Reinventing Pakistan

Now that the army has turned serious, Baitullah Mehsud cannot expect tostroll down Constitution Avenue any time soon, nor hope to sit in thepresidency. A few thousand mountain barbarians, even if trained by Al Qaeda'sbest, cannot possibly seize power from a modern, well-armed state with 600,000soldiers. The spectre of Pakistan collapsing in six months - a fear expressed bya senior US military adviser in March - has evaporated.

But there is little cause for elation. Daily terror attacks across thecountry give abundant proof that religious extremism has streamed down themountains into the plains. Through abductions, beheadings and suicide bombings,Taliban insurgents are destabilising Pakistan, damaging its economy andspreading despondency.

Look at Islamabad, a city of fear. Machine-gun bunkers are ubiquitous whiletraffic barely trickles past concrete blocks placed across its super-wide roads.Upscale restaurants, fearing suicide bombers, have removed their signs althoughthey still hope clients will remember. Who will be the next target? Girls'schools, internet cafes, bookshops, or western clothing stores with mannequins?Or perhaps shops selling toilet paper, underwear, and other un-Islamic goods?

The impact on Pakistan's women is enormous. Throwing acid, or threatening todo so, has been spectacularly successful in making women embrace modesty. Todaythere is scarcely a female face visible anywhere in the Frontier province. Menare also changing dress - anxious private employers, government departments andNGOs have advised their male employees in Peshawar and other cities to wearshalwar-kameez rather than trousers. Video shops are being bombed out ofbusiness, and many barbers have put "no-shave" notices outside theirshops.

If public support were absent, extremist violence could be relatively easy todeal with. But extremism does not lie merely at the fringes. As an example, letus recall that 5,000 people crammed the streets outside Lal Masjid to praybehind the battle-hardened pro-Taliban militant leader, Maulana Abdul Aziz, theday after he was released from prison on the orders of interior minister RehmanMalik.

In the political arena, the extremists have high-profile cheerleaders likeImran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Hamid Gul who rush to justify every attack onPakistan's people and culture. To them it makes no difference that BaitullahMehsud proudly admits to the murder of Allama Dr Sarfaraz Ahmad Naeemi, therecent Peshawar mosque bombing, the earlier Wah slaughter and scores of otherhideous suicide attacks. Like broken gramophone records, they chant "Amrika,Amrika, Amrika" after every new Taliban atrocity.

Nevertheless, bad as things are, there is a respite. To the relief of thosewho wish to see Pakistan survive, the army finally moved against the Talibanmenace. But, while the state has committed men to battle, it cannot provide thema convincing reason why they must fight.

For now some soldiers have bought into the amazing invention that theBaitullahs and Fazlullahs are India's secret agents. Others have been told thatthey are actually fighting a nefarious American-Jewish plot to destabilisePakistan. They now believe that Pakistan's mullahs are actually being paid byRAW, Mossad, and the CIA. To inspire revenge, still others are being shown therevolting Taliban-produced videos of Pakistani soldiers being tortured andbeheaded.

That the enemy lacks an accurate name typifies the confusion andcontradiction within. In official parlance they are called "militants"or "extremists" but never religious extremists. It is astonishing thatthe semi-literate Fazlullah, on whose head the government has now placed aprice, is reverentially referred to as "maulana". On the other handthere is no hesitation in describing Baloch fighters - who fight for anationalist cause rather than a religious one - as rebels or terrorists.

A muddled nation can still fight, but not very well and not for too long.Self-deception enormously increases vulnerability. Yet, Pakistan's current armyand political leaders cannot alone be blamed for the confusion; history'sbaggage is difficult to dispense with.

To say what really lies at the heart of Pakistan's problems will requiresummoning more courage than presently exists. The unmentionable truth - oneetched in stone - is that when a state proclaims to have a religious mission, itinevitably privileges those who organise religious life and interpret religioustext. It then becomes difficult - perhaps impossible - to challenge those whoclaim to fight for religious causes. After all, what's wrong with the Talibanmission to bring the Sharia to Pakistan?

If there was one solid unchallengeable version of the faith, then at leastthere would be a clear answer to this question. But conflict becomes inevitableonce different models and interpretations start competing. Whose version of theSharia should prevail? Whose jihad is the correct one? Who shall decide? Lackinga central authority - such as a pope or caliph - every individual or group canclaim to be in possession of the divine truth. The murder of Dr Naeemi by theTaliban comes from this elementary fact.

For now the Baitullahs, Fazlullahs, Mangal Baghs, and their ilk are on therun. Yet, they could still win some day. Even if killed, others would replacethem. So, while currently necessary, military action alone can never besufficient. Nor will peace come from merely building more roads, schools andhospitals or inventing a new justice system.

Ultimately it is the power of ideas that shall decide between victory anddefeat. It is here that Pakistan is weakest and most vulnerable. A gapingphilosophical and ideological void has left the door open to demagogues whoexploit resource scarcity and bad governance. They use every failing of thestate to create an insurrectionary mood and churn out suicide bombers. Only afew Islamic scholars, like Dr Naeemi, have ventured to challenge them.

The long-term defence of Pakistan therefore demands a determined ideologicaloffensive and a decisive break with the past. Nations win wars only if there isa clear rallying slogan and a shared goal.

For this, Pakistan must reinvent itself as a state that is seen to care forits people. Instead of seeking to fix the world's problems - Kashmir,Afghanistan and Palestine included - it must work to first fix its own.

A nation's best defence is a loyal citizenry. This can be created only byoffering equal rights and opportunities to all regardless of province, languageand, most importantly, religion and religious sect. Navigating the way to heavenmust be solely an individual's concern, not that of the state.

Pervez Hoodbhoy teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad