Islamic Brigade Costs Paki Taxpayers Rs. 91 Million 
Does Pakistan need an Islamic council?
The news first emerged mid afternoon, on 29 December 2015. Soon, it was all that prime time talk shows and newscasters in Pakistan could talk about. Two senior religious clerics, both bearded, both well-regarded among their followers, had used their fists rather than their words, to settle an argument during the 201 meeting of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), Pakistan’s top Islamic advisory body. News outlets were salivating. Leaked videos of the brawl emerged. The incident was unusual; religious hardliners are more likely to face-off against liberals than one of their own. “I am stronger than him,” boasted the pot-bellied Maulana Tahir Ashrafi (self confessed alchoholic !) while talking to a television crew. He held back, he insisted, out of respect for his opponent, the 78-year-old Maulana Sheerani, (Sharia School Islamic "Economist"!) also the chairman of the advisory body, who grabbed his collar and ripped out the buttons.
The two came to blows after the council reopened debate for the legal status of the already persecuted Ahmadis—declared non-Muslims under a parliament amendment in 1974—on whether they should instead be categorised as murtads (those who renounce Islam and are punishable by death according to Sharia). It was a dangerous suggestion that could put the minority community more at risk of being hunted and killed.
First Paki Pindigenous TV Realty Show with no help from state or non-state actors
“There is a dictatorship within the body,” a frazzled Ashrafi told us over the phone on 13 May. “The environment is such that no scope for dissent is left.” The new chairman, he argued, had made the body unnecessarily notorious.
Islamic democracy in action
[quote
]Here was a constitutional body no lawmaker seemed to want to talk about, until the current chairman Sheerani took over in 2010. Under him, the council began making headlines, but for all the wrong reasons.[/quote]
The current chairman, at least is making "some effort" to earn his Federal Cabinet Level Salary of Rs. 70,000 every month ; can the same be said of Ashrafi, who is spending all his "hard earned money" on "Sharab" and other haram items
Consider this. In the last week of May, the council proposed a draft for a women’s protection bill. One clause stated that a Pakistani husband could “lightly” beat his wife if she defied his commands or refused to have intercourse with him. ( This "Islamic gem" made Pakistan "famous" for a few days in the international media )In April, the council argued that Pakistan should revoke the current economic system and paper currency and replace it with gold and silver coins. ( One of the brilliant ideas of The "Islamic Economist ") Earlier, in January, its members agreed that girls as young as nine-years-old were eligible to be married. Marvi Memon, a politician from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), who had called for a ban on child marriages, was bullied into withdrawing her bill, after the council dubbed it “unIslamic” and “blasphemous.” In fact, if previous declarations by the CII ever make it through the parliament, co-education would be banned in Pakistan, airhostesses would wear burqas and the government would sack civil servants who do not say their daily prayers. If the CII had its way, Pakistan would be a theological state like Saudi Arabia.
I am sure that the Paki Mullahs must have asked the Saudi Mullahs for their input, lest these measures be deemed UnIslamic by the Head Quarter Of Malsi based in SA
. No less a persona than Maulana Diesel ( a hard line Deobandi ) had threatened Ganja Sharif that he will bring down his Govt through street agitation if the Women Protection Bill is not withdrawn immediately; Ganja backed down and this Bill is now dead !.
For a country made in the name of religion, Pakistan’s path towards Islamic ideology was set after the implementation of Objectives Resolution in 1949, which proclaimed that the constitution of Pakistan would be modeled on the ideology of Islam. Four years later, the country saw its first religious-based violence when there were mass protests against the Ahmadis, a sect of Islam considered heretical to traditional Islamic belief. And ironically it was the Qadianis who were in the forefront for the Demand for Pakistan !
In the 1980s, Zia ul-Haq reorganised the council, increasing the ulemas, spiritual leaders, (but only of the Sunni sect !) and gave it a boost it never expected. Seemingly, the council has had an affinity to military dictators
The council had one task laid out in the 1962 constitution passed by Ayub Khan: to review all existing laws and submit a final report within seven years of its appointment. That never happened. The first report came after 18 years. The reason for this delay is not known. It is also unclear why the body still exists today, despite having achieved the one task it was meant to.
IMO, the mullahs are happy as long as long as they were kept on the
public dole ( minister level salary, free housing, govt car etc ), asked to pontificate on matters Islamic once in a while,take trips abroad on diplomatic passport (- like the "recent vacation" to London taken by Maulana Diesel to escape the Paki heat wave, meet Dus Percenti in his London hotel, convey some message from Ganja Sharif, and then return back to Pakiland with loads of haram gifts and presents for friends and family
)
The answer, or at least the reasoning for the existence, was to be found at a leafy road in Islamabad, in the administrative center of Pakistan. The sprawling structure of the council, situated on Ataturk Avenue, is shaped like a mosque with distinctive green domes. On its right are the parliament lodges, and on its left is the Central Bank of Pakistan. It houses over 100 employees, but even on a Tuesday morning, barely a dozen were in attendance. The council and its administrative affairs, such as members’ salaries and other expenses cost Pakistani taxpayers Rs 91 million last year. That amount has been increased to Rs 99 million, according to the federal budget released on Friday for the fiscal year 2016-17.
Look busy do nothing - Part I.
On 17 May, from his air-conditioned office in Islamabad, Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani, who is also a member of the National Assembly with the religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal), explained why an Islamic council is necessary for the country. Removing his slippers and then carefully wrapping a string of prayer beads around his hand, he began, “Let’s say that the government is a fruitful tree.” (which must be milked as much as possible for "Islamic purposes "
!
“If the parliament will keep making laws, the CII will keep debating them,” he added. (so the gravy train will never stop !)
Each member draws a salary of PKR 70,000 per month and enjoys additional perks, such as free lodging, medical expenses, petrol, and security, since their status is equivalent to that of a federal minister.
However, weighing heavy on the parliamentarians, the question remains: does the Pakistan of today need a Saudi Arabia-style body, whose past recommendations have been both comical and irrational and, as pointed out by Babar, dangerous?
Once these "bearded" are given these priveleges, it will be very hard for a future government to control them ; instead of "punishing" the poor Paki Awam by imposing increased consumption tax on essential items, why does not the IMF / World Bank impose some austerity measures on this Islamic Body; I am sure that they will be able to cut a lot of fat (pun unintended )
The parliamentarians finally broke their silence this year, in a first-of-its-kind debate, which bifurcated the upper house into two camps: the Islamist and the secularists. Babar was bold and unusually candid. The council, he said, is “dangerously conservative” and irrelevant, and should be disbanded. That did not go down well with the Islamic parties, whose members goaded Babar to prove his religiosity by reciting verses of the Quran. In a country where blasphemy accusations can lead to mob violence and murder,
this debate was taking a precarious turn. “Islam cannot be eliminated from the constitution,” thundered an emotional senator from the main Islamic political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal), as reported by the media, “For it, we can give our lives and take that of others.” The order of the house soon moved to other matters.[/quote]
Don't mess around with my livelihood; Islam is my "bread and buttter"
“I am pained that some of the council’s pronouncements have prompted the critics to describe it something of medieval nonsense at public expense,” said Babar. Its list of suggestions is “long and frustrating,” he added, including calling for “Allah-o-Akbar” to be inscribed on the national flag to inspire martyrdom and jihad. The senator would like to see the council be populated with scholars well versed in Islamic and modern jurisprudence. And it was, for brief periods, steered by just the kind of progressive clerics Babar is talking about.
Look busy do nothing - Part II.
The journalist Khaled Ahmed told us that there are several reasons why elected representatives do not want to be seen openly debating the CII. “One is that they do not want to implement the suggestions. Another is that majority parliamentarians are from non-clerical parties and want to hide their ‘modern’ approach from the nation. Yet another is embarrassment from opposing Islamic law because Islamic law is difficult to practice and there is the risk of getting killed by non-state actors.” In other words, it is much safer to ignore the CII than to oppose it.
Religious loyalties run deep in Pakistan. No one is safe from blasphemy accusations. In 2011, trumped up allegations led to the killing of the Punjab governor Salman Taseer. Interestingly, Sheerani doesn’t feel safe either. The topics he deals with, he stated, are sensitive, and a single misstep can put him in trouble with the hardliners. Although the chairman has refused security details, he carries a small gun at all times. “ ( So, some feel that he is not "green enough " ?)I have been told by intelligence agencies that I can be targeted,” he said nonchalantly. Then, pausing, he looked directly at the tape recorder placed near him, smirked, and continued, “But if I am in danger from anyone it is the government officials.”
and Pakistan wants peace in the region but our desire for peace must not be considered as weakness.
(NSG).
