Magazine 29: "Operation Silence" Script In: Signature Tune Begins Anchor 1 Hello, you’re listening to Panoscope, a radio magazine produced by Panos Radio South Asia. In this edition of Panoscope, we go to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad where the army surrounded the Lal Masjid or the Red Mosque for over a week in July and eventually launched "Operation Silence" to crush the pro-Taliban militants holed up inside the mosque and seminary complex for months. The army claims they killed 75 people… but the number of parents searching for their children, who were all students, make the numbers seem heavily underplayed. In: Bridge Begin Anchor 2 The story goes back to 2005 when the Lal Masjid Head Cleric issued a "fatwa" or religious decree, against Pakistan Army officers becoming part of the USsupported offensive in North Waziristan (WA-ZI-RI-STHAAN), the alleged hideout of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. One tends to equate the Lal Masjid siege and the subsequent killings of Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi and his followers with the Waco siege and the violent death of Christian cult leader David Koresh and his followers in Texas in 1993. But, the Lal Masjid saga has more to it than meets the eye. Opening up a trail of blood and violence, "Operation Silence" was followed by a couple of suicide bombings targeting army and police from Islamabad to North West Frontier Province or N-W-F-P. The Lal Masjid today wears a fresh coat of paint; a futile attempt to cover the blood stains. It is still under state control and is not open for prayers. Panoscope Correspondent, Asadullah Khan searches for the missing links in the Lal Masjid story. In: Operation Silence Final Mixdown.mp3 Fade In: SFX Ghazi Media Talk.mp3 Link 1 With the crisis in the Pakistan judiciary racing towards its climax in the first week of July, then on, it was the Lal Masjid siege that kept Pakistanis glued to their T-V sets, flipping channels to catch different perspectives. The final offensive against
the rebel cleric and students of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid and its affiliated seminary held audiences captive for weeks. For over a week during the siege, the defiant Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi was given more time and space on electronic media, which was already in full form, broadcasting live coverage of the chief justice’s addresses a few days ago. The rebel cleric before the meeting "Operation Silence"... In: Act 1, Ghazi 1.mp3 He (Musharraf) has said "don’t show corpses"… but why do they shoot people… This makes it out that they want to do it secretly… that’s why don’t want to show. If he was right, then why did he talk that way? Going by circumstances, it seems certain that in case this operation is carried through, people will die… and definitely there are students and our guards on the other side. Thus, both sides will lose lives, that of our own Pakistani and Muslims brothers. We will defend because they lack justification for that (operation). Furthermore, we may get martyrdom. It’s alright, we’re ready for that. Link 2 And this is what President Musharraf lodged as the charge-sheet against the rebel cleric and others in his televised address to the nation, days after the end of “Operation Silence”. In: Act 2, Musharraf 1.mp3 Masjid and Madressah were turned into a fort for a battle. Even other terrorist elements were given sanctuary inside. Baton-wielding women force was prepared and men were armed. The children’s library was occupied and nearby shops were attacked as well. Policemen were taken hostage and deprived of their weapons. And the worst example, our Chinese friends… seven Chinese were abducted and made hostages. These extremists have taken over the writ of the government. Link 3 Though the issue was earlier addressed through negotiations and the government even engaged Wafaq-ul-Madaris, a conglomerate of religious schools in the country, it was in vain. Multan-based secretary general of Wafaqul-Madaris, Maulana Hanif Jalundhary thinks this incident may become a pretext for crackdown against religious schools. In: Act 3, Hanif 1.mp3
I think it was not a good omen for the country and its people. And even madressah people have started contemplating whether the government has decided to use power instead of dialogue with madressah… and treating people in Islamabad and other cities of Pakistan the same way they have been treating people in the country’s tribal areas. So this whole episode has raised a couple of questions and it has also endangered national security. I don’t think it would end just like that if it was not compensated. Link 4 And here by compensation, Maulana Jalandhary means judicial inquiry into the Lal Masjid episode to ward off any repercussions from the religious quarters. But his complaint points to the nexus that the religious right particularly the jihadi forces have in the country’s military establishment. In: Act 4, Hanif 2.mp3 I don’t have enough insight into that aspect but I think that the students of these religious schools are a part of Pakistan’s voluntary army. They, on every crucial turn, lay down their lives for the country’s defense. And they always get ready to sacrifice their lives for Pakistan. But we have weakened our defense and deprived ourselves of our volunteers’ army. We have killed them. In: SFX The Call for Prayer, Azan.mp3 Link 5 Miles from Islamabad, in the industrial estate of Pakistan’s southern port city Karachi, American-born Afzal Shaikh studies fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence at Jamia Binoria Alamia Al-Islamia. What sense does he make of all that is happening in Pakistan’s madressah system since the attack on the Twin Towers in the United States? In: Act 5, Afzal 1.mp3 I think really it’s a shame actually, because this is a country that’s Pakistan. And its basis and its essence was on Islam itself. And now today we have to see a day, in which they want to kick that same Islam out. That’s what it almost looks like, you know, because if they think that in these kinds of institutions there is any sort of extremism or terrorism or any sort of these kinds of things being taught. I mean it’s a misconception, because you can’t take a whole group of people and you know shut them down just because of the fact that there is a little minority, in which they might have some kind of a relations with these kind of schools, which I still don’t really believe. Link 6
Fear of a crackdown on traditional madressah system is not unfounded. But, in a broader perspective what’s really going on in the country? Asadullah Bhutto, Member of Parliament and leader of right wing Jama’at-e-Islami, has his own answer. In: Act 6, Bhutto 1.mp3 In connivance with foreign forces, President of Pakistan Musharraf has exploited this incident because right now Pervez Musharraf is a presidential candidate and for that he needs American support. On the other hand, this impression is gaining ground in America that he has been used for whatever task he was required. And after him, Americans have other options including the P-P-P, which has offered itself as an ultimate alternative to Musharraf. What it may bring, only time will tell. Musharraf has showed the West that staying here (in power) he could crush the religious forces, because he is in uniform. Link 7 Far from such a grand scheme of the things, International Relations expert Dr Mutahir Ahmed traces this latest showdown between Pakistan army and the clerics as a fall-out of the post-cold war era, where non-state actors once exploited by the state itself in the war theatre of Afghanistan, are now being jettisoned. In: Act 7, Mutahir 1.mp3 Realistically speaking, Lal Masjid episode is basically… I can say that it’s a symbolic expression of the cold war policies, which Pakistan has pursued at that time. And that policy obviously had failed to deliver any good. The result was that Pakistani society was totally under the grip of this clerical ideology, which was sponsored by the state in cold war era and in present day scenario that very policy has no room in (the) region…but the basic thing is that this is an ideological anarchy of Pakistani state, which was followed right from 1948 till 2001. Link 8 Political observers see the Lal Masjid episode more as a symptom than a disease. What they now diagnose is a conflict creeping in the relationship of elements of religious right, which are armed and largely referred as jihadi forces, and the military establishment. Political commentator and lawyer Faisal Siddiqi had this to say... In: Act 8, Faisal 1.mp3
The military establishment since 2001 has been very slowly cautiously but always in terms of a step forward and two-step backward has been trying to do is distance itself from this Jihadi agenda. That conflict came out in the open in that Lal Masjid incident. So it tells us that there is a division within the military establishment, between these… this is double-face policy where they want both to have a liberal outlook, to be against any kind of militant Islam, but at the same time they’re reluctant to abandon jihadism both as a tool of foreign policy as well as domestic policy. These two policies are now not workable together. Link 9 Academicians like Dr Mutahir Ahmed point out that the engagement of Pakistan’s religious outfits into the war theatre of Afghanistan in the wake of Russian invasion and later in the form of Taliban-led Afghanistan government. In: Act 9, Mutahir 2.mp3 And these non-state actors, they’re not robots and they’re not people… I mean who… you… just give certain kind of directions and hoping that they’ll deliver what you get in cold war era. I think that’s the gap between the Pakistani state and these non-state actors. And they’re not…they had their own agenda and they feel uncomfortable because they used to take Pakistani state at that time...Pakistani state supported directly. But now the state had its own reservations and these non-state actors are not comfortable in this situation. So I think that’s basically the reason behind this Lal Masjid episode. And you’ll find that the entire religious right who had (been) supported by Pakistani state in cold war era, all these forces are in doldrums. Link 10 But that disengagement on the part of the establishment can not be termed as departure from the old policy, contemplates Islamabad-based Khalid Rehman, Director, Institute of Policy Studies. In: Act 10, KRehman 1.mp3 All intelligence agencies in the world they go for more than one option on whatever issue they’re facing. So to say that it is a departure I think one should keep in this in view that even earlier there were a number of options that the intelligence agencies must be pursuing. And even today they should be pursuing a number of options, because it is wrong to assume that any intelligence agency would be focusing only on one option. That is my understanding of the issue. Link 11
And as far as the madressah reforms issue is concerned, Khalid Rehman believes that the Lal Masjid incident has made that task even more difficult now. In: Act 11, KRehman 2.mp3 I think people in the government they have been addressing this issue from their own perspective. And serious people among them must be knowing that as far as madressah is concerned it is ready for certain changes but basically it is the lack of trust in the government, because of which whatever government is presenting it is not being accepted. And this incident has increased that lack of confidence between the two parties. That has definitely made the task of the government, if it is really and sincerely wants to have some improvement in the madressah sector; its task has become definitely more difficult now. Link 12 But Dr Mutahir suspects, the efforts to reform madressah system in Pakistan, given the alliance between the state and religious right, keeps serving their agenda at each other’s expense. In: Act 12, Mutahir 3.mp3 It is not in the interest of both, I mean, the madressah people and the state. So this is only just to give an impression to the western world and then to liberal intelligentsia in Pakistan that government is very serious to reform these madressahs. The madressah people will never allow them to reform themselves, because they’re of the opinion that they’re basically reformed people. And secondly there is another problem. And the problem is that whenever you talk in terms of madressah there’re five schools of thoughts. And these five school of thoughts they have their own madressah system and they’re representing their own sect. So this is again a sectarian and political issue if government involves itself in the form of reforms. I don’t think that there is a genuine reformation regarding madressah. It is just a cosmetic kind of thing. Link 13 Apart from government’s lukewarm approach towards madressah reforms, lawyer Faisal Siddiqi sees the conflict between the jihadi forces and military establishment raging under U-S pressure. In: Act 13, Faisal 2.mp3 In the future what one would see is this conflict and contradiction increasing between jihadism and elements within the military establishment supporting jihadism and the leadership of the military establishment which now realize that this whole structure of policy has to be dismantled. And the main reason for that
is the U-S imperialism. (The) U-S imperialism, in the context of the sub-continent as well as Afghanistan, is not willing to let Pakistan use this as an element of domestic and foreign policy, this jihadi element. Link 14 Incidents like the Lal Masjid siege and the bloodbath that followed suggest that the non-state actors, who were engaged in Afghanistan’s war theatre by the state on the U-S behest, are now turning hostile to their benefactors buckling under the U-S pressure to dismantle the old policy of such co-operation. And, since it is time to disengage… this is why a separation anxiety is manifesting in Lal Masjid episode. In: Bridge End Anchor 3 That’s it for this edition of Panoscope. Thanks for listening. Fade In: Signature Tune Ends Panoscope is an independent production of Panos Radio South Asia. We’re committed to providing a forum for voices, views and issues not often heard in the mainstream media. If you have suggestions for future programs, please contact us at: Panos Radio South Asia G.P.O. Box 13651 Kathmandu, Nepal Or you can call us at 977-1-5521889 Our website is www.panosradiosouthasia.org Until next time…