The Lessons of Peshawar Massacre

On 16  December 2014 132 children and 9 teachers were massacred at a school in Pakistan. The responsibility for this carnage was claimed by PakTaliban, whose fugitive leader, Mullah Fazlullah – it was he who gave the order for Malala Yousafzai’s near-fatal shooting - lives in Afghanistan. 

General Raheel Sharif

In the days following the atrocity the Chief of Pakistan Army, General Raheel Sharif, and the head of Inter-Services Intelligence, General Rizwan Akhtar, flew to Afghanistan. Pakistan media reported that the generals had taken with them evidence of Indian complicity in the Peshawar atrocity (training of PakTaliban murderers and equipping them with sophisticated weapons and communication equipment). They met the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, and the top commander of occupying powers US and NATO, General John Campbell. General Sharif’s demand for the arrest of Fazlullah, and his handover to Pakistan, seems to have been unsuccessful.

Following the return of Pakistan’s generals there were reports that Pakistan Air Force jets had flown out into Afghan airspace and bombed Fazlullah’s hiding place in Afghanistan. There were rumours that Fazlullah had been killed. 

Mass murderer Fazlullah

While these reports appeared in the Asian press [for example:  http://gulfnews.com/news/world/pakistan/pakistan-taliban-leader-mullah-fazlullah-killed-in-air-strike-1.1429620] they were generally absent from western media. The US media, some 95% of which is said to be controlled by a handful of wealthy families, appear to have avoided mentioning the F word altogether! Fazlullah probably survived the Pakistani attempt to kill him. Is he being protected by the powers that be?

 
Pakistan’s descent from high ideals of Islam into a cauldron of Mullahism and West-worship

Pakistan, a homeland for the Muslims of India, was the vision of the great Muslim poet-philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal. To realise that vision required a leader with extraordinary qualities, able to resist the will of the British imperialists and of the Hindus of Indian Congress political party (who saw themselves as the natural heirs to the British). The Muslims were fortunate to have found in Muhammad Ali Jinnah a staunch Muslim who saw no conflict between Quranic guidance and modern life. He articulated Iqbal’s vision, and his own, in interviews and speeches.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah

In December 1943 Jinnah gave an interview to a British journalist, Beverley Nichols, in which he described the ‘vital principles’ of Pakistan as: The Muslims are a Nation. He elaborated further: “You must remember that Islam is not merely a religious doctrine but a realistic and practical Code of Conduct. I am thinking in terms of life, of everything important in life. I am thinking in terms of our history, our heroes, our art, our architecture, our music, our laws, our jurisprudence”.

In a radio broadcast to the people of the USA, in February 1948, Jinnah talked about the constitution of Pakistan yet to be drafted: “it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principles of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fair play to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims – Hindus, Christians, and Parsees – but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan”.

Jinnah, the modern Muslim for whom the Message of the Quran was independent of the time period in which humanity lived, was opposed by the Muslim priest class which rejected the idea of Pakistan and sided with the Indian Congress party. The mullahs went further, some declaring Jinnah and Iqbal as ‘kaafir’.

The great irony of Pakistan today is that the mullahs, who fought Jinnah and opposed Pakistan Movement, have claimed the country in the name of their distorted version of Islam, a throwback to the pre-Islamic Age of Ignorance. This insanity is matched at the other extreme by the West-worshipping class of Pakistanis, for whom Islam has little meaning, a “religion” at best. For them the fount of wisdom is located in the West, to which they look for guidance in their lives. These self-styled “liberals” are as destructive for Pakistan as is rampant mullahism.

Way forward for Pakistan

The mysterious way in which PakTaliban sprang up in 2007, and the way their distorted understanding of Islam has been encouraged and exploited, point to international intrigue. Pakistan military’s response to PakTaliban’s atrocities is to attack them and kill as many as possible. This may turn out to be a futile exercise if nothing is done to stem the flow of arms and finance to PakTaliban. 

While the body of Pakistan is being ravaged by inhuman actions of PakTaliban, its soul is being assiduously destroyed by West-worshippers who are hell-bent on imposing an alien language and its associated Anglo-American culture on Pakistan.

As I see it, there is only one solution which will work in the long run but it does require a great deal of patience in the meantime. This solution is a rapid spread of education in Urdu, a language Pakistanis understand and which is intimately connected with their culture and religious traditions. The education needs to be broadly based: it must encourage individuals to reflect on Quranic Guidance themselves (as demanded by Quran) and provide them with scientific, technical and linguistic knowledge which is necessary for material prosperity in current world conditions. Without reforming Pakistani society we are faced with an eternal struggle between the forces of darkness: rabid West-worshippers against mad mullahs espousing a religion which negates the spirit of Islam.

The Malala phenomenon

At the age of just 17 Malala Yousafzai is probably the most famous Pakistani in the world today. This blog is an attempt to unravel the mystery that surrounds Malala.

Malala was born on 12/07/1997 to Ziauddin and Toorpekai Yousafzai in Swat, Pakistan. Ziauddin was inspired by Marxist ideology and was active in promoting education for boys and girls in Swat. His deep interest in politics meant that he constantly discussed politics with his children, especially Malala. By the time she was 12 she could discuss politics intelligently and, under persuasion by her father, had given up her earlier wish of becoming a doctor in favour of becoming a politician.                  

Malala before PakTaliban came to Swat

In 2007 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was formed in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, known as FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). These so-called Pakistani Taliban were distinct from the Afghan Taliban, who were engaged in a fierce struggle to drive out foreign forces from Afghan soil. The Pakistani Taliban, espousing a weird form of Islam, had just one aim: to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan and to destabilize the country. They were surrounded on three sides by Pakistan’s military, leaving the porous border with Afghanistan as the route from where armaments, tools of terrorism and finance flowed in freely. Numerous reports in Pakistan’s press named the backers as the American CIA and Indian RAW.

Pakistan’s incompetent federal government failed miserably to control the growing influence of Pakistani Taliban, who became the effective rulers of FATA within two years. Emboldened by their success, PakTaliban moved further into the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), especially Swat, and forcibly imposed such perversions as banning girls’ education in the areas under their control. By the time Malala was 11 it was the writ of PakTaliban that prevailed in Swat.

What was life like under PakTaliban? BBC Urdu had a brilliant idea. Get a Swati student to write a regular blog! A 16 years old girl volunteered but withdrew under pressure from her family who feared reprisals from PakTaliban. Ziauddin, however, offered up 11 years old Malala as the blogger. She was deemed too young but was eventually accepted as the fear of the ruthless Taliban had driven away more suitable pupils. On 3/01/2009 Malala’s first blog in Urdu appeared at the BBC Urdu website under the pseudonym Gul Makai (Sunflower). She wrote several blogs, the last one on 12/03/2009. With great courage she gave a candid account of her life in Mingora (the main town in Swat) under PakTaliban occupation and wrote passionately about girls’ education.

From that point Malala’s rise to fame was rapid as a US journalist made a New York Times documentary about her and she gave interviews in print and on television. In July 2009 Richard Holbrooke, US president Obama’s special representative for “AfPak”, had a meeting with the twelve-year-old! By December 2009 the identity of Gul Makai, the young BBC blogger, had been revealed in articles about Malala. PakTaliban issued numerous death threats to her but Ziauddin paid little heed, possibly because of the action of Pakistan Army in the summer of 2010 to drive PakTaliban out of KPK. In July 2012 Malala gave a speech at National Marxist Summer School in Pakistan.

Malala after PakTaliban shooting

The area commander of PakTaliban, Mullah Fazlullah, gave the order for her assassination. Fazlullah is currently the leader of PakTaliban and lives across the border in Afghanistan. He is said to have the support of Afghan, American and Indian secret services. On 9/10/2012, aged 15, Malala was shot at close range by a young Talib as she travelled home in her school bus. One bullet entered the left side of her forehead, travelled down her face and embedded itself in her shoulder. After initial operations in Pakistan she was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for intensive rehabilitation.

On 15/10/2012 a famous visitor came to see Malala in her hospital bed. It was Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister who was once close to America’s Obama, and now acted as the UN Special Envoy for Global Education. He lost no time in launching a petition for children’s education under the catchy slogan “I am Malala”. He is thought to have put forward the name of the anti-Pakistan, anti-Islam journalist Christina Lamb to ghost-write Malala’s autobiography in English. Predictably, when the book was published in October 2013 it had the title “I am Malala”! This book is notable for the disagreeable way Lamb has exploited a child by slipping in comments in Malala’s name which would have been beyond her comprehension. As an example, Salman Rushdie’s infamous book “Satanic Verses” is mentioned in the context of freedom of expression even though Muslims worldwide were deeply hurt by the perversity of Rushdie in deliberately abusing and ridiculing what the Muslims hold sacred and dear.

With Gordon Brown

Ziauddin with Mrs Brown

                               

                                              
 The PakTaliban have reiterated their death threats to both Malala and her father. In my opinion most Pakistanis tend to see Malala as an idealist who is now virtually a willing prisoner in the hands of western politicians. She will be used for their political ends as much as possible and will be discarded eventually as her Marxism or her Islam are seen as insurmountable obstacles. Her Nobel Prize for Peace, too, is seen in political terms for two reasons: firstly, Malala has done nothing for regional or world peace and, secondly, to make the prize palatable to India she had to share it with a virtually unknown Indian.

 
Malala is growing up into an assured young woman of great dignity and charm. So far she has coped with her fame with no trace of arrogance and self-importance. May Allah’s Grace and Mercy accompany her in her life.

Tailpiece

This post can also be read at the Muslim Institute's website:
http://www.musliminstitute.org/blogs/malala/malala-phenomenon

For an account of foreign powers' anti-Pakistan conspiracies using Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan as the destabilizing force, see the following blogs:

Terrorising Pakistan

TP - part 2