Response to Akbar Hussain   (Post 23) 

Although mixed with sarcasm, you are raising a good question about the action plans. Here is a brief reply. By no means a complete answer, however, it should serve as a starting point.  

The popular rhetoric of terrorism and suicide bombing has been purposely designed to make it synonymous with Muslims and Islam. We need to be aware of all the historical factors when assessing the plight of the Muslims in terms of their socio-economic and socio-political difficulties. Out of the 1.2 billion Muslims, about 0.00001 percent may have been involved in anti-social or criminal activities, that does not mean that the whole population deserves to be addressed impertinently, unless we are Neocons or Zionists. It can be shown that a small percentage of people of other faiths may also qualify to be lumped in that category.  

The action plans for any project will only be as good as the planners themselves and the resource they have with which to implement the plans. The formulation of an action plan would require a realistic appraisal of the global Muslim population, their strengths and weaknesses, the list of hurdles that need to be overcome, the list of achievable milestones and targets. The most important resource, of course, are the people themselves. 

There is no denying that self assessment is essential for self improvement. As we assess the present social, economic and political condition of the Muslims, we see a number of problems which are intertwined such that one aggravates the other. Today, among the Muslims of the world, we generally note: 

Lack of honest and intelligent leadership,

Poor economical conditions,

Lack of general education,

Little or no industrial development,

Undesirable political culture,

Tribalism, feudalism, a general social backwardness,  and  

Faith based sectarianism – due mainly to abandoning of the Quranic teachings.   

Who or What has really brought these problems upon the Muslims?

There are many contributing factors. The single most important factor with a profound negative impact being the colonization of more or less all Muslim communities during the last 100 to 300 years. This factor alone has an overwhelmingly strong negative influence that has systematically created an environment conducive to deteriorate the conditions causing the problems listed above. It is a deep rut that appears to be insurmountable especially in the present uni-polar political world order.   

The history of other societies (Western Europeans, for example) which are now considered as the ‘developed’ nations offer good case studies for us to learn from. They have also gone through similar quandary which the Muslims are facing today. But there was one difference of immense magnitude which is often overlooked by most. When the Europeans were developing as a result of achieving their enlightenment (renaissance), three or four centuries ago; they only had to struggle against their internal social and political problems. They were, in most cases free of external threats and interference from other nations. In case there were any external threats, the difference in the military power was not so huge as we have today between the developed and the developing nations.  

Today, the developing nations that possess important natural resources or happen to be geographically located where the big powers may have strategic geo-political interests, they are vulnerable to the external threats and political interference. Socio-cultural problems are covertly created to keep the target countries chaotic that keeps them from concentrating on real development to get ahead in the world.  

The Muslim countries of the Central Asia, Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria are the prime examples where the chaos is created for some one’s benefit. The external forces install their puppets to plunder the raw materials or benefit from cheap services. These actions of the big powers are not limited to the Muslim countries, Christian Latin America and Africa has also suffered from it. The developing countries cannot achieve a significant amount of progress to put them on the way to recovery and positive development unless the external political influences are removed or considerably reduced.  

There is a planned propaganda machinery in action to conceal and deny the hidden impact of the foreign policies of the powerful nations designed to promote their hidden agendas only to sustain their supremacy. Writers and columnists are funded all over the world to produce articles and books to spread disinformation to keep the people confused. Poverty comes handy to hire agents who covertly perform acts of terrorism in the regions of interest to destabilize the target societies. The covert actions keep them from focusing on the real issues necessary for societal development. Instead, they remain preoccupied with in-fighting due to internal debacle. Some times, the religious leaders and terrorist groups are funded to create mass scale confusion and disruption of normal life.  

Here is a short excerpt from Linda McQuaig’s article, ‘Made in America Energy Policy’ that appeared in the Toronto Star the other day:

[“When Americans want something that lies in another country, the consequences for that other country can be severe. Even if they don't actually invade, they put a lot of pressure on lesser countries to behave as they want.”]

Does any one really believe that America and NATO are breaking their backs in Afghanistan to educate Afghani women or to catch Ossama Bin Laden? Is the US busy in Iraq exporting democracy? They have geo-political interests in the region. The big question here is what kind of plan one can come up with to save Afghanistan from NATO, Iraq from the US, Pakistan from the terrorism inherent to the American war on terror? What about other well to do and apparently stable oil producing Muslim states in the Middle East? Do you think an ordinary citizen has means to make waves in the interest to introduce democracy in those lands? The sticky fingers of the foreign powers are entrenched deep in all of those oil producing states. In Pakistan, a foreign power decides who will be the prime minister and for how long.

The Muslim countries need to be united first and foremost, which is a challenge in itself. They need to work on joint ventures to establish centers of excellence for research and development in various technological disciplines. They need to make up for the lost centuries due to colonialism in order to catch up with the developed nations.  

The generation of electricity and the availability of water are soon going to be critical problems around the world. The moment a Muslim society looks at developing their country, Uncle Sam sticks its nose in it especially if it has any thing to do with the nuclear technology. What plans can Muslims have if they are not allowed any degree of freedom to control their own fate?  If the Muslim countries refuse to play others’ game then they are slapped with various economical sanctions. Iran is clearly an example of that. For any plan to create international peace and prosperity, the notion of Might is Right needs to be diminished which can only be achieved with several superpowers around the globe so that they can keep each other in check.  

Javed I. Chaudry