Javed Ahmad Ghamidi is a well-known Pakistani Islamic scholar. Since January 2006, he has been a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the government. Daily Times spoke with Ghamidi about Maulana Abdul Rashid GhaziÂ’s call for establishing the Sharia and the Lal Masjid crisis. Excerpts follow.Daily Times: Who do you think is responsible for the Jamia Hafsa episode?
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi: The country is facing this bitter reality as a result of the government’s past mistakes. These [clerics and militants] are the same people the state prepared and used in the name of Islam for many years. After the Afghan war, abandoned by those who propped them up, they decided to set and achieve their own goals. This is a consequence of the dreams of paradise that were sold to innocent youths in exchange for their participation in the ‘jihad’ against the Russians. Now that the Afghan war is over, the Russians ousted, these self-created Taliban and jihadis are now useless for external forces like America. Abandoned by everyone, these men will now make their own fate. The Pakistani establishment thought these human beings could be turned into robots. That never happens. Islam and jihad are being used as political tools in other regions also. Take the example of internal rifts between Muslim militants in Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq. There are now internal rifts in religious groups in these countries and much in-fighting, with disastrous consequences. In Pakistan, militants like the ones in the Lal Masjid were funded and sponsored by the establishment through external sources. The politics of jihad is the real reason for the bitter crisis Pakistan is facing today.
DT: What do you have to say about the stance of the Lal Masjid clerics?
JAG: Everyone knows that the Lal Masjid and related madrassas are located on illegal land. The mosqueÂ’s administration admitted as much. The question is, who provided this space to these clerics in the first place? Everyone knows that the father of the Ghazi brothers, Maulana Abdulalh, was funded and given perks during General Ziaul HaqÂ’s regime to foster the concept of jihad as conceived by the establishment. The establishment has brought us to where we now stand.
DT: How do you see the operation by the government against Lal Masjid?
JAG: The state remained unable to establish its writ. The clerics should have been stopped much earlier. This operation has seriously jeopardised internal peace and harmony. The situation is dangerous and unfortunate. It was said that thousands of women and children were at the mercy of the militants holed up in the mosque. Every possible effort should have been made to avoid bloodshed. It did not look like the government could handle the operation. It seemed as if they had not done their homework, that is, there seemed to have been no detailed analysis.
DT: If the government operation is considered a failure, what should the solution have been?
JAG: There should have been maximum efforts to engage in dialogue. The talks that were conducted failed, and the government then dealt with the matter by enforcing the law. Dealing with such situations in such an ad-hoc manner will put the countryÂ’s future at risk. I strongly recommend that not only the government but also Islamic clerics and civil society give serious thought to their actions before devising future strategy.
DT: What do you recommend for the future?
JAG: The government must stop madrassas from imparting only religious education. It should ensure that no under-age or teenaged child is admitted to a madrassa unless the institution can provide general education certification up to at least the intermediate level. After that, the students should have the freedom to choose whether they want to pursue further religious education. Only after general schooling can a child make an independent decision about pursuing specialised religious education. It should be mandatory for madrassas to impart general education. This will certainly not be an easy task as evident from the fact that the madrassa reforms apparently attempted in the country have been a complete failure.