The treatment meted out to Maulana Samiul Haq, head of his own faction of JUI, at the Brussels airport and later the EU parliament's decision to cancel Wednesday's scheduled meeting with a delegation of Pakistani Senators, because it included the Maulana, reflects badly on the norms of decency in Brussels. As it were, the Maulana was travelling on a valid visa issued by the German Embassy in Pakistan, yet he was detained for unspecified reasons at the Brussels Airport.
The Belgian authorities had wanted to deport him, but stopped short of it after his colleagues, Senators Mushahid Hussain, S.M. Zafar, and Nisar Memon, sought the intervention of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. He was let in, only to be placed under virtual arrest in his hotel room, like a source of contagion or someone suspected of criminal activity.
A British member of the European Parliament, Neena Gill, who also heads its South Asia inter-parliamentary committee, cited European Parliament's "ideals of democracy, equality and human rights" to say that "we can't condone therefore individuals who place themselves outside these parameters, for they represent everything we stand against." Admittedly, the Maulana's track record on these issues is a lot less than positive, which is not acceptable to most of his countrymen also.
He is also known for taking extremist positions on matters affecting sectarian rights. Given his background and the fact that not too long ago the Jamaat chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, too had to face an awkward situation on a visit to a western destination, the government should have been more sensitive to European dislike of Pakistan clerics (principled or politically motivated) than it has been while selecting the Senate delegation members for Brussels meeting.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that Maulana Samiul Haq is a member of an elected parliament. His stated positions on certain issues may be objectionable but as a public representative, he deserved to be treated with respect rather than outright insult. From Europe's own perspective, it would have been better to engage the Maulana in a constructive dialogue rather than to shun all contact with him.
In fact, the manner in which Gill and company acted does not look very different from what they accuse their unwanted visitor of. They have responded to his intolerance for the rights of 'others' with their own intolerance for what they regard as the other's undesirable views and actions. They could have tried to distinguish themselves from him by going ahead with a civilised dialogue, for which the Maulana and the other members of the Pakistani delegation had arrived in Brussels.
Perhaps, that could have had a moderating effect on him. The truth of the matter is that everyone concerned - the European Parliament, the Government of Pakistan, and Maulana Samiul Haq - are responsible, though to varying degrees, for the ugly episode in Brussels.