EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Extremism within

RADICALISATION within the ranks of Pakistan`s armed forces is an issue of major concern, especially considering that the nation is currently in the midst of quelling a militant insurgency. Hence the arrest of Brig Ali Khan, probably the senior-most army officer taken into custody in nearly a decade for alleged links with extremists, should raise the alarm within the security establishment regarding the penetration of radical groups in the ranks. The army confirmed on Tuesday that the brigadier, posted at GHQ, was picked up for suspected links with Hizb ut-Tahrir. The officer was taken into custody last month; though he was under surveillance for some time, the army swooped in when the frequency of his contacts increased. Although HT has not overtly supported violence and has no ostensible links to Al Qaeda, it does call for the restoration of the caliphate and the overthrow of `corrupt, pro-West` governments in Muslim lands. It is standard HT practice in Muslim countries to recruit influential citizens, including army officers.

Though the army has said Brig Khan`s case was “an exception”, we`re not so sure. On Wednesday the DG ISPR confirmed that four army majors were being investigated in the same case. In the past, several serving or former armed forces personnel have reportedly been involved in acts of terrorism. Two army officers were reportedly court-martialled for their HT links in 2010 while a former navy commando was picked up from Lahore for allegedly aiding the PNS Mehran attackers. Several army and air force personnel were also arrested for their reported involvement in the 2003 assassination attempt targeting Gen Pervez Musharraf. So clearly, the forces have a problem with encroaching extremism. Many of the arrested men, mostly serving in the army and air force, had links to extremist Islamist groups.

During Gen Zia`s rule, the missionary Tableeghi Jamaat made inroads into the garrisons; back then it was a discipline issue as soldiers would take off on unauthorised preaching missions. Today the problem is much graver, as HT and other extremist groups call for `loyal` troops and officers to overthrow the high command. It is time for the army to do some serious soul-searching. If a serving brigadier can be co-opted, what is the extent of extremist infiltration in the lower ranks? The high command needs to intelligently counter the rising radical trend. A thorough cleansing is needed. This is undoubtedly a major challenge, as countering religiosity and a jihadi spirit that has been nurtured over decades is not easy. But it is a challenge the army must take up.

Need for restraint

EVEN as Pakistan stumbles from one worrying development to another, the country`s two leading politicians are going for each other`s throat with the single-mindedness of boys in a schoolyard fight. On Tuesday President Zardari launched a divisive attack on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for his alleged ideological leanings and criticism of the military. The president is also the co-chairman of a political party, and his speech at Naudero was directed at an audience of PPP workers. But while the president may have chosen to wear two hats, his constitutional responsibility is to represent the unity of the country. The ruling party has every right to defend itself against Mr Sharif`s accusations, but there are plenty of other PPP politicians who can, and do, perform this function. Nor is it the president`s role to publicly defend the military against allegations of playing an outsized role in policymaking. The matter is one that should be debated in parliament, but making the military the basis of a public squabble between the head of state and a leading politician risks expanding, not curtailing, that institution`s role in the country`s politics.

For his part, Mr Sharif, although he does not bear the same responsibilities, has not done much to rise above an attack campaign. Take his current visit to Azad Kashmir ahead of the legislative assembly elections there: his speeches have focused largely on targeting the president and the PPP for corruption rather than addressing the concerns of the people of AJK. The bulk of what he stated could have been said anywhere else in the country. And while his recent criticism of the civil-military relationship reflects important concerns the country needs to grapple with, it seems to have devolved into little more than a vehicle for government-bashing. Mr Sharif is a politician, and he is heading the ruling party`s most formidable rival in the run-up to an election year. He cannot be expected not to campaign. But amidst his continued criticism of the way things are, one would like to hear a realistic vision and plan for how things ought to be.

Blasphemy sentence

IN a case that appears to be the first of its kind, a man has been sentenced to death for committing blasphemy via cellphone text messaging. On Tuesday, an additional district and sessions judge in Talagang handed down the sentence and imposed a fine on a man in a blasphemy case filed with the Talagang city police station in February last year. The circumstances of the case are murky to say the least. The complainant, a resident of Talagang, told the police that he had been receiving blasphemous text messages from an unfamiliar number. The police set up a special inquiry committee which used cellphone data to trace the apparent owner of the number, a resident of Larkana. It is worth questioning how credible the investigation was, particularly given that we live in an era where text messages are forwarded into endless circulation at unprecedented speed. All sorts of material is passed from person to person, sometimes without even being fully understood, and the authorship of messages is virtually impossible to establish.

It must also be pointed out that the police and court system showed uncharacteristic zeal in pursuing the case. Talagang in Punjab and Larkana in Sindh are hundreds of miles apart; in order to arrest the man, the police had to get special permission from the home department to conduct a raid in another province. The sentence, too, was handed down in far less time — a little more than a year — than is usual for Pakistan`s ordinarily ponderous court system. Most cases drag on for years and the backlog that exists in the lower courts in particular is well known. Meanwhile, police investigations are criticised for moving at a snail`s pace. If the justice system showed similar interest in pursuing other types of cases, the people`s cause would be better served.