If we cherish our principles dearly, and on each and every issue, our stance is a principled one, then can we ever justify the abduction of an individual, by the state apparatus through extra judicial means? No? Although there are still some who might justify otherwise, as it might be claimed that it is the responsibility of the state to deal harshly with the people who use violent means to derail the peace and security of the citizens and the institutions of the state, and that it becomes a necessity, if the judicial system in the state is not capable enough to persecute such people due to several factors. There might not be enough evidence to prove the accusations against them, or if given bail, then as long as there is a case pending against them, these people might take undue advantage of their freedom, and shall be free to perpetrate other crimes unchecked. Now that response might be a bit digestible to some people who find no other means with which the state could quash such a so called uprising, as the said perpetrators might be deemed violent people and the state needs to stop their actions before they can cause greater harm to the public. They might include the people linked with or participants of TTP, Lashkar e Jhangvi, sympathizers and supporters of the Taliban in Afghanistan etc. Until now, the discussion was concerning the people abducted by the state who espouse violent means to achieve their objectives.
But, what of those people who are non violent or non sectarian, and who do not see eye to eye with the establishment? Those people who criticize the policies of the state based on a principle; can they be abducted by the state for believing in an idea, or for holding a different opinion? Or even for utilizing non-violent and non-sectarian means to propagate such opinions? No? Don’t think so? Or don’t have any idea who I am talking about?
I am referring to five individuals in particular:
1. Imran Yousufzai, a Chartered Accountant, and a charismatic speaker and a person whose ideas can easily be assessed by accessing his various thought provoking speeches on YouTube. On Tuesday morning, 12th July 2011, he was abducted by the agencies while heading for a meeting with a well known television journalist in Islamabad.
2. Dr. Abdul Qayyum, a very senior Dentist based in Rahim Yar Khan, a person who is admired and respected by his colleagues and is well known in the city for his honesty and integrity. He was abducted on the eve of his son’s marriage ceremony, when he went out for groceries with his 11 year old daughter in his car. The agencies personnel blocked the path of his car, grabbed him and refused to listen to his pleas for the safety of his daughter and instead left his little girl alone in the car on a deserted road in the middle of the night to fend for herself.
3. Engineer Ousama Hanif, a Telecom Engineer by profession, son of a respected educationalist and social worker in Islamabad, educated from the prestigious university, NUST, father of a daughter, working at a reputable telecommunications company in Islamabad. On Thursday morning, 21st July, 2011, as he left for office from his home in Islamabad, he was ambushed by government thugs, who blocked his car and kidnapped him.
4. Engineer Hayyan Khan, a software engineer by profession, recently married, working at a reputable software development firm in Islamabad. On Wednesday morning, 13th July, 2011, as he left for office from his home in Rawalpindi (the very next day of Imran Yousufzai’s kidnapping), he was ambushed by government henchmen in a similar manner, who blocked his car, broke the side window, and then kidnapped him.
Their crime you ask? Surely, it must an extremely serious one to warrant such an action by the government agencies. The answer simply is, yes it is. These people carry ideas that are not only going to revolutionize this country, or this continent, but the whole modern world. Although these people do not espouse violence or sectarian divide at all to promote their ideas, rather only use peaceful means, but their message is so powerful, so nerve cracking, that it is shaking the current system and its establishment to the very core. If these people are somehow successful in their attempts, then there will be nothing left remaining of this corrupt system or its remnants. Yes, these people belong to Hizb ut Tahrir, a global political party, which is in fact, the largest political organization in the world, whether Islamic or otherwise, working in more than forty countries for the re-establishment of the Islamic Caliphate. And what is a Caliphate, if you don’t know already? It is an upcoming future super state which will upset the established order, and replace it with a new (albeit more efficient) one. It is actually quite funny when viewing the history of this organization, from its inception in 1953, to its expansion all over the world in five continents, to note that wherever it has been persecuted, or harassed, or its members jailed or even killed, it has continued to grow and grow and grow, to no end. Take the example of Egypt, where despite the strong-arm approach adopted by Gemal Abdul Nasir, he could not quash the Hizb there, or Libya, where Qaddafi openly shot and murdered four members of Hizb ut Tahrir in the late 70s, and it still survives there, or the states of Central Asia, where prisons after prisons have been filled with members of the party, and videos of its’ members’ torture and subsequent death circulate the internet, and still the despots are forced to admit that they have no clue as to how to stop its growth. Take also the example of Bangladesh, where despite the recent ban and arrest of its senior members, the party carried out country wide protests against the current system, with no less than 14 people still arrested, or the example of Pakistan, where despite the proscription at the behest of America, we find no major street of the cities in Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad, where the bright orange posters and stickers of the banned party are not embarrassing the intelligentsia as well as the intelligence agencies of the country, and it has also been very seriously, with due concern, reported several times in the media, that the said organization has infiltrated well within the ranks of the Armed forces of Pakistan, the institution which has been correctly identified by the party as holding the “real” power in the country. Hence, it holds the actual key to any future change in the country.
The real strength behind the resilience and growth of this party despite the harshest means attempted by the successive governments all over the world, is only due to the depth of the ideas that it carries and propagates. It is the constant intellectual discussion and the field testing of these ideas that actually ensure the party’s consistent growth, whether it is in the Middle East, or Central Asia, or the Sub Continent, or North Africa, or Europe or even in Maldives and Zanzibar. Don’t believe me? Search the internet yourself, you might not find a single region where its members are not present, or where these ideas are not being weighed as the solution to the current mess the world is in.
However, the use of force by our state apparatus shows the complete and utter intellectual bankruptcy of the state intelligentsia with respect to countering these ideas. Force is only applied against ideas after every other means to counter them has been exhausted, and we do not necessarily have to go to huge lengths to describe the intellectual capacity of our current masters. As history has repeatedly shown that ideas can never ever be stopped or broken through force, rather it only serves to elevate their resonance further within the masses.
The point that is saddening, and actually exposes a bit of hypocrisy on the media’s part is that, although we do find a mention of these peoples’ abduction nestled somewhere safe in the middle of some newspapers, but we do not come across any condemnation to his reprehensible act from any cross section of the media. There is not even a small utterance of displeasure shown by the high and the mighty of the business. In the end I would like to give a sincere piece of advice to the rulers who wish to stop this struggle; the abduction of the activists poses no hindrance to the activities of the party, as they have actually grown after their abduction (if the posters and placards around the city are any indication), and if you really wish to stop them, then refute or accept their ideas through open discussion forums, and only as the blatant use of force might get you in a position from where there might be no turning back.
By: Shaharyar Najam (Lahore)
Shaharyar Najam is a civil engineer by profession, and also currently a student of management sciences.