South Asia Citizens Web

A discussion on the origins and political implications of Boko Haram movement in Nigeria

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) calls upon the government, civil society and media organisations to take all necessary steps to deescalate the situation, and put an end to this malicious campaign and intimidation of journalists so as to protect media freedom from taking any further blows.

We must look ahead. If we who make up seven tenths of India are to stand up to the Hindu Right in five years’ time, we need to find ways to ensure that we do not remain so divided that less than a third of the voters in the country can make us irrelevant. I am aware that five years from now the country itself may have been damaged beyond repair.

All successful experiments in Fascism have relied on popular mobilisations behind a charismatic leader. It seems for the first time the Hindutva fascism in our country has found some one with that potential in Modi. The privilegenstia of the country has made up its mind. Modi’s political opponents are addressing the remaining Indians, telling them of his role in the 2002 pogrom. It is a sign of weakness of the anti-fascist forces in the country that they have continued to harp on his anti-minority record only, and have failed to develop a generalised critique of the man and his politics. In reality there are enough reasons, even without the 2002 pogrom, for ordinary Indians to be worried over the rise of Modi.

A creed such as Wahhabism is useful to many movements because its exclusivity justifies any brutal action against an opponent. In Chechnya, semi-criminalised bands of fighters against the Russians, known as Wahhabis, used their fundamentalist religious beliefs to excuse banditry and kidnapping. The ever-increasing impact of Wahhabism over Sunni Islam is a disaster, the effects of which are felt from the villages of northern Nigeria to the courts of Khartoum and the Sultanate of Brunei. It has everywhere produced persecution of minorities, subjugation of women and the crushing of dissent. In a prophetic description of this trend, an Afghan editor denounced jihadi leaders in Kabulin 2003 as "holy fascists", misusing Islam as "an instrument to take over power".