different names — like “powers that be’ “the establishment”, ‘Rawalpindi’, where the Army’s General Headquarters (GHQs) is located, or ‘Miltablishment’, the military-civil combine that rules the country – it is supposed to have placed Khan, its current ‘proxy’, in power, reported Islam Khabar.

The overall picture Pakistan presents is that the military is wary of taking direct power as it has done thrice before since the current situation is dire, both politically and economically, needs to civilian facade.

Khan has repeatedly said that his government is “on the same page” with the military. But past experience is that of the army taking the final call, even if it has to engineer the elections to ensure another ‘proxy’ to rule the country.However, Imran Khan is facing stiff political opposition through “Long March”, abandoning the streets and adopting the parliamentary path, through a “no-confidence” motion in the National Assembly.Several meetings in the last few weeks between top leaders of the two mainstream parties, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and those conducted with smaller parties by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and convener of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), have fuelled perceptions that the Khan Government’s parliamentary majority will be challenged on the floor of the National Assembly.

Media reports indicate that Imran Khan Government has in the recent past managed even two-thirds majority support, in the opposition-controlled Senate, the upper house, to pass legislation required to meet stipulations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for getting a loan and those required by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that is probing Pakistan’s money laundering and funding of terror outfits.

These were achieved by unorthodox means, allegedly, through bribery and ensuring members’ absence from the House before the crucial vote. The government ensured the absence of even the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, reported Islam Khabar.

These are the hard facts. Above them all, any analysis of Pakistan’s turbulent political arena would be easy if the first and the last step are kept in mind. Actually, the two are the same: the outcome of the challenge that is building up, yet again, against the incumbent will be decided by the all-powerful military, reported Islam Khabar.

https://theprint.in/world/pakistans-all-powerful-military-to-determine-imran-khans-fate/833327/