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Originally Posted at: Ahmadiyya Times

Related Post:  Pakistan: Hate Campaign against Ahmadis of Satellite Town, Rawalpindi

The poster and banners inciting hate against Ahmadis are seen throughout the Satellite Town and the surrounding areas and many show the instigators have proudly added their name on the banners.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community is under siege in Rawalpindi, and militants promise to create chaos in the name of religion.

According to Al-Ufaq, a news website, the Satellite Town area of Rawalpindi city, adjacent to the Pakistani capital Islamabad, is now a scene of countless banners and posters containing hate content and threats against Ahmadi Muslims.

The hate climate has been amplified by a recent call for unrest against Ahmadi Muslims by the banned militant organization, JuD, a group that has been named in several terrorists attacks in and outside of Pakistan.

The Ahmadiyya community says their centre in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi has been the target of extremists’ hate and the militants have now declared an all out war against Ahmadis’ right to worship there.

The countless anti-Ahmadiyya banners hang high throughout the satellite town and the surrounding areas are striking fear in the hearts of the besieged community, say the Ahmadi members.
The extremist groups, namely JuD and Khatam-e Nubuwwat have planned a massive rally against Ahmadi Muslims on Sunday, January 29th.

“The poster plastered around Rawalpindi [are] instigating hatred,” said a twitter post by the community representative in Pakistan.

“The rally is supported by JuD, not a pleasant combination,” the statement further stated.

The fanatics have continuously waged a violent war against Ahmadi Muslims to practically deny them the right to practice their faith, many rights organizations and media outlets have noted over the years.

The Ahmadi Muslims say they follow Islam in its purest form which was practiced the Holy Founder of Islam, the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him).

The Ahmadiyya Muslims also points to the country’s founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah who had envisioned equal rights for all citizens to worship as they see fit.

“Every Ahmadi has a right to perform religious duties, given by Mr. Jinnah in [his] 11 August speech. Why it’s not [OK] for Ahmadis?” asked the Ahmadiyya community representative.

The poster and banners, inciting hate against Ahmadis are seen throughout the Satellite Town and the surrounding areas and many show the instigators have proudly added their names on the banners.

A large poster sponsored by one Arshad Mahmood Awaan and one Sardar Touqeer Hussain is seen hung at Boher Bazar road, calling for the businessmen of the area to join the messive anti-Ahmadiyya relly.

Another banner, sponsered by one Sharjeel Mir and one Sheikh Arsalan Hafiz invites the entire city of Rawalpindi to attend the rally.

Yet another banner placed by one Hafiz Mohammad Shafiq of Wahabi group beseeches the entire Muslim nation to show up for the event.

“[How can] you still expect someone to protect Ahmadis of Satellite Town?,” the Ahmadiyya representative asks highlighting one hate-banner hanging right next to the Banni Thana police station.

Ahmadis do not expect much in terms of morality from the extremist clerics, they say, but “How is this even legal?”, they do ask.

The dilemma has been whether language is taking shape through behaviourism or if attitudes are instilled and reinforced through language? It is strange to see how the successive years have transformed our language, and how over the years has Urdu become more authoritarian. With the advent of modern technology, gadgetry and fast communication tools, we have also witnessed how quickly a message is spread about something in a mixture of short words that have overtaken the rich verbal utility of poetry that was once used in routine. We have lost the soft side. We have become hard-borne in language, and try to keep it as simple as we can less diplomatically. This has been taken by a craze, especially among the urban youth here in Pakistan that have grown up in disdainful educational discourse that has hardly taught anything productive over the years, apart from permeating discrimination within a society that has marked the communities as “kafirs” and “Muslims”. (Read Tariq Rehman’s paper on Education Policy)

With the mindset that has become prevalent in our youth (including myself before my first incident of religious hate-speech abroad). In my daily work routine, I happen to come across several text messages meant to demean persons belonging to marginalised communities, listen to casual comments praising and justifying jihad, even remaining either indifferent or approving the attacks on Religious Minorities. All this happening in a typical office in Punjab, fairly considered a religiously moderate institution.

If an attempt is made to reason out with them,you feel intimidated by their reaction. As an example, must I add how I once observed the word Sahib deliberately omitted from Nankana Sahib, because Sahib attributes respect here to the person of Hazrat Guru Nanak, a reverend figure founding the principles of Sikhism. In another instance, I noticed how a colleague flaunted a joke about “filthy” lifestyles of Hindus. All this, which they refuse to accept hate speech unless told and pointed out otherwise. Because majority belong to the powerful and socially safe mainstream, they are not fully exposed to the discrimination our vulnerable communities are faced with. They lack a sense of relativity to their plight, while they stand vehemently against the citizenship rights of minorities of Pakistan.

Criticism of this status quo always generates interesting verbosity of abuse and bad English. I wrote this long ago after a long, tedious year of talking about hate speech and how it destroys ourselves. On line forums are the primary source of capturing the very essence of how it all goes generally

Enjoy and relate this to your own experience.

A very normal discussion in a chatroom

hotsexy4u: To be united, you cant all be a Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Balochi or a Pakhtun, but we can all be united as Muslims, So lets do it

pakiidrunkpunk: Well said, Mashallah!

zeeburkini: sorry, but i find this comment rude and thoughtless. If there’s anything that we really need, then it’s trying to be be good citizens of this godamned country. Imagine the irony a non-muslim pakistani citizen faces after reading such calls for “unity”? would you like the same too if state declared that you cannot be a part of it unless you’re a buddhist? imagine what a christian 5th grader actually has to go through here when made to learn the Muslim Kalima which is subliminally humiliating for his faith? Can we even relate to that, being in the majority?

Hawtrockz: did u readed ALL about Islam? you would not be writing diz. Islam is completed for itself and for da hole humanity. STOP BASHING OUR RELIGION. it already teaches us humanity. no need for your agenda here!

pakiidrunkpunk: Hawtrockz, i’m completely agreed wid u. Jazakaullah!

Hawtrockz: Oh TRUST me! I know dese western wannabes very well. Dey’re the ones responsible 4 deztroying our youth.

peacetrain: I jus wanna kill diz BASTARD! and ANYONE WHO SAYS DA BAAD THINGS AGAINST ISLAM!!!!

pakiidrunkpunk: very brave brother! M wid u. TEACH WHAT ISLAM REALLY MEANS! PEACE PLZ! only u can do it!

hotsexy4u: SHAME ON YOU zeeburqini. say sorry!

hawtrockz: yeah, say it. U *(* Harami #4%6 &* %%68 *&&%#$ kay (**&%^^%*!!!!!! and BURN IN HELL!

pakiidrunkpunk: M completely agreed wid u sister hotsexy. Say sorry zeeburqini!

“zeeburqini has left the room”

Related post: Who is international professor?

Editor’s note: Our long-time friend Earthman, International Professor has written yet another critical article on LUBP “exposing” our editors and authors’ secret connections with Mahdi Army Terrorists. LUBP readers will recall that previously this man wrote a critical article on LUBP in May 2010 in which he “exposed” our alleged links with the ISI and our involvement in conspiracies against Hamid Mir and Ansar Abbasi. International Professor and his affiliates and aliases have been critical of LUBP ever since we alerted cyber crime prevention agencies to the hate speech spread by them on the internet through an LUBP post published in November 2008.

While International Professor went underground temporarily, he has now restarted his activities on the internet. He is active on Twitter as @Intprofessor introducing himself as “Earthman Journalist, Freelance Journalist, Researcher, Author of 3 books, Cartonist, Bloger, Human Rights activist.” His latest hate speech articles are being published by a dubious website: Make Pakistan Better, i.e., http://www.makepakistanbetter.com

International Professor’s latest critical article was published on 17 January 2012, which we are reproducing below for the entertainment of our readers and also as a description of the mindset that LUBP is currently dealing with within and outside Pakistan. (End note)

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What a surprise? Mahdi Army Terrorists exposed, conspiracy against PTI and PML N

International Professor

Source: Make Pakistan Better

Amir Mughal who runs a blog site Chagtai Khan wrote tweet and declared Mian Nawaz Shariff as Kharji, in reply I sent him web link of my article published inwww.makepakistanbetter.com about discussion on Rafzi vs. Kharji (Link given below), soon after that a person that declare him off shoot of PTI and called PTI Nazariati started to distribute my some articles about Mr. Hamid Mir and Ansar Abbasi on tweet that were also published on the same website.

How they caught is very interesting that all such material against Hamid Mir and attempt to indict him in a terrorism case was initiated by www.letusbuildpakistan.comand www.criticalppp.com , where as an audio against Hamid Mir was initiated by them, refer my article link given below. The sensitive information was provided by Intelligence Bureau and behind the scene Farahnaz Isfahani and Faisal Raza Abidi were speculated to provide this information to the above websites. Faisal Raza Abidi presented same information on a TV talk show next day as well.

Amir Mughal who declares him as ex Intelligence Officer of Intelligence Bureau is mastermind, behind the scene operator of above website. He is on pay role of some foreign agencies including Iranian Intelligence agency, his entire group is very active in USA. Since USA is going for war against Iran, so links of all such group require thorough investigation. A pseudo name Ali Nishapuri, believed to be operating from Mashhad, Iran who is publicized as editor of the website, falsely showing operating from Ankarah Turkey. And his another pseudo is “Laibaah” @Laibaah1 Phoenix, Airzona

Amir Mughal is believed to be commander of defunct Sipah e Mohammed or Tehreek e Jaffria, Mahdi Army, Pasdaran e Inqilab Pakistan, Hizbullah or Mukhtar Force involved in terrorism and at least 22 terrorists of those groups are on blue book, according to daily Ummat, Karachi many are operating from Iran. Same peoples are involved in suicide attacks on their own Shia community at Quetta, according to Express news one suicide bomber involved in killings of Hazara community was son of Shia Mullah of Quetta, later his dead body was recognized by his father and from the balloon Hazara killings propaganda was released, moreover one Hazara PPP’s MNA that remained protesting against killings of Hazara Brothers disappeared from the scene.

We have no doubt that some peoples from President House and Prime Minister House are involved to operate both websites. Their political target is to create rift between Imran Khan and Mian Nawaz Shariff, so that PML N and PTI may not join hands. PTI Nazariati is an example that is backed by www.letusbuildpakistan.comand www.criticalppp.com.

A list of web sites and peoples affiliated with both websites is given below, whereas same website declares it as a project of Pakistan People Party. According to their web site:

Abdul Nishapuri (pseudo name, Founding Editor), Ahmed Iqbalabadi (Blog Coordinator), Farhad Jarral (Expansion and Development Coordinator, Youth Leader), Humza Ikram (Development, Education, Minority Rights)
Junaid Qaiser (Media Watch, Minority Rights)
Maula Baksh Thadani (Political Critic), Sarah Khan (Critical Reflections)

LUBP Forum: Ahmer Asif (Forum Coordinator), Javed Sheikh (Forum Coordinator)

Advisory Board: Shaheryar Ali, Shiraz Paracha, Omar Khattab

And many websites or blog sites affiliated or working under same mentality are as under:

Pakistan Media Watch, Pak Tea House, Grand Trunk Road by Abdul Nishapuri, Views on Pakistani News, Chaudhary Ahmed Khan, Baynaampujabi etc.

Major writers are well known pro-Iranian like Ahsan Abbas Shah (Urdu Section), Anas Abbas (Counter-terrorism), Anas Muhammad, Ai Sher Mussali, Laila Ebadi, Aal-e-Hashmat, Agha Haider Raza, Ali Raja, Sikandar Mehdi etc. Ali Nishapuri and Ali Arqam are fake names and believed to be living in Iran.

Activities in North America and Europe:

During Iraq invasion large shia groups were hired by agencies and billions of dollar were paid, there are big names on record who received cash, even one Shia Mullah Khoi was sent to Iraq and when he was killed media confirmed that he was paid millions of dollar.

In all such game Pakistan’s Husain Haqani and Farahnaz Isfahani were also beneficiary of Iraq Invasion and later war of terror, their statements and Videos are available on this website www.makepakistanbetter.com, that is why for entire NRO sponsored current Government of Pakistan is shaking when same army generals that rectified NRO turned their back from Husain Haqani in Memogate.

Pakistan is unfortunate enough that 70% of its ambassadors at Washington, New York and London were Shia. Such as M H Isfahani, Abida Husain, Amjad Husian, Hussain Haroon and leading councilor offices are also under their control, such as Gardezi at Washington etc. A lot of Shia terrorists have reached North America and Europe. Now it is their business to propagate against Pakistan and commit terrorism against their own Shia community to pose their selves as victim to seek refugee status. Last month a lot of two dozen illegal persons died near Australia were all Shia’s.

The terrorists and criminals that have reached America, Australia or Europe are using the venue for cyber terrorism, propaganda for making room for new comers.

Since war against Iran is knocking on the door, so, all pro-Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese and Pakistani terrorists must be watched carefully for cyber terrorism. Particularly some Pakistan’s ex Intelligence agents working at USA or posing living there.

Talk about new global terrorism or Iranian backed Shia Terrorists:

Poor apologists of Zardari and NRO’d agents of agencies are still trying to beat drum of Taliban and Wahabi, now time has changed and world is in danger from Shia Cyber Terrorists, Iranian state terrorism and export of Khomeinism. As such Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arab, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Central Asia are burning in fire by agents and exported Iranian state terrorism.

Pakistan’s Shia Government:

Pakistan’s President, Prime Minister, Speaker and majority of institutional heads are Shia. On the name of religion 95% Sunni majority is forcefully imprisoned into their homes when Shia take out processions, bully Sunni’s and a tiny minority with the help of state try to confined peoples to their homes and even no one is allowed to see outside their windows. By hook by crook every month force to take out religious processions, peoples are restricted to homes and when any clash happens, propagandists pose them as minority under victimization.

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Appendix

Aftab Iqbal, Nawaiwaqt, 18 October 2008

I have been receiving death, rape, acid throwing threats ever since I appeared in a TV show where I entered into a debate with one Mr. Zaid Hamid and challenged his immensely hawkish narrative about the genesis of Pakistan as well as so many other issues affecting general environment of violence and radicalism in the country.

Based on my starkly different point of view, some people including mr. Hamid have been openly calling me traitor, anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam. I have been denying all these baseless allegations as strongly as possible, but unfortunately most of our people who are under the awe of these bigots and hawks, seldom use their own eyes and minds. They tend to think from the minds of these self-proclaimed opinion leaders and TVangelists. I have written extensively and expressed my views about what is wrong with our country and how to tackle this avalanche of bigotry and radicalism in order to progress economically, socially and intellectually as a nation. Here I want to bring to people’s attention how I have been threatened for life and honor since last few months generally and last few days particularly.

After I wrote a series of articles on Memogate in Daily Times and openly shared my views on Twitter, about why army and ISI need to be made accountable for weakening civilian government inter alia, my social networking sites have been flooded with threats of different kinds. These threats took a new turn after i called JuD a terrorist organization on a national TV (Waqt News), the video of which has been retracted by the channel from internet.

Shameful Bigotry!

After this program, someone wrote on my Facebook page something to the effect: Be very afraid because we will not shoot you dead, we will slit your throat and make you an example by releasing the video. The reason why I’m not sure about the wording of this message is, that the message was deleted from my page within few minutes and I could not take a screenshot.

Another example of xenophobia and intolerance

During all these days, my parents were being approached by many and were taunted for their daughter who supposedly is ‘encouraging nudity’ in Pakistan because of her supposed support for Veena Malik who posed nude for an Indian magazine. In a TV program, Mr. Oriya Maqbool Jan even went to the extent of saying that I should go (nude) on streets if I want to. Responding to which

I clearly said that I DO NOT support nudity, but I stand for Veena Malik’s rights to make decisions about her body, and that I would stand for the same right of going nude in streets by Mr. Oriya’s sisters and daughters. 

After this, Mr. Khushnood Ali Khan, Editor Daily Jinnah, wrote a complaint to PEMRA Chairman against me asking him to take action otherwise he will take whatever action he can. Chairman PEMRA instantly forwarded me Mr. Khan’s letter along with a covering letter asking me to submit my reply. While I have not submitted any reply, but I have been facing dirtiest possible abuse on social networks.

My parents were mocked to the extent that my father and brothers have disowned me publicly under this pressure and are greatly hurt by whatever is going on. My 70 years father has been subjected to immense psychological torture by these uncalled for phone calls make to him more than few dozen times.

Finally, today my father was approached through a phone call by a señior official in Punjab government whose identity my father does not want to disclose. The said official has informed my father that my life is in immense danger and that a militant organization has decided to eliminate me. My father has called back to my husband to explain to him the intensity of danger I am in.

While I don’t consider any of these developments as scary or frightening, because I firmly believe in whatever I’m doing and I firmly believe that whatever I’m doing is in longterm benefit of my country and my people, my family nevertheless is under huge stress and have strong concerns about my security. I’m not sure what happens to me once I leave this building where I am, but by this piece of writing I request the readers to kindly keep breaking the silence.

Please keep standing for civilian supremacy. You can politically support any party, but we all must understand that democracy is the only solution. I request all of you to kindly keep standing for the rights of the weakest in our country. I request you to kindly keep speaking up against the high-handedness of the deep state and their patronized mercenaries – the one’s we call ‘religious organizations’.

They have nothing to do with religion.

They are using our love for Islam against all of us and tarnishing not only Islam but Pakistan too. I request you to implicate deep state and their proteges for not only my death, but for everything that is going wrong with this country.

I don’t want to sound like a martyr, I love my life. This love for life distinguishes us from the suicide-attackers. I want to live and work.

But in case I’m muted, I’m sure all of you are there to keep the candle lit. Those who are all set to extinguish this candle, must be taken to task. Let’s keep it up. I will. Till the last breath and last drop of blood in my body.

Pakistan zindabad.

Marvi Sirmed

Related Post: Concern for Marvi Sirmed’s Safety – by Alamdar Mengal

Related post: In defence of Shia rituals on Ashura – by Fawad Manzoor

To a not-so-victim, from a real victim!

Mr. Saleem Ali,

I read your articles and followed your twitter timeline in an attempt to understand your argument in this whole episode of you first writing a childish article and then scurrying for clarifications after having been blasted by those who had taken affront to it. I tried to deal with the issue with a positive bias towards you in order to better understand your perspective and know where you actually come from, but trust me, you appear to be highly ill informed and insensitive at best, and a bigot at worst. I will nonetheless go with the former.

I will spare you a lecture on inappropriate, rather derogatory use of language, since you realized it and later corrected yourself after public admonition. I will also ignore your lame justification of it being inflammatory only according to ‘Pakistan’s religious sensibilities’. See, I did not miss it, I am ignoring it. Suffice it to say that your choice of words was not only inflammatory in Pakistan’s context, but highly offensive in any case. But let us move forward.

Mr. Ali, you kept wailing and wallowing after your article was thoroughly deconstructed and critiqued on Twitter. You have, ever since, defended your right to free speech and reaffirmed your commitment to what you call constructive confrontation. In the same breath, you have also castigated the Shia Muslims for holding a different view of history and criticizing certain individuals they consider usurpers. How can you claim for yourself the right to offend while asking the Shia not to even practice their religion fearing it might offend others?

By saying what you did, you disallowed Shia Muslims not only freedom of expression, but also freedom of religion. You are asking them to conform to the dominant (or majority) form of ‘acceptable’ Islam and forego their own ‘lunatic’ version of it. This is not possible because there is nothing such as ‘one Islam’, or at least, you cannot make people agree on any common ground. Not only the ritualistic, but even the doctrinal and historical fissures of sectarian divide within Islam are too deep and too vast to be reconciled by an American-Muslim with limited understanding of the complex historical and ideological distinctions.

Mr. Ali, you referred to the Zuljanah as ‘drunken horses’ and the mourners of Imam Hussain (a.s.) as ‘people high on testosterone (and God knows what else)’. Do you have any idea how hallowed the symbolic reference to Imam Hussain’s horse is considered among the Shia Muslims? They are not drunken horses, but are treated with utmost respect and care. Had it come as an example from the West, an apologist like you would have tirelessly sung praises of their concern for animal rights. But since it comes from the South Asian Shia, you treat the subject with utmost contempt and scorn. The mourners of Imam Hussain (a.s.), if high on anything, are high on pain and passion, high on the love and devotion to the Prophet Muhammad and his family (Ahl-e-Bayt). How can you refer to them in the most pejorative of ways?

Is it a coincidence that most of your arguments and criticism of Shias, impure Musilms, are also used by Saudi-Wahhabis and extremist Deobandis to stereotype, persecute and kill Shias? For example, your views on Zuljanah are not much different from what Lashkar-e-Jhangvi/Sipah-e-Sahaba people did to a Zuljanah on 4 February 2011 in Rawalpindi while chanting the Shia Kafir (Shias are infidels) slogans. These people, the foot-soldiers, conveniently translated your hate ideology into practice.

If the Shias are masochistic in their rituals, you were sadistic in your approach in dealing with them. You not only mocked their beliefs and ridiculed their rituals, but went further ahead calling them lunatics and declaring their gatherings as embarrassing. This is how you ask people for cultural change and reconciliation? Why should they listen to you anyway, when you are using the very arguments and language against them as is used by those killing them, i.e., LeJ terrorists? And if you have little understanding of and respect for Islamic history and heterogeneity, why do you assume to charge and right to offend whosoever you want to, especially, when you do not allow others the same right?

Mr. Ali, it is easy to follow, love, appreciate, and respect the glorious and cherished values of Western civilization. It is however different and difficult to respect, value, and more importantly, understand indigenous cultures, values, wisdoms, traditions and legacies. I too take pride in my Western education and espousal of liberal values much of which has come my way from the West for which I feel indebted to it, but it took me quite a while to respect my own people for what they are, and not stereotype them due to my prejudices, myopic so-called modern approach, lack of comprehension, and a distant and cold attitude towards them. This is possible, but only if confused and apologetic individuals like yourself, try being passionate rather than arrogant, understanding rather than contemptuous, and act like students of knowledge rather than ideologues.

I do not intend to present a postmodern apology for obscurantism, but it is certainly valid to ask of someone like you to remove their blinkers and try being proximate to the things they talk about. Your attitude towards  Shia Muslims was similar to that of the colonizers towards the colonized – the White man’s burden, or in your case ‘a cultured man’s burden’ (not so). You cannot look at everything on the face of the earth through your modern, western prism, and issue categorical edicts like Saudi-Wahhabi-Deobandi religious bigots. Your intent might have been different, but your approach was the same as theirs. They declare Shias apostate, you declared them uncultured obscurantists and lunatics. What sets you apart from the Taliban or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists who kill Shias?

Looking at postcolonial states from the lens of a very selective Western liberalism, or studying ‘host’ societies like Orientalists can always be self-defeating; it kills the very spirit of knowledge and ends up presenting a skewed picture of local people in a condescending manner. In that situation, do you still think you owe them any respect and recognition for your ‘efforts’? Why do you think you are the only person cultured and the rest are all base barbarians who need your shock therapy to realize their lowliness and climb up to your expectations? Why have you arrogated yourself the authority of determining what culture is and what it is not? You do not have this right. And more so, because you are under-educated in the discipline and have a simplistic cultural approach towards complex political issues. Without taking into consideration the actual reasons for the ongoing, systematic Shia massacres in Pakistan, you conveniently reduced the issue to a Sunni backlash due to offences by Shia rituals. How simplistic!

You are teacher Mr. Ali, you are an academic. Are you not supposed to approach issues in an educated manner? If you are not a student of a particular discipline, why do you put yourself at pains of writing on it at all? By asking the Shia to customize their religion according to the desires of the majority you are blaming the victim, instead of holding the culprit accountable.

I notice that after being questioned by Sunni, Shia, Ahmadi and non-Muslim readers on Twitter and elsewhere, and perhaps also in response to some advice from your university, you decided to retract some parts of your offensive article and offered an apology on your personal blog. Yet, you deemed it fit to present yourself as a victim of ban on free speech, and wrote yet another follow-up article which, though more refined than your initial candid stereotyping, is equally dishonest about Shia Muslims and their ongoing, systematic massacres in Pakistan.

Playing a victim (as you did) is easy, speaking up for real victims requires courage. Instead of telling the Shia that they are killed because they deserve it, you could have asked those who kill Shias to accept Shias as they are instead of killing them for what they are. Compromises and acceptability must come from the position of strength; the majority needs to embrace the minority, because the latter is always insecure, and in this case, for all the right reasons.

Your criticism of Shias, or Shia rituals as you put it, was uncalled for, unjustified and unfair. Your follow-up article on Foreign policy was a cry of despair and reaffirmed your aversion of Shias. It might have been either because of you religious inclinations, or your skewed and elitist worldview. Whatever the reason, the result is evident. You too need some introspection. Try to understand people by thinking like them for a moment, rather than sticking to your ossified modern stereotypes of all those who do not fit your definition of humanity and modernity.

With billions of petro dollars to fund their global clout, the Saudi lobbies have simply brought off opposition to their continued efforts to spread Wahabism worldwide.  In failing to confront Wahabism, North America and Europe remain paralysed by a combination of political correctness and a racism of lower expectations while in muslim majority countries, the Saudi lobbies have used the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Ikhwan to infiltrate every level of the State.  Together this ensures that the relentless radicalization of millions of urban, upper and middle class Muslim youth is going on at a relentless pace in only Pakistan, India, Middle East, Egypt, Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia but also in North America and Europe through the concerted efforts of Saudi-funded Islamic TV channels. Examples of such channels include: Dr. Zakir Naik’s Peace TV (English and Urdu), Islam Channel, Iqraa TV and a few others.

In her book titled ‘Reconciliation’, late Benazir Bhutto offers a bold and critical description of Wahhabi Islam and its home, Saudi Arabia. She recounts the history of Wahhabism, with its repeated destruction of the mosques, monuments and lives of other (moderate) Sunni sects, as well as its war on Shiites. According to Fareed Zakaria, given that Saudi Arabia has been a generous patron to Pakistan, it is striking that Bhutto was willing to write things that would surely have caused her difficulty had she become prime minister.  This threat materialized in reality with the Saudi regime actively opposing the democratic PPP-lead government and its President Asif Ali Zardari as evidenced by both wiki leaks and this New York Times article which both highlight how the Saudis prefer dealing with the ISI and pro-Taliban politicians instead of those like the PPP who have the mandate of the nation.

The very fact that Benazir Bhutto and several other leaders and workers of her party (PPP), and thousands of innocent Pakistanis, Afghanis and nationals of other countries of diverse faiths, sects and ethnicities  have been martyred by the radicalised Jihadis is an indication of the violent and intolerant Salafi-Wahhabi ideology at play.

It is possible to identify three goals of the Saudi-funded Islamic TV channels.

1. The first goal of these channels is to drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims and create a narrow, sectarian binding identity for Muslims, brainwashing them towards a Saudi version of Islam;
2. The second goal is to strip away the diverse and rich cultural heritage of Muslims world-wide by condemning and ridiculing their syncretic spiritual practices. The aim is to create a stark, monochromatic and intolerant version of Islam as per which all other faiths or sects are deviant or heretic;
3. The third goal of these channels is to encourage hatred and physical violence against alls those diverse sects of Islam, e.g., Sufi / Barelvi, moderate Deobandis, Bohras, Isna Asharis, Ahmadis etc, which do not conform to the official Saudi version.

Zakir Naik and dozens of his clones currently being produced by the Saudi-funded Peace TV network are a classic example of how thousands of moderate Muslim youth, women and men, are being subconciously and silently being radicalized by Saudis.  Through a sectarian, decontextualized and selective misinterpretation of the Quran and the Hadees, Zakir Naik is creating divisions and hatred not only between Muslims and non-Muslims (Hindus, Christians, Jews etc) but also between different sects of Islam. Naik’s bigoted propaganda and insensitive diatribe against Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity and also against Sufi, Shia and Ahmadi sects of Islam is completely opposite to the tolerant and the inclusive practices of the Prophet Muhammad.

Similarly, the Islam Channel is known for promoting a narrow sectarian version of Islam wiping out moderate Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims from its programs and discourse. According to a media commentator:

What Islam Channel has done is to give an un-due prominence to Islamist voices that represent only a small minority of British Muslims. This over-representation has also led to other voices “ for instance from the UK’s Shia community or from non-Islamist Muslim groups” being under-represented on the channel.

Many of its speakers are Islamist extremists from organisations like Hizb ut-Tahrir who use the channel to promote intolerant and bigoted interpretations of Islam. Others are Wahhabi graduates of Saudi universities who have denied the Holocaust and promoted hatred of Shia Muslims. Other presenters are Islamists who have been suspended from their jobs in government due to their extremist statements or who are from organisations that the government has broken ties with due to their leading members’ alleged support for terrorism.

One of the most worrying aspects of Islam Channel is the promotion of its extremist agenda via the views and politics of its presenters. Amongst these have been the Wahhabi cleric and anti-semite Yasir Qadhi, and Azad Ali of the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE), who was suspended from his position of civil servant earlier this year, following the publication of extremist jihadi literature on the IFE blog.

Iqraa TV channel is yet another Saudi-funded channel aimed at redefining an Islamic identity among Arab viewers. The channel is owned by Saudi billionaire Sheikh Salah Kamal’s Arab Media Corporation.

According to Abu Haiba: Two easily identifiable media discourses in the Islamic media environment today are: the visibly Saudi-influenced one, which are clearly embodied by the Salafist ideology. Though narrow in their scope, Salafi stations focus on rituals and spirituality, where women and music are virtually non-existent on the airwaves. Furthermore, political quietism is another characteristic of these stations. However, there is also presence of relatively moderate, more refined and subtle Saudi-Salafi channels which are characterized by a contradiction of statements both in style and content stemming from their ostensibly moderate inclinations. Some shows have expanded their range of issues covered, beyond Islamic laws and spirituality. For example, they not only addressed issues pertaining to ethics and values, but also featured women as anchors, guests, or among the general public presenting media stories. However, political quietism and wiping out of diverse sects of Islam remains their key characteristic.

Another example of an exclusive and intolerant agenda of such TV channels is their policy of wiping out Karabla and Imam Hussain from their transmission even during the first ten days of Muharram when Muslims across the world, notwithstanding their particular sect or belief, mourn the great sacrifice of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Millions of Sunni and Shia Muslims in India, Pakistan, North America, Europe and other countries pay homage to Imam Hussain, which is also evident on moderate Islamic channels such as Noor TV, ARY QTV, Hidayat TV, Takbeer TV etc.  However, the mention of Imam Hussain andthe  family of the Prophet is completely censored on Saudi-funded Peace TV, Iqraa TV and Islam Channel. It must be acknowleged that the great sacrifice of Imam Hussain has been acknowledged and apprecaited by Muslim and non-Muslims alike who treat the revered Imam as a symbol of humanity and truth.  All Islamic TV channels are paying homage to Imam Hussain except Saudi-funded, OBL & Yazid apologist Zakir Naik’s Peace TV and other Saudi-financed channels.  While both Muslims as well as Hindus, Christains, Sikhs, Jews etc. respect the timeless Karbala paradigm, the Saudi hate lobby, lead by the likes of Zakir Naik ensures that Imam Hussain is ignored or that the tyrannical caliph Yazid who murdered the Prophet’s family is eulogized.

A similar censorship is enforced by the Saudi-funded channels on the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (known as Mawlid or Eid-Milad-un-Nabi), which is observed by a dominant majority of all Sunnis and Shias except those belonging to Saudi-Salafi interpretation of Islam. From a Saudi-Wahhabi perspective, the majority of moderate Sufi/Barelvi Sunnis are ridiculed as mushrik (polytheists) and Shias are reduced to kafir (infidels).

Such Saudi-funded TV channels are also being facilitated by other pro-Saudi preachers such as Dr. Farhat Hashmi and other Taliban and Al Qaeda apologists. Previously activists and scholars such as Sarah Khan, Tarek Fatah, Farzana Hasan and Raheel Raza have written on the potential threats posed to peace, tolerance and Islam itself by pseudo-Muslim scholars such as Zakir Naik and Farhat Hashmi.

To see the creeping Talibanization and sympathy for Al Qaeda initiatives Farhat Hashmi, refer to Salon’s “The Taliban’s ladies auxiliary” , this Daily Times report and the a collection of various newspaper articles, reports and comments that have has been compiled by LUBP.  These accounts painstakingly highlight how Wahabi proselytizers have made significant strides in creating rejectionist and misogynist mental ghettos amongst muslim communities worldwide, especially in Canada and Britain.

The progenitors of Zakir Naik and Farhat Hashmi are 20th century ideologues like Syed Qutb, Abul Ala Mawdudi and Hassan Al-Banna.  The last is the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood/Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen and grand-father of Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss acadamic whose subtle Wahabi-lite activism needs greater intellectual scrutiny.  These are the ideologues who have been the biggest promotors of a global Wahabist agenda that rejects both moderate muslim opinion as well as the rights and values of other faith traditions.  This Wahabist agenda justifies the horrendous violence against both muslims and non-muslims.  It is the reason why the many brainwashed upper-middle class muslim urbanites of Europe and North America are completely silent about the violence that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of muslims from Somalia to Indonesia.  This is the specific violence committed by Al Qaeda and its Taliban, Jamaat-e-Islami, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi affiliates while moderate muslims, especially the Ahmedi, Sufi, Sunni and Shia sects are the primary victims of this violence.

I am painfully aware of the fact that millions of Muslims not only in India and Pakistan but also in the US, Canada, UK and other countries across the world are allowing themselves and their families to be gradully brainwashed by watching the Saudi-Ikhwan sectarian propaganda of such TV channels.

It is a sincere warning to all those persons who are allowing themselves and/or their family members to be exposed to and brainwashed by the Saudi-funded TV channels: you might have a future Faisal Shahzad, Major Nidal Hasan or Muhammad Ata currently being groomed right within your own house.  Through your subscription or donation to the Saudi-funded TV channels, you may be, at least indirectly and subconsciously, contributing to the spread of Al Qaeda, Taliban and Saudi-ization of moderate Muslims. It is time to reflect on ways to discourage and impede the ongoing Saudi-ization (Wahhabi-ization) of moderate Muslim youth.

List of Saudi-funded Wahhabi-Salafi TV networks

(AP) ISLAMABAD — Text books in Pakistani schools foster prejudice and intolerance of Hindus and other religious minorities, while most teachers view non-Muslims as “enemies of Islam,” according to a study by a U.S. government commission released Wednesday.

The findings indicate how deeply ingrained hardline Islam is in Pakistan and help explain why militancy is often supported, tolerated or excused in the country.

“Teaching discrimination increases the likelihood that violent religious extremism in Pakistan will continue to grow, weakening religious freedom, national and regional stability, and global security,” said Leonard Leo, the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Pakistan was created in 1947 as a homeland for the Muslims of South Asia and was initially envisaged as a moderate state where minorities would have full rights. But three wars with mostly Hindu India; state support for militants fighting Soviet-rule in Afghanistan in the 1980s; and the appeasement of hardline clerics by weak governments seeking legitimacy have led to a steady radicalization of society.

Religious minorities and those brave enough to speak out against intolerance have often been killed, seemingly with impunity, by militant sympathizers. The commission warned that any significant efforts to combat religious discrimination, especially in education, would “likely face strong opposition” from hardliners.

The study reviewed more than 100 textbooks from grades 1-10 from Pakistan’s four provinces. Researchers in February this year visited 37 public schools, interviewing 277 students and teachers, and 19 madrases, where they interviewed 226 students and teachers.

The Islamization of textbooks began under the U.S.-backed rule of army dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, who courted Islamists to support his rule. In 2006, the government announced plans to reform the curriculum to address the problematic content, but that has not been done, the study said.

Pakistan’s Islamist and right-wing polity would likely oppose any efforts to change the curriculum, and the government has shown no desire to challenge them on the issue.

The report found systematic negative portrayals of minorities, especially Hindus and, to a lesser extent, Christians. Hindus make up more than 1 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people, while Christians represent around 2 percent. Some estimates put the numbers higher.

There are also even smaller populations of Sikhs and Buddhists.

“Religious minorities are often portrayed as inferior or second-class citizens who have been granted limited rights and privileges by generous Pakistani Muslims, for which they should be grateful,” the report said. “Hindus are repeatedly described as extremists and eternal enemies of Islam whose culture and society is based on injustice and cruelty, while Islam delivers a message of peace and brotherhood, concepts portrayed as alien to the Hindu.”

The books don’t contain many specific references to Christians, but those that “that do exist seem generally negative, painting an incomplete picture of the largest religious minority in Pakistan,” the report said.

Attempts to reach Pakistan’s education minister were not successful.

The textbooks make very little reference to the role played by Hindus, Sikhs and Christians in the cultural, military and civic life of Pakistan, meaning a “a young minority student will thus not find many examples of educated religious minorities in their own textbooks,” the report said.

“In most cases historic revisionism seems designed to exonerate or glorify Islamic civilization, or to denigrate the civilizations of religious minorities,” the report said. “Basic changes to the texts would be needed to present a history free of false or unsubstantiated claims which convey religious bias.”

The researchers also found that the books foster a sense that Pakistan’s Islamic identity is under constant threat.

“The anti-Islamic forces are always trying to finish the Islamic domination of the world,” read one passage from a social studies text being taught to Grade 4 students in Punjab province, the country’s most populated. “This can cause danger for the very existence of Islam. Today, the defense of Pakistan and Islam is very much in need.”

The report states that Islamic teachings and references were commonplace in compulsory text books, not just religious ones, meaning Pakistan’s Christians, Hindus and other minorities were being taught Islamic content. It said this appeared to violate Pakistan’s constitution, which states that students should not have to receive instruction in a religion other than their own.

The attitudes of the teachers no doubt reflect the general intolerance in Pakistan — a 2011 Pew Research Center study found the country the third most intolerant in the world — but because of the influence they have, they are especially worrisome.

Their views were frequently nuanced and sometimes contradictory, according to the study. While many advocated respectful treatment of religious minorities, this was conditional upon the attitudes of the minorities, “which appeared to be in question,” the report said. The desire to proselytize was cited as one of the main motivations for kind treatment.

According to the study, more than half the public school teachers acknowledged the citizenship of religious minorities, but a majority expressed the opinion that religious minorities must not be allowed to hold positions of power, in order to protect Pakistan and Muslims. While many expressed the importance of respecting the practices of religious minorities, simultaneously 80 percent of teachers viewed non-Muslims, in some form or another, as “enemies of Islam.”

Source: CBS News

Since the honorable judge was presiding over this matter that related to the nuances of freedom of expression on the internet, I will presume that he is proficient in matters related to IT and uses the internet regularly. With all due respect then, Your Honor, I most humbly request you to Google some things.

Google the definition of religious intolerance Your Honor, it might surprise you to know that religious intolerance is not limited to Islam, but to all religions, all beliefs, all faiths. Google the history of religious intolerance Your Honor and you will find atrocities committed against Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and a host of others. Google just a bit further Your Honor and you will find that religious intolerance extends to sects within these major religions, intolerance against Dalits, against Protestants, against Shias.

Then Google this Your Honor, http://www.kr-hcy.com/, a website where you cannot enter till you accept that you are a Muslim as defined by the site. I would request you to squelch your repulsion and enter the site Your Honor and see what lies ahead. Witness the hatred that the site spreads against Shias and Qadyanis, Your Honor, and ban that site too, for is it not religious intolerance to call Shias ‘munkir, baaghi and dushman’? Is it not religious intolerance to ask people to join ‘the war’ against shias, and to ‘hunt them to the ends of the world’?

When you are done with that website, Your Honor, then Google this one http://alhafeez.org/rashid/terrorism.htm. Once you have navigated through it’s myriad headings and articles, you will have gone through pages upon pages that claim among other things that Qadyanis are anti- Pakistan, that they are behind the acts of terrorism we face each day, that they have dealt mortal blows to the export sector. Is it not religious intolerance Your Honor, to put forth such claims which might entice the general public to react against a minority? Is it not religious intolerance Your Honor, to imply that a sect is the enemy of the State just because their religious beliefs are different from the majority?

And lastly Your Honor, if you have the stomach for it, please Google Zaid Hamid and witness the many sites that carry his hatred filled speeches against Hindus including his own brasstacks.com. Is it not religious intolerance Your Honor, when Hindus are called ‘paleet’ and said to be part of a conspiracy to bring down Pakistan? Is it not religious intolerance to blame every thing that goes wrong not on a neighboring country, but on the faith of the neighboring country? I need not remind you Your Honor, that many in this country are Hindus, including one of your most esteemed fellows, Justice Bhagwandaas.

Lastly, Your Honor, Google George Jeffreys and see how selectively harsh punishments can lead to notoriety in dispensing justice, the most noble of professions.

Interestingly they use this principle to attack democracy and when confronted they throw up their arms, pleading that they have the democratic right to express their opinion — even if that opinion is about glorifying notions of authoritarian rule, and having a mindset that smacks of political chauvinism and puffed up notions of social and religious bigotry. Now the question arises, is democracy really about such free-for-all scheme of things?

My answer would be a resounding no. Democratic principles come attached with an important condition. This condition is about owning and demonstrating a strong sense of responsibility, no matter what spectrum of political thought one comes from. For example, an individual in a democracy should be taken to task if he publicly preaches hatred or bigotry. However, he should be largely tolerated if he decides to run for an election and then airs his beliefs in an elected parliament because there he will be up against an instant counterargument.

The point is that this way a voice of hatred will eventually soften its stance, or more so, the democratic process will prove that this voice was no more than a part of the lunatic fringe no matter how demagogic it may have sounded outside parliament. That’s the corrective beauty of democracy.

What I am getting at is that in Pakistan where democracy has always been a stern struggle, we have to keep a concerned eye on the lunatic fringe that (mainly through the mainstream electronic media), is having a ball with the whole democratic notion of the freedom of speech and expression.

Obviously, this fringe, largely made up of certain TV personalities, conspiracy theorists, politicians and televangelists, may have been able to find applause from within some of the country’s malcontented drawing rooms, but they remain largely demagogic and focused on attacking democracy – either as being a western/Zionist construct or ‘anti-Islam.’ They haven’t paid their dues to be able to use freedom of expression because they operate well outside the democratic process.

What is offered as an alternative by these people is nothing more than lofty Utopian arrangements weaved together from a largely mythical understanding of religious and Pakistani history in which certain prominent historical figureheads, from leaders to sages, are spun into becoming glorified hate-mongers. These distorted examples are then presented as a so-called proof that faith and Pakistan are historically not compatible with liberal democracy.

Such men and women shake impassionedly on the mini-screen; they sweat, shout, wring their hands and clench their fists, pleading at the top of their voice the meaning of ‘true patriotism,’ and ‘Islam’ and how both Pakistan and Islam are in danger of being infiltrated, adulterated and eventually obliterated by some very strange sounding ‘lobbies.’

The biggest irony perhaps is that it is this fringe that itself is the most obvious lobby. A lobby of men and women pleading and shouting is a clear indication of their fear of populist democracy and how this democracy can render them and their ideas obsolete. This is Pakistan’s version of the ubiquitous lunatic fringe — great software for mainstream TV channels and something for certain sections of the urban classes to vent out their permanent existentialist frustrations, and that’s about it.

The democratic government of the day and the parliamentarian opposition know that this fringe has little or no popular roots in the figurative masses. But since such groupings have become mainstream media mainstays, it has to be asked exactly how much can be tolerated of them in their self-righteous attacks on parliamentarianism and liberalism and their habit of turning demagogic fiction into ‘historical fact?’

Of course, they are more than welcome to make use of democratic principles and notions such as freedom of speech while operating outside the hard-fought democratic process, but they should not be allowed to do so without first understanding the responsibility aspect that comes attached to this democratic notion. More than the government, I think the onus lies in this respect on the TV channels that put a number of such loonies in front of the camera.

Interestingly, even though these animated folks have not been able to grow any worthwhile roots among the ‘common people’ as such, thanks to their media presence, they most certainly have got going in finding fans and believers from amongst certain sections of the middle-class – from shop-keepers to fashion designers, to former rock stars, born-again yuppies and assorted businessmen.

Here is where the democratic forces of the country should get concerned because, in the past, it has been sections of the well-to-do middle and upper-middle classes whose money and influence was used to drill a destructive wedge in the process of democracy, using protection of religion as a pretext. The 1977 anti-Bhutto movement is a case in point.

One sees this process being repeated, if not checked.

Source: Dawn

Cross-posted from The Dawn Blog

Dear Mr. Rehman Malik,

I recently found out that you have decided to take action (aka, block, ban and forget) against blasphemous content on the internet.

Let me take this opportunity to tell you that I am extremely delighted at this announcement.

In fact, I am so overwhelmed by the idea that I have decided to write this letter of appreciation and to help you filter content (that needs to be censored immediately).Let me first define blasphemy (since confusion is rampant) and allow me to restate this: nothing would disappoint the Prophet (PBUH) more than violence being justified in his name; nothing is more blasphemous than using Islam as a tool to justify violence.

Therefore Mr. Malik, the following recommendations have been made in this light.

Ansar-Al-Mujahideen: The possibilities with this one are endless, from videos, forums to press releases for ‘Mujahideen,” this one has it all.  Must read the newest thread titled, “claiming responsibility for kidnapping two French citizens and exposing the stupidity of the French.” I rest my case.

Haq Chal Yaar: The website promotes hate speech against Shias and the Ahmadis. It also goes on to claim (http://www.kr-hcy.com/shia/kufr.shtml) that Shias are non-Muslims, urging people to fight the Shia Fitna. The forum concludes that anyone who disagrees with them “has to suffer with the words of Kafir/Infidel.” In the presence of muftis and a federal Shariah court this should at least qualify for contempt of court if not blasphemy.

Muslaman Bachay: A magazine run by Jaish-e-Muhammad (a banned outfit). The site features an art gallery with drawings from children. Different from your usual drawings, these are portraits of suicide bombers, guns, swords and such. You get my point, don’t you?

These are just few examples of terrorist websites that perpetuate hate, discrimination and promote violence, that are accessible throughout Pakistan. To be more accurate, according to the 2006 statistics there around 4,500 extremist websites, most of which are accessible in Pakistan.

Child porn: A simple Google search is self-explanatory.

Please note that since May 2010, over 1,200 websites have been blocked, without any prior warning or an explanation or notice regarding the duration of the ban. This appears to be an honest mistake, because child porn and terrorist websites continue to be accessible throughout Pakistan (blasphemy of the utmost level). I hope that you will take notice and assure a crackdown on all sites mentioned above. After all, this is Islamic Republic of Pakistan and we must ensure that even our virtual world is secure from all forms of blasphemous content.

Last, but not the least, since you are well-known for making honest mistakes please avoid us all the embarrassment and not block Facebook, YouTube and Twitter this time around? After all, they have already proven their piety in front of the Lahore High Court.

Sincerely,

A citizen, concerned about the freedom of the internet.