BANNING PROTESTS IN PAKISTAN

Earlier today Pakistan announced a complete ban on rallies and protests in Islamabad, Pakistan. No! they are not banning public speech, but all the chaos and commotion caused in the capital by protestors and the way that it is caused is simply seen as unacceptable. Interior Minister, Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan announced that this prohibition is strictly for the capital, not for other parts in the country. The reason being, because the protesters blocked roads, disrespected police authority, disrupted government offices and parliament. The protestors only dispersed after the government warned it would resort to forceful removal.

Now, why were they protesting? Well remember my last blog mentioned Shahbaz Ali Taseer in my blog titled, “PAKISTANI POLITICIANS SON: ABDUCTED BUT STILL ALIVE”. Well, this havoc began after he had been found about a couple week back. Fundamental Islamists descended on the capital – Islamabad – to protest against the execution the body guard that assassinated Shahbaz Ali Taseer’s father. Salman Taseer, his father, happened to be a secular governor, at the time of the assassination, who was working to make blasphemy laws harsher in Pakistan.   

With extremists on one end and public safety on another it is interesting to see where and how the Pakistani parliament would sway. The reason extreme Islamists are protesting so hard is because of the concept of “Jihad” in the Quran. “Jihad” - is an Islamic term referring to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain the religion. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning the act of "striving, applying oneself, struggling, persevering". In this day in age isn’t Jihad more about the internal struggle to preserve the lord – Allah – instead of the external?