Legendry British Publisher C.P Scott famously proclaimed, “Comment is free but facts are sacred”. This axiom is true not only for the field of journalism but also for disciplines of history and political science. Unfortunately, this attitude towards facts has never been a part of Pakistani culture. Pakistan’s textbooks, ranging from history to physics, are full of factual errors. Fact-checking is not a strong suit of many Pakistani news channels (Exhibit A: Water Kit). Pakistan’s academia is no better. We have economists trying to justify slave labor and Vice Chancellors publishing books based on conspiracy theories.
In social sciences, arguments based on wrong facts can distort reality and ignoring crucial facts can lead to wrong conclusions. While right-wing intellectuals are routinely (and rightly) pillared for obfuscation of our history, left-wing or left-leaning activists are not doing any better in this regard. One prominent example is a famous Left-wing ideologue who immigrated to Britain from Pakistan, in the 1960s and has been writing and commenting about Pakistan ever since. His analysis is stuck in the past and he has tried to accommodate both the TTP and PTI as part of his anti-imperialist bandwagon.
Another disciple of this tradition is a Pakistani scholar based at King’s College, London. She wrote an article in a reputed English magazine last year, arguing that alliance between religious parties and military establishment was ‘a cliché of Pakistani politics.’ Citing an example of a rally organized by Pakistan’s quintessential Islamist party Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and left-wing parties in 1948, she asked “how did a party that was not averse to forming alliances with left-wing, secular groups come to be viewed as their key opponent?” In her opinion, “Most analysis of the JI remains stuck in the 1970s and 1980s, when the party worked closely with the military”. She credited Qazi Hussain Ahmed with transforming JI into a mass party, due to his interest in forming wide political alliances and his support for expanding party’s social work. Thus, “all of this renders JI to be very similar to other ‘secular’ political parties in Pakistan.”
Selective reading of history can be a dangerous thing and leads to generalised observations that can seep into mainstream literature and academic works. I contend that JI has worked with every dictator in Pakistan’s history as an accomplice and certain facts need to be reiterated to make this point. On September 7, 1965, a photograph of Ayub Khan talking with Maududi while surrounded by the other opposition leaders adorned the front page of Pakistani newspapers. Following this meeting, Maududi declared a jihad to liberate Kashmir from India, a clear reversal on his 1948 position. Following the Tashkent agreement, the cordial relations between Dictator Ayub Khan and Jamaat were strained and there were further disagreements on the issue of moon-sighting and activities of Islamic Scholar Dr. Fazlur Rehman. However, Jamaat’s student wing, Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) prospered under the government’s patronage. In the 1962–1967 period, the IJT developed into an anti-left force, with the tacit encouragement of the government. The government actively encouraged the IJT in its clashes with the leftist National Student Federation in East Pakistan and with labor union activists in West Pakistan. From 1965 onward, the IJT became increasingly embroiled in confrontations with Bengali nationalist and leftist forces in East Pakistan, first at Dhaka University, and later in pitched battles in the streets.
In March 1969, one dictator was replaced by another. Ayub Khan had to bow before public opinion and he was forced to resign from the post of President of Pakistan, by Army Chief, Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. Following his ascent to power, Yahya Khan often declared that no party opposed to the “ideology of Pakistan”— which the Jamaat-i-Islami understood as Islam —would be acceptable to his government. The Jamaat could only rejoice at the prospect and lent support to the regime and its promise of a democracy cleansed of the left. On March 23, 1969, Maududi and Mian Tufayl met with Yahya Khan in Lahore. They were convinced after the meeting that Yahya Khan was going to turn Pakistan over to them after the leftists and the Bengali nationalists had been dealt with. Mian Tufayl lauded Yahya Khan as a “champion of Islam” and declared that the basis for the general’s future constitution—the Legal Framework Order (LFO)—not yet unveiled, would be Islamic.
After a meeting with General Tikka Khan, the head of the army in East Pakistan, in April 1971, Ghulam Azam, the Amir of Jamaat in East Pakistan, gave full support to the army’s actions against “enemies of Islam.” Meanwhile, a group of Jamaat members went to Europe to explain Pakistan’s cause and defend actions of the army in East Pakistan. In September 1971 the alliance between the Jamaat and the army was made official when four members of the Jamaat-i-Islami of East Pakistan joined the military government of the province. In October-November 1971, by-elections were sought by the Martial Law administration for National Assembly seats vacated by Awami League Members. Major General Farman Rao was handed the responsibility to ‘distribute’ the 154 seats amongst regime-friendly political parties. Pakistan Democratic Party got 46, Jamaat got 44 and Muslim Leagues (convention and council) received the rest.
In the 1980s and 90s, under the command of Qazi Hussain Ahmed, JI worked closely with the establishment during the Afghan War and Kashmir Insurgency. During Dictator Musharraf’s reign, JI cadres supported the dictator in parliament and in the streets. Lest it be forgotten, Imran Khan was arrested from Punjab University in 2007 due to collusion of state agencies and IJT leadership. It was not until 2013 that JI leadership publicly criticized the army while supporting the Taliban. The establishment has nurtured different brands of Mullahs in the last decade, from Barelvi to Deobandi sectarian ones. The Mullah-Military Alliance is not a mere cliché, it is (and has been) a bitter reality for our polity. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

 The writer is a freelance columnist.

@abdulmajeedabid