Author: Amar Khan
Publication: Islam Watch
Date: February 22, 2009
URL:
http://www.islam-watch.org/Amarkhan/Pakistani-Golden-Eggs-of-Rotten-Islam.htm
Pakistan was founded to secure the socio-economic
interests of Muslims. Islamic factor was only in the mind of common Muslim
mob of that age. The founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who was wine drinker and
pork eater himself, said on August 11, 1947:
You are free; you are free to go to your temples,
you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this
State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed-that has
nothing to do with the business of the State... We are starting with this
fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State...
I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find
that in due course Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease
to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith
of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.
But after his death, Pakistan was hijacked
by the Mullahs, who were fiercely against its formation. But still the upper
elite class is totally secular. Especially the PPP (Pakistan people Party)
leadership is totally secular. Even the Marxists in Pakistan also have their
pressure group in the party. Pakistan is standing now at two extremes: at
one end, there are the extremist Mullahs and at the other, the seculars and
freethinkers. The majority of Pakistani people are under the influence of
liberal people. Perhaps, this is the reason that Pakistan is still standing.
There are Islamic political parties, which uses Quran as their speeches and
wants to get vote in the name of Islam. But, in spite of ISI dictator support,
they never get enough seats to make government in Pakistan. And never will
they be able to do so.
There are many intellectuals in Pakistan,
who support human rights, try to reform Islam, criticize the mullahs and try
to make Pakistan a secular democracy.
Javed ahmad Ghamdi:
I have written a whole article on the reformation
movement of javed ahmad ghamdi. He is not only a reformist Islamic scholar,
but also have a lot of contribution towards the promotion of democracy and
liberal culture. Ghamdi has provided a base to the secular people of Pakistan
to stand with arguments in favor of democracy and secularism against the Mullahs.
Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy:
Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Professor of Nuclear
Physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University since 1973, received the Abdus Salam
Prize for mathematics in 1984 and has authored 65 scientific research papers.
He is the Chairman of Mashal, a non-profit organization, which publishes books
in Urdu on women's rights, education, environmental issues, philosophy, and
progressives thought.
Dr. Hoodbhoy has written and spoken extensively
on topics ranging from science in Islam to education issues in Pakistan and
nuclear disarmament. He produced a 13-part documentary series in Urdu for
Pakistan Television on critical issues in education, and two series aimed
at popularizing science. He is the author of Islam and Science: Religious
Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality, now available in five languages.
In his book, Dr. Hoodbhoy strongly criticizes
Imam Ghazali for undermining rational thinking via indoctrination of religious
dogma. He even criticizes Caliph Omer for burning the Library of Alexandria.
Due to these criticisms of his, he has been
declared an agent of RAW (India) by many pseudo-intellectuals of Pakistan.
His articles can be accessed here and here.
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa Agha
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa Agha is an independent
security analyst and strategic affairs columnist from Pakistan. She received
her doctorate from King's College London in 1996 and has worked on issues
varying from military technology, defense decision-making, nuclear deterrence,
arms procurement, and arms production to civil-military relations in South
Asia. She often appears at Pakistani TV channels. She is a supporter of nuclear
disarmament, secular democracy and Indian federation. She is a fierce critique
of ISI monopoly in Pakistan. She has written a book Military Inc.: Inside
Pakistan's Military Economy, in which she criticize ISI for supporting the
Taliban and the economic monopoly of Pakistan army. She often writes at Dawn.
She criticizes the Government for giving support to the Taliban. Due to her
anti-Taliban thinking and writing against the "holy" army of Pakistan,
she is also declared as "traitor".
Irfan Husain
Irfan Husain is one of Pakistan's top newspaper
columnists. His latest columns on occupation, terrorism and counter-terrorism
is once again deeply thought provoking. He covers almost all aspects of social
and religious issue. Recently, he has strongly criticizes the government for
giving free hands to the Taliban. He lately criticized Imran Khan for calling
Darwin's Evolution a "half baked" theory (see Imran Khan vs Charles
Darwin). His articles can be accessed here.
Younis sheikh
Dr. Younus Shaikh is a Pakistani medical doctor,
human rights activist, rationalist and freethinker. In October 2000, he was
charged with blasphemy over expressing his views about the circumcision of
Prophet Muhammad in a lecture. He said that the Prophet did not become a Muslim
until the age of 40 (i.e., until he supposedly had received the first message
from God) and that the Prophet's parents had been non-Muslims, because they
died before Islam existed. He said that the Prophet was unlikely to have shaved
his armpits and pubic hair, since the custom was probably unknown to his tribe
at the time. A group of his students reported him to a local group, called
the Committee for the Protection of the Finality of the Prophet, which has
a history of lodging blasphemy charges against religious minorities. The group
immediately reported Dr Younis Shaikh to the authority and he was arrested.
Dr Shaikh maintained that his words had been misunderstood.
After spending 11 months in the Central Jail
in Rawalpindi, he was sentenced to death. He spent greater than two more years
in jail before the verdict was over turned in November 2003 as a result of
intense international pressure, orchestrated by the International Humanist
and Ethical Union (IHEU) and Amnesty International. After acquittal, he left
to Europe to save his life from mob justice, if released in Pakistan. He has
written many articles. He wrote his whole story here.
