In The Name Of All That Is Holy.

The issue of religion in politics is indeed a wicked paradox, as Mack explains in his article. The concept of using religious zeal to create support for oneself (or ones cause) is not new, It has proved effective enough to win a presidency In the U.S for George W. Bush (that is If you believe in the fairness of the Florida supreme courts decision); it has proved a very effective method of generating support for wars and atrocities as was seen during the course of the Iranian revolution and the Soviet Afghan war, It has also been fundamental in the building of entire Nations as was seen in the formation of Israel and Pakistan.

Using Religion in politics is as old as politics itself, mind you even in secular states where there is a clear division between the church and the state, religion is still used as an effective force in politics and doing so is not seen as crossing the secular line. While it may garner support for politicians and clerics turned politicians, religious politics is indeed a double edged sword that sooner or later ends up cutting those who wield it.

An interesting case to illustrate this point would be the religious parties that now control the provincial government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan and form a coalition opposition against the federal government. The MMA or Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal came to power in the vacuum that was created when General Pervez Musharraf seized control of the country and exiled the leaders of the two main secular political parties in the country. Anti-American sentiment in the NWFP which borders Afghanistan and had borne the brunt of the American sponsored Soviet-Afghan war was also a major factor in getting the MMA elected to power. The MMA’s agenda was purely religious; their track record had shown no real interest in developing the infrastructure of the country or expanding in other key areas such as health care or education. They preached a return to religion and an imposition of Sharia law.

The arguments made by the MMA leadership in their campaign were based primarily on religious teachings, which is all of what most of the MMA’s mostly illiterate leadership knew. After several years of living under MMA rule, the people of the NWFP have seen the results of their decision in voting on religious grounds alone. Cinemas have been closed; billboards containing images of women banned, public entertainment such as concerts condemned, peoples houses raided and their televisons stolen and burnt in public places, the education and health sectors in the province are grossly under-funded, women’s rights and freedom of movement without “the veil” have been decimated, the province has seen a huge spike in illegal activity such as drug/arms smuggling, terrorism and militarism is at an all time high and the province has seen a return to a more hard-line and fundamentalist form of Islam to name a few of the fun facts of having religious scholars as your rulers.

Furthermore, the Pakistani Federal Government’s Pro-American stance and obligation in the war on terror have created further problems for the religiously motivated party that rules the NWFP. As Khalid Bhatti Writes

But other political forces have also been exposed by this operation. The role of Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal, (MMA - an alliance of Islamic fundamentalist parties that did well in the last elections, winning an outright majority in the North West Frontier Provincial government) has been exposed in this crisis. Despite being the governing party in NWFP, they have sat back as the Pakistani military have bombarded people in the tribal areas of South Waziristan which is part of the province they are supposed to govern! The conclusion drawn by the poor peasants and tribes’ people is that the MMA is more interested in saving its position as governing party than defending their rights.

The double edged nature of religiously motivated politics is all too apparent in this case. It also shows that while the MMA preaches religious zealotry, it is a party made up of people who are politician’s first and religious zealots second, And while having religious opinions is all well and good, they do not mix well with the dirty game of politics. The mixture of religion and politics, as the inhabitants of that unfortunate province are experiencing, can be most unpleasant.