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[Maninthemirror]

http://m.timesofindia.com/world/pak...awar-school-massacre/articleshow/45923588.cms

ISLAMABAD: One month on from a Taliban school massacre in Peshawar that left 150 dead a new movement is growing among marginalized urban liberals rallying to "Reclaim Pakistan" from violent extremism.

Carrying placards and candles, their stand against religious fanaticism is an unusual sight in a country more used to mass demonstrations by Islamist groups filled with chants against the West or India.

Muhammad Jibran Nasir, a 27-year-old lawyer who has played a key role in organizing demonstrations, said he and others felt they could no longer stand by following the brutal killings of schoolchildren in the country's northwest on December 16.

"I never felt so overwhelmed. I felt pathetic as a human being, as a Muslim, as a Pakistani. I felt very, very small," he said.

While Pakistan's military has been engaged in heavy offensives in the country's northwestern tribal areas, progressive critics believe the state — including both the army and political parties — must do more to tackle those Islamist groups that have traditionally received official backing.

In an effort to highlight the discrepancy, Nasir, who happened to be visiting Islamabad at the time of the Peshawar assault, led like-minded activists to protest outside the radical Red Mosque, whose imam is known for his pro-Taliban views and who has refused to condemn the attack on the school.

READ ALSO: Peshawar school reopens after Taliban massacre of students

Maulana Abdul Aziz led an armed insurrection against the military in 2007, but was acquitted of all charges against him by 2013 in a case which analysts say highlights weaknesses in Pakistan's judicial system and sympathies for militants among parts of the security establishment.

The "Reclaim" movement's first small victory was the re-opening of an investigation against Aziz, said Nasir.

 

[RustyNails]

But this isn't as exciting as rallies in favor of extremism!

 

[Joni]

It is good to see there are at least some people demonstrating against their extremist political and religious leaders.

 

[Ranger Taffles]

Jibran Nasir and the civil society movement has been doing honourable activism against extremists and their apologists over the past month and so. Moreover, it's been a month since the Peshawar attack and people are still hurt and bruised over what they have lost. It's time these terrorists and their supporters get what's coming to them. There should be no space for any hate filled preaching, period.

 

[speculawyer]

I think we may be at turning point. With that attack on school children and the massacre of cartoonists, people are really starting to realize how fucking pathetic that intolerant view is.

Nasrallah's comments on the massacre was a much different view than he would have issued in the past.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said what he called "takfiri terrorist groups" had insulted Islam more than "even those who have attacked the messenger of God through books depicting the Prophet or making films depicting the Prophet or drawing cartoons of the Prophet."

And even Salman Rushdie and Bill Maher said optimistic things on last week's real time:
http://www.alternet.org/media/bill-...ims-condemning-attacks-blame-islams-bad-ideas

“It’s very important to note that what happened in France this week was an enormous, I mean people are always saying that Muslims have to stand up against terrorism, well this week they did,” Rushdie later said. “And all over France, there were French people, French Muslims standing up and saying, ‘We are French, this is not our team, not in our name.”

 

[Skyzard]

Good, the banners from the last protest were fucking embarrassing to be honest.

Some of the dumbfucks in that area could do with some challenge to their views by people from the same area. Enough is enough. The older crazies might be lost but lets not doom their children and the younger generation.

That one publicized banner from what I think was from an educational institute seemed more offended by the support for Charlie Hebdo than the fucking Peshawar Attack.

 

[Christberg]

This is a good start. There was a lot to like in this last mess.

 

[m_shortpants]

This thread will not get the same attention as the other one.

 

[Ashes]

I recall my friend was breaking the news to me on the phone, and she said it was exactly as it sounds like. They just went in to a school and just shot all the kids, Ashes.

The banality of evil knows no bounds.

 

[Chairman Yang]

But this isn't as exciting as rallies in favor of extremism!

I'm excited by this! I hope it's reflective of real, sustained change in Pakistan. Realistically, Pakistan should aspire to the level of Bangladesh, Bangladesh should aspire to the level of Turkey, and Turkey should aspire to the level of true society-wide secularism.

 

[SolarPowered]

While Pakistan's military has been engaged in heavy offensives in the country's northwestern tribal areas, progressive critics believe the state — including both the army and political parties — must do more to tackle those Islamist groups that have traditionally received official backing.

Yep, it's not enough to conduct military campaigns. The backing from extremist governmental/religious figures needs to be severed loudly and permanently. This can't be what Pakistan's people want and the attack on their military school was a wake up call if I ever heard one.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

And this is the only way that extremist Islam is going to be snuffed out. You can't military barrage away an idea, it's the people themselves that have to rise up, reform, and maintain vigilance. Hope this is the beginning of the end.

 

[Valhelm]

That's great. It's really a shame that these sorts of protests (much like the anti-racism rallies in Germany) so often go unreported.

 

[Next]

But this isn't as exciting as rallies in favor of extremism!

But rallies in favor of extremism shouldn't exist in the first place. What world are we living in that things like that are just another face of the coin.

 

[Lamel]

Pakistanis are hurt most by extremism. They as a society have the lowest support for suicide bombings (like 2%, which is a stark contrast from other Muslim countries) because they are tired of this shit.

 

[Messofanego]

This is great news. If I was there, would have joined them.

"If we do not take some kind of stance we may very well stay alive but we lose our own humanity by being lazy. It makes us complicit."

Exactly. As I've grown older, I can't be apathetic or feel helpless and do nothing with politics anymore. Have to improve it from the very small action that might have the chance to snowball. I'm glad some Pakistanis aren't defeatist.

 

[Discotheque]

I hope this becomes a rising trend, I think more Muslims are finally seeing the absurdity of these violent acts and how damaging it is

 

[The Purple Pill]

I hope the support will grow, with all this extremism going on, it's good to see some light kindling in these dark times.

And I fear the big media won't cover it, as much it deserves, and give the exposure it needs, which is a disheartening thought.

 

[wildfire]

That attack on school children was horrible but I wish it didn't take that for some of them to not be apathetic to their local politics. Good luck to them.

 

[Lamel]

That attack on school children was horrible but I wish it didn't take that for some of them to not be apathetic to their local politics. Good luck to them.

People there have been fighting terrorism for years, you just don't hear about it. this is just the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Good.

We don't need shit like Mullah Abdul Aziz in this country.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Thank you for posting this. Perspective is needed.

 

[Messofanego]

Good.

We don't need shit like Mullah Abdul Aziz in this country.

It's too bad Abdul Aziz is also my dad's first name

 

[pgtl_10]

I think we may be at turning point. With that attack on school children and the massacre of cartoonists, people are really starting to realize how fucking pathetic that intolerant view is.

Nasrallah's comments on the massacre was a much different view than he would have issued in the past.


And even Salman Rushdie and Bill Maher said optimistic things on last week's real time:
http://www.alternet.org/media/bill-...ims-condemning-attacks-blame-islams-bad-ideas

I never viewed as Nasrallah as someone who attack a cartoonist. Hezbollah and Hama's are more political in the approach.

 

[Jeels]

But this isn't as exciting as rallies in favor of extremism!

Why aren't there any Muslims standing up to extremism?! It must be ingrained in the faith and culture!!!

 

[Krappadizzle]

I hope he makes it through the fight safely. Good for him.

 

[victreeb3l]

This is excellent.

Why aren't there any Muslims standing up to extremism?! It must be ingrained in the faith and culture!!!

I'm ashamed of my fellow liberals who are too PC that continue to give Islam a pass!!!!11

 

[xbhaskarx]

The Pakistani government should start by rooting out all the Islamists that have been embedded in various parts of the state apparatus over the last 30-40 years, especially in the military and ISI...

 

[Krappadizzle]

The Pakistani government should start by rooting out all the Islamists that have been embedded in various parts of the state apparatus over the last 30-40 years, especially in the military and ISI...

Who do you think runs the government?

Tinfoil hat be dammed.

 

[Yaphett Kotto]

Pakistan has a long way to go with how locked in some of those groups are, unfortunately.

 

[Game4life]

But this isn't as exciting as rallies in favor of extremism!

People behaving as normal human beings should not be getting more attention then people behaving like savage beasts who deserve to be exposed.Pakistan has a lot of people that behave like savage beasts that needs to be exposed.

The Pakistani government should start by rooting out all the Islamists that have been embedded in various parts of the state apparatus over the last 30-40 years, especially in the military and ISI...

ISI and military runs the government. They are not going to clean themselves.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Who do you think runs the government?

Tinfoil hat be dammed.

No tinfoil hat necessary, the military is the most powerful force in Pakistan. Chief of Army Staff is the most important position. No one denies that.
That's not my point, though. The current military bigwigs are all old, they're not a danger in terms of Islamic extremism (obviously there are still other issues like corruption, Musharraf seizing power, etc.).
The problem is what happens when younger Islamist officers, those who joined the military post Zia-ul-Haq*, eventually replace them.

*

The genesis of militancy and the corresponding ideological warfare can be directly traced back to the 1980s. The Soviet Afghan war, when Pakistan supported Afghan mujahideen in the fight against their government, coupled with the Islamist military dictatorship of General Zia ul Haq in Pakistan, started the process of radicalization of the Pakistani polity. Zia deliberately attempted to amend the Constitution to make it more Islamic. He aimed to instil the Saudi Arabian brand of puritanical Islam into the national character and therefore introduced measures to make state institutions lean towards the conservative right.

The Pakistan Army is a prime example. Its original national motto was "unity, faith and discipline", which was replaced by "Imaan, Taqwa, Jihad Fi Sibil-lillah" (belief, piety and holy war in the name of Allah). The Pakistan Army has not been a secular institution since.

 

[RustyNails]

But rallies in favor of extremism shouldn't exist in the first place. What world are we living in that things like that are just another face of the coin.

People behaving as normal human beings should not be getting more attention then people behaving like savage beasts who deserve to be exposed.Pakistan has a lot of people that behave like savage beasts that needs to be exposed.

Right, but when you only focus on Death to America rallies, people tend to think that there is no sanity left anymore. It's what happened with Iran (but now thanks to people like Anthony Bourdain, we have a more human picture of Iran where we now know that they dont wake up hating America everyday). People confuse political rallies usually organized by Islamist political parties in Pakistan or Iran with grassroots protest movement, and people focusing on only one and not the latter paints an imbalanced picture.