An Enforced Umrah

Asma Dua, the second daughter of Maulana Abdul Aziz, chief cleric of Lal Masjid, Islamabad, was in the middle of her third year of Bachelor's of Islamic Studies at Jamiya Hafsa. Her father got released from political imprisonment on April 17th, 2009, just before the beginning of her second trimester exams. Of course, she met the news of her father's release with great jubilation.

It came as a surprise to some that the family decided to go for an Umrah by making her skip her exams. After all, jubilation and thanksgiving does not call for an individual to neglect his or her mainstream commitments.

The surprise changed to indignation for many when the Swat military operation started and yet the family did not decide to come back despite the crisis at home. It seemed like a rerun of the Lal Masjid operation whence all the political leaders had gone out for APDM conference in London while the capital was set on fire. Only, this time, the Lal Masjid folks themselves were playing the questionable role.

However, the Lal Masjid folks had an interesting story to tell. According to them, Maulana Abdul Aziz did not wish to go for an Umrah at this time of the year because of his daughter's academic commitments which would have completed close to Ramadan. However, he was pressurized to take the opportunity of Umrah that the government was offering him. He and his family felt a bit skeptical about the insistence but nevertheless took up the offer. The Swat operation started just a few days after their departure. When they sought to come back, the government insisted that they must complete their tenure and not waste the money spent. The initial date of their arrival to Pakistan was May 17th, 2009. It has now been extended to May 24th, 2009. Let us see when they actually make it back to Pakistan.

Is the presence of clerics and politicians within the country a threat while a national issue is going on? How about taking them on board? If the nation, the religious leaders and politicians are all in unison, why to work so hard to keep a few away? Is not enforcing away a few key figures against freedom of speech and thoughts which is the proud claim of the times?