Rafia on Maulana Aziz Burkawala Saga

The release of Maulana Abdul Aziz is another prong in the government’s effort to put the Islamists in its metaphorical pocket. As is well known, the Lal Masjid debacle garnered immense public outrage against the government and the army two years ago. The Zardari government’s failure to come up with requisite evidence in even one of twenty-seven cases relating to an event that was broadcast live can thus safely be described as a deliberate and calculated move to deliver political dividends. It suggests that this government believes that the best way to de-fang the Islamists is to befriend them.

Ultimately, despite all its cleverness and strategic acuity, the overture made by the Zardari government rests on a risky assumption. Packaging deals with groups like the TNSM, which clearly oppose all forms of democratic governance, in the trimmings of parliamentary legitimacy does not consequently transform the ideological agendas espoused by such groups. Tragically, what the Nizam-e Adl does is ignore the reality that the people of Pakistan did not elect an Islamist majority to represent them in parliament.

Rafia Zakaria