Karachi: Bangladeshi civil society activist and scholar Shahriar Kabir on Thursday underlined the need for an effective network of secular civil society forces at the South Asian level to counter the strong presence of religious extremism in the region.
Kabir, who is a senior journalist and a documentary filmmaker, was delivering a talk on “The Rise of Religious Extremism and Militancy in South Asia” organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) at the PILER Centre.
A documentary titled, “Portrait of Jihad” prepared by Kabir and produced by the South Asian People’s Union Against Fundamentalism and Communalism covering the rise of Islamic militancy in Bangladesh, was also screened on the occasion.
“Most of the countries in South Asia are directly affected by religious extremism and militancy. Only secular elements can counter such forces,”
he opined, adding that a strong civil society was important to support the state to crush militancy.
He cited the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh that ordered to restore the secular provisions in the country’s constitution. Calling it a huge success, he said that this would pave the way for reclaiming the lost space from those espousing a violent brand of religion for the Bangladesh state.
“Sufism can also play an important role in countering Islamic militancy and creating a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere because Sufism has deep roots in the society of the Sub-Continent.
In fact, the spread of Islam in the region came through Sufism. Violent extremism never succeeded in spreading Islam at any point in time”.
He emphasised that militancy was a political issue and there was need for a strong political will and committed leadership to crush terrorism in the region.
“We can’t expect the people to rise up against militancy on their own. They need a strong leadership to lead this struggle. Thousands of people joined Anna Hazare’s movement in India because he took a stand on people’s issues.
A majority of the population of the region was anti-fundamentalism and anti-violence, he contended. Whenever given an opportunity, they have expressed their support for democratic forces and a secular and progressive political system.
In the recent elections in Bangladesh, there were 15 million new registered voters, mostly youth. A majority of them voted for the secular political forces now in power.”
He suggested holding a regional conference on Sufism in Pakistan. No single government can uproot religious extremism from the region. Everybody should be united to end religious militancy.
Kabir, who threw light on the causes of emergence of Islamic militancy in Bangladesh, as well as in the South Asian region, observed that the first constitution adopted by Bangladesh post-independence was secular in nature.
Militancy only increased after the assassination of Shaikh Mujeebur Rahman and it was later promoted by the regime of military dictator Ziaur Rehman that changed the secular provisions in the Constitution and declared Islam as state religion.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led alliance’s government by former Prime Minister Khalida Zia promoted the Jihadi elements in the country, since the major political party of the ruling alliance was Jamaat-e-Islami.
He said that in Bangladesh some elements in the government supported the militants.
The present Awami League government had arrested the chiefs of the secret agencies and their trial was underway, he added. “The secular nature of the Bangladesh Constitution has been restored and the government has introduced many reforms.”
Kabir said that the present government had introduced a new education policy under which it had initiated a uniform curriculum for all private and public Madressahs.
“All the Islamic religious schools (Madressahs) have been asked to follow a single curriculum.”
He said due to poverty, people are sending their children to Madressahs because these religious schools offered free education along with free food and residential facilities.
“Same is the case with Madressahs in Pakistan where a large majority of private Madrassahs get funding from the Middle East countries that seek to impose their brand of Islam in the region through these schools.
For encouraging a progressive education system the government must allocate more funds for the sector, while the budget for military expenditure needs to be rationalised.”
Kabir claimed that militancy in Pakistan increased after the 1971 war because the responsible generals of the military operation in East Pakistan got immunity from punishment for the genocide that they carried out in the former East Pakistan. They were given key positions in the post-1971 Pakistan that encouraged them to exploit Afghanistan as another battleground with the US support in the 80s.
Earlier, Sharafat Ali of PILER welcomed the guest and presented a brief introduction of the visiting. A large number of members of trade unions and peace activists attended the session.
[Picture: Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Centre. Photo: PILER.]
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