The Red Mosque

Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has ordered an assault on the Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, in the center of Islamabad. The Red Mosque became a nuisance because students kidnapped seven Chinese from an acupuncture clinic (or perhaps a massage parlor). They were freed soon enough, but this led to calls by the Chinese government for better protection of its citizens. There are about 3,000 Chinese working and living in Pakistan. In their view, they are helping an ally and Third World country in its development, helping to build harbors, hospitals and oil fields. But some Pakistanis see them (correctly) as allies of the government. If those people are opposed to the government, the Chinese become easy targets to embarrass it.

That is what happened at the Red Mosque. Now look at it from another angle. We certainly may not like the Deobandi or Wahhabi variety of Islam with its medieval injunctions of no alcohol consumption, no images of living beings, no music or movies and the subservient position of women, forced to be covered from top to toe. But how did the fundamentalist islamist movement in Pakistan came to become so important? First of all it was supported by the state (the army and part of the government). The Taliban in Afghanistan were supported and nurtured by Pakistan's secret service. Many poor people did not have any alternative but to turn to the madrassas for an education, which unfortunately solely focused on the Koran. If the Pakistani government would have done a better job of helping the poor and fight corruption, the madrassas would have had no fertile soil to grow.

Musharraf is wrong to launch an attack on the Red Mosque. It will further aggravate tensions and could possibly lead to the overthrow of the government by parts of the army and the Islamic clergy. It would turn Pakistan into a nuclear armed Taliban-style country. Pervez Musharraf is playing with fire. (South China Morning Post: Chinese targeted to harm ties with Islamabad: analysts)