With its energy considerably sapped from its seemingly endless confrontations with its military and the judiciary, the Government of Pakistan appears neither capable nor willing to counter the rise of extremist forces parading in the garb of a political alternative. The Government, for instance, has been able to do precious little to counter the rising influence of Difa-e-Pakistan Council, which is essentially an alliance of various militant groups. The Council includes top-level jihadi leaders such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa’h chief Hafiz Saeed and the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat’s Maulana Ahmad Ludhianvi. Even though some of these groups are banned in Pakistan while others are internationally, such proscriptions have had little effect. Neither has the Government been able to stop known terrorists from addressing huge rallies and spewing venom against countries such as India and the US nor has it prevented them from building this political coalition. With the Government willingly looking the other way, the Islamists have been flourishing in the shadow of legally created fronts. The Jamaat ud Dawa’h, which is banned by the UN but is legal in Pakistan, is a reincarnation of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, while the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat is an alias for well-known militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba. The DPC was formed last year after a Nato air-strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the AfPak border. That, and other incidents such as Islamabad’s tepid response to US drone attacks that caused civilian casualties and the political class entertaining the possibility of reopening Nato’s supply lines that had been shut after the aforementioned attack, have led to widespread popular disenchantment with the Yousuf Raza Gilani Government. This is exactly what the DPC wishes to leverage in its favour. And, given the resounding support they have received at its huge public rallies across major Pakistani cities from Multan to Peshawar to Islamabad, it seems like the Islamists have indeed struck gold.
This is serious for India. The Islamists wield tremendous power within the Pakistani establishment and India can do without their being at the helm of affairs. Unfortunately, given the alarming rate at which the Gilani Government is losing popular support, the political resurrection of the Islamists seems like really possible. Given the popular disillusionment with non-Islamist, mainstream political parties, the situation might play out differently this time. Add to this the widening distance between the Government and the Army, not to mention the ISI whose close links to known jihadis are no secret, and the stage is set for the resurgence of hardline elements in Pakistan. While it is still too early to say if the DPC’s popular support will translate into votes, the prospect itself is alarming enough.
