The Milli Yakjehti Council (MYC), an umbrella organization of religious parties, has made it its mission to stop any act that can ‘liberalise’ the country. It has promised to launch a drive for the protection of the Islamic ideology of Pakistan and threated to initiate a million-man march across the country if their demands were not met. The basis of this hate for liberals is the Mumtaz Qadri’s death sentence, which they call ‘un-Islamic’; which any one who knows even elementary politics would understand has nothing to be with being liberal or conservative. Murderers should be punished by the state, no matter what the grounds for that murder. It’s as simple as that.
The meeting of the MYC commenced with a debate over issues including the eradication of the interest-based economy — however failing to present any solution to the problems being discussed. Other agenda items included the condemnation of what it called obscenity in the country and countering conspiracies being hatched to amend the blasphemy law. “It is time that all ideological parties united to protect the sanctity of the kalma.” one cleric said.
Needless to say, these men are just outraged by the way women dress, any peace that minorities can have in Pakistan, and the interest they have to pay on loans because they cannot fathom how an economy works. These are leaders, yet they sound like a mob- a mob that is giving conservative values a bad name.
One can greatly contest the idea this organization has of what ‘liberalisation’ of society actually means. Liberalism simply means being open to new ideas, and advocating equality of all before law. Liberal fascist, pseudo-liberal — are both oxymorons used to shame and silence an opposing point of view. The opposition to the philosophy in Pakistan is mostly guided by ignorance and in no way does it challenge “Islamic ideology” any more than extremely conservative thought does. In fact, Islam, at the time of its birth, was the liberal answer to the conservative and ritual heavy society of Arabia.
Yes, we are a conservative society- we hold our customs dear, give religion precedence, and are security obsessed. But this does not mean that we will be this way forever. There will come a time when everyone’s rights will be recognised. In the last century, the moderate right has started looking more and more like the liberal center. Ideologies are converging as people and states realize the importance of rights for all, while religion becomes a private matter and economy takes precedence over security. The left and right are not static. In Pakistan conservative values will evolve to come closer to liberal values, or move away more fascist and exclusionary. If these men have their way, the latter is more likely.