Recent martial law administrators find Sufism politically useful

In Zia ul Haq's era we had this confusing "wise baba" culture of half-baked Sufism led by pen-pushers like Ashfaq Ahmed and Qudrat Ullah Shahab. Both of these writers enjoyed long and well-paid careers as bureaucrats. Though Shahab's career was briefly disturbed by a previous dictator Yahya Khan, he learnt his lesson and was quite prosperous in the Zia Ul Haq regime. The other spoon licker of Zia ul Haq, Ashfaq Ahmed was an almost official disinformation manager who promoted a culture of Sufi denial of "the self" and advocated an erasure of all personal (and political) ambitions while garnering enough funds for himself to live a lavish lifestyle in Garden Town, the most expensive patch of real estate in Lahore.

Now again, Musharraf has found a minister who loves Sufism and promotes "spiritual democracy." It is a legal turnstile named Syed Afzal Haider, a minister without a portfolio because the constitution and legal and human rights are suspended. Interestingly enough, this minister of lawlessness used to be a lawyer and activist in the Zia ul Haq regime just like the present "noisy bunch" of lawyers and activists but he eventually learnt his lessons of political expediency. Now, in his senile gracefulness, he has acquired the political wisdom to issue statements on "spiritual democracy" so that no one remembers there ever was a thing called "constitutional democracy" in the country. Interestingly enough, after losing the fight against Zia ul Haq, this minister has also managed to get books out under his name on Sufism, existentialism, and denial of the human self and "interfaith harmony". Now, during the emergency, the "maverick minister" of lawlessness is talking about the constitutional rights of minorities all the time while he is also helping Musharraf with his legal expertise to maul and maim the Constitution all over again.

Here is the really juicy bit: "The minister (of lawlessness) said that the constitution of Pakistan fully protects rights and liberties of the minorities in the country. Enforcement of the Sikh marriage registration law is part of that protection, he added." This was reported in The Post, Lahore on December 6. Someone should tell the minister that the constitution also protects the rights and liberties of "every" citizen of Pakistan.

With this newly discovered utility of Sufism, Musharraf has also realized the political benefits of paying a visit to the shrine of Hazrat Data Gunj Bakhash. Religion in Pakistan has become a political manipulation tool for realizing personal ambitions of corrupt leaders. In secular countries, at least you don't have this kind of hypocrisy. We need to have new forms of hypocrisy. We need as sophisticated hypocrisy as the contemporary Western world enjoys. Please do not insult our intelligence.