Amir Mateen

ISLAMABAD: Independent member Jamshed Dasti finally got the prominence that he was desperately looking for.

He went against his fellow parliamentarians, accusing them of virtually everything under the sun–debauchery, womanizing, drugs and alcohol. After having lived in Parliamentary lodges for six years now, the Snowden in him woke up to see sinful life around him.

Overnight, he realized his neighbours were evil people who, allegedly, consumed alcohol and hashish worth billions of rupees. There is stench of hashish smoke, pimps and call girls roam around with abandon, the self-styled whistle blower alleged on a point of order. He claimed that “mujra parties” are held in the lodges and that he had a video showing that, which he would share with Speaker of the National Assembly.

The self-professed Robinhood of Muzzafargarh was incensed that “these politicians waste crores of rupees while the masses can’t afford two meals a day.”

The important issue was not what he was saying but why he was saying all this. Lest you forget, this born-again champion of morality still has a case of presenting a fake educational degree in High Court. He was jailed for three years after HEC declared his degree fake and he resigned from the National Assembly to save himself from being disqualified. He won on two constituencies as an independent on the plank of Seraiki nationalism. But in by-elections his brother lost, largely because nationalists got angry over his tilt towards Nawaz Sharif. Dasti was running helter-skelter since then to get a good political deal from the ruling party.

Theory goes that he is desperate to keep himself alive in news. He had earlier proposed to give extension to the former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Then he tried to disrupt Chaudhry Nisar’s speech on national security to invite attention. He will do anything to get noticed–even if this means attacking your own ilk.

Another version is that Dasti, frustrated by PML-N refusal to offer him a power deal, has turned vengeful towards the ruling party and his own kind in general. What he does not realize is that he could be tried for making a personal video without permission and then for using it as evidence. One of his colleagues suggested that this could also be interpreted as blackmailing.

But then Dasti was not the only one infused with evangelism. Incidentally, the House was being chaired by JUI’s burqa-clad Naeema Kishwar, which was perhaps a first in our parliamentary history.

Naeema seemed a little flustered by the graphic details of Dasti’s version of ‘Sex and the City.’ She was quick to ask Dasti to share his information with the Speaker in private. But the pious brigade went on and on. PTI’s Ali Mohammad Khan jumped on the bandwagon by demanding that

Indian films be banned as they spread “fahashi.” He gave a long sermon explaining how society was being corrupted by this visual vandalism and sought action against the Censor Board for allowing this ‘obscenity.’ Imran Khan can take credit for introducing such gems to our mainstream that we don’t need Mullah Omer to take over.

Naeema wasted no time in referring the matter to the concerned committee for action against such vulgarity. For a time it seemed that the custodians of morality might just ban theatre, arts, internet, jeans and what not. Such things have a way of sticking around—once done, it’s difficult to undo them in our society. The ban on Youtube is a case in point.

The PML-N will distribute laptops, introduce 5-G, recite Jalib but will not muster courage to restore Youtube, which is allowed even by Ya Habibis.

Thankfully, MQM’s Mahboob Alam applied brakes to the self-righteous rollercoaster and made a fervent appeal to stop this Talibanization of the society. There is a limit to which suppression can be introduced.

In an already entertainment starved culture, we can’t suffocate our children from the few tools that they have for exposure to the outside world. Mahboob was dot on to point out that such culture will only promote more Taliban and religious extremism.

His argument was so relevant to the ongoing debate on the national security plan. As the contours of the draft get clear the biggest omission in the document appears to be the counter-narrative against religious fanaticism. The draft seems overly focused on operational side. An array of questions pop out: How do you sway the hearts and

minds towards non-violence? How will we clear the misguided doctrinal mess? How about the cultural cleansing of the society? How will we reform madrassas, control hate speech and regulate sectarian hatred?

We just hope there is also a socio-cultural package to back the operational plan. The standards of obscenity and morality exist in a relative world. My view of vulgarity can vary from yours. We notice tolerance for plurality of parallel thoughts exists in most Islamic countries from Lebanon, Dubai to Turkey and Central Asia– Ya habibis being an exception. It is only in our Republic that we try to be so puritanical.

It made sense in a united India where Muslims felt insecure as a minority. Why Islam is endangered in a country which has a Muslim population of over 97 per cent. Imran Khan better introduce puritanical thoughts of his pious brigade in his manifesto so that we know where he stands. His coalition partner Jamaat-i-Islami did that and it has four seats in a Parliament of 447. Or at least ask his young guns not to impose their standards of morality on us. The skipper lived a wholesome life in his youth, some say he does that even now, and his children do the same. Why can’t other have a semblance of that freedom? In the meantime, Dastis of the world will do what they do best: create fuss. Perhaps he under-estimates the power of the un-pious.

The News

February 28, 2014