It is a battle for God and the battleground is Pakistan.

By Anwaar Hussain

The killing frenzy in Pakistan has reached a feverish pitch. In a rapidly darkening scarlet hue, the extremists are marching on suicide-bombing, beheading and maiming innocent citizens on their bloody path to their murky goal. The naive victims, out of their love for their religion and lack of knowledge of the same, not only cannot tell the difference between the killers and the messiahs, sometimes they indeed sympathize with their executioners. It is a battle for God and the battleground is Pakistan.

Perhaps a time has finally come to call a spade a spade.

By their terror strikes the extremists aim to inspire horror in Pakistan so that she bows her head meekly beneath the brutal yoke of the radicals. It is high time to take cognizance of the fearsome conditions upon which their tyrannical power wants to raise and maintain itself. It is time to see that it is in the name of religion that all oppressors act, only in name. They invoke it, yet they violate it. These extremists are no different.

It is time to tell the killers that they will never succeed because we know who they are and what they stand for. It is time we unmask for all who are watching, the hideous contours of their ghoulish facades.

We vividly remember the brutal reign of the limb chopping, women beating Taliban when they were the law, the masters and the arbiters in the neighboring Afghanistan. We know that these extremists are the progeny of the same people who became renowned for the gruesome punishments meted out to ordinary criminals in Kabul’s stadium, when men and women were routinely stoned to death for the sin of adultery, when limb chopping became so frequent that pictures of a smiling Afghan kid with wreaths of chopped hands and feet around his neck started doing the rounds on the web, when even kite flying was declared a sin and a crime. When, for an Afghan citizenry deprived of all entertainment, those grisly public displays were turned into a patent pleasure.

We know that these extremists are the flag bearers of a tradition that foisted such an excessive violence upon Algeria that its parallel is hard to find in annals of history. Around 200,000 innocent Algerians fell prey to these monsters in the 1990s. In areas south and east of Algiers, for example, their ideological brethren massacred innocent Algerians with a ferocity that shocked the entire world. The Rais and Bentalha massacres in particular were horrific beyond imagination. Pregnant women were sliced open or impaled on spikes, children were disemboweled or hacked to pieces or dashed against walls, men’s limbs were chopped off one by one, and, as the attackers retreated, they kidnapped young women to keep as sex slaves. The GIA, the Armed Islamic Group, claimed credit for both Rais and Bentalha calling the killings an “offering to God” and the victims “impious” supporters of tyrants in a press release.

We know the views of Ali Belhadj, the vice-president of yet another radical Algerian Islamic party, FIS (Front Islamique du Salut), in which he stated;

‘There is no democracy because the only source of power is Allah through the Koran, and not the people. If the people vote against the law of God, this is nothing other than blasphemy. In this case, it is necessary to kill the non-believers for the good reason that they wish to substitute their authority for that of God.’

Of course, he conveniently forgot to add that he and his co-sponsors would be the sole translators of the laws of God a la the Iranian Mullahs. Our home-grown extremists have the same war cry.

It is time to tell the extremists that we know their claim of being the sole interpreters of the divine is a clever move to command every facet of our lives with their wicked creed. It is time to tell them that they are not only way outside the perceived religious center of Pakistani society; they indeed brazenly violate all standards of ethics and morality. It is time to tell them that their ideology is ruthless, irrational, counterproductive, unjustifiable, and otherwise unacceptable to our society and that while they were day dreaming of a distant past, the entire citizenry now wants to participate in political life. The Generals of Pakistan not withstanding, they want the country governing itself by the alternative displacement of majorities and not by granting to a few hallowed ones the right to interpret the divine for all and sundry. And by all that is sacred to the scribe, they WILL achieve this goal in not too distant a future.

It is time to tell the extremists that we know that they want to be the judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one. But we also know that whenever the one charged with executing the laws was at the same time the legislator, tyranny has been the natural result. It is time to remind these extremists that the world has moved on since their dream times. That now the peoples look upon themselves as the arbiters of their own destinies. That the people almost have, or will do soon, destroy privilege, finish undue merit and establish the principles of equality and that they are going to hold these tenets as dear as the blood they are shedding to attain them.

It is time to tell the extremists that we are aware of their game plan and that it is plain to see but hideous. Their ‘Justice for all through Shariah Laws‘ battle cry is but a ruse they are employing to fool the gullible citizenry. They just want to use the law as an instrument of suppression for those who dare to speak out, an excuse to keep the status quo of women, stifle progressive thoughts and choke the sense of inquiry. That they are going to turn the law, more or less, into a whip of convenience with which to flog dissenting views, political or modernistic, whenever required. That their version of the law is going to laser beam onto women as if they are the only sinners. That for the rest of us flogging, amputations and jail-terms are going to be the central theme of the law.

It is time we blew into smithereens their cry of ‘Justice for all’ as well. We do indeed recognize that justice is a basis for the existence of any society. But the foundation of justice is morality whose principles have in them nothing uncertain or ambiguous. These principles, embossed in radiant letters on the conscience of men, are written with bold script into all religions, not just into that of the extremists’. It is from this flawless source in all successful societies, regardless of religion, from which spring all laws, social, political, monetary, and global.

It is time to tell them that we know that when their kind of people is made the sole translators of the divine, the principle of divine sovereignty itself becomes a destructive tool. Shedding ever more blood in the name of God, it becomes the very incarnation of violence. Like the Taliban’s era of the yore, it makes not just the rulers but of the people too a ferocious beast which sleeps only when satiated with blood. We have to only look around in the Islamic world. We need to tell the extremists that their kind of divinity goes in cycles of first engendering demagogy that causes mayhem that produces dictatorship which gives birth to savagery which in turn gives the rulers an excuse for even more draconian measures.

If this battle is to be won, it is time to arm ourselves with knowledge about those who have thrust this battle upon us. It is time we knew who these people really are. It is time we discovered that these extremists are people who are simply incapable of moderation in the exercise of their religion. It is time we understood that religion is just a convenient excuse they are using to launch their dark agendas. It is time to comprehend once and for all that whoever kills innocent human beings for a better social order is more an agent of the Satan than God. It is time to disgrace their sick creed, not to build altars to it.

It is also time to ask a few questions of these extremists. They need to be asked why it is only young children they use as suicide bombers, why not the fat handlers themselves who are gorging senseless on rice and mutton while these kids explode in crimson showers of their own blood. They need to be asked if it is true that because the head of the suicide bomber is almost always found intact, giving clues leading to the vipers nest, the kids now have instructions to look down the moment they are pulling the handle so that their faces go to eternity with them. They need also to be asked if it is true that Baitullah Mehsood, the chief of suicide bombers, issues certificates to these kids to show at the pearly gates of heaven.

It is also time to ask these extremists that if we worship the same God, why their God is so blood thirsty?

Author’s Note : Nothing of what has been argued above suggests that if the ideology of the Pakistani extremists is evil, that of the Neocons’, their nemesis, smells like roses. That, to be sure, already lies dead and decaying buried deep beneath a million Iraqi corpses. The answer perhaps lies somewhere in between, the scribe knows not where.

Copyrights : Anwaar Hussain

Email : eagleeye@emirates.net.ae

Battle for God; Battleground Pakistan

Comments

33 Responses to “Battle for God; Battleground Pakistan”

Keith Mothersson on February 15th, 2008 2:10 am

I understood that a large number of the massacres in Algeria were false-flag state terror, in so far as the ‘Islamic’ extremists had been thoroughly penetrated in order to discredit any opposition to the ruling regime. The West knew fine well that many of the killings were the work of phoney outfits; also that as the scale of the slughter increased nearly all were the work of the army donning ‘Islamic’ gear and descending on villages (of devout Muslims who just happened to have good land the elite wanted to get hold off) and butchering them, with the press invited round next morning.

I am sure that many of the fanatics you speak of are home-grown, but to the extent that they/we allow ourselves to be motivated by hatred, to that extent we become easy to manipulate. And therefore, just as useful idiots can be found among extreme nationalists or leftists and anarchists sometimes (Red brigade in Italy, RAF in Germany) so the PTB will often be able to either egg on these groups or encourage them and point them at targets the PTB select, just by whispering the magic hate labels in their ears. So the more extreme groups are, the greater the likelihood that this is occurring, IMO. Also the greater the turnover among the leadership, the sooner groups can be taken over entirely.

Haven’t the imperialists often backed extreme relgious groups as a counterweight to e.g. Nasserism, socialism, etc?

So let us be a little careful in equating domestic fanatacism with the crusader-global takeover variety?

The banning of kites wqas stupid and repressive, but it is surely the CIA who then hire writers or promote bestsellers to publicise these repressive mistakes by THE OTHER WHOM WE ARE ALLOWED TO HATE, all with the huge role of the US neatly sanitised …. (Likewise Reading Lolita in Tehran - which isn’t to sanitise the terrible things which the Iranian regime has at times done, and may continue to do in places - just a plea for balance, care not to fall into well laid ideological booby-traps …)
MKHan on February 15th, 2008 2:33 am

Anwaar ,Your article is reasonable.But you miss few points,1)There are many players in such arena,like in Lebanon,Palestine,or Afghanistan.WHy would Pakistan be any different,this is not denying the extremism.But if we want to analyse the situation than the biggest blame comes on Napak Fauj because it ruled Pakistan for over 3 decades yet it did every thing to block implementation of merit.If and when merit will be implemented,not only law and order,situation will improve but alos crime and corruption will die.Why don’t you write on this your “paity bhais”for the sake of Pakistani people and peace.
Anwaar on February 15th, 2008 6:01 am

Keith,

I see your point in cautioning on the subject. And yes the Algerian government’s security operators have indeed been involved in those massacres but not to a degree that the two groups that I have mentioned in my article did. Those groups even publicly claimed responsibility for many of the massacres.

Many crimes have been committed, many children have been killed, and many throats have been cut in Algeria. The AIG seems to have done most of the killing. The AIG was highly fragmented at the time. It was fragmented into smaller factions with leaders of their own. There was no center of control. There were also militias, private militias that were involved in the killings. There were individuals who are fighting over land and land grabs. Yet all were doing it in the name of religion. So much so that these forces have now almost completely alienated themselves from the Algerian public. Not only that, factions within the Islamic revolutionary movement began drifting in directions so extreme, or “Takfiri”, that even the leaders of Al-Qaida found them to be distasteful.

You would notice that your plea for balance is well heeded at Truth Spring. It is thus that I devote 90% of not only my own writing but also others’ work that I post to countering the machinations and propaganda of the Imperialist/Zionist forces.

Thank you for commenting.
Jonathan Stephenson on February 15th, 2008 8:35 am

First Anwaar I offer my condolences for these continued actions by evil men in your nation, they also operate around the world, all for the same reason, power, all using similar tactics, in all stages of accomplishing there goals, of spreading terror, many in religions, in belief systems that are not theistic but of race hate, of sexual orientation hate, of human hate, all willing to destroy, maim, kill in the name of their god or cause, and all a tiny majority of the population, most poor, but driven by wealthy and glory hungry men, power mad, some plainly insane, others sociopathic, more psychopathic, and all so completely and hopelessly lost in their own minds and beliefs that reason and truth has no chance to touch them. However there is one thing that connects all these various people, beliefs, organizations, sicknesses together, and that is corrupt and hopelessly evil men, who are none of the above, but are the teachers, the enablers of these men, and these people truly need to be dealt with first, to stop the supply of their human weapons, and any and all means need to be used to do this, for many if not most of these people are honored in their own societies, and difficult to get to, but without doing this, this war against these men cannot be won, for they have a limitless supply of those mentioned previously in my statement here, to do their bidding for as long as we let them. All people of good character need to, indeed are required to work together, no matter their faith, no matter their belief system, to stop these threats to the existence of humanity as a whole, may this begine now, it means buckets of blood every day until this is accomplished, and some of that blood may be yours, or your loved ones.
Vidrohi on February 15th, 2008 2:20 pm

Good essay. I specifically liked the end-note. Both neo-cons and religious extermism is the enemy of the people and their freedom.

I will like to have your comment on some of the articles that I have uploaded at my blog about religious extremism.

http://reddiarypk.wordpress.co.....+extremism
Bob on February 15th, 2008 5:57 pm

Anwaar, I congratulate you on your courage. You are right: God is merciful, not merciless.

Bob
Anwaar on February 16th, 2008 9:17 pm

Here is the latest;

ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry confirmed that at least 37 people were killed in Parachinar suicide blast Saturday outside an election office of an independent candidate backed by PPP.

“The death toll is now 37,” interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said after the attack in the northwestern tribal town of Parachinar, bordering Afghanistan.

The ministry confirmed that the blast was suicide attack.

“Twenty-one people died and 93 were injured. It’s a very severe emergency, a lot of the wounded are in a critical condition,” a doctor at the main hospital in Parachinar was quoted as saying earlier.

A correspondent of an international news agency present at the hospital said he had counted at least 21 dead bodies.

Talking to media, a security official earlier said that a suicide bomber attacked a Pakistan People’s Party meeting outside the party office in Parachinar.

“A man with long hair drove a car into the crowd and blew himself up,” a witness added.

Another security official said the blast happened outside the office of local PPP candidate Riaz Hussain in Parachinar, the main town in the Kurram tribal region.

In a separate incident in the nearby Bajaur tribal area militants blew up a polling station with a timebomb, police said.

Latest update

Toll rises to 46 in Pakistan suicide blast ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 (AFP) - The death toll from a suicide bombing at an election rally in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Parachinar rose to 46 Sunday, a security official said. “Now the death toll is 46. There are around 50 critically wounded people. They are being evacuated to Peshawar,” the official told AFP. The town was tense and streets were empty ahead of Monday’s parliamentary elections. Paramilitary soldiers had taken up positions in the town to control violence. Angry supporters of the candidate on Saturday night burned down several shops and damaged some government buildings.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/17/welcome.htm

Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=37664
Anwaar on February 17th, 2008 2:31 pm

Here is some more;

Boy confesses to suicide attack training

RAWALPINDI, Feb 16: A teenager arrested for his role in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto admitted in his statement before a special judicial magistrate here on Saturday that he had got training for carrying out suicide bombing and was ready to blow himself up.

Aitzaz Shah said in his statement before Magistrate Chaudhry Toufiq Ahmed that he was a Hafiz-i-Quran and studied at a madressah in his native Mansehra city. According to sources, the boy said he had developed fascination with Jihad in Karachi and gone to Waziristan to get training as a suicide bomber.

The judge sent him to Adiala central jail on judicial remand for 14 days. He will be presented in an anti-terrorism court on March 1 with his accomplice Sher Zaman.

A joint investigation team presented Sher Zaman before ATC 1 Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman and submitted that it had completed interrogation of the accused. The judge sent the accused to the jail for 14 days on judicial remand.

Sher Zaman, like four other suspects — Aitzaz, Hasnain, Rafaqat and Abdul Rasheed — did not confess to his alleged role of a facilitator to the man who carried out the gun and suicide attack on Ms Bhutto.

Source : http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/17/top12.htm
Anwaar on February 17th, 2008 10:01 pm

Suicide Bomber Kills 80 in Afghanistan

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021708Y.shtml

Allauddin Khan of The Associated Press reports: “A suicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded scores more Sunday, a governor said, in what appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.”

Given below is the text of an email that I sent to my readers today. Most of the replies that follow are going to be to this message.

Subject : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

Dear Readers,

This email is particularly addressed to my Muslim readers, especially to my Pakistani readers. Others can comment if they feel like doing so. I will be grateful to them.

The response to Battle for God is not only thoroughly disheartening, it is truly amazing.

Pakistan is deep in the midst of its worst crisis. The country may not even remain in the shape that it is in right now. You, I and others like us are supposed to be the elites of Pakistani society alive to the situation. I wrote the article at the link below to generate a discussion amongst this very group to trouble shoot, to reach a consensus, to diagnose the problem. To my horror, none have thought it fit to respond save for a few Westerners and an odd Pakistani from New York who too got it all wrong (in my opinion, that is).

Here is the link once again;

http://truthspring.info/2008/0.....-Pakistan/

Now please, I repeat please, help me by copying and pasting one of the following to me in reply to this email;

1. You are doing the battle on our behalf, so March on. Do not chicken out by asking our opinions.

2. You are absolutely wrong. Here is what is happening in Pakistan at the moment. (Attach your reasons)

3. My English is poor. Much that I would like to respond, I simply cannot. (In which case write/phone call me in any language. I will do the needful for you. Or simply say so, I will record it on the site as such without disclosing your identity)

4. You are a bad Muslim yourself. How do you know of Muslims’/Pakistan’s problems?

5. I am scared witless. Even commenting on this article will, somehow, put me on the line for the head-chopping squad. (I promise to keep you anonymous. I am known to keep my promises.)

6. Mr. Anwaar, it is Silence of the Lambs that you once mentioned in your article all over again. We deserve the fate so it is useless commenting on it.

7. I don’t care. You, Pakistan and all who care about this problem can go to hell.

8. The reason for my not commenting is none of the above. Here is my reason.

I would be thankful for a maximum response.

Warm regards,

Anwaar Hussain
S.A. on February 17th, 2008 10:31 pm

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

My children have been threatened with physical violence and are in great danger. Is that a good enough answer? Please don’t try and play on my guilt. If you had any idea what was on my plate right now….

No need to be anonymous, I never hide.

P.S. “You are doing the battle on our behalf, so March on. Do not chicken out by asking our opinions.” You are a voice of reason and conscience. We all fight different battles and choose who we will support. I support your battle, just as I know I have the silent, but strong support of fellow Muslims who know what I am up against.

S.A.
John Kaminski on February 17th, 2008 11:36 pm

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

The situation in Pakistan is similar to many other places in the world, including the United States, only bloodier than most, but less bloody than some. The only way to peace anywhere and everywhere is to transcend religions that are deliberately manipulated for evil political purposes. Then and only then will each of us find our way to God and to peace.
Hanna on February 18th, 2008 1:24 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

Anwaar - I read the article and learned a lot about the dynamics in Pakistan. I have to tell you, that I feel uniquely unqualified to even discuss it - which - didn’t make the article less important and impressive. But I simply get completely lost, when religion, and especially fundamentalism, is a component of social dynamics and government in a nation. To me, being Danish and totally a-theistic, it sounds absurd - my thoughts goes something like this: I simply cannot believe in a book written centuries ago- first handed down verbally then compiled into a book. To top that off - generation after generation of clergy/Imams/what have you - start interpreting an already difficult text according to their own experiences and for their own purposes. I am truly handicapped in that area, because I cannot take it serious - despite all the bloodshed having arisen from it.

Hanna
ACW on February 18th, 2008 1:27 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

1. You are doing the battle on our behalf, so March on. Do not chicken out by asking our opinions.

A concerned westerner.

You got it right, near as I can tell. However this is not my area of expertise…
Richard on February 18th, 2008 1:29 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

Howdy Anwaar,

Your passionate plea is heart breaking. But I’m sure you already know that most of us DO actually read all your articles. Sure we don’t always comment on them, except perhaps occasionally, but read? yes we always, at least most of us. And not only do we enjoy the subject you select, we also enjoy your persuading writing style which no doubt is unique and thought provoking. Having said that, many of us, Anwaar, are either too lazy or our priorities are elsewhere to provide comments….so do please keep writing. We all enjoy reading your stuff.

Richard
Tom Edgar on February 18th, 2008 5:07 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

Anwaar old friend.

Your voice is needed, but needed on a much bigger screen. Like the person from Denmark this elderly lifelong Atheist sometimes finds it difficult to comprehend the mentality of religious people let alone religious extremists.

I along with all the Atheists/Agnostics I know would never consider a violent act against some one just because they had a religious conviction. That one would have a violent reaction against not only non believers but against their own because they interpret things differently or deviate from the rules is unthinkable.

I do not advocate wars or violence. The futility of military intervention in Afghanistan over the centuries leads to the conclusion that the present actions will be just as inconclusive. What then is the alternative? Military actions that are not designed to eliminate e.g. “Peace Keeping” are doomed to failure. Only an all out annihilating excursion of devastating force will suffice. Something that the western mind doesn’t wish to contemplate. Is there another way.??? I doubt it.

tomedgar@halenet.com.au

Tom Edgar Australia.
Michelle on February 18th, 2008 6:39 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God?

Anwaar:

Your essay confronts and presents the dark side of religion. Your plea for responses from Muslim readers and the lack of comment might suggest that your probing may be causing some internal questioning of beliefs that many hold dear. There is too the fear for safety factor that S.A. mentioned which is an understandable reason for silence…I do not wish to address that here.

I, as other readers have indicated, view the tragic deaths and use of children in suicide bombing with horror and some amount of amazement…It is illogical to me. To the faithful, I assume that it is deeply disturbing and poses as an embarrassment to their religion for the bombers are also deeply faithful and the men who prompt them claim to be adherents to Islam.

What arises in myself when I hear of such is a necessity for discussion of religion and to ask: What good has it done?

The Abrahamic religions [Judaism, Christianity, and Islam] have existed for 2600 years and humanity may not be getting any better for them. The trajectory of these 2600 years is one long jagged plunge into terror and destruction. Whatever good has been achieved in the name of these religions [and may well have been achieved without them, if we believe in the basic goodness of humanity] has been massively overruled by the behavioral insanity demonstrated through the ages by believers, behavior that is now culminating in the threat of a global holocaust, eagerly awaited, and perhaps deliberately precipitated, but a great number of the faithful.

Things in the world stand today as they have for a long time already: the most violent, threatening developments on the planet are driven by religious beliefs drawn from the three Abrahamic creeds. The worst hatred confronting humanity is, and always has been, “sectarian” hatred. Why?

One explanation is: Abrahamic religion is the supreme expression of patriarchy, and patriarchy, by definition, is a program of control by covert psychological coercion and overt violence. Patriarchy has been called dominator culture or domination culture. The act of domination closely relates to “salvationism.”

Judgment is a basic element in the salvationist program. Jehovah judges, Christ judges, Allah judges. All the creeds are unanimous on this point. Bear in mind that “You are judged by God” is a human statement, made by men who claim to be emissaries of the judgmental father-son deities. This assertion that God judges us exemplifies the tactic of the Abrahamic religions: a man tells us what God wants of us. Presumably, the man who speaks in this way has been previously briefed by God. That is an issue of faith. Patriarchal religion demands that we believe the men who speak for God, that we take them on their word, which is God’s word. And consistent with the violence inherent to patriarchy, the word of God is threatening, menacing. God judges you, so you must do this and that in order to be well judged, to get good marks, to have your soul saved by the very entity who threatens to condemn it. The threat tactic is very effective in setting up a social control program. It is here that the Neocons’, or military government of Pakistan, become not the nemesis of the Pakistani extremists, but in truth, their best friend and supporter; the same is true, most particularly, in reverse. At this point, a thinking Pakistani might ponder on the sudden increase of extreme religious elements and behavioral insanity at the same point in time when democratic freedoms in Pakistan can be lost to Shariah law taking the place of civil law.

You ask the question why children are used. Millions of people submit to the tactic mentioned above. Bear in mind, however, that submission is gained from an early age, when the believer-to-be is weak and impressionable. The tactic is applied within families, exerted on children before they can even speak, and enforced in all kinds of ways. No choice is involved in adopting the belief that God rewards those who obey His rules. [as defined by the men like Baitullah Mehsood, the chief of suicide bombers who issues certificates to these kids to show at the pearly gates of heaven..] Children have this belief laid into them long before they can question or protest it. Later in life dissent is nearly impossible. The die is cast.

In the extortionist framework of patriarchal religion, human action has no authenticity apart from the framework of redemption, human kindness has no value except as a means to an end. A deed done for its own sake, for the pleasure of seeing someone benefit, and, indeed, for the sheer pleasure of performing it, is not forbidden, but it is assumed that we are unlikely to perform such a deed, left to our basic inclinations. To act morally we must go against our natural inclinations, for they will never lead us to do good. The belief hidden in this view of human nature is that we are innately corrupt. Therefore, prudential morality appeals to those who believe they are corrupt. Or, to peer through yet another lay of dissimulation, who have been made to believe they are corrupt and need religion to overcome this.

To the extremist and moderate alike, faith is a role model for humanity, yes, but they may also be there, or stay there, because they have surrendered something deep in their own humanity, and the aching emptiness so produced acts like a reverse vacuum, sucking them into a collective wave of experience. Those who become enmeshed with the authorities [of the salvationist system] become their prisoners, due to their lack of perception. On the guileless, good and pure among you, the authorities will impose a deathlike burden, a kingdom of enslavement for those who expect salvation to restore them. And they will praise those who allow the propagation of falsehood. They will become greatly defiled and will fall into the name of error, and under the power of evil, cunning agents and diverse dogmas, they will be perversely overwhelmed. Islam is a religion advocated by billions of people, but rarely chosen by anyone. The same could be said of Judaism and Christianity, the two other world-scale religions derived from the Abrahamic cult of the ancient Hebrews. Those who belong to these faiths rarely join them by choice. Once joined to the fold of the faithful, they are rarely left free to consider the choice of looking elsewhere. Almost without exception, conversion occurs under huge psychological pressure and mass persuasion.

I challenge male spiritual authority head on, confront patriarchy on its deepest terrain, the spiritual control strategy of salvationism. This is not a message of divine truth; it is a sick, self-consoling deception of the human soul, and the pretext for brutal political ideology.

Thank you for this opportunity for discussion of my opinions.
Yours in the Light,
Michelle
liz burbank on February 18th, 2008 8:30 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God

The unspeakable terror and destruction is basically politically driven — fundamentalist religion serves as its fascist handmaid. The primary source of this state-sponsored terrrorism is u.s imperialism and its proxy israel. Obscuring this reality only serves its genocidal hegemonic agenda.

As Karl Marx explained truthfully and powerfully:

The foundation of irreligious criticism is:

“Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and
self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore,indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.
Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

from Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

http://www.marxists.org/archiv...../intro.htm
Masroor ul Hassan on February 18th, 2008 11:20 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God

Anwaar Hussein,

I am sorry for not commenting promptly. I read your article over and over again but failed to pick my pen for some strange reason; numbness of my right hand (left indicates impending heart trouble!!).

You are lucky for not suffering from this disease. This is specific to so called well read intelligentsia. Writing hand gets numb when most needed. That is why we normally cannot cast our vote too.

When your heart bleeds, unlike us, your hand gets activated and creates amazingly lucid and valuable lines making other hearts to bleed too. My heart bled too but that damn numbness!

What you have written has been haunting us all for a long time now. What factors are responsible for such inhuman behaviour? Is it religion or some other motivation?

Michelle believes,” The trajectory of these 2600 years is one long jagged plunge into terror and destruction……. , behavior that is now culminating in the threat of a global holocaust, eagerly awaited, and perhaps deliberately precipitated, but a great number of the faithful.”

OR is it a volatile retort to the nuisance of dictatorial subjugation? M Khan seems to be advocating that when he dares you to,” Why don’t you write on this your “paity bhais” for the sake of Pakistani people and peace.”

I couldn’t agree more with Michelle’s comment,” To act morally we must go against our natural inclinations, for they will never lead us to do good.” But doesn’t that contradict what she is trying to say “Bear in mind that “You are judged by God”.

In my opinion, natural inclinations need to be harnessed and tamed. Until a new and plausible philosophy replacing present belief system emerges, the Abrahamic religions [Judaism, Christianity, and Islam] seem to be useful only if not abused.

I think the brewing turmoil has nothing to do with any religion. Anarchy is serving the purpose of a select few and that too in so called developed nations.

How can the neocons justify their dismay at truce brokered between Taliban and Pakistan government? Do they actually want peace? How can it be justified that the biggest democracy of the world has opened several consulates across Pakistan’s Western border?

Amwaar Hussein, it is simple and straight! They are getting all this bloodshed done.

The only way left for us is to launch a movement across our country, specially your rugged region, to make people aware of this atrocious agenda of evil leaders of developed and democratic world.

Remember Anwaar, their English is poor!!

Best Regards,

Masroor
Jonathan Stephenson on February 18th, 2008 11:37 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God

This issue isn’t about religion, it is about power, all such insurections have been about power since man first became socialized. Religion is but a convienient excuse and the truth is that 99% of the people suffer and die at the bidding of the 1% who want to be in charge, it’s been this way since the dawn of modern history and it is only through education that it will change. It is people, not religion, not fanaticism, not even greed, but just a small sick psycophathic/sociopathic group of genetic freaks that this is and has always been about, that and the 99% who are willing to suffer this, rather than educate and lift themselves up to learn about history and the truth of it and take charge of their own lives. Jon
Alee on February 18th, 2008 11:41 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God

Michelle:

Passing judgments, whether it is a zealot, or an enlightened person like you doing it is decadent. Religions, irrespective of their origin do not condone violence. They give us a code of moral and social conduct. I am sure; we would have achieved it with or without calling it a religion. There would have been people propagating it, with or without calling themselves prophets.

Unfortunately, like all dogmas, religion is the most potent tool to incite people into performing immoral and inhuman acts. Have innocent people not been subjected to genocide in the name of communism or democracy? Does it render communism or democracy evil? I am only trying to make a point.

I was born and brought up in Pakistan. I had the “honor” of living amongst the “elite” like Mr. Hussain and those who consider the “elite” like Mr. Hussain a few notches below themselves. I also had the “misfortune” of interacting for four decades, at a very personal level, with the lesser humans: the working class of Pakistan.

What is happening in Pakistan is not about religion. The roots of the problem lie in social and economic inequality and injustice perpetuated by the “elite” and the more “elite.”

Area wise, Pakistan is almost as big as the State of Texas and has a population of one hundred and sixty million (More than half the population of USA) with one of the higher population growth rates in the world. In the sixty years since its creation as an independent country, there has been no investment in the fields of education, research and development, health or infrastructure. The common people of Pakistan do not have food to eat, clean water to drink, education and healthcare for their children and the opportunity to better their lives. With no hope for future, they are fodder to the Mullahs who have found in religion, a potent recipe to come by power and money.

This is only one facet of a multi-faceted problem. In the jungle that Pakistan has become; police runs the crime gangs. The standards of law and justice are lopsided. A member of the “elite” can get away with rape, murder or narcotic trafficking while a common man can be thrown behind the bars for selling candy on the wrong side of the road.

Army virtually rules the country even when there is an elected government. Intelligence agencies control criminal gangs and religious - political parties that have their very own crime gangs. Political and religious parties are pitted against each other in blood feuds to retain control over them. (Ask for true accounts)

In this circumstance, every single Pakistani, barring the “elite” is a volcano of hate and desperation, ready to erupt. No body in Pakistan but the “elite” can read English. So, who are these futile articles aimed at? It is not the Mullah or the suicide bomber that is the problem. They are only an obvious product of the mess created by the uncivil and immoral elite over the past sixty years.

Pakistan is not only a failed country but also a failed society. Mr. Hussain and others like him need to do some soul searching. History will take its natural course in Pakistan. Pakistan might subsist as is, or new geographical and social entities might emerge. In any case, history will take its natural course. What has been sown will be reaped. I just hope the new tomorrow for Pakistan, does not dawn from a sea of blood.
G.C. on February 18th, 2008 11:57 am

Re : Amazing apathy, Battle for God

Anwaar,

What is happening in Pakistan has happened repeatedly throughout human history. With a difference. Man’s natural prejudice against any person who is different has been exploited by a greedy group of the most powerful and wealthy of the world. More wealth and more power is accumulated by selling weapons, food, raw materials, and other essentials to those in whom the need has been created by those who are already rich and powerful. God is a convenient subject of battle in your country because organized religion is such an important part of your culture. Elsewhere, like Zimbabwe, the subject of battle began as the distribution of land. Labels such as “westerner” and “Middle Easterner” and “Asian” serve to divide us. There are many of us working at the local level and at national levels in the U.S. doing what we are capable of to keep good in the world. We have worked for years and will work until we die. I am an American grandmother of 13, Viet Nam Era veteran, and a Pan-Theist. Lists have been and are being made and I figure that you have many more readers than you know; they are simply afraid.
Phil on February 18th, 2008 1:16 pm

Re : Amazing Apathy, Battle for God

Dear Anwaar,

1. You are doing the battle on our behalf, so march on.

Thanks for “Battle for God; Battleground Pakistan”. I am near London, in the UK. I was going to send you some comments, and even started composing the message, but then didn’t send it. Then two things happened.

First, there was news that said that some people in court for possession of extremist literature had been acquitted, because the judge ruled that possession did not mean they were going to do anything. Which was quite a relief. I think it is good to have legitimate access to extremists’ materials, because then we can point out how wrong it is.

Second, you sent your mail appealing for more comments. So here it is.

———————————

I have been reading “The Islamist” by Ed Husain, subtitled “Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left”. It was an excellent book. Ed Husain is on your side.

From reading the book, I knew that a lot of people complain that the West is arrogant, but I didn’t know that extremist groups have supremacist tendencies too. Each group thinks itself better than the other groups and everybody else as well, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. I hadn’t heard that Mohammed respected Christians, acknowledged that there would always be non-Muslims, and had what we call the “British” value of a sense of fair play.

It was sad to read that sometimes it is most helpful and good-natured young men who are the most susceptible to being manipulated by the politically motivated and turned into suicide bombers.

On the other hand it was heartening to see that Husain’s parents were against their son’s involvement from the start, and even the strongest views can later be renounced.

Keep writing,

Phil
Slim shady on February 18th, 2008 1:19 pm

Re : Amazing Apathy, Battle for God

I won’t look at any links but in my opinion all organized religions are evil. More people have been murdered and tortured in Religions name then killed in all of earths wars ever. I believe there is something after death but I have no idea what it is. Nobody can know the faith that awaits them after they die. They can guess, hope, be fearful or self confident in their belief. Other then that I wish peace would be the highest priority of all country’s. I’m sick of war. My whole life has been one war after another. A country who sends their young to war, murders them, maims them and causes them deep sorrow for all their life.

Peace.

The Shady life
Anwaar on February 18th, 2008 2:00 pm

Thank you all for this tremendous response. I am overwhelmed by this prolific gesture of the TS readers.

I am only waiting for all the comments to accumulate and then I plan to gather all the observations by various commentators in one whole text.(anonymous of course)

My agreeing or disagreeing with a commentator does not matter (including with those who, out of the the many definitions of the word “elites”, chose only to pursue the “French Elites” sense or with those who thought that the article was written for the Mullah to read whose English is very poor). What matters is that we have heard each other with calm, without foaming at the mouths and are getting more and more informed of each others’ points of view.

Therein lies the hope.

Thank you once again and please continue commenting without waiting for a response from me.

Anwaar
the olive ream on February 18th, 2008 6:03 pm

Re : Amazing Apathy, Battle for God

Brilliant piece Anwaar as always but this article stands out because of the requisite attention to an issue that is not adequately discussed or debated.

Extremism/radicalism in all its morphed forms is growing in disturbing numbers. In Pakistan, it has taken root like a cancer. Indifference, apathy or fear on part of the public is the real cause of silence from the majority. It is time to speak up. The madness of skewed religious beliefs, the exploitation of religion for avarice continues to grow. The whole terrorism/extremism scenario through which Pakistan suffers through today is exploited by the radicals to spread more of their insanity and is exploited by the government to repress the average citizenry and destroy the remaining sembelance of human and civil rights.

It is time to speak up and shout against the insanity of using ‘religion’ as the reason for justifying radical/extreme behaviour. Be it a neo-con sitting in 1600 pennsylvania avenue who invades a country and kills thousands of innocent people for the sake of a divine calling to spread ‘democracy and freedom’ under the guise of war on terror OR a bearded lunatic issuing orders to the impressionable, brain-washed, black-mailed youth to kill themselves for a cause that holds no divine relevance.

It is time to get intolerant with the intolerant. It is time to curse, mock, ridicule and demean all religious extremists; with or without beards!!
Sumiya on February 18th, 2008 7:26 pm

A sensible input in general. Thumbs up!

But throughout the write-up, you keep lamenting and wailing over the same point: “It is time to tell the extremists this and it is time to tell the extremists that.” Now don’t you think that “the extremists” already “know” all these things. They “KNOW” that masses in Pakistan do not support them. Even the Taalibaan “knew” that they were acutely detested by the locals. Their damned God forsaken hearts and minds “know” the ground realities, but these fiends are doing what they can do best: TERRORIZING and spilling innocent blood to achieve their sly motives…. motives of ruthless and forceful domination. Nobody can ram down the scathing veracity of the current upheaval in the world scenario down their throats, because they “Know” these facts better than us. And it is their “knowing” that has made the propagation of terrorism much more easy for them.

Au Revoirs.
Anwaar on February 18th, 2008 9:10 pm

Re : Sumiya’s comment

And here I was, thinking that I would not respond to any of the comments.

Such an outstanding comment marred by the little distracter that Sumiya thinks that the article was intended for the Taliban’s eyes.

No Sumiya No.

I kept on “lamenting and wailing over the same point” over and over again because it is not the extremists’ throat down which I want to ‘ram down’ this message, those throats parched dry and closed shut as they already are. It is yours, mine and a million other so called educated elites of Pakistan, the movers and shakers of opinions and attitudes in that blighted country whose apathy has brought us to this turn, that I want to ‘ram this message down’ and open it to fresh intake. To tell any one any thing, we have to know it first. And the prospects of which, after reading so many comments from that part of the world, are not visible any where on the horizons even now. That is the reason that I kept “lamenting and wailing over the same point” over and over again.

Of the extremists, I asked only three questions given at the last but one paragraph. Sabe?

I thought it was simple as that. How perceptions differ!

Any way, thank you for commenting Sumiya. An agreement is not a requirement to comment.
Mike on February 18th, 2008 9:14 pm

Re : Amazing Apathy, Battle for God

Twelve inches of snow in six hours, an ice storm on top of that has kept me off the satellite internet connection for the last few days. I managed to produce my blogtalkradio show early Friday morning before it all went off line.

I will post on the Flyer a link to your article … I read it early yesterday. I think it is too honest for many who must cling dogmatically to ideology and religion. I’m just a hillbilly anarchist without much religion but a big heart for the underdogs. Your website is first class.

Your friend,

Mike Caddell
Bodicca on February 19th, 2008 10:31 pm

Anwaar — I have been following your insightful, beautifully written work for some time, and despite the fact that I do not usually post a comment, I very much enjoy and appreciate your efforts. It is to be noted that the leaders of most of the religions of the world misinterpret their holy books to further their own political or financial ends or their misguided agendas, and to maintain their power over the people. The opiate of the masses, indeed. Fundamentalism seems to be the order of the day, and the dark ages are once again approaching unless the people of the world are willing to be enlightened. Please keep up your good work
dt1 on February 20th, 2008 5:31 am

Many thanks,my dear friend. I wish I could express my appreciation for Anwaar’s brilliant essay,and the equally enlightened responses. Reminds me of the wild old days on the rooftop…Gods,has it really been 5 years?

Much love and respect;

CH
Tahir on February 21st, 2008 10:20 pm

Dear Writer, When you choose to wage a war against a social evil, based upon your high morality or the basic tenets of humanity, you ought to remember a bitter fact; it’s a personal war despite being a collective problem. It’s your personal armour you’ve to go out with and jostle with these demons. Like one of your readers penned down, ” My children are threatened” ;most of us have similar fears, though of varied degrees. Let me be the first one to admit that it’s my cowardice that strengthens these believers of gore and bloodshed. It’s my very personal failure in not educating my immediates about the peace our beautiful religion preaches; to tell them that you cant win love by hating. But end of the day, you have answer to this apathy in your letter, ie “Mr. Anwaar, it is Silence of the Lambs that you once mentioned in your article all over again. We deserve the fate so it is useless commenting on it.”
Anwaar on February 25th, 2008 6:52 pm

RAWALPINDI: Lt. General, Dr. Mushtaq Baig was martyred while his guard and driver were killed on the spot in a suicide bomb attack at busy Mall Road in garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday.

The Interior Ministry has confirmed deaths of four persons in the explosion executed at around 2:45 PM near NADRA office.

The suicide bomber was on foot, who blew himself up by the car of Lt. Gen. Mushtaq Baig which was stationary before a red signal, said the Interior Ministry officials .

The suicide bomber, aged around 15 to 18 years, had a fair complexion.

Source : http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=38440
Anwaar on February 26th, 2008 2:02 pm

20,000 scholars term terrorism un-Islamic: Declaration issued at Darul-Uloom Deoband

LUCKNOW, Feb 25: Muslim scholars on Monday condemned terrorism as un-Islamic. They issued the edict at a leading madressah in northern India which some believe inspired the Taliban movement, a senior cleric said.

A declaration by scholars and clerics representing different sects of Islam also called on the government to ensure Muslims were not harassed in the name of terrorism, Maulana Shaukat told reporters.

Speaking from the 150-year-old Darul-Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur, 435km from the Uttar Pradesh capital, he said about 20,000 scholars and clerics took part.

The declaration said: “Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism.

“It has regarded oppression, mischief, rioting and murder among severest sins and crimes. Islam prohibits killing of innocent people.”

The group called on the government to ensure “the Muslim community are not harassed and tortured in the name of terrorism”.

Adil Siddiqui, another spokesman for the Deoband school, noted that “whenever there is any incident of terrorism, every possible attempt is made to link it to Muslims, particularly who have studied in madressahs. This is totally wrong.”

The declaration comes after several incidents of global terrorism involving Indian Muslims. The most prominent is Kafeel Ahmed, an Indian aeronautical engineer, who died during a botched attempt to attack Glasgow airport in June last year.

His brother Sabeel, a doctor, is also being investigated by British police over his alleged involvement in the Glasgow attack. Charges against a third Indian, Mohammed Haneef, a doctor working at a hospital in Australia’s Gold Coast, collapsed.

Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai welcomed the declaration, saying: “In the Indian context, the declaration is significant as it reflects the growing anxiety among the clergy over the involvement of some Indians in alleged terror plots.”—AFP

Source : http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/26/top11.htm

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(The country that Bush wants to bomb)
TO OUR READERS:
ALSO THE IRAN PHOTO GALLERY WAS SABOTAGED (in addition to other attacks on the site lately).

Uruknet is up and working! (as to 5 of May 2008) Technicians were able to fix the problem. In the past few weeks there were three major hacking attacks against Uruknet. Despite having a powerful Firewall, they were helpless against big D O S (Denial of Service) attacks. Yesterday alone there were more than 100 simultaneously. Other sites that deal in truth spreading have also been under attack, What Really Happened among them. The tactics are the same and most likely so are the culprits, the ashkenazo-zionists. Those that spread hate, lies and deceit are deathly afraid of the truth. THIS MUST NOT BE TOLERATED.

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Anwaar’s articles appear simultaneously here at Truth Spring and at Soul Vibes in The Pakistan Tribune.

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