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.........Of the Chicks and the Cuckoos

formyfreedom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:42:21 +0000

What a marvelous day it was. We were surrounded by clouds. They were touching our cheeks and giving us sensational feeling of being so closed with the nature. The whole environment was so cosmopolitan that we were totally lost into it. The scenic beauty around us was making us believe that the hills, trees, flowers, birds and clouds around us were part of heaven. The cool breeze was so fresh and revitalizing that it made us highly spirited and cheerful just after few moments of our arrival to this dream land. Me and my two friends had left Islamabad just a couple of hours back where the sun was in a bitter mood even at 7:30 A.M. and we were all getting drenched as a result of scorching heat. But now in the hills of Murree, a beautiful resort town, everything was entirely different including our moods.

Two of my friends are quite controlled freak but even though the romanticism in the air was forcing them to sing and act like teenagers. Good weather always has deep impact on me and in that wonderful environment enabled me to transform my mood as well. To add to our 'trouble' of being romantic, we suddenly find a pack of "chicks" around us enjoying the bliss of nature. The gals were ultra-modern, stylish and to boot appealing enough that it was getting hard for guys to refrain from some ogling. Luckily or unluckily, the chicks were in lively mood and soon we were having some nice chit chat with them. Finally, the gals gotta go and saying adieu to them became hardest thing to do for us but yes there was no other choice. So a long wave of hands and than even longer silence prevailed after that.

After wandering in the woods for another hour or so, we left Murree and stopped at a small hilly restaurant for cola and Pakoras (Pakistani traditional snacks). At that moment, I just heard some noise around and out of curiosity; I went straight to the side from where the noise was coming. Oh my god…I witnessed countless chicks there. But these chicks were confined in big coops. Yes, you got, here I mean there were so many hens and at that particular moment they were making hue and cry as the restraint-guy was attempting to snatch one of the chicks, which was destined to get into pieces very soon of course.

I find the scene ugly to watch and decided to move myself from the sight but an intriguing idea came in my mind and that was to observe the reaction of the chicks who survived this time but one of their co-habitant and friend was being cut into pieces before their eyes. As I was feeling the pain of these chicks, the next thing happened there was most surprising for me. As the restaurant-guy was engaged in cutting the ill-fated chick into pieces, the chicks in the coop were again busy in eating grain. They were doing it as fast as they could as the most important work on the earth is eating grain and they were doing so by totally ignoring what had happened to their friend just a few moments ago.

During rest of the journey to Islamabad, I could not speak a word and was totally lost and aloof. My friends inquired the reason of this sadness and started advising me that don't think too much about those ladies whom we had met at Murree. I could not tell them that normally saying adieu to people whom I like is of course always a saddening thing for me. But at that particular time, I was not thinking of those beautiful and elegant chicks. Even I was not thinking about the disgusting behavior of the chicks in the coops as their behavior was guided by instinct. In fact I was thinking about the cuckoos. Yes, the cuckoos, but not those beautiful singing birds, those were the cuckoos (stupid politically corrects) who are denying that there is a real threats to humanity by the forces of darkness and even they are defending these barbarians with their naïve ideas e.g. cultural pluralism etc., while the barbarians are on rampage and cutting the humanity into pieces before their eyes everyday.

I was lost in so many questions. Yes, chicks are just chicks but what happened to these cuckoos who represent themselves as politicians, writer, intellectuals, thinkers etc. and yet they are not able to see the danger to humanity. Barbarians are inroading into Europe with a clear agenda of curbing civil liberties and impose 7^th century’s dark and primitive desert code of life on others. They are ready to kill genocide and eliminate whomever they feel may hinder their evil agenda. The mad mullas in Iran are hunting down every voice of dissent and everyday freethinkers and women are either being hanged or subject to other harsh and inhumane punishments. In Pakistan, apostates, freethinkers and members of minorities are being terrorized by draconian laws of state are getting stabbed to death on roads by frenzy mobs.

I was lost in the thoughts that how some apologists are busy in repeating the mantra "Islam is peaceful religion" while thousand of innocent people around the world is being killed everyday by those who are inspired by the teachings of "glorious" Quran. The persuasion for violence and hate speeches against the humanity in allegedly divine book can be noted on almost every page of it. The people are victim of this philosophy from last so many centuries at right at this moment, barbarians are busy in killing, maiming and plotting against entire humanity. But at other hand, the cuckoos are busy in the business of appeasement and making it an easier task for barbarians to work on their evil agenda further while their brethren in faith and so-called "moderate" are paving roads for them by applying deceptive tools.

My mind was recalling various cuckoos with those I had interacted and talked about this growing threat. A friend from Brazil said, "Oh common friend, we are pretty safe here". I could not make him realize that 1400 years ago Iranians uttered the same comment when the terrorized people of Mecca approached them for help. But what happened to Iranians later, it's an appalling and dreadful history. A lady friend of mine who was 100 PC agreed with me about the threat suddenly got a high profile job in a Canadian NGO. She moved to an elite place and then she was so happy with his newly find life style that she considered the issue worthless to discuss anymore. She forgot the fate of once highly honorable Indian ladies who were captured as war-booty and turned into sex slaves by faith-driven barbarian invaders. So being safe and secure time being doesn't mean you are safe and what about those whom you left behind amidst the crocodiles. Pity on this selfishness….

A "Dhimi" (member of minorities living in Islamic state) also came in my mind. The naïve Christian guy was talking about peace by interfaith dialogue with those who are divinely mandated to eradicate all others from the face of earth to make the religion "pure" for Allah. He was so much into act of appeasement and had turned into brain-dead zombie that he avoided inclusion of a Jewish symbol in his so-called "peace-museum" just not to offend Muslims who hate Jews at most. The guy get so frightened that he stopped interaction with me when find that I don't believe in cosmetic actions but to call a spade a spade and aware of real threat. I wanted to share with him our common concerns but he gets evaporated all in sudden.

The journey was over finally, but the list of cuckoos remained endless, the naïve western donors investing in "peaceful Islam", the coward dhimis, the elite fashionable ladies and rich but loose guys sponsoring Jehadis to overcome their guilt of living a westernize life. The western politicians that are not aware of the suffering of humanity and still not able to see that barbarians are about to knock at their doors. I feel the pain of every individual who is victim of disgusting philosophy of hate and while I'm quite aware of the fact that I may be the next victim and the so-called global community would not move this time either. The caged chicks were guided by instinct while being busy in eating grain. But what’s wrong with these cuckoos? Are they born to grab few votes, some cheap popularity and some Dollars only?

When Dialogue Becomes Dangerous

formyfreedom — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:20:46 +0000

The Germany has just recently shared the concerned of US and Afghanistan over the so-called peace deal with Islamic militants by new Pakistani Government as experiences of the past dictate that the exercise will not only resulted as utter failure but it will help the militants to regroup, re-strengthened and reorganize. The Germany has rightly expressed concern over the issue as such deal always resulted as more trouble and loss of human lives. Mark Silverberg, the Canadian analyst has discussed the same phenomenon in a recent piece of writing. He alluded towards the last month's meeting between former President Jimmy Carter and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus and has said that the meeting has once again highlighted the perils of negotiating with terrorists. Carter emerged from that meeting and declared that Hamas, under certain conditions, was prepared to recognize Israel. Like so many other naïve idealists, he does not understand that Hamas was, is and remains an uncompromising jihadist organization bent on the conquest of its neighbor, regardless of what it says.

In March 2007, the Director of the Centre for Defense Studies at King's College, Peter R. Neumann, laid out the essential premise for not negotiating with terrorists: "Democracies must never give in to violence, and terrorists must never be rewarded for using it. Negotiations give legitimacy to terrorists and their methods undermine actors who have pursued political change through peaceful means. Talks can destabilize the negotiating governments' political systems and undercut international efforts to outlaw terrorism."

Nevertheless, democratic governments routinely conduct secret negotiations with terrorists although they often achieve significantly different results. The question is why? In 1993, the Israeli government secretly negotiated the Oslo Accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) - a decision the Israelis have long since come to regret. With Jihadists ensconced on her northern, eastern and southern borders, Israel now faces an existential threat from all sides. The more concessions it makes, the greater the demands of its enemies. On the other hand, the nationalist IRA agreed to lay down its weapons, pledged to pursue its goals through the political process and was able to achieve an historic power-sharing agreement that replaced British rule in Northern Ireland, so there seems to be distinction between terrorists who seek to bomb their way to the negotiating table (like the IRA) and terrorists who are only interested in blowing up the table altogether (like the Jihadists) for a grander purpose.

This distinction led Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University and William Zartman of Johns Hopkins University to conclude that the goal and ideology of terrorist organizations should be the litmus test in determining their willingness to compromise - all of which leads to the secret negotiations currently underway between the US and Iran. In negotiating with the Iranians, we are negotiating with Jihadists who have a religiously-inspired absolutist, even apocalyptic vision of the future, who have consistently lied about their nuclear enrichment program, who have threatened Israel with a second Holocaust (even as they denied the first) and who have made no secret of their global Jihadist ambitions.

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Chinese General Sun Tsu wrote in The Art of War that you cannot defeat an enemy unless you understand its nature. Yet, many in our political echelon argue that we can reduce the level of violence and lessen the threat to our foreign interests by establishing a dialogue with Jihadists. What is needed, we are told, is a better mix of diplomatic carrots and economic sticks and, as reasonable men, we will then be able to sit down and resolve our differences just as the Irish Catholics and Protestants did in Northern Ireland.

What's missing here is any understanding of this enemy's mindset and game plan. Jihadists justify murder in religious terms because they see the world populated by infidels who must be eradicated or subjugated. Their agenda is purely theocratic and absolute with not a scintilla of concern for the lives of non-believers anywhere. As such, negotiation with them is useless for there is nothing to negotiate.

Western diplomats are like children playing with fire because they fail to grasp that the Middle East is not Northern Ireland and this enemy is not the IRA. That means the likelihood of a compromise with Ahmadinejad in Tehran or any of his Jihadist cronies in the Middle East will be about as effective as were negotiations with Adolf Hitler who, in 1938, told his General Staff after meeting with British Prime Minister Chamberlain - "Our enemies are little worms. I saw them at Munich." Chamberlain's belief that Hitler was a reasonable man who would accept a good deal when he saw it, failed to consider the ideology and global ambitions of the Third Reich.

Similarly, during the Iranian embassy crisis, Ayatollah Khomeini told his Revolutionary Guards that they had nothing to fear from America after the Embassy take-over, since President Carter's only response to the hostage-taking was to impose ineffectual sanctions, an embargo on Iranian oil, a rescue mission that turned into a farce and to send his Secretary of State to Tehran to apologize for unspecified past transgressions. Khomeini's response was to order the American flag to be painted at the entrance to airports, railway stations, ministries, factories, schools, hotels and bazaars so the faithful could trample it under their feet each day.

To Jihadists, Western threats mean nothing without the fear that they will be removed from power by force if they continue to pursue their Jihad. That's why Hamas in Gaza is seeking a ceasefire with Israel and its leaders are in hiding. That's why, in the aftermath of the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi announced that he would dismantle his WMD programs. That's why Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 believing that they were next on the US "hit list" after Afghanistan and Iraq. But when the Iranians realized that American anti-war sentiment worked in their favor and that they could sap America's fighting spirit in Iraq through attrition without fear of being overthrown, they re-started their conversion and uranium enrichment programs.

U.S. and Western leaders must confront the reality that Jihadism is not a "problem" to be resolved through roundtable discussions, negotiations or even sanctions. The Iranians and their Middle East proxies are not "reasonable people" in the classic Western sense. They are the vanguard of a religious crusade that threatens the continued progress of the American experiment in the Middle East and even the European Enlightenment. By seeking to accommodate their demands, by suggesting that regime change is no longer on our agenda, and by forcing Israel into making dangerous concessions to appease them, we have shown weakness.

For all these reasons, Jihadists like Ahmedinejad and his Middle East surrogates are convinced that the West is a "paper tiger" and only prepared to impose ineffectual sanctions that Switzerland, Russia, China, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates are bypassing for purely economic reasons (according to the January 16, 2008 GAO Report).

Neither Jimmy Carter nor much of America's political establishment understands that this enemy cannot be moderated and will never compromise on its ideological agenda. They can only be defeated as were the Nazis before them. And yet, we continue to place our faith in "dialogue" and an almost irrational belief that we can convince them to moderate their "views" by correcting "misunderstandings" and fashioning a deal - and that's why the Iranians, the Syrians and the others are convinced that we are weak and destined to lose.

Jimmy Carter's pointless journey to Damascus is symptomatic of a far greater malady in Western society - the embrace of a political culture that holds an unswerving devotion to "dialogue"; to the belief that a religious Jihad can be moderated through improved communications, compromise and engagement. There is a reason why we should not engage these Jihadists. It is because they are not interested in limited, nationalistic goals like the IRA. Theirs is a religious crusade aimed at conquest and submission and they are waging it on a global level even as we seek to reach out to them. We never learn from history.

Oppression in “Muslim-Lands”—Rhetoric or lecture wont Work Here..!

formyfreedom — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:17:10 +0000

A United States religious freedom watchdog other day asked the State Department to include Pakistan, Vietnam and Turkmenistan in its global blacklist of countries violating religious freedom. As reported by AFP, in its recommendation to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom also wanted Myanmar, China and North Korea to be kept in the department’s “countries of particular concern” blacklist, together with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea and Uzbekistan.

The independent commission, established through the US law to monitor religious freedom across the globe, also kept Afghanistan and Bangladesh on its watch list, together with Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria. The 10-member panel was divided on whether to downgrade predominantly Muslim Iraq, where widespread persecution of Christians has been reported, from the watch list to blacklist states, saying it needed more time to make the decision.

The commission makes an annual recommendation to the State Department ahead of its compilation of its annual report on international religious freedom. The panel wanted Vietnam to be re-included in the department’s blacklist, saying the government continued to imprison and detain dozens of individuals advocating for religious freedom reforms in the communist-led state. Vietnam was removed from the list in November 2006.

In Pakistan, the commission said it did not see major improvements in religious freedom even though the country had gone through a democratic transition following landmark elections.
According to Commission, Pakistan should be blacklisted because of inadequate government response to sectarian violence against Shias, Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus. “Despite the dramatic events in Pakistan in the past year, the commission finds that all of the serious religious freedom concerns, including violence, on which it has previously reported, persist,” panel said.

The panel said concerns over Indonesia remained, citing communal violence and the government’s “inability or unwillingness to curb it” as well as what it called the forcible closures of places of worship of religious minorities. It also referred to the growing political power and influence of religious extremists “who harass and sometimes instigate violence” against moderate Muslim leaders and members of religious minorities.

“There are persistent fears that Indonesia’s commitment to secular governance, ethnic and religious pluralism, and a culture of tolerance will be eroded by some who promote extremist interpretations of Islam,” it said. While commission has made important observations and most are true, it has neglected the plight of “apostates” or ex-Muslims who are liable to kill and even if survive they are permanently subject to persecution by state and victimization by society. Hence, there right to live a normal life is denied but no one raise voice for them or have any care about them. US and International community must do something to safeguard the rights of these hapless people besides mere rhetoric or lectures to those people who are not ready to listen anything when its about rights of “others”.

Bitter Fruit…………………..!

formyfreedom — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:28:08 +0000

Is it just a coincidence that people belongs to Muslim countries, do not treat women right or we can find the tree that produce such a bitter fruit. According to the Global Gender Gap (GGG) report, the planet's ten-worst offenders are: Yemen, Chad, Pakistan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Benin, Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and Oman. Of the ten, nine are Muslim-majority states. At the other end of the spectrum, the planet's best countries for women to live in are: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Philippines, Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Spain. Not even one of the top-ten is a Muslim-majority state.

GGG collected data from a total of 128 countries to develop a comprehensive, scientific index. The GGG Index is based on four different sub-indices -- namely, economic participation, educational attainment, political empowerment and health -- while each of the sub-indices has half a dozen components.

Under economic participation, five of the worst-offenders are: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Oman and Bahrain. Under educational attainment, the worst-offenders are: Chad, Yemen, Benin and Pakistan. The best: Denmark, United Kingdom, Australia, France and Belgium. Under political empowerment the worst are: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt and Iran. The best: Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Spain.

For women, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan comes out as one the worst of countries to live in; there are only two other countries worse off than is Pakistan -- Yemen and Chad. Under economic participation, Pakistan is ranked 126 out of 128. Educational attainment, 123 out of 128. Health, 121 out of 128. Political empowerment, 43 out of 128. Surprisingly, Pakistani women are worse off this year than they were last year.

Al Mamlakah al Arabiyah as Suudiyah, or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is ranked really low, too. Under economic participation, Saudi Arabia is ranked 127 out of 128. Educational attainment, 87 out of 128. Health, 60 out of 128. Political empowerment, 128 out of 128.

Al Jumhuriyah al Yamaniyah, or the Republic of Yemen is worse than both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Under economic participation, Yemen is ranked 128 out of 128. Educational attainment, 127 out of 128. Political empowerment, 127 out of 128.

Welcome to Pakistan 2008. Are we committing crime against humanity? Is this religion or just culture? God made or manmade? Next. Can you think of a Muslim-majority country that has risen to the height of glory? Could it be because we let half of our accumulated brainpower go to waste?

……….Runs Rampant

formyfreedom — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:54:51 +0000

Dozens of Muslim workers at a factory in Karachi beat to death a Hindu colleague on Tuesday for alleged blasphemy. Jagdish Kumar, 25, was tortured and killed at the garments factory after a debate on religion became heated, police and hospital officials said.“About 1,500 workers at the factory in the Korangi industrial area beat to death the Hindu worker over [allegations of] blasphemy,” police superintendent Farrukh Bashir said. The mob was trying to burn the body when officers arrived and took it away, Bashir added.

( )fascism is running rampant. Another hapless soul has paid the price of the apathy of so-called global community toward the screaming humanity which has been made hostage of barbarians. Pity on political correctness withers its liberal or illiberal.

In solidarity with Egyptian blogger

formyfreedom — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:31:37 +0000

Abdel Kareem Nabil, an Egyptian blogger and former student at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University have been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison on the pretext of blasphemy. He had raised some critical questions regarding crimes against humanity in historical context.

In a comment after the trial, The Egyptian foreign minister said that Egyptian society prohibits blasphemy against religion

The National American Coptic Assembly is saying that this comment from the Egyptian foreign minister is incorrect because there are many bloggers and authors who are attacking Christianity and Judaism in Egypt, such as the extremist Muslim blogger Abu Islam who calls Christians and Jews apes and pigs. In addition, he also calls on Muslims to kill them wherever and whenever they find them. Also, these ideas are included in the books of Muhammad Emara and many books are published by the ministry of Awkaaaf the highest Islamic authority in Egypt. Also, the Sheikh Zakolal El- Nagar is insulting Christianity and Judaism in the al-Ahram newspaper which considered the biggest newspaper in Egypt. But the Egyptian government never accuses any of those individuals of blasphemy against religion.

The National American Coptic Assembly is unhappy with the conditions of freedom of speech or expression in Egypt. Also, the assembly is asking the international community to pressure the Egyptian regime to release Abdel Kareem Nabil and give more rights to its citizen to express their opinions. At the end I would say Kareem is still lucky enough he’s being persecuted through (misuse of or discriminatory/oppressive) law. Had he been in Pakistan, some crazy mob would have been ripped him into pieces till now. Anyway international community should come forward to help Kareem Nabeel.

Bewildered “Ummah”?

formyfreedom — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:11:42 +0000

A major survey in the form of a book Who Speaks for Islam, saying it represents one billion Muslims around the world, has found that the majority favours democratic rights and representative government, rather than any of their radical alternatives. The poll, conducted over a period of five years, covering 35 countries and 50,000 respondents, found that most wanted freedom of speech and representation. At the same time however they wanted the sharia as their law.That’s where the rub is. What is not articulated is the fact that Muslims want “free and fair” elections to get rid of their rulers who can go on for decades before they leave power.
So far the experiment with democracy in Pakistan and Bangladesh is that it begins correctly but then tends to lean heavily in favour of an “Islamic longing” without a clear idea of governance. Islam is exploited by politicians and clergy alike to bring about a system that is not democratic at all.
Law-making is done without “scrutiny of reason” and laws made without rational justification then pervert society without being revoked. Non-Muslims and women suffer under the democracy Muslims want. They must realise that democracy is not just elections and the freedom of speech, pluralism, equality of citizens and diversity are some of prerequisites for a genuine democracy.

"Liberal Extremist" an Oxymoron

formyfreedom — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:58:23 +0000

I have initiated blog http://formyfreedom.wordpress.com/ primarily with two objectives. Firstly to voice for Liberal Values e.g. Rule of Law, Good Governance, Pluralism etc. and secondly to establish a platform to discuss issues of our concern.

I received interesting feedback from friends after uploading few articles on diverse issues. My friend from South Africa Marco and another great friend from Guatemala, Luis, with them I find great deal of understanding on various contemporary issues have made interesting comments. Both of them while encouraging me have also stated their position as “moderate” regarding issues I have raised. Some people labeled me as “liberal extremist”, which in my opinion is an oxymoron.

I have seen “pseudo liberals” around me who think liberalism is just their life style and there are others who are “liberal apologists” who want to have conformity from others while being politically correct and riding with popular sentiments. But when I say a liberal can not be an extremist I have reasons to make this claim. I have yet to encounter a single liberal (even pseudo and apologist) who have ever advocated use of force, violence or any other tool of oppression to achieve the end goals.

The point I want to make is that exercising the right of expressing dissent can not be termed as an extremist viewpoint. When I say that the western multiculturalism and humanistic values are in stark contrast to the some specific religious values, someone can refute my claim with reason and logic and I will never feel offended about it. At the same time, I would like to see my right of disagreement is protected and no body is stabbing me to death, rendering me jobless or using any kind of persecution against me. I think it’s not an irrational or big demand. I show no intolerance towards anyone. In fact I love all humanity irrespective of their true or false beliefs. Hardly can you call a man like me intolerant. On the other hand I encounter countless people who are intolerant towards me. They cannot even tolerate my right to think independently and express myself.

I am against Nazism because it is a doctrine of hate. I am against some specific religious teachings because I find them a doctrine of hate. The former advocated the supremacy of a race the latter promotes the superiority of a religion. They both used violence to advance their objectives and they both had no respect for human lives and their rights. They both believed that since their ideology is right it is okay to kill people and the end justifies the means. My struggle is not against any religion or religious persons. Most of my loved ones, friends and relatives are religious (Devoted Muslims). I fight against the doctrine of hate that has made all of us victims and victimizers for the last so many centuries.

Of course all religious persons are not terrorists. My mother never missed a prayer but I am sure she is a saint. I never met a woman as self-sacrificing, kind and loving as that pure soul. I have met so many wonderful beings among Muslims that I met nowhere. These people are not terrorists just because they are born in a specific country and they think they are belong to a specific religious philosophy. Terrorists are those who follow the teachings of dominance, violence and hatred. The majority of religious people are not even aware of these teachings as they are contended to perform just some rituals.

I believe everybody is free to believe in his/her faith and no one wants to take that right away from them by force. However what they can’t stomach is that others also have the freedom to express their disagreement with their faith. Moreover, those who believe in any specific faith that is dangerous for others, should not be free to do is to practice a great part of their faith. Marriage to minors, beating wives, killing the apostates, chopping hands, maiming, flogging, stoning and other savageries should be banned. In other words you should be allowed to believe in any faith but you should not be allowed to practice it when it’s encroaching on rights of others.

And finally, Marco being a moderate, you can not oppose racism “moderately” nor can you criticize Nazism in a moderate way. South Africans are good people and so are German. It was all about philosophy, which you have been opposing with full vigor and not “moderately”.

Report on Seminar

formyfreedom — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:06:20 +0000

REPORTOn “Liberalism and Secularism Seminar”, at Gummersbach, Germany 23 September to 5 October 2007 By Shafqat Aziz

While having a long association with Liberal Forum Pakistan, it was quite a heartening news for me that I was attending a seminar on a topic with that I personally feel very much concerned about. It was the first time I was offered to attend such program at International Academy for Leadership, which is popularly known as the IAF. The subject itself was quite new and the participants were informed that it was also the first time the academy has a seminar on the subject. Besides Pakistan, 22 other countries had representation in the seminar including Tanzania, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. Stefan Melnik, a reputed and elegant moderator, briefed the participants “How liberalism and secularism linked to one another”? He also elaborated that “Why the topic was arranged in such a way”? The prime objective of holding seminars was not only raising awareness related to Liberal Values and Secularism as a prerequisite for establishment of any real liberal society but it was also aimed at to find out the perspectives of participants about Secularism and Liberalism. I had a fair chance to express my opinion during the event that, as a liberal, you tend to support the concept of secularism – the separation of state and religion, as the basis of general understanding. Many of the participants eventually got agreed with the idea that religion is a personal matter and should be separate from the governance part. However, religion in certain part of the world tends to be politicized by the political power.

During the course of seminar, the example of Malaysia has been quoted regarding the interference of religion in the affairs of state. In Malaysia the main ruling political party United Malay National Organization has lately, at least verbally, inclined towards the acceptance of Malaysia as an Islamic state. Their election strategies and campaigns to win the heart of the majority Malay who are mostly Muslims cause concern among the other religious minorities. The Malaysian constitution does not explicitly state that the country is a secular state. What was written was that Islam is an official religion. When taking a stand that the country is an Islamic state, it implies a major change in the legal system – the supremacy of the Shariah laws over the civil laws. If that would happen, it would be very difficult for the minorities to practice their religious freedom as freely as they wish. Another positive nature of secularism discussed at the seminar was that sometimes and in some cases it could prevent a religious conflict from happening. An example would be the case of Thailand when thousand Buddhist monks took a street protest in their demand for the new constitution to write Buddhism as a state religion. In normal circumstances, it should not be an issue as Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country. However, with the continuing violence in its southern provinces which Islam has been considered as one of the factors contributed to the rise of such conflict, writing Buddhism as a national religion would only exacerbate further the conflict in the already divided society. Hence, only secularism can be guarantee of long-term peace-full existence and rising religious division can only be a recipe for disaster. The case of India and Pakistan also came under discussion. India chose to become a secular state at the time of their Independence in 1947 in order to accommodate the minority Muslims. In contrast, Pakistan adopted an Islamic state to accommodate the majority Muslims. As a result, Pakistan fails miserable to make the religion as a binding force among its populace and instead the phenomenon resulted as further polarization and intolerance. The short excursion to Cologne remained a good learning opportunity as well and I have participated in the debate related to disputed demand of building a big mosque in the city. Later, we had a longer excursion trip to Weimar and Dresden. The visit to the concentration camp at Buchenwald was most moving as almost every participant could not hole his/her tears while witnessing the gas chambers and torture cells at those camps. While having the luxury of the company of Mr. Stefen and Ms. Birgit Lamm, we have been informed that how the people of the Germany as a nation redresses the blunders of the past incited by few hate-mongers and chose new path for the future. I was wondering why we can not establish foundations like Germany have establish to strengthen civil society and to avoid such disasters. At Dresden, we have visited a religious modern school; briefing related to the re-building of the Church of My Lady, briefing related to the global humanitarian services of the catholic Caritas Association besides some other learning opportunities and of course great opportunity of seeing the marvels of this beautiful historic city. The significance of the IAF seminar that I noted was the role of moderator(s) as facilitator and the most of discussions remained interactive among the participants. The Moderators often refer to the participatory technique used by the facilitators. This would mean that participants can expect small input from the facilitators and the main knowledge must flow in and out from the exchange of opinion and views among the participants themselves. The participants were encouraged to learn new concepts by their active contribution and exchange of ideas mutually. I found it fascinating for all those who come from different continents to express and share their ideas and thoughts from different perspectives sometimes through heated argument, yet agreed at the end with each other over an important issue like the relations between the state and religion. I am grateful to the foundation in particular Mr. Peter Andreas Bochmann, Resident Representative, FNSt Pakistan to give me an opportunity to expand my knowledge on the subject and to interact with the people from various backgrounds, especially on a subject upon I find hard to express my genuine feelings anywhere else due to fear of hostile opposition. But the IAF Academy Gummersbach proved to be such a wonderful place where I found out my lost freedom and enjoyed it for two weeks with forever freshening memories. My appreciation also goes to Dr. Stefan Melnik who has kindly guided us on the best possible way even at dining table and during traveling. Finally, I thank Ms. Birgit Lamm, the IAF director, who made us feel like home and imparted valuable information when and where we seek from her. I can not forget the role of co-moderator Eniko Gal, Dr. Busarin, assistant Claudia Stoll and of course the translators Anna Mantel and Peter Schultze.