Identifying the roots of terrorism

In his address at a seminar on global terrorism, jointly hosted by the Islamabad-based Institute of Regional Studies and a German foundation, President General Pervez Musharraf mostly reiterated his 'two-pronged strategy' that places a responsibility on the Muslim countries to address the problem of extremism at their end and requires the Western nations to help resolve international disputes involving Muslims.
This time, though, while enumerating various steps that his government has taken towards Madressah reform, he also said that he would set up a special cell in Pakistan that will interpret Islamic law in the perspective of the needs of the modern times.
In the works is a plan to invite some 40 scholars from all over the world to be part of a guiding force. Said he, "our aim is to carry out a Muslim renaissance. Let Pakistan be a source of light and a centre for understanding of real values of Islam."
The aim is heartening indeed, though the route he has proposed to get there easily lends itself to scepticism. A special cell for the interpretation of all laws and practices in the light of religious teachings is already in place in the form of the Islamic Ideology Council. Yet another cell of assorted religious experts may create unnecessary controversies and turf battles between the two bodies.
The simple thing the government can do is to formulate a policy for the revival of the traditions of culture and learning deepening the awareness of national identity. Renaissance cannot be ushered in through the edicts of a government appointed body of religious experts but by creating an environment which is conducive to acquisition of knowledge to inform the whole range of individual and collective pursuits.
Such a process is necessary for any society wanting to make a successful transition from backwardness to modernity.
Since General Musharraf mentioned the issue in a discussion of global terrorism, he seems to have gotten sucked into the misleading Western argument that the problem has something to do with the teachings of Islam. Actually, it is General Musharraf himself later asserted - as he has done on so many occasions in the past - related to the festering political issues involving Muslims in Kashmir and Palestine.
He also correctly pointed out that the unresolved problems in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Chechnya had created a feeling among the Muslims that they were politically deprived and alienated while the West moved quickly to solve the problem in East Timor, which primarily was a Christian issue.
As the Pakistan High Commissioner to the Britain, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, who also spoke at the Islamabad seminar, observed there is a tendency in the Western countries to trace the origins of the problem to external elements and not to own up the consequences of their own policies.
The tendency is most pronounced in the US, whose blind support for Israel's policy of unmitigated aggression against the Palestinian people and humiliation of all Arabs is the main cause of Muslim anger and consequent violence. Since the Zionist lobby controls the major US media as well as Congress, it uses its influence to mislead the American people into believing that radical Muslims resorted to violence not because of injustices meted out to the Palestinian people but because they were intolerant of other people's faith, and that they sought to impose a Salafi caliphate all over the world.
This is a total distortion of the truth. Even extremist organisations such as Hizbul Tehrir, whose stated aim it is to establish an Islamic caliphate, have never said they wanted to include Europe and the US in their caliphate. What they want to do in the Muslim world should be the business of Muslims not outsiders.
But some outsiders need to cover up their own crimes by diverting the attention of their people from the real issues. Of late, as Dr Lodhi pointed out, there is a tendency in the West to emphasise that the Muslims need to reform themselves, including their Faith, because Muslims must make peace with modernity. It takes some nerve and a peculiar arrogance of power for these self-appointed protectors and promoters of freedom to call for reform of other people's faith.
Such deliberate obfuscation of the real issues will benefit no one. Of course, there are people in Europe, especially in Britain, who do not hesitate to identify the actual root causes of Muslim extremists' violence.
In fact, following the 7/7 London bombings several prominent British leaders, in full glare of the electronic media, openly blamed their government's Iraq policy for the London atrocity. Surely, there are many in the US as well who know what is at the root of terrorism involving Muslims, but are afraid to speak the truth. Such is the concept of freedom, probity and democracy, propagated by the Super-power, that a Muslim renaissance would have to contend with.