Political
Accountability in the Name of Religion
By Syed S. Hussain
New York, US
In Pakistan the process of
Islamization has mostly been a matter of political
expediency. Mr. Bhutto’s effort to declare
Ahmadis as non-Muslims, General Ziul Haq’s
promulgation of Hudood Ordinance (Islamic Penal
Law) or Nawaz Sharif’s Enforcement of Shariat
Act all had political motivation, though they
were professed to strengthen Islam and usher a
more just society.
Now the government of the religious alliance Muttahida
Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) of the sensitive North Western
Frontier Province (NWFP) has passed the Hasba
(Accountability) Bill with similar objectives.
Are the people in for similar experience or worse?
Although at the moment this concerns only one
province but the nature of the bill has the potential
to have dire consequences for the rest of the
country.
The NWFP assembly passed the Hasba Bill on July
14, 2005, almost without any debate within days
of its presentation. The Bill revolves around
a two-pronged objective to achieve the Islamic
way of life: Amer-Bil- Maroof and Nahi-anil-Munkir.
The first is the obligation of enjoining good
as laid down in the Qur’an and Sunnah; the
second is the obligation of forbidding evil. The
‘Mohtasibs’ (Ombudsman) appointed
under the Hasba laws are to ensure both these
objectives.
Now comes the difficult part. These obligations
are not in the form of recommended actions but
are enforceable under penalty. The Mohtasibs have
at their disposal the ‘Hasba police’
to carry out accountability and to keep watch
on ‘emerging evils and injustices in the
society’.
There is a long list of do’s and don’ts
envisaged under the Hasba laws, which the Mohtasibs
are required to ensure. These include, amongst
others, protecting Islamic values and etiquette,
watching the media for upholding Islamic values,
enforcing various aspects of Sharia including
prayers and checking indecent behavior.
There are three levels of Mohtasibs: Province,
District and Tehsil. All Mohtasibs are term appointees.
They would have the support of an ‘Advisory
Council’ comprised of ‘selected’
religious scholars, lawyers and respectable citizens.
In effect they would be part-time judicial officials
wielding more powers than even the regular judiciary,
as they could start ‘Suo Moto’ proceedings
for infractions under Hasba law.
What this boils down to is that the Mohtasibs
would be able to start proceedings against anybody
on what they may consider infraction of religious
obligations. The definition of Amer-Bil Maroof
and Nahi-Anil-Munkir is wide enough for varying
(or subjective) interpretations. The proceedings
before the Mohtasibs cannot be challenged in any
court or by any authority.
The dangers inherent in the intended Hasba system
are the same as those that have been witnessed
during the previous efforts for Islamization.
National Commission on the Status of Women set
up in 2000 to report on possible discriminatory
laws against women submitted a detailed report
on Hudood Laws. Some of its important findings
and recommendations were:
• The laws were hurriedly drafted and equally
hurriedly implemented.
• Hudood Laws are full of lacunae and anomalies.
These have been exploited by the unscrupulous
elements to perpetuate great cruelty especially
on women and children.
• The experience of last 24 years has shown
that these laws have been counter-productive and
have added to the misery of the people in general
and women in particular.
• Islam essentially is a religion that promotes
justice, but when injustice is perpetrated in
the name of Islam, then it becomes necessary to
scrutinize the laws introduced in the name of
Islam.
• Members by a majority vote recommended
the Hudood laws to be repealed.
With such experience the question now arises as
to why the Hasba Bill and why in such a hurry?
MMA, which has been in power in NWFP after the
elections of October 2002, did promise to enforce
Sharia during its election campaign. Once in power
they apparently realized the enormity of their
promises. Hence, it is not surprising that their
efforts in this direction so far have been quite
rudimentary.
They did pass a Shariat Bill in June 2003, but
in practical terms did not go beyond removing
‘indecent’ bill boards, discourage
music and voice rhetoric about the role of women.
So what are their compulsions in pushing this
bill even if it meant confrontation with the Federal
government who had warned them to desist from
such a move? (The Federal government has since
moved a reference at the Supreme Court questioning
the constitutional validity of the Hasba Bill).
The foremost compulsion could be that the elections
are coming. The local government elections are
just around the corner, which to a large extent,
would be the stepping-stone for the national and
provincial elections scheduled for 2007 with the
likelihood of being held earlier. MMA probably
considers it the right time to revisit their electoral
base by fulfilling some of the promises made during
the last election campaign. However, there appear
to be other compulsions too.
Although MMA has reaped benefits by cooperating
with President Musharaff, this has not been possible
without making a dent in their credibility. They
may have gauged the likely adverse political fallout
of this cooperation and now want to undo some
of that. Also President Musharaff seems to have
stepped up his fight against religious extremists.
This naturally puts the hard line clerics (who
are plentiful in MMA) on the road to confrontation
with the federal government and they consider
it necessary to strengthen their defenses. Whatever
their impetus, this bill can come very handy,
win or lose in the court.
In case of victory in the court MMA would have
a vigilante judicial officials, fully loyal (being
their appointees), giving them a great advantage
over their opponents when the election slugging
starts. If they lose they have another 'battle
cry' of being prevented from doing service to
the cause of Islam! They could effectively take
credit for doing something in the name of Islam
without actually doing it.
The matter of concern, however, is not the credibility
or the longevity of MMA. It is the consequences
of such half-baked efforts and how they affect
the people and the religion. As seen in the past,
such politically motivated experiments not only
bring more hardships to the people but also tend
to cast a negative image of the religion itself,
especially in the present charged atmosphere.
There is yet another problem. Religious laws once
promulgated are not easy to modify let alone to
repeal. Any move to change meets with the full
fury of the religious establishment. Even the
all-powerful Pakistani President learnt this lesson
the hard way. Addressing a Human Rights convention
in April 2000 Musharaff, in his enthusiasm of
‘enlightened moderation’, proposed
procedural reforms of the controversial Blasphemy
laws. Later, facing stiff opposition form the
clerics, he had to backtrack and has never revisited
these areas again.
Now that the matter is in the court a hotly contested
legal battle is on the cards. The good news is
that the Chief Minister of the NWFP Akram Khan
Durrani has said that his government would accept
the decision of the Supreme Court. It is hoped
that the MMA hierarchy would stick to this resolve.
The country and the people of Pakistan can ill
afford to go through yet another turmoil at this
critical juncture of history. - sharafain@aol.com
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