Islamabad, April 22 (IANS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani should stick to national security and leave it to politicians to sort out for whom and why Pakistan was created, said a leading Pakistani daily Monday after the army chief’s comment that Islam can never be taken out of Pakistan.
The general said: “Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and Islam can never be taken out of Pakistan The Pakistan Army will keep on doing its best towards our common dream for a truly Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
An editorial in the Dawn said that both the timing and the content of General Kayani’s speech ought to be parsed carefully.
“Given the recent travails of election candidates facing new, and unwarranted, scrutiny of their Islamic credentials and a debate being triggered on the true ideology of Pakistan, the army chief ought to have considered whether weighing in on such matters at this time was the appropriate thing to do or not.
“The political battle lines have already been drawn, with religious elements and anti-democratic forces beating the drum of an exclusionist version of Pakistan’s ideology and trying to make it an election issue.”
The editorial wondered whether Gen Kayani has “wittingly or unwittingly, given those religious elements and anti-democratic forces a boost going into next month’s election?”
Delving deeper, the daily asked: “Who is trying to take Islam out of Pakistan; where is the threat to the public’s right to practise their Muslim faith?”
“In fact, the threat is in the opposite direction: to those of other faiths who are also Pakistani and some of whom don’t even enjoy the theoretical right to practise their faith without fear or intimidation.”
It went on to say that if Islam is in fact the core of the Pakistani state, “does that mean non-Muslim Pakistanis have no place in this state and society? Even among Muslims, from the early 1950s, the question of which of the many different interpretations of and schools of thought in Islam ought to be given precedence over the rest has been a dangerously divisive issue when the state has seen fit on occasion to tackle it”.
The editorial pointed out that “the exclusive, obsessive even, focus on using Islam to galvanise the armed forces is precisely where the origins of the tragic and disastrous policy of state-sponsored jihad has arisen”.
“Gen Kayani and the army high command should stick to questions of national security and leave it to the politicians to sort out for whom and why Pakistan was created. The ideology of Pakistan should be an issue for politics, not the armed forces,” it added.
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What Islam they are talking about ….. is their any True Islam in Pakistan…is Pakistan a Islamic country where the head of state can do ‘anything’ and no one is allowed to ask him ….. is this Islam….where as in Islam a head of state is more answerable then any commoner….
if u think Islam exist in ur heart , then be sure, Islam is present in Pakistan, think about ur statement if u r Muslim,
and who is Pakistani daily to judge or decide whats wrong and whats right,don’t dictate its not your job either
Its not General Kiyani’s job to tell us about Islam and Pakistan. His job to is secure the borders period. He should keep his thoughts to himself. He should go home.
Winston,
I think you may not be muslim but for a true muslim he can say that and he has the right to say this especially when he has powers to implement things. Because Islam is the religion which give rights to every citizen of the state(Muslim and Non-Muslim). I think when you will see this you will be for sure pleased with that. Just for instance look at the Muslim history how kindly the Jews and Christian treated in the near Ottomon era. So don’t be obsessed with the negative feelings about Islam which media portrays.
Kiayani Go Home
Pakistan is his Home :/
A good answer.
the writer of that editorial either has never visited pakistan or is completely oblivious to our country pakistan was created in the name of islam and no minority has any “fear” in practicing its religion and there is no debate why pakistan was created however there should be debate that writing and publishing such editorials are a deliberate effort to cause anarchy and thus a case of treason or simply an opinion
pakistan ko in politcians ne aik jengli riast me badal dia he socalled media jo indan agenda ka raag alap kr pakistan ko secular state me tabdeel karna chahta he ye usi ki taarjumani he kiu k islam me state or institutions iak doosray se juda nhe related hen rha non musmlims ka sawal to islam gives them equal rights as compared with muslims.army chief k byan ko sraha jana chahaiy q k” juda ho deen siasat se to reh jati he changgezi”
It is a very good advice from DAWN to the Army man. There is no unity amongst Muslims in Pakistan. Many do not understand the peaceful side of Islam. It was wrong of Kayani sahib to beat the religious drum.
It would have been much better to advise the countrymen to follow a peaceful version of Islam, or he could have given a warning to any one who was having the wrong notion about Islam.
Religion should not enter state matters. Kings had been misusing religion for their purpose. The prophets did not come to establish a theocratic state. They came to give a lesson of love and peace and freedom of thought for all. They had the spiritual message. There was least (or nil) politics in their program.
There is no need to establish a religious government from top and impose it upon the people. The real need is that every one should follow the peaceful, beautiful dictates of Islam in their lives. The religious government will be established automatically. What is stopping the people from praying or following the religious practices?
Only peaceful free preaching is needed. No force is to be used and no killing. There is not to be any compulsion in the matters of any faith. Criminals should be punished. Nobody should be punished for his beliefs alone.
I think you are not familiar with difference between Muslims Ideology of establishing Islamic state and the Christian way of doing things. Islam is pure logical and you can’t deny the facts as compared to Christianity where people made religion just to do theocrazy. So don’t apply the same concept here. He can say that and he has to at least pretend to be a leader of 6th largest army(world) and probably First largest Muslim army.
If he will not say the hell politicians will say this? They are just null to their existence.
Their job is to report the news only. They don’t have the mandate to judge the ideological basis of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan today is crossing it’s own domain to tell the military to stay in their domain. The irony is unmistakable.
the editorial writer of Dawn should be taken to task for spreading anarchy among Pakistanis
looks like Gen Kiyani hit the cords of liberal fascists! the writer of this editorial is clearly a protector of liberalism and has gone to the extent of being a fascist in his views about the supremacy of Islamic values in Islam! He or she is also ignorant enough to have not known the rights of minorities in an Islamic state, also ignorant enough to know that an Islamic state is far more diverse & multicultural than any liberal / secular state of our modern time… Islam in the context of religion may upset the editor however Islam in the context of a way of life is completely better than today’s secular / liberal way of life or way of governing. Army is a stake holder in Pakistan, they have all the right to make such comments and quite rightly so if they are worried about the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s identity being threatened! I say to the editorial, leave it to the stake holders of Pakistan to comment on Pakistan and if you feel like you are a stake holder, make your voice the voice of the majority! until you do so you are just a low life liberal fascist and extreamist! PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!
They call it an election issue, they call it exclusionary, they call it a divisive issue….and then they ask where Islam in Pakistan is at threat. The role of the armed forces is to defend Pakistan from internal and external enemies. Our soldiers fight with the slogan, “iman, taqwa, jihad fi sabilillah”. The constitution is clear about the Islamic ideology of Pakistan. The Editorial flouts the constitution, bashes the army for doing its job and clearly states that its biased in the debate…..and we should sit silently and watch this marginal group of Kemalists try to assert themselves over us? Not a chance! You want a secular Pakistan, you will have to fight us for it
Pakistan will never be a secular state,irrespective of what editors say. The average Pakistani is religious though not an extremist,he is democratically inclined.Bracketing religion with anti democratic forces is bad logic.Pakistan is an Islmic state,it is based on an ideol ogy and defending its geographical and ideological frontiers is the army,s job,period.Take Islam out of Pakistan there would be no Pakistan.
Islam means Peace, therfore there should be no misconception about the meaning of Islam. However, we as Pakistanis wish to have the total Islamic Shariat in our beloved country with Arabic as a cumpulsory language (In order to read and understand Quran). If its not implemented, we all should live here under protest. My vote is for the one who would uphold Shariat in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The politicians must realize that they shall be held accountable for their misdeeds.
An article by a man with sick mind.
why did you remove my comment? it was no inappropriate? be democratic and let every voice be heard!
if u destroy ur foundation, u’ll destroy ur own home, the basic aim of armd forces is to protect the country, and thus its foundation,the foundation of Pakistan is Islam, and it is their duty to protect the foundation of Pakistan , if u dont know about Islam, plz dont talk about Pakistan and Islam.