Jamaat-e-Islami, prejudices and ideological conflicts

Jamaat-e-Islami is the most organized party in Pakistan and has a significant degree of democracy within it

Jamaat-e-Islami is the most organized party in Pakistan and has a significant degree of democracy within it

News Time

Leading journalist and columnist Mazhar Abbas has made Jamaat-e-Islami and its politics a topic of discussion in a recent column. Mazhar Abbas has written that Jamaat-e-Islami is the most organized party in Pakistan and it has a significant amount of democracy within it but still there is a gap in its politics. As a result of this vacuum, the Jamaat-e-Islami does not win elections. Mazhar Abbas had written that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam gets more electoral victory than Jamaat. According to Mazhar Abbas, the reason is JUI madrassas. Pakistani society is a society steeped in prejudices. In this society, when it comes to praising the opponent, people also hit the stick in it. This is what Mazhar Abbas has done while praising Jamaat-e-Islami. The concrete proof of this is that, according to him, the Jamaat-e-Islami is largely democratic. Now, if Jamaat-e-Islami is to a certain extent democratic, then all other parties in Pakistan are certainly enemies of democracy. Jamaat-e-Islami is the only party in Pakistan that has a system of internal elections at all levels. Not only its central amir but also its district amir is elected. And the choice is free. There is no factionalism or election campaign in this regard. In this regard, neither industry nor trade works, nor money plays any role. Jamaat-e-Islami has been holding regular elections since its inception, but Mazhar Abbas is still saying that Jamaat-e-Islami has a significant degree of democracy.

It doesn’t matter if Mazhar Abbas has sought democracy to a certain extent within the Jamaat-e-Islami, but let him also say how many times in his journalistic life he has called the PPP and Nawaz League undemocratic or anti-democracy. The PPP has been in the hands of the Bhutto family since its inception and the PPP will never be able to get rid of the Bhutto family. The PML-N has been a captive of the Sharif family since day one and there can never be any change in the position of the PML-N. But the vast majority of our columnists never lament the undemocratic nature of the PPP and the PML-N. We do not remember that Mazhar Abbas ever insulted the PPP and the PML-N for being enemies of democracy. They even mention it superficially. Their main focus is on the popularity of these parties. But if being a popular people is all that matters, then Hitler was also a very popular people. Donald Trump also got 70 million votes in the election. And Modi’s fascism is also on the rise. Mazhar Abbas has found this gap in the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami that the helpless Jamaat-e-Islami cannot win the elections. But Mazhar Abbas did not give a reason. One of the bitter realities of our national political life is that our politics is steeped in prejudice. Punjabi, votes for Punjabi, Mohajir, votes for Mohajir, Sindhi, gives electoral victory to Sindhi and the Baloch advance the Baloch through the vote. In the religious realm, it is no secret that Deobandi votes for Deobandi and Barelvi uses the right to vote for Barelvi.

The problem with Jamaat-e-Islami is that it is neither a party of Punjabis, nor a party of Muhajirs, nor a party of Sindhis, nor a party of Pashtuns and Balochs. Thus, Jamaat-e-Islami has neither the stamp of Deobandit nor the banner of Barelwit. The question is, if the Jamaat-e-Islami gets votes then how and if the Jamaat-e-Islami is successful in the elections? Electables are also a source of electoral success in Pakistan. Among them are landlords, chiefs, big capitalists. Coincidentally, Jamaat-e-Islami does not even have the notorious Electables. The question then is how to close the political vacuum of Jamaat-e-Islami and rain down votes on it. Electoral success in Pakistan depends on the people and the parties that have the support of the Establishment. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Jamaat-e-Islami Establishment has never been a party. History has shown that Jamaat-e-Islami fought for the survival of Pakistan alongside the Establishment in East Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami has given Dad Shujaat alongside the Establishment in Afghanistan. Jamaat-e-Islami took part in the Kashmir jihad with the Establishment and offered hundreds of sacrifices. But despite this, Jamaat-e-Islami has never been able to become an Establishment party in terms of electoral success. Because a character like Jamaat-e-Islami does not suit the establishment. If it suits the establishment then the corrupt Sharif family, if it suits the establishment then the corrupt Asif Ali Zardari or his son Bilawal Zardari. Corrupt N-League suits the establishment. Corrupt PPP if it suits the establishment. A clean and tidy party like Jamaat-e-Islami does not suit the establishment. The Establishment wails against corrupt politicians and parties, but these are the parties they like, because these parties can be ousted from power at any time. If Jamaat-e-Islami comes to power, on what charges will it be removed from power? Can Jamaat-e-Islami be accused of being corrupt? Can it be said about Jamaat-e-Islami that it is Modi’s friend or it is in America’s good box? In this context, the question is how to fill the gap in the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami and if Jamaat-e-Islami is successful at the electoral level?

The real identity of Jamaat-e-Islami and its greatest strength is its ideology. Jamaat-e-Islami is not just a religious party but an ideological party in its own right. Our religious parties can never rise above their country and sect, but Jamaat-e-Islami is a national party on one level, a national party on another level and a symbol of the ummah on the third level. In his conception of Islam, Islam is a complete code of conduct. Jamaat-e-Islami is a party that promotes truth on the one hand and challenges local and international falsehood on the other. That is why Jamaat-e-Islami is the only party in the country that has created ideological conflict in the society. Jamiat-e-Islami students embraced the same ideological struggle within the student circle. On the one hand, he associated the students with the truth and on the other hand, he challenged the socialist, secular and liberal elements working in the students. This role of Jamiat-e-Islami students brought Jamiat into the mainstream of student politics and there came a time when the electoral power or electoral capacity of the Jamiat increased so much that its ideological rivals could only compete with the Jamiat by uniting. If Jamiat had not created ideological conflict among the students, it would never have become a major ideological and electoral force. The ideological struggle waged by the Jamaat-e-Islami even among the workers showed its work and the labor engines affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami inflicted the worst electoral defeat on the Socialists in the country’s major institutions. In the realm of national politics itself, the ideological credibility of Jamaat-e-Islami has made it a major political party. Most people say that in the 1970 elections, Jamaat-e-Islami won 4 seats from all over the country, but they do not say that in these elections, Jamaat-e-Islami got more than 2.4 million votes. These were not votes for linguistic and provincial bias. These were not sectarian and sectarian votes. These were first and foremost votes of the Jamaat-e-Islami ideology. These were the votes for the ideological identity of Jamaat-e-Islami and the number of votes indicating that the party could get 2.4 million votes with its ideological strength. She could have won an extraordinary election by garnering 4.8 million votes from her ideological struggle. But unfortunately, after the martial law of General Zia-ul-Haq, the ideological politics in the country came to an end and politics became personal, family and group. The collapse of the Soviet Union and communism wiped out the ideological conflict from the national scene. How can Jamaat-e-Islami become a major force in this scenario? Therefore, the solution to the problem is for Jamaat-e-Islami to once again create an ideological conflict in the society. Conditions are perfectly conducive to this conflict.

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