Closed To Compromise

And despite the Pakistani government asking him not to hold any demonstrations, theJamaat went ahead and did so, getting much of Lahore to shut down on the day Vajpayeearrived there. Joining the anti-visit chorus are the Tehreek-e-Insaaf party led by formercricketer Imran Khan and the Millat Party of dismissed president Farooq Leghari. Khan hascautioned the people not to be misled by the gimmickry of the "bus diplomacy" assuch tactics would not make any difference to the core issue of Kashmir between the twocountries. Similarly, Leghari maintains that the Sharif government has shown neithervision nor strength of conviction on foreign policy, adding that the bus diplomacy wouldprove a failure due to India’s intransigence on Kashmir and Pakistan’s inabilityto formulate an effective diplomatic strategy.

But the Jamaat’s the one that counts. Its organisational strength makes it asignificant power-player, particularly in non-electoral times. However, the party displaysa strange dichotomy when it comes to mass appeal: it has tremendous street power but isvirtually impotent at the ballot box. In the last 25 years, the Jamaat—despitekicking up many a political storm—has been able to win only 98 of the 1,148 nationaland provincial assemblies seats it has contested, a success rate of just 8.53 per cent.

Last year, though, for the first time it showed symptoms more of a political partymaking a bid for power than a movement for ‘reforming’ society and the politicalsystem. It launched a barrage of criticism against the Sharif administration on issueslike the signing of the CTBT, trade with India and now the Indo-Pak bus service. TheJamaat is also the first organisation in the country to publicly take a swipe at the army.With the resignation of Jehangir Karamat as chief of army staff, its offensive against thehitherto sacred cow gained momentum.

Perhaps that’s out of whack with its manifesto, which stresses changing mindsetsthrough a closer interaction with the populace, apart from establishing "a socialorder  imbued with Islam’s ideology of peace and balance par excellence".It states, "The Jamaat-e-Islami firmly holds that a lasting change in the lives ofindividuals and in social pattern must necessarily stem from a change in the opinion,attitudes and outlook of people at large. It rejects a forced change because a forcedchange never touches the innermost being of man and it seldom reaches the grassroots ofsociety."

Even this transformational process is defined: "Change of ideas is, therefore, thefirst and foremost task of the Jamaat-e-Islami, through literature, mass gatherings,corner-meetings and individual contacts. The modus operandi being subject to choiceaccording to various factors including the availability of freedom of assembly and speech. There is never anything secretive, underhand and conspiratorial in the changeless messageof Jamaat. The message and the methods of Jamaat dovetail into a supreme blend and areclear like the sunshine and pure like love." Tell that to Vajpayee