Pakistan: The path to freedom

Muslims who rightly wish to be free of Western dominance will never accomplish that admirable goal by denying themselves all that is good and true from what emerged from the brave struggles of Europe’s intellectual heroes to free their cultures from 2000 years religious bigotry. Those people are Muslims’ spiritual friends not enemies.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Int'l Desk
Source & Credit: The News | February 22, 2010
By Charles Ferndale | Excerpts

"The rise of extremist, religious intolerance over the last thirty years has not been restricted to Pakistan, nor even to the Muslim communities of the world. It has infested Christian communities (mainly in America) and Jewish communities (mainly in America) as well as others, like Shiv Sena, the Hindu fascists of India. We can say then that not all extremism is caused by poverty. Battles for scarce resources, coupled to human nature, are, however, probably key elements in all forms of intolerance, as they have always been the root causes of all human conflicts.

"Traditionally,the region now called Pakistan, throughout most of its history, has been a much more culturally, religiously and ethnically diverse and tolerant place than the Arabian peninsular. But in 1979 the Americans had just had Bhutto judicially murdered and had foisted upon Pakistan one of the most accursed leaders its people have ever had to endure: notably, General Zia Ul-Haq. Under his religious tyranny, the exquisite diversity, complex spiritualities, and innumerable cultural traditions of Pakistan came under increasingly savage attack. Enlightened education, even civil society, was threatened. And, yet more damaging (but seldom mentioned), was the fact that Pakistan became a playground for incredibly destructive business enterprises (many financed by Gulf Arab money, US aid, IMF and World Bank money, and also by the proceeds of corruption and other crimes). Pakistan’s habitat was decimated. Corruption flourished. The poor got poorer; the rich got richer. The gap in wealth widened painfully. The majority of Pakistanis felt neglected. The population of Pakistan tripled. Once again, the attacks on the lives, welfare, cultures and traditions of Pakistanis were launched indifferently by locals financed and supported (in most cases), or just tolerated (in others), by successive American administrations and their proxies (the CIA, the IMF and World Bank, playing key, and singularly destructive roles).

"In addition, the British and American policy of funding Islamic extremism, begun in 1928 as a weapon against Soviet communism and as an instrument of war in their geopolitical struggles, then found its ugliest manifestations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as the mujahideen, financed by America and Saudi Arabia equally, forced the Russian invaders out of Afghanistan and then proceeded to destroy their own country in bloody conflicts over the spoils. They were stopped by the Taliban. The Taliban were then overthrown by America and its allies in 2001. The Taliban itself then fractured into disparate groups, with no central command (so became harder to discipline) and many turned to crime in order to survive and feed their families and friends. The ex-mujahideen were put straight back into power by the Americans. The Americans then set about making some of their least admirable characters (neocons, Zionists and others) fabulously rich at the expense of relatively poor US tax payers and of course at the more serious and tragic cost of the lives, welfare and cultures of Afghanis and Pakistanis, who had no desire for, nor any interest in, the foreigners’ military presence there. So what we see today is quite simply the outcome of Western foreign policies in this region over decades. "

Read the full article here: The path to freedom