Islam (the religion) usually gets hit with all manner of criticism and abuse, because of what its followers (Muslims, or supposed Muslims) do. I don’t buy that. It doesn’t wash. I don’t seek to glibly make excuses for barbarity or anything of that nature ostensibly carried out in the name of Islam, because that’s inexcusable. However, it’s like saying Christianity supports the acts of genocidal rapists because of what the Serbs did at Foca during the Bosnian civil war. Sure the Serbs may fit the bill, but you can’t condemn a whole religion for the acts of people who claim to adhere to it. When you’re hit with repeated examples of ‘honour killings’ in certain societies though, and examples of how the notion of ‘honour’ ensures even the most horrific of crimes are covered up, you start to wonder just what the hell is wrong.

  

Why does this notion of ‘honour’ in strongly patriarchal, nominally Islamic societies make it permissible to cover up rape and sexual abuse within a family, but forbid a girl from exercising her inalienable right (strongly laid out under Islam for those who can be bothered to look), to have the final say on who she marries, or even carry on her studies? Where does this come from? Is it Islam?

  

I honestly don’t know why this is the case. I can’t give a definitive answer. Islam utterly condemns this type of thing, but if Islam condemns it then why does it happen? I suppose over time this warped notion of ‘honour’ has superseded religion in these societies. These people are backward, barbaric, and savage. We shouldn’t shy away from saying the obvious. Saving face in their society has become the be all and end all of their lives, no matter what entails. It can’t be written off as some unpleasant ‘cultural trait’, because that just condemns innocent people to a sometimes quite horrific death. It’s not just unfair or wrong, it’s evil.

  

Take this for example, ("Fatima's Story"). It’s the story of a lady from the UAE, who after enduring years of  abuse by her step father, (the very same man who should have been her protector, and the shield behind which she should have been safe from everything), was devastated to find he was the one protected not her. Her conclusion sadly sums up the sorry state of affairs we have today. Islam has taken a back seat when it comes to ‘honour’.

  

There’s only one punishment for rape in Islam, and that’s the death penalty. It cuts down on repeat offenders, and the punishment fits the crime. Rape is a crime for which there is no excuse. I know it’s trendy now to oppose the death penalty, but I remain a firm believer, and I always will. Sadly, when it comes to this misplaced notion of ‘honour’, even this is warped. It now seems the norm in some places that the victim rather than the perpetrator is the one who ends up getting killed, due to the ‘dishonour’ she has brought down on the family. You can’t get any more warped than that, to punish someone for being the victim of a crime.

  

Rape is obviously serious enough to warrant the ultimate punishment, but what about merely refusing a marriage proposal? Turkey, still perhaps aspiring to join the EU one day, (but hell will freeze over before people like the French allow them to join), is battling a wave of ‘honour’ related killings. Efforts to clamp down and stamp out the practice however don’t seem to be having the desired effect. The victims are now no longer killed, but pressured to commit suicide instead. That is according to this article in The Independent ("Women told: 'You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself'"). It concerns the plight of mainly Kurdish women reeling under the onslaught of ‘honour’ related violence, and is where I got the example of the girl being condemned to death for refusing a marriage proposal and wanting to carry on with her studies from. The article is pretty well written, and for a change doesn’t lay the blame on Islam even though it is inescapably obvious that this is taking place in what we may consider to be an Islamic environment or society. Ironically, I expect the same people who would get their knickers in a twist about what is contained in the report would probably support the campaign for an independent Kurdistan as well.

  

It’s obvious that I seek to differentiate between Islam that condemns these crimes committed in the name of honour, and the warped patriarchal societies which promotes and condones them. However, by not tackling this warped notion of ‘honour’ head on, Muslims condemn themselves to be castigated for it. You simply can’t brush these things under the carpet, because they may be embarrassing to discuss. If there are laws against these things in Islam, if there are Hadith that deal with them, if Islam condemns them, then that means they were always meant to be discussed openly and tackled, not covered up.

  

If we revisit Fatima’s conclusion however, it’s inescapable to conclude anything other than the fact that this is not happening. It would also be difficult for anyone looking in from the outside to think anything other than the fact the people inhabiting these patriarchal societies were, to use a line from the David Lean film, ‘Lawrence of Arabia, “a cruel and barbarous people”. It is after all what they are. Let’s call a spade a spade.

Yesterday, (a public holiday in Pakistan) was the 69^th anniversary of the Lahore Resolution (22-24 March 1940 - it first set out the demand by the Muslim League for a separate homeland for South Asia’s Muslims that was in all intents a purposes a call for the formation of Pakistan), which was made opposite Badshai Mosque in Lahore. It’s where Minar-e-Pakistan now stands, the marble clad edifice that stands testament to the great event. Apparently, you’re supposed to be able to climb up to the top of the tower, or ascend in a lift. Whenever I’ve been, it’s been closed and/or the lift is broken (or so I’m told). It’s a bit like a metaphor for the state the country is in. It just doesn’t live up to the promise. Pakistan’s politicians have made sure of that.

  

I don’t mind the tower itself. It looks rather like a minaret, but on my first visit I took a photo trying to catch a shaft of light breaking through the clouds that hit the tower. It didn’t work, and a friend rather unkindly pointed out that all I’d managed to do was make the Minar-e-Pakistan look rather ‘phallic’. Well, these things happen I suppose.

  

Yesterday, was also supposed to have been the day when Pakistan usually parades its military wares during the Pakistan Day Parade in Islamabad. It used to be held on Constitution Avenue. If you go there, you can still see the viewing area that was purposefully constructed for the event. Recently, due to security fears, it’s been moved to Jinnah Stadium. I tried to attend last year, but first the taxi driver pretended not to know where he was going in order to con me out of more cash (a common enough occurrence in Pakistan – if a taxi driver pretends he doesn’t know where he’s going “GET OUT!!!” you’ll get conned). Then, I was left with insufficient time to try and bluff my way in (there is a more detailed story behind this aspect of what went on, but it’s not blog material as it involves people who may actually still get in trouble for trying to help me get in). So, I trudged back to where I was staying, (a considerable distance) and checked out.

  

Yesterday, there was no parade, at all. I’m not sure whether it’s because of security fears, lack of money, or because the money was needed to pay for the UN enquiry into the death of dearly departed Benazir Bhutto. I’ve heard all three theories mentioned. Politics, money, and security have been every day constant themes since I’ve been here. It’s easy to snipe and pass sarcastic or dejected commentary, but it’s just so frustrating to watch Pakistanis tear what should have been, and what could still be, a promising country apart. The politicians/political actors (not all political actors are politicians) do their part by mismanaging the country and running it solely for their benefit, and then you have terrorists and semi-literate Neanderthals who do theirs. It’s a miracle this place has survived, but that’s from the outside looking in. When you’re actually living here watching every day people close up, they’re very resilient, and seemingly take it all in their stride. This is perhaps both good and bad however, because though they ‘roll with the punches’ they also just carry on rolling with the punches. I don’t really see a determination to stop being manipulated by every politician that wants to safeguard his/her own interests, or fill his/her pocket. They curse their leaders for the sorry state of affairs the country is in like no tomorrow, but then re-elect the same ones, because they ‘have no choice’. They expect change to come from top down, and not the other way. As a nation’s leaders are but a reflection of society, I’m not sure if I can see things changing any time soon.

  

It’s a sad state of affairs.

Last week, as I was waiting to escape from Karachi after not covering a large naval exercise held off the Pakistani coast (another rather depressing story), I picked up a small book of quotes from the founding father of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, at a bookshop in the airport. ‘Quotes from the Quaid’ (S Al-Mujahid and L Merchant, ISBN 978-0-19-547593-7 – Jinnah is also referred to as ‘Quaid-e-Azam’ which means ‘great leader’; pretty apt considering Pakistan wouldn’t have been formed without him), should be given to every Pakistani to read. It cost only Rs.50. However, it is full of words of wisdom from the Quaid culled from numerous speeches he made over many years, which are as relevant now as they were then.

  

What struck me with particular relevance to Pakistan’s instability today was this extract from an address he made to the ‘All India Muslim League’ session, Delhi, 23 April 1943, on feudalism and the exploitation of the masses:

 

I should like to give a warning to the landlords and the capitalists who have flourished at our expense by a system which is so vicious, which is so wicked and which makes them so selfish that it is difficult to reason with them. The exploitation of the masses has gone into their blood. They have forgotten the lessons of Islam.

 

We could simply replace “landlords” with the ‘PPP’, (for it is a party set up to maintain the wealth, status and privilege of feudal landlords), and “capitalists” with ‘Nawaz Sharif et al’, and that would give us a very accurate assessment of the shambolic political mess we face today. This instability is doing nothing for the people of Pakistan or the country except make the place ungovernable. It just proves the great man had it right all those years ago. He left the Pakistanis a nation born of immense hardship and struggle, and they have steadily ruined it.

 

I’m not sure if Quaid-e-Azam ever spoke out against ‘rabble rousing, drunken philandering bums’, but that would have at least have had Imran Khan covered.

 

He probably used slightly different language.

If the day ever dawns where a Pakistani politician appeals for his/her (invariably ‘his’) supporters to desist from running riot and committing acts of wanton destruction, I’ll have a heart attack, or at least faint. I don't mean the half-hearted utterings they make for media consumption, I mean real unambiguous condemnation of violence. That will never happen though, because getting a mob out on to the streets is simply the usual measure Pakistani politicians resort to when something goes against them. If anything they actually encourage the destruction of public and private property, trying to somehow pass it off as a ‘legitimate’ expression of outrage/protest.

  

The latest act of mindless stupidity was a result of the sacking of the governor of the Punjab, Shabaz Sharif, brother of two times Prime Minster, Nawaz Sharif. After a lengthy court case heard by the High Court, he (along with his elder brother), was declared ineligible to stand for political office, and therefore was immediately removed from his position. He’d actually refused to appear before the High Court during the case, claiming it was illegitimate as judges sacked in a previous standoff hadn’t been reinstated. It was therefore unlikely a result could be ‘nobbled’ in his favour, but very likely that he’d be on the receiving end of any judgement handed down.

  

Admittedly, the judgement probably is more political than legal. The courts have always been yet another instrument of manipulation for whoever is in power, and the Sharif brothers are no strangers to practicing the same trick. Nawaz and Shabaz were probably taken out of the political picture to safeguard the power and future electoral prospects of the PPP. However, by refusing to appear before the court and fight it out that way, Shabaz was just displaying once again that Pakistani politicians have total contempt for the law. This notion was reinforced by the rioting that followed the decision, and the failure to even appeal for calm in a credible manner. It actually suits politicians here to have a pliant judiciary, an unprofessional police service, and it definitely helps parties like the PPP, (which was set up to safeguard the wealth, power and status of feudal landlords despite it socialist name), to have a dire education system. Politicians are and always will be a reflection of society, but should also lead by example. Sadly in Pakistan, they always choose to set a bad one.

  

It was hard to escape this latest violence. Even I found myself caught in periphery. I missed the ‘main event’ in Lahore by mere minutes. Then travelling south in order to cover the Cholistan Rally for 4x4, (which in the event was postponed because of all of this mindless stupidity), the highway outside Sahiwal was blocked by Neanderthals burning tyres in the road. I later learnt that they even attacked a local school, smashing doors and windows, plus beating up teachers for good measure. What it achieved is for anyone to guess, but I think it won’t be the last time this happens. It may actually just be the first in a series of disturbances.

  

In Pakistan, getting a mob onto the streets is how politicians or political actors display their power. We may have lawyers having their turn next, as they, in conjunction with the PML-N, are planning a ‘Long March’ to Islamabad to carry on their attempt to have the aforementioned sacked judges reinstated, (the very same incidentally who were supported by the brothers Sharif when they were trying to get elected, but quietly dumped afterwards though they now seem to be suppporting them again).

  

The long suffering people of Pakistan need more than this, but if they keep on voting for the same candidates, who care only for personal power and wealth and are rabble rousers to a man, nothing will change. There will be no judicial/legal reform, overhaul of the education system, a crackdown on corruption, and a professional police service. None of these measures suit them when they’re in power, because it helps them to keep hold of it.