Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain

In terms of democracy Pakistan’s record needs to be evaluated carefully. The cliché of dictatorship fostering extremism and only democracy a la Magna Carta fostering peace and reconciliation with the West is myopic

There is an obsessive cynicism about the Islamic and Pakistani concept of human rights, modernity and democracy, in both the West and in certain pessimistic Pakistani circles. It derives from misconstrued half-readings of our faith and our current environment. It is important to feel pride in our religious heritage and to draw strength from it when one is surrounded by those prophesising only negative thoughts. Our nation has achieved many feats and need not be apologetic about concepts considered hitherto western, but which are in fact Islamic and part of Pakistan’s religious historic traditions.

Our source of knowledge on human rights should be the Quran, the Sunnah, and specifically the ‘Last sermon’ of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the Charter of Medina. The message of the Prophet (PBUH) is crystal clear on many aspects which the West has later trumpeted as being their inventions. There are some beautiful thoughts which we at this stage of our history need to take inspiration from.

On the value of life, which is a key human rights concern and the focus on suicide bombings these days, the Prophet’s instructions (PBUH) are: “Regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.”

On justice for all: “You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity.” On the rights of women: “It is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have their rights over you.”

On racial non discrimination: “All Mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; a White has no superiority over a Black nor has a Black any superiority over a White except by piety and good actions.”

And there are many more such instructions in our religious teachings on all aspects of human rights including the rights of minorities.

While Pakistan is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Charter of the United Nations, the debate over what specific codes Pakistan in its religio-cultural setting should emulate needs to be drawn directly from our religious teachings. Intellectually there is value in cultural pluralism no doubt. As far as human rights are concerned, the Pakistan Muslim League ascribes to Part 2 of the Constitution regarding Fundamental Rights and Principles of Policy. Our performance can be gauged on these very parameters. One of these is our policy to respect freedom of speech, which despite all the criticism has been in fact far more liberal than pursued by many other governments of the past.

Modernity is erroneously seen as a European precept which the rest of the world should try and emulate fast. In fact, if one were to define modernity in its political, economic, cultural aspects one would immediately see that not all modern states can be wholly modern in all aspects and that some aspects of modernity appeared in Eurasia much before they appeared in Europe.

Its political attributes are an organised nation-state, where government is orderly, the boundaries are definite, the bureaucracy loyal, and where public opinion is respected and whose human rights record encourages the growth of civil society. Economically, modernity implies the attainment of rapid economic growth through industrial capitalism, the application of individual property rights, and the emphasis on science-based knowledge. Culturally it promotes literacy, and a sense of common identity with order, discipline, hierarchy and control.

The Pakistan Muslim League during its five-year term has passed legislation and contributed to many of the commonly accepted principles of modernity. However, it is important that our definition of modernity should comply with our own spiritual values, morality, cultural norms, national identity and collective ideology.

False assumptions like national pride for Muslims not being derived from the modern concepts of economic productivity, technical innovation and intellectual creativity, need to be put to rest. We as Pakistan Muslim League have certainly taken pride in our successes on these fronts. The women’s bill was a notable step in this direction which, nonetheless, took note of both our religious teachings as well as the local environment.

In terms of democracy Pakistan’s record needs to be evaluated carefully. The cliché of dictatorship fostering extremism and only democracy a la Magna Carta fostering peace and reconciliation with the West is myopic. We need to draw our strength from the Islamic concepts of democracy: justice, pluralism, equality, ijtihad and ijma. There is no conflict of Islam with democracy. However, the existing western concept of democracy if adopted in totality with all its liberal, secular, westernised and materialistic (quantitative rather than qualitative) aspects would not be beneficial for a Muslim society.

Hence the Pakistan Muslim League holds as its pivot not just the modern universal concept of democracy but more importantly a higher goal — Iqbal’s vision of ‘spiritual democracy’. Firstly as part of this concept we need to have spiritual emancipation of man, then a spiritual interpretation of the universe and finally a spiritual evolution of human society.

The debate needs to move beyond Western lenses which use Freedom House indicators and condemn more Muslim than non-Muslim states. The Pakistan Muslim League would like to offer an alternative gauge. We throw this challenge of attaining ‘spiritual democracy’ to our thinkers and political parties alike. While we resolve our internal tensions in this debate as Pakistanis, let the winds of innovation assist us; let no Western sources accuse us of an unwillingness to look inwards. Human rights, modernity and democracy are core values for us and we need not be apologetic about our performance in any of these areas.