Limits
of Bhutto’s moderation
Posted in: Opinions
Written By: Hussain Khan,Tokyo
Article Date: Jan 22, 2008 - 7:10:50 AM
Since religion and politics is not separate in
Islam, all secularists in Muslim countries call themselves as ‘Moderates’.
Musharraf has named his secularism as ‘Enlightened Moderation’. Benazir
Bhutto’s moderation was different from that of Musharraf’s. America and Britain
tried both of them to work together. But this strategy failed, as both had a
different brand of moderation. Benazir’s moderation included democracy, freedom
of press and was under the limits of Islamic Shariah. Musharraf did not bind
himself with all these three concepts. He abhorred and flouted all of them.
That Benazir tried to keep her moderation within the limits of democracy and
Islamic Shariah is little appreciated by her secular admirers. Her concept of
democracy made her sacrifice her personal views to respect the majority views
of the Pakistani masses. Hijab is a tenet of Islam and a part of Islamic
culture among Muslim women.. She did not wear Burqah from head to foot to cover
her entire body and face like most of the religious Muslim women. But, in her
political career, she never wore Western dress or skirt etc. She covered her
entire body with Pakistani dress and always wore a scarf on her head. This was
her moderation in respect of an Islamic tenet, Hijab. She could have pursued
her political career without it. Several other prominent women in Pakistan ,
like the late Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, wife of the first Prime Minister
of Pakistan, who spearheaded female emancipation movement in Pakistan , Begum
Abida Hussain and Ms. Maliha Lodhi, both ex-ambassadors of Pakistan in USA ,
have never observed Hijab in any form.
This small observance of a basic tenet of Islam has saved her from defamation
and dishonor as well. Using computer graphic techniques, some of her opponents
tried to circulate her naked photograph over the Internet but, unfortunately,
they could not find a single picture of hers without a scarf over the head to
put the picture of her face over the naked body of some other shameless woman.
Every observer of such a false picture can easily detect that it cannot be a
genuine photograph of any naked woman who has taken off all her clothes from
her body but has kept her scarf intact over her head.
Moreover, this small observance of a basic tenet of Islam has inspired millions
of women in Pakistan to observe Hijab. Huma Yusuf writes in her article,
“Coming of age in the Bhutto era” published in the International Herald Tribune
of December 29-30, 2007, “Until 1996, Benazir had seemed like real-life Wonder
Woman, having expanded the conditions of possibility for Pakistani women for over
a decade since her entry into politics. While the boys at school emulated buff
cricketers, my girl friends and I would drape white scarves across our heads
and try to imitate Benazir’s ……….The fact that Benazir happily assumed the
responsibility of inspiring millions of women…….”
Bhutto’s moderation has not only inspired millions of women in Pakistan in
respect of Hijab, but even in case of women’s rights as well, her moderation
was under certain limits. Some secular Westernized women in Pakistan and other
Muslim countries were disappointed to find that Benazir did not transgress the
limits of democracy and of the Islamic Shariah in the name of emancipation of
women or for upholding the so-called women’s rights.
In the same article Huma Yusuf has expressed her frustration, “She disappointed
Pakistani women when she failed to repeal the Draconian Hudood and Zina
Ordinances that continue to curtail the rights of Pakistani woman.” This type
of disappointment is confined to a few Westernized women only. These women are
in a very small minority, not even 1 percent, in Pakistan or in other Muslim
countries. About her Westernization, Huma Yusuf informs about herself in the
same article, “ I was barely 16, learning how to flirt and sneaking cigarettes
at the first dance party I was allowed to attend…….”.
This is not a standard caricature of our daughters, sisters, and mothers in a
Muslim society, nor of the millions of women in Pakistan and in other Muslim
countries who learn ‘how to flirt, sneak cigarettes and participate in dance
parties’. It is for these types of limited few Westernized women that Benazir’s
moderation has disappointed them.
The same disappointment is also expressed in another article sent from Germany,
“A nation unraveling” by Mona Eltahawy of Egypt pulished in the same
publication of International Herald Tribune. She writes, “For me as a young
Muslim woman, Benazir Bhutto’s political career was especially captivating. She
was the first woman prime minister in the Muslim world when she elected in
1988, at the age of 35.......... I quickly learned to separate her gender from
her politics. Bhutto’s record on women’s rights in Pakistan was not what one
would have expected. ……..That judicial travesty was provided by the Hudood
Ordinances introduced in 1979 by General Zia ul-Haq, a military dictator
flexing his Muslim muscles by using religion against women……”
This is not the proper forum to discuss the merits or demerits of Hudood
Ordinances, but these were the Islamic Laws that were enforced after years of
public deliberation and dialogue with the Muslim intellectuals, reputed lawyers
like AK Brohi and others, and with the consensus of religious authorities and
the learned Ulama of Pakistan and of the Muslim world under the pressure of
Muslim majority of Pakistani citizens. These were the Laws that remained
enforced in Pakistan for a period of 28 years between 1979 to 2007 without any
protest from the Muslim Umma until President Musharraf repealed them using his
‘military muscles’ against the democratic wishes of millions of Muslims in
Pakistan, against the basic concept of Pakistan’s coming into existence and its
separation from India and against the basic clauses of the Islamic Constitution
of Pakistan to enforce his self-styled concept of ‘Enlightened Moderation’, as
against that of Benazir Bhutto. Whatever her personal views of moderation, she
respected the democratic wishes of the people of Pakistan and confined her
moderation under the democratic and Islamic limits. Despite coming into power
twice, she did not try to repeal, kept intact and respected the
Islamic Hudood Ordinances as they were promulgated and enforced. She did not
bother that it had been a headache and a source of frustration and
disappointment for our Westernized women.
Dr. Husain Haqqani, Director, Center for International Relations, Boston
University and an ex-Ambassador of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, who has also written
a book about Pakistan, published from Boston University , was Advisor, Public
Relations for Benazir Bhutto when she was Prime Minister of Pakistan. He has
sent me a mail informing about the Islamic adherence of Benazir. He writes,
"............ As someone with a religious background who has worked with
Mohtarma since 1993, I know that her core was far more Islamic than of any
secular woman public figure in Pakistani history. She was very observant during
Ramadan. I accompanied her and her husband on Hajj and she insisted on doing
“everything according to the Hanafi school.” Not once did I hear her abuse ulema
as “mullahs”, as is fashionable among our fashionable classes
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