EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The resurgence of the religious parties in the October 2002 elections portends
ill for Pakistan's political, cultural and social stability. For the first time in the country's
history, an alliance of six major religious parties – the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) – has won
power in two provinces, vowing to Islamise state and society through Taliban-like policies. The MMA
based its electoral campaign on Islam and anti-U.S. slogans, targeting President Pervez Musharraf's
pro-U.S. policies and pledging the enforcement of Sharia law. It now runs the government in the
Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), bordering on Afghanistan, and shares power in Baluchistan.
The MMA's zeal might encourage the supporters of its component parties to take
up arms against U.S. forces in Afghanistan or their Afghan allies. Pakistani military and
paramilitary troops on the border should be able to contain such a threat. More significantly,
however, the rise of religious parties threatens to undermine civil liberties, freedom
of expression, legal reforms and religious tolerance in Pakistan. In particular, the situation
of women and minorities may become more difficult in the two provinces under MMA control.
The MMA program runs counter to President Musharraf's pledges of reform.
Having taken power in October 1999, Musharraf promised to end religious extremism and promote
moderate Islam – a program that would have been a revolution of sorts. His decision to join the
international coalition against terrorism after 11 September 2001 did bolster his image as a
reformist and secular ruler. But the general has opted to follow the path of his military
predecessors, forging alliances of convenience with religious organisations to counter secular
political adversaries.
The Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, the largest parties in the
MMA, have maintained close ties with the military for decades. Musharraf's aversion to the mainstream
political parties led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and the military's declared intent to keep
those two former prime ministers out of power presented the MMA with an open political field. As a
result, religious parties have gained political clout, and religion is again at the heart of
debates on legislation and public policy.
The MMA's political domain is as yet restricted to two out of four provincial
governments. It has chosen not to join the ruling pro-military Muslim League – Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) –
at the centre, and has adopted a confrontational stance in the National Assembly. However, the
alliance shares power with the PML-Q in Baluchistan. This strategy helps it promote an anti-American
agenda while avoiding direct confrontation with the military's support for the U.S.-led war
on terrorism. Aware that foreign and defence policy is the military’s preserve, the MMA restricts
its opposition to the generals to rhetoric. Its goal, in any case, is not to confront the military
but to consolidate its political gains.
By assisting the military's electoral manoeuvres, including formation of suitable
governments in the centre and the provinces, the MMA has obtained major concessions, such as the
release from jail of party workers and the dropping of several prosecutions. In the NWFP and
Baluchistan, Islamisation is now official policy. Initial steps, such as a ban on music in
public, attacks on cable television operators, and police action against video shops are signs
of what lies ahead as the MMA implements its program.
Though MMA leaders have tried to allay worries that their governments might adopt
Taliban-style policies, their actions show preference for strict religious rule. The MMA agenda
includes an end to co-education, a first step towards the total segregation of women in public life,
and the addition of more Islamic texts to school and college curricula. The MMA plans to screen and
register NGOs in the NWFP and Baluchistan. Moral policing by the student wings of its parties in
NWFP and Baluchistan educational institutions enjoys official backing. Similar trends are visible
elsewhere in public life.
It remains to be seen how much room the MMA will be given to apply its version
of Sharia law in the two provinces. The MMA stresses that implementation will remain within
constitutional confines. Although the constitution is Islamic, the form and substance of
Islamisation is determined by the centre, and federal legislation has primacy. The provinces are
dependent on Islamabad's financial assistance. Moreover, Musharraf's constitutional amendments
empower him to override parliament.
If history is a guide, however, the MMA could succeed with its Islamisation
agenda. Many Islamic provisions are already part of the legal system, enacted by previous military
governments. Since the military takeover in 1999, the government has demonstrated neither will nor
intent to pursue domestic policies opposed by the mullahs, such as madrasa regulation or changes
in discriminatory Islamic laws. Although the MMA sits with the opposition in the National Assembly,
it has assured the government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali that it will not help dislodge
Musharraf's political order. In return, the government might just decide to reward the MMA by
tolerating Islamisation in the NWFP and Baluchistan.
The mullahs' usefulness for the military goes beyond domestic politics.
The perpetual threat of war with India over Kashmir, a conflict coloured in religious hues, also
brings the MMA and the military together. The more Musharraf searches for domestic legitimacy,
the more he plays up the Indian threat. The mullahs are more than willing to support the military's
policies in Kashmir.
The domestic implications of Musharraf's unwillingness to transfer power are far
reaching. The President's constitutional and political distortions have put a fragile federation
under immense stress. In the absence of checks on the military's political powers, ethnic tensions
are rising, particularly in Sindh and Baluchistan where there is strong resentment of the
Punjabi-dominated military. There is also anger there at Musharraf's efforts to empower religious
parties at the expense of their moderate, secular counterparts with an ethnic or regional base.
While moderate sections of Pakistani society are being marginalised, religious
parties and their causes are flourishing. The military follows pro-U.S. policies but the compulsions
of domestic legitimacy have resulted in an alliance of expediency with the religious sector. As a
result of the military's unwillingness to extricate itself from domestic politics, the religious
right, jihad and Islamisation are again acceptable currency in political life, threatening regional
peace and fundamental political, economic and social rights of Pakistanis.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Government of Pakistan:
1. Revise the Legal Framework Order 2002 and other amendments made by the
Musharraf administration to remove restrictions on fundamental freedoms, including limits on the
freedoms of assembly and expression and participation in government.
2. Revoke constitutional amendments that discriminate on the basis of religion
and sex.
3. Revise Islamic laws that undermine rights of minorities and women by:
(a) amending the Hudood ordinances, including those on evidence and payment of
compensation for murder, to restore the legal rights of women; and
(b) tightening procedures for bringing blasphemy prosecutions.
4. Prevent MMA provincial governments from pursuing policies
that violate basic constitutional rights by:
(a) using the constitutional powers of the federal government to override any
provincial legislation that restricts women's participation in public life, or denies them education
and employment opportunities;
(b) refusing to sanction proposed changes in the educational system or textbooks
at the provincial level that are inconsistent with national policy; and
(c) using federal law enforcement agencies to protect NGOs and their personnel.
5. Channel no federal grants and aid money to educational, health and employment
projects specifically designed for promoting segregation or other religious causes.
6. Devise and implement legislation to institutionalise an ad hoc ban on jihadi
organisations and curb activities aimed at recruitment, fundraising and publication of jihad literature.
7. Implement existing anti-terrorism laws to disarm and disband private militias.
8. Devise new legislation and implement existing anti-terrorism laws to:
(a) counter MMA governments' intentions to relax arms licensing regulations; and
(b) implement federal restrictions on the possession and public
display of weapons across the board.
9. Regulate madrasas and mosques so as to end their use for the
promotion and propagation of extremist political and militant ideologies.
10. Seek parliamentary action to widen the membership of the Council of Islamic
Ideology to include the full range of Muslim opinion, including moderate scholars, lawyers,
academics, women's organisations and financial experts.
11. Curtail the mandate and scope of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs and substantially limit it to public service issues, including the haj
and other pilgrimages.
To the International Community:
12. Monitor and assess, pursuant to the UN Security Council's anti-terrorism
resolutions, the Musharraf government's compliance with obligatory domestic reforms to:
(a) curb religious extremism and militancy;
(b) reform the education sector; and
(c) enforce strict anti-terrorism financing laws.
13. Condition aid to Pakistan upon fulfilment of its commitments under international
law to protect women and minorities against legal, political and social discrimination.
14. Encourage domestic reforms by:
(a) funding secular educational projects through international financial
institutions and bilateral aid agreements;
(b) extending financial support to development NGOs that deliver health,
education and social services in the NWFP and Baluchistan; and
(c) providing economic and political support, through UN agencies and bilateral
funding, for democratic development programs in the NWFP and Baluchistan.
15. Monitor the cooperation of Pakistani military, paramilitary and intelligence
forces in preventing jihadis from moving across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into Kashmir.
Islamabad/Brussels, 20 March 2003
