The ideology of Pakistani extremism

Issues that had long been settled by Pakistan's founding fathers are being re-opened by the extremist elements to turn the country into the opposite of what the former conceived it i.e. as a modern democracy where Muslims were to practice a moderate version of Islam. Both Allama Iqbal and Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had stated categorically that the country was not to be a theocracy where matters related to statecraft are decided by the clerics but a democratic country where .the Parliament rather than the clerics were to make laws and devise national policies.

Allama Iqbal had rejected the teachings of the nationalist ulema strongly condemning their views in one of his poems. Iqbal also considered the clerics as being narrow minded, unaware of the needs of a modern society and thus incapable of providing political leadership to the Muslims. Similarly the Quaid elucidated at a number of times that Pakistan was going to be a modern parliamentary democracy rather than theocracy.

As opposed to Iqbal and Jinnah, voices are now being raised in support of theocracy. The extremist outfits in Pakistan reject democracy calling it an un-Islamic concept and advocating Imarat or khilafat in its place.