Pakistan - Articles

Recent weeks have seen the repercussions of the London bombings reverberating across Pakistan. General Musharraf, bent on convincing the international community of his unswerving commitment to rid his country of all that nurtures terrorism, is overtly pursuing a wide-ranging campaign to reform madrassahs, expel their non-native attendees and seek out would-be terrorists.

Anxious both to exhibit his own dedication and to promote the importance of international collaboration in the battle against terrorism, Musharraf recently signed an accord with the ASEAN affirming that Pakistan will work with them in the fight against terrorism. In a similar vein, he pledged to enhance intelligence sharing between Pakistan and UK and signed a bilateral extradition treaty between the two.

However, the focus of Musharraf's post-7/7 activity undoubtedly centres upon the madrassahs. Repeatedly, he reiterates that all madrassahs must be registered, purged of foreign students and their curricula revised to provide a conventional, broad-based education. His government amended the 1860 Societies Registration Act to stipulate that any unregistered madrassah would be unable to operate. He has also officially informed Islamic countries of the imminent repatriation of non-Pakistani attendees.

Indeed, with global attention riveted upon the hazards of madrassah education, the Pakistani President has been under pressure to demonstrate his capabilities for immediate as well as longer-term action. Hence, a number of raids against madrassahs have been undertaken, one such yielding five Kazakh nationals who confessed that the compound they were occupying was indeed a terrorist hideout. Military action also resulted in the capture of Osama Bin Yousaf, who confessed to being a member of the Al Qaeda network. Causing particular concern in Europe, maps of various European countries were found in his possession and that of two alleged militants arrested subsequently. By the end of August, 700 Al Qaeda members had allegedly been arrested from around the country.

Keen to remind the West that it too bears responsibility for terrorism, Musharraf, at an international conference on terrorism contended that its lasting eradication is crucially dependent upon Western participation through the resolution of political disputes. He submitted that all nations owe a collective responsibility to prevent terrorism, and asserted that terrorism and extremism must be clearly differentiated since they are by no means the same thing: tackling each entails entirely different strategies. He averred that extremism is "a state of mind", and that dealing with it requires "a transformation of hearts and minds"; something which cannot be achieved in a mere few days: an argument perhaps aimed at those who criticize Musharraf's failure to eradicate the phenomenon thus far and accuse him of making promises he does not fulfil.

Certainly, Musharraf has a reputation for hollow rhetoric. International Crisis Group's South Asia Director explosively responded to the contention that Musharraf is a bulwark against extremism, with the retort: "Bulwark against what? The mullahs have never been as strong as they are today." Could it be that the General has justified his poor reputation in this regard even within the last month? Perhaps so, there have been claims that three weeks after he made his initial proclamation on 21 July that madrassahs must be registered, no concrete action has yet been taken to this end. Indeed, by 20 August, only 15 of 272 madrassahs in Islamabad had been registered. Furthermore, despite Musharraf's avowals that a government crack-down was being launched on the production of hate-provoking literature, the Daily Times found that such material was in fact being openly circulated within several government offices in the Punjab Civil Secretariat, with only the Home Department announcing that it was confiscating the material immediately.

Is it simply that Musharraf's primary concern is with the presentation of Pakistan as fighting the good fight? The launch of the "Pakistan Image Project" - for which advertisements appeared in national newspapers in August requesting image consultants to submit their visions of how Pakistan could project a more positive image to the rest of the world - would imply that this could be the case. But irrespective of how genuine Musharraf's attempts to actually implement the changes he outlines are, the fact remains that the current political structure in Pakistan makes it difficult to do so. For, compelled to maintain an uneasy alliance with the MMA in order to uphold his position, Musharraf inevitably faces virulent opposition to his proposals for religious reform. Indeed, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly stated in a conference held by the institutions opposing Musharraf's intended measures that the MMA would resign from the NWFP and National Assembly if the government attempted to restrain the liberty of religious schools. Ninety per cent of the ulema present at this meeting are reported to have rejected the government's ordinances, and administrators of over 300 madrassahs have so far refused to comply with them.

Having pledged himself so publicly and irretrievably, Musharraf cannot afford to slip up and again fall back on the excuse that "policy implementation is not that easy". On the other hand, he faces equally implacable pressure not to pursue his objectives from his supposed allies. Tensions within Pakistan can only rise steeply in the coming weeks.