Shrinking space for liberals in Pakistan
On January 11, Pakistan prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the restoration of an ancient Hindu temple in the Punjab province. "We all are equal - Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and people belonging to other religions; we are all one. The Sharif government started its tenure in 2013 with the gesture of friendly diplomacy," he told reporters at the event.
The "friendly diplomacy" didn't last long as the Pakistani establishment released Mumbai attack suspect Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi on bail. Since then, the Sharif government has been facing worldwide criticism for not doing enough against extremists and banned organisations.
Sharif is trying to soften the image of the country, while his interior minister Chaudhry Nisar is doggedly attempting the reverse - with existing operations in Karachi and through abductions of social media activists and bloggers.
More than four activists have gone missing in the last two weeks from different parts of Punjab, and illegal arrests of political activists of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), who were vocal against the religious extremism and militancy in the country, have been reported in Karachi.
MQM has been considered a liberal and secular political force of Pakistan, which, since its origins, has maintained a clear stance against the religious militancy and terrorism in the country and worldwide.
Under Nisar's interior ministry, the MQM activists have been arrested by paramilitary forces without any legal documents and more than 100 have gone missing without a trace.
In Karachi, the operation that started in 2013 in the name of controlling political militancy and terrorism has turned into a political victimisation tool. The operation which started with a raid on the Headquarter of MQM too hasn't been moved to any other direction.
If we look at the pattern of events taking place in Pakistan, from the North to the South, it is clear Nisar is against secular and liberal forces, but gives a free hand to the extremists. The extremist organisations are allowed to hold rallies, while secular political forces like MQM is barred from any political activity in Karachi.
The recent statement by Nisar on the definition of terrorism is worrying. He said outlawed sectarian organisations should not be equated with terrorist outfits.
According to him, sectarian violence has been witnessed for 1,300 years. Why should Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned sectarian outfit that has killed hundreds of Hazaras, 70 lawyers and 59 recruits in Balochistan not be considered a group of terrorists? Should the bombings on Imambargahs and processions, and the mass killings of the Shias be treated only as a 1,300 year-old conflict not terrorism?
In 2015, when interior ministry presented its statement in the Pakistan senate with a National Action Plan instituted to take action against terrorists, it stated that they will act against the Red Mosque Cleric, Abdul Aziz.
The Red mosque has reportedly been supporting terrorists and issuing death threats to the secular civil society of Pakistan. Abdul Aziz publicly pledged an allegiance with Daesh (ISIS) and didn't condemn the attack on Army Public School, Peshawar, which took lives of more than 130 children.
The evidence and documents had been presented to Nisar against Aziz, but he didn't take any action against the cleric. In fact, Nisar said in a press conference that Aziz has submitted an apology on defending the APS attack. He further told media: "We want to keep our focus on the ongoing operation against militants." "Any other action at this stage will create a diversion and benefit the militants."
The question is, why is a cleric who openly threatens the secular and liberal people of Pakistan as also pleads alliance with an international terrorist organisation, not seen as a threat to the society but the political activists and social media activists taken to task?
Such policy has earned Pakistan a bad name in the international community. The US State Department, United Nations and other civilised societies have been criticising Pakistan against such actions and the country is facing the diplomatic isolation worldwide.
The Pakistan government can't improve the country by passing bills on women's safety and by inaugurating minorities' temples. The democratic government needs to do more to restore the secular and liberal face of Pakistan by giving them freedom of expression and right of assembly to political forces, which is allowed in the country's constitution.