Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

1 Frontline Pakistan
Non-governmental organizations working in the field of female
education were particularly targeted by the mullahs, who often
accused them of spreading ‘obscenity’. ‘We feel very vulnerable,’
said Marium Bibi, a tribal woman who had provoked the wrath of
the Islamic zealots by opening schools for girls in remote villages.
Her organization, Khewndo Khor (Sisters’ House), ran more than
forty schools in the most conservative parts of the province. One of its
offices was bombed after Bibi refused to close down the schools.
In July 2005, the North West Frontier Province provincial assembly
passed a controversial hisba (accountability) law, which envisaged
setting up a watchdog body to ensure people respected calls to
prayer, did not engage in commerce at the time of Friday prayers
and that unrelated men and women did not appear in public places
together. The law also prohibited singing and dancing. Reminiscent
of the infamous Department of Vice and Virtue, the law proposed
the appointment of a mohatasib (one who holds others accountable)
to monitor the conduct of the populace so that it was in accordance
with Islamic tenets. The actions taken by the mohatasib, chosen from
among the top clerics, could not be challenged in any court of law.
He had the powers of the judges of the High Court to punish anyone
obstructing his authority. He was also to monitor the media to ensure
that they were ‘useful for the promotion of Islamic values’. Spying
and anonymous denunciation were encouraged. Any citizen could
complain to the Mohatasib against any other person for not observing
‘Islamic values’. It was clearly a step towards Talibanization and the
establishment of religious fascism. 19 The enactment of the law was
stopped after a ruling by the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that
it violated the constitution. But the Islamic government appeared
determined to enforce it with some changes. 20
The mullahs were encouraged by Musharraf’s policy of
accommodation of the religious right and his backtracking on
his pledge to regulate madrasas, most of which were run by MMA
component parties. His move to marginalize liberal political forces
gave the Islamists tremendous space to carry out their agenda. A weak
civilian set-up was unable to fight Musharraf’s battle, in Parliament as
well as in public. Most of the ruling party members were ideologically
much closer to the MMA and considered it their natural ally. They
were reluctant to fight for Musharraf’s reform agenda and his so-called
‘enlightened moderation’.
It was not a great surprise when President Musharraf, on 30