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Pakistan: Revisiting the Munir Committee Report

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ANI New Delhi
Last Updated : Jan 02 2015 | 12:05 PM IST

In the context of growing terrorism, sectarianism and radicalization in Pakistan, it is worth recalling some aspects of the Munir Committee Report that had, over 60 years ago, pointed out the dangers in the path that Pakistan was treading.

Unfortunately, those warnings were ignored and what we have is the Pakistan of today, violently rent asunder by differing versions of Islam.

In 1954, a committee was set up under Justice M. Munir with Justice M.R. Kayani as member to enquire into the Punjab disturbances of 1953.

These disturbances had been caused by the agitation to declare the Ahmadiyas as non-Muslims. It is one of the very rare enquiry reports in Pakistan that has seen the light of day.

While the committee went into a host of issues, I will focus on only two, the Objectives Resolution and the Definition of a Muslim.

The committee questioned a large number of Ulema representing different points of view. Almost all Ulema stated that the demand to declare Ahmadiyas as non-Muslims was a corollary to the Objectives Resolution passed by the Constituent Assembly on March 12, 1949.

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The judges noted that it was vehemently urged that "Pakistan was claimed and was brought into existence so that the future political set-up of the new State may be based on the Qur'an and the sunna and that the actual realization of the demand and the express recognition by the Objectives Resolution, had created in the mind of the ulema and the citizens of Pakistan the belief that any demand which could be established on religious grounds would not only be conceded but warmly welcomed by the people at the helm of affairs of the State who had during the last several years been crying themselves hoarse over their intention to establish in Pakistan an Islamic State with a set-up of political, social and ethical institutions of the Islamic pattern."

Further, the Quaid-i-Azam's conception of a modern national state as articulated in his August 11, 1947 speech, "it is alleged, became obsolete with the passing of the Objectives Resolution on 12th March 1949."

The judges then went to the core of the issue and asked leading ulema, "to give their definition of a Muslim, the point being that if the ulama of the various sects believed the Ahmadis to be Kafirs, they must have been quite clear in their minds not only about the grounds of such belief but also about the definition of a Muslim."

After hearing all ulema, Justices Munir and Kayani noted, "But we cannot refrain from saying here that it was a matter of infinite regret to us that the ulama whose first duty should be to have settled views on this subject, were hopelessly disagreed among themselves."

"Keeping in view the several definitions given by the ulama, need we make any comment except that no two learned divines are agreed on this fundamental (definition of a Muslim)? If we attempt our own definition as each learned divine has done and that definition differs from that given by all others, we unanimously go out of the fold of Islam. And if we adopt the definition given by any one of the ulama, we remain Muslims according to the view of that alim but kafirs according to the definition of every one else."

The net result of all this is that "neither Shias nor Sunnis nor Deobandis nor Ahl-i-Hadith nor Barelvis are Muslims and any change from one view to the other must be accompanied in an Islamic State with the penalty of death if the Government of the State is in the hands of the party which considers the other party to be kafirs. And it does not require much imagination to judge of the consequences of this doctrine when it is remembered that no two ulama have agreed before us as to the definition of a Muslim."

The relevance of the report today is two-fold.

One, it underlined clearly that the fanning of religious sentiments in the period leading up to Partition had the logical consequences of instilling the belief that Pakistan had been created for the purpose of setting up an Islamic state with its attendant consequences. Such a belief was further strengthened by the Objectives Resolution that dispelled any notions of a modern, democratic state as articulated by Jinnah in his August 11, 1947 address.

Second, 60 years ago, the remarkable report had pointed out that no two sects of Islam agreed even on the basic definition of who is a Muslim and according to each definition, all the other sects were Kafir. Not surprisingly, today, the cancer of sectarianism is eating Pakistan's innards. Sunni extremist now want to have the Shias declared as Kafir, while some Sunni sects want other Sunni sects declared likewise.

Into this cauldron, first Z.A. Bhutto and later Zia added their doses of Islamisation, the former out of opportunism, the latter out of conviction. Successive governments added more incendiary ingredients like the so-called Kashmir Jihad and the Afghan Jihad.

The net result is that Pakistan is plagued by ghastly incidents like the Peshawar School massacre.

Those at the helm in Pakistan would do well to revisit the Munir Enquiry report and see where they went wrong and why.

The views expressed in the above article are that of Mr. Salim Haq, an independent international affairs and security observer. He tweets @haqsalim6.

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First Published: Jan 02 2015 | 11:53 AM IST

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