A tragedy unveiled

Jihad on two fronts

Dilip Hiro
Harper Collins
Edition: Hardcover
ISBN: 9789350291696
Pages: 448
Price: 699

You could say I am on the verge of an OD on tomes, books, articles, position papers et al on al-Qaeda, Taliban, Jihad and sundry other associated substances of abuse. I must confess my threshold levels are far lower than that of scholars and specialists! And yet, I actually wanted to read the book because the title itself promised something refreshingly different and of more interest to an Indian. It is called Jihad On Two Fronts: South Asia’s Unfolding Drama. Since 9/11, there have been numerous books on the threat posed by the rise of Islamic extremism. Many of these books have been truly incisive, analytical and sometimes even dangerously prophetic.

There is hardly any aspect of the unending tragedy of Afghanistan and the unfolding tragedy of Pakistan that has not been analysed thoroughly.

And yet, virtually none of these scholarly, brilliant and poignant books has bothered to pay any attention to India. Now, even the bigoted won’t deny that India has been the biggest victim of terrorism for the last two decades, unless you take a different perspective and add Pakistan to the list of victims. But to my mind, this is perhaps one rare book that actually includes India prominently. It discusses contemporary Jihad and its malignant consequences. The two fronts refer to the western and eastern frontiers respectively of Pakistan. For a change, the book categorically states in its typically understated way that the real epicentre and fountainhead of terrorism is Pakistan and not Afghanistan.

There is much more that is refreshingly different in the approach of the book. The very first chapter is one that traces the evolution and ethos of Sufi Islam in South Asia. For scholars, it might appear to be a quickie historical guide; but for readers like you and me, it is a revealing experience to be reminded of the liberal roots of Islam in South Asia. Of course, the author Dilip Hiro does point out how the more puritanical and possibly intolerant interpretations of Islam have been gradually elbowing out the Sufi strand. He lists the various murderous attacks on Sufi shrines in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of devotees. Quite coincidentally, it is just a week or so ago that a congregation of Sufi practitioners in North India publicly denounced the Wahabi strand and announced that the latter had no role to play in Islam in South Asia.

This gathering has drawn a lot of controversy, with the Deobandi school of Islam coming down like a ton of bricks on the public pronouncements of the Sufis. This war of words in India, and the war of bombs and suicide bombers in Pakistan reveals another thing: there is actually a historic battle going on between the more liberal strand of Islam and the more puritanical. At the moment, the puritanical version – with generous funding through petro-dollars – seems to be winning the battle. But it would be naive and premature to declare that the Wahabis have won.

The fact is: the battle between liberal and fundamentalist or puritanical forces in religion is not something that is confined only to Islam. In India, we have seen repeated instances of obscurantist Hindutva ideologies confronting the more inclusive strand of Hinduism. Sometimes, it even becomes a hilarious pink chaddi campaign that ridicules saffron fundamentalists trying to impose their version of Sharia on Hindu women.

In fact, there is a bitter struggle even between hardline Christians – funded generously by money from places like Texas – and the more inclusive and liberal face of Jesus in India. You could say that this is at par for the course. But the fact is: it is the battle between Sufi and Wahabi Islam that is – and will remain – more important for the future of South Asia.

Hiro does not mince any words while analysing the destructive role played by the former Pakistani dictator Zia-ul Haq and successive American administrations in encouraging Jihad in South Asia. One priceless nugget revealed in the book: the Americans had started arming and funding the so-called Mujahideen fighters a “full” six months before Soviet troops entered Afghanistan in big numbers. The book also does not spare Indian troops for their human rights violations in Kashmir; and it rightly points out that the future course of this Jihad will be decided inside Pakistan, no matter what other powers want to do.

Perhaps the only glaring weakness that I could find was the virtual absence of China from the entire book – barring a few lines on how it helped Pakistan acquire nuclear weapons. It is impossible to imagine that Pakistan would have hurtled towards self-destructive Jihad if its ruling elite was not assured of both covert and overt strategic support from the all-weather friend China. And one wonders why Hiro has chosen to ignore the role played by China in this unfolding South Asian tragedy. But then, it is a book after all; and not the Book.