I saw on the internet that a demonstration was held against Shias in Karachi recently. Ahmadiyyas are regularly attacked in Pakistan (see Ahmadiyyas face a holocaust in Pakistan). Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are often targeted (by invoking blasphemy laws, etc.).
Pakistan needs a Mustafa Kemal to eradicate all this ‘madness’.
Turkey was called ’The Sick Man of Europe’ and was often kicked around by European powers like the UK and France. Mustafa Kemal realised all the problems in Turkey were because of its backwardness. So he determined to modernise Turkey. In 1935, Mustafa Kemal was bestowed with the honorific ‘Ataturk’, which means 'father of the Turks'.
Mustafa Kemal was an army general, which means he had the gun. He staged a coup and overthrew the corrupt Sultan and Khalifa. Then at the point of the gun, he modernised Turkey by abolishing sharia, burqa, madrassas and other practices and suppressed the maulanas.
This could not have been done democratically, by elections. Most people in the Indian subcontinent have reactionary, feudal mindsets, full of casteism and communalism. I regard 90 per cent Indians as fools, and 95 per cent Pakistanis as fools (they get 5 per cent extra marks for having Pakistan as a theocratic state!). So people will not modernise voluntarily, and they have to be forced.
Hence, Pakistan requires an army general like Mustafa Kemal who will modernise Pakistan at the point of the gun by abolishing sharia, burqa and madrassas and suppressing the maulanas.
It may be mentioned that dictators are of two kinds: Modern minded and reactionary. Mustafa Kemal was modern minded, while Zia ul Haq was reactionary. So it is not any kind of general who is required in Pakistan but one like Mustafa Kemal, and he must modernise Pakistan by first declaring Pakistan a secular state and second by abolishing sharia, burqa and madrassas. A heavy fine should be imposed on women wearing the burqa, and they must not be given any choice in the matter. Too much freedom is also bad. Feudal practices must be suppressed by force. Thirdly, it is necessary to suppress maulanas, who are reactionaries keeping Muslims backward (there were no maulanas at the time of the great prophet).
Justice Markandey Katju retired from the Supreme Court in 2011
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK