The image of women clad in black burqas brandishing large sticks outside of Lal Masjid and threatening women not dressed “Islamically” was broadcast globally. The population of Islamabad remained confined indoors in certain parts of the city as the conflict between Ghazi, the leader of the Lal Masjid, and his supporters and the Pakistani army erupted and the list of fatalities grew. Reports in American newspapers revealed a slight note of hysteria as they quoted Liaqat Baluch, the leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a religious political party, who claimed that the army’s action against the Lal Masjid would result in an “Islamist revolution.” In response to the crisis, Musharraf vowed to root out terrorism everywhere in the country.
Unfortunately, Musharraf did not vow to eliminate poverty or provide basic health services and improving the quality of public education. He was too busy receiving F-16 fighter jets from the US government and squandering nearly $10 billion of military aid given by the US.
The events that actually occurred at Lal Masjid are still nebulous. The death toll remains uncertain. Relatives of missing students wander around the premises of the mosque and its affiliated schools in the hopes that their sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, will be found, although at this point, they are looking just for bodies to identify and take home for burial. Critics question how a mosque that had previously enjoyed support from the Pakistani government could have built up an arsenal of weapons without the government noticing.
The government was faced with little choice in the last days of the crisis. Those inside the Lal Masjid had declared a jihad against fellow Muslims and stated that they had enough ammunition to last them a month. Musharraf had no choice but to respond with force to what had become not so much a religious crisis, but a political one hiding behind the façade of religion. The mullas morphed profound discontent over social and political issues into religious fanaticism.
The reasons for this discontent against the government are many. Pakistan’s military budget dwarfs the amount of money allocated to issues such as health care and social services. In a country where the infant mortality rate is 74.43 deaths per 1,000 live births, as compared to America’s 6.63 deaths, this is criminal. In 2006, 73.6 percent of the population was subsisting on less than $2, or 120 rupees, a day. Less than half the population is literate, with literacy rates for women hovering at about 30 percent. Malnutrition, understaffed and unhygienic hospitals, and poor infrastructure all contribute to these statistics. Hospitals and schools in rural areas are practically nonexistent. In Pakistan’s larger cities, doctors can be found, but adequate care comes at a price that only the rich can afford to pay. The differences in lifestyle of the rich and the poor underline the disparity in the distribution of wealth. While the rich shop in Western style supermarkets and malls, the poor can barely afford to buy one kilo of flour. The wealthy live in seven different phases of the Defense in Karachi with generators to keep their electricity supply uninterrupted while the masses sweat in tiny, ramshackle homes made of cardboard and tin and are lucky if they get electricity for a few hours a day.
Yet despite the beggars thronging the streets, the deaths from diseases such as cholera that were eradicated in developed countries decades ago, and the roads that flood every time it rains, the Pakistani government remains shockingly oblivious to its people’s plight. The social services and public education system in the country are abysmal. The poor have no one to turn to except for the mullas, who preach the equality that is inherent in Islam but attach dangerous appendages to their version of Islam. The mullas advocate social justice at the same time as they allow their followers to kidnap women on the unfounded assumption that they are prostitutes. They entice the poorest of the poor with promises of a better life—if not in this world, then the next—and direct these people’s legitimate frustration into illegitimate actions.
The growth of religious fundamentalism is an alarming prospect, but vowing to stamp it out without addressing the underlying issues that impel people to support it only aggravates the problem. Cure the source of the problem, and the problem itself will disappear; attempt the equation the other way around and discontent will only increase. Instead of channeling billions of dollars into the military, some of that money should support social services. The public education system should be completely revamped and extended into rural and tribal areas. Universal access to adequate healthcare should become the national standard. The Pakistani government needs to show it as serious about eliminating poverty as it is about eliminating terrorism.
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