Govt stance on resignations

JUDGED FROM statements being issue by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, a top aide of the President, Minister for Information Mohammad Ali Durrani and other Government leaders, no political earthquake will occur once the MMA proceeds to quit, as announced, the National Assembly and possibly Provincial Assemblies by the 7`h of next month. The MMA w ill most likely be followed by Mian Nawaz Sharif-led faction of the Muslim League. The Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians, as expected by circles close to the ruling party, will eventually enter into a deal with the Government. This assumption is based on the PPPP’s support to the ruling party on the successful passage of the Women’s Rights Protection Bill in the National Assembly the other day. However, stalwarts of PPPP have been explaining that their support to the controversial Bill, vehemently opposed by MMA, was on principles and not on account of any secret deal with the Government. One may not be surprised if PPPP also walks out of the assemblies following en bloc resignations by MMA and PML (N).
The ruling PML(Q) has tabled another Bill seeking to make unlawful cruel customs of swara and wani (giving hand of girls in marriage to settle a dispute), marriages of girls with Holy Quran (to stop division of landed property by way of inheritance) and the simultaneous pronouncement of three Talaqs(divorce) However, MMA is of the considered view that the new Bill does not address their strong reservations on the Bill already passed which, it claims; offends against explicit provisions of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. Their objections have prompted MMA to quit Assemblies.
The Government continues to claim that WPB was not passed under foreign pressure to satisfy the West on Islamabad’s sincerity on projecting Pakistan’s soft image and to downplay the influence of religion in our polity. However, Western leaders and in particular the spokesmen of the US Administration continue to shower their praises on our present rulers for pushing ahead with the disputed Bill. No doubt, the Bill has served to draw the line between progressive and retrogressive forces but objections to the Bill as passed should not be taken lightly.
No doubt, the Government could arrange to fill through by-0elections seats vacated by the Opposition Members but in the event of no Opposition candidate coming forward in the by-polls, the results would make the Assemblies unrepresentative in character. This has got to be avoided.
The Government should not take the developments lightly and proceed to do some damage control. In any case, it has to be borne in mind hat religion occupies a pivotal role in our politics and the progressive forces and the women activists constitute a microscopic minority. Our ideological moorings should not and can not be brushed aside.
 

Intolerance in secular Europe

THE Dutch have joined the growing and totally paranoid drive in Europe against all things Islamic. The Netherlands, once hailed as the most tolerant and liberal country in the continent, has become the first European state to impose a total ban on burqa or hijab and veil used by the millions of Muslim women in Europe and around the world.
The ban, coming as it does five days ahead of a general election in the country, leaves one in no doubt that the Dutch politicians are playing to the gallery hoping to win their hardline constituency.
The minister of immigration, Rita Verdonk, has justified the move “on public safety and security grounds”. This concern for “public safety and security” would have you think the terrorists are widely using the Islamic burqa or veil to target the Netherlands. However, according to the Dutch Muslim community, the oldest and one of the most active in Europe, there are only 50 women in the Arab-Muslim community who use burqa or veil to cover their face.
So the explanation that the ban on burqa is in the interest of ‘public safety and security’ is nothing but bunkum. In fact, by resorting to such shortsighted shenanigans, countries like the Netherlands are only further alienating their religious and cultural minorities.
More to the point, moves like these coupled, with the ever widening war on terror, are driving young and unhappy Muslims into the welcoming arms of extremist groups such as Al Qaeda. Last week, Britain reported that its intelligence agencies had neutralised 30 ‘terror plots’ in last one year alone. But why should it be surprising when you have once liberal and multicultural societies such as Britain and France are doing everything to isolate and drive away their large Muslim minorities?
While Britain is punishing its Muslim women for choosing the veil, France has imposed a total ban on headscarf or hijab in its schools.
All this of course is done in the name of Europe’s hallowed traditions of secularism and liberalism. While nudity and all kinds of sexual perversions are hailed as freedom across the West, a lone woman in hijab or veil minding her own business is like a rag to a bull. If this is not hypocrisy, what is?
If Europe is keen to fully integrate its religious minorities making them a healthy and contributing part of its society, it would do well to accept them with all their religious and cultural distinctions and diversity. There is no other model of integration.

—Kahleej Times