As per an estimate 96.4% of total
199 million Pakistanis are Muslims and rest of the population consists of
Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other minority groups. However, diversity in
Pakistan is more visible along cultural and ethnic lines and less through its
religious distribution. Pakistan is the cradle of Indus Valley Civilization and
since those days, Pakistan opened its arms for all the migrants, settlers,
traders, invaders and nonetheless preachers from all over the world. Since thousands
of years now, people from diverse ethnicities and religions have lived together
and involved in all kinds of social interactions with each other. Beauty lies
in diversity and so was the understanding of people of this area till 18th
century.
Towards the end of 18th
century and with the decline of social and political stability, many religious
reformers started propagating their separatist and anti-social views. Certainly
the Hindus were convinced of the unjust Muslim rule and the Muslims felt
threatened by the Hindu majority. Religious scholars and opportunists were able
to win hundreds of thousands of followers and many political-religious movements
started in the subcontinent. Some radical ideologies were imported from different
parts of the world. Many of these movements aimed at introducing fundamentalist
religious ideologies that gave rise to communal violence and disturbed the
religious and social harmony of the subcontinent. In the wake of political disintegration and
social chaos in the subcontinent, people started taking refuge in the religious
fundamentalism; radical ideologies and religious extremism started strengthening
in the society during 19th and 20th century. However,
this rise in fundamentalism was not the only social change recorded by the
history, there were liberal ideologies and western culture being exported to
the Subcontinent by the Europeans.
Liberal and western ideas received
popularity in the urban centres of Indo-Pak subcontinent. A new generation of
liberal and free thinkers adopted less religious lifestyle as well as propagated
an open and plural ideology in the country. These people were not the Sufis but
they also, just like the Sufi scholars, understood the cultural diversity of
the subcontinent and promoted tolerance and coexistence in this country. Fundamentalist
movements also win huge following and established strongholds in various parts
of the subcontinent, mostly in rural areas. Some of these fundamentalist
movements were not purely religious and rather they aimed to promote ethnic
divide. Even the Muslims, the Hindu and the Sikh communities were subdivided on
the basis of the ethnicity. Fall of Dhaka is an evidence of this ethnic and
cultural divide. Religious and cultural diversity was appreciated, promoted and
welcomed either in the literary societies of India and Pakistan or it was seen
around the Sufi shrines in both countries. However, this environment of Sufi
shrines was going to be polluted by neo-religious movements and extremist
groups in post-Zia-ul-haq era.
It is a fact that our
intervention in Afghanistan in 1980s was purely politically motivated although
it was disguised in the religious intentions. Zia ul Haq wanted to install a
Pakistan friendly government in Afghanistan at any cost, only the cost was
going to be too high! For centuries religious movements and radical Islam was
searching for a political face in the subcontinent, Zia ul Haq provided
legitimacy to the fundamentalist groups in Pakistan. It was not only Zia ul
Haq, religious seminaries affiliated with fundamentalist ideologies were able
to groom a generation of the ‘Molanas’ who were eager to establish their own
rule in the society. The Talibans became political and legal face of
fundamentalism with a radical ideology at their hearts. Thousands of people in
Pakistan provided ideological support to the Talibans and promoted their
agenda. However, they were going to be disappointed by an end to the Taliband
rule. These people were frustrated by the destruction of the Talibans and felt
threatened by Pakistani liberals as well as the westerners. As they have had established
themselves well in the society and had thousands of seminaries and many armed
organisations, they decided to respond violently.
These people have support
from the enemies of Pakistan and people who exported their fundamentalist
ideologies to the subcontinent centuries ago. This extremism is threat to
political and social stability of Pakistan because these groups are willing to kill
anyone without discrimination of colour and creed. They have butchered the children,
killed women and attacked almost every religious minority in past 10 years. People
involved in recent brutalities in Peshawar, target killing of the Hazaras and attack
on Ismaili community in Karachi are equipped with extremist ideologies and this
mind-set is product of fundamentalism. 