A Plea for Enlightened Moderation
Pervez Musharraf,President of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, 3 June 2004 — The world has been going through a
tumultuous period since the dawn of the 1990s, with no sign
of relief in sight. The suffering of the innocents,
particularly my brethren in faith — the Muslims — at the
hands of militants, extremists and terrorists has made it
all the more urgent to bring order to this troubled scene.
In this spirit, I would like to set forth a strategy I call
Enlightened Moderation.

The world has become an extremely dangerous place. The
devastating power of plastic explosives, combined with
high-tech remote-controlled devices, as well as a
proliferation of suicide bombers, has created a lethal
force that is all but impossible to counter. The
unfortunate reality is that both the perpetrators of these
crimes and most of the people who suffer from them are
Muslims. This has caused many non-Muslims to believe
wrongly that Islam is a religion of intolerance, militancy
and terrorism. It has led increasing numbers of people to
link Islam to fundamentalism; fundamentalism to extremism,
and extremism to terrorism. Muslims can protest however
vigorously they like against this kind of labeling, but the
reality is that such arguments are not likely to prevail in
the battle for minds. To make things even more difficult,
Muslims are probably the poorest, most uneducated, most
powerless and most disunited people in the world.

The stark challenge that faces anyone with compassion for
the common heritage of mankind is determining what legacy
we will leave for future generations. The special challenge
that confronts Muslims is to drag ourselves out of the pit
we find ourselves in, to raise ourselves up by individual
achievement and collective socioeconomic emancipation.
Something has to be done quickly to stop the carnage in the
world and to stem the downward slide of Muslims.

My idea for untangling this knot is Enlightened Moderation,
which I think is a win for all — for both the Muslim and
non-Muslim worlds. It is a two-pronged strategy. The first
part is for the Muslim world to shun militancy and
extremism and adopt the path of socioeconomic uplift. The
second is for the West, and the United States in
particular, to seek to resolve all political disputes with
justice and to aid in the socioeconomic betterment of the
deprived Muslim world.

We need to understand that the root cause of extremism and
militancy lies in political injustice, denial and
deprivation. Political injustice to a nation or a people,
when combined with stark poverty and illiteracy, makes for
an explosive mix. It produces an acute sense of
hopelessness and powerlessness. A nation suffering from
these lethal ills is easily available for the propagation
of militancy and the perpetration of extremist, terrorist
acts. It is cannon fodder in a war of terrorism.

I would be remiss if, in defense of the people of my faith,
I did not trace the genesis of the Muslims’ being labeled
as extremists or terrorists. Before the anti-Soviet Afghan
war, the sole cause of unrest and concern in the Muslim
world was the Palestine dispute. It was this issue that led
to a unity of Muslims — in favor of Palestinians and
against Israel. The Afghan war of the 1980s, supported and
facilitated by the West as a proxy war against the Soviet
Union, saw the emergence and nurturing of pan-Islamic
militancy. Islam as a religion was used to harness
worldwide Muslim support. Subsequently the atrocities and
ethnic cleansing against Muslims in Bosnia, the Chechen
uprising, the Kashmir freedom struggle and the invigorated
Palestinian intifada all erupted in the 90s after the
Soviet disintegration. To make matters worse, the militancy
that was sparked in Afghanistan — which should have been
defused after the Cold War — was instead allowed to fester
for a decade.

During this time, hostility among fighters from the Muslim
world turned multidirectional, seeking new conflict zones
in places where Muslims were suffering. Enter the Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian intifada kept gathering
momentum, uniting and angering Muslims across the globe.
And then came the bombshell of Sept. 11, 2001, and the
angry reaction of the United States against the Taleban and
Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. All subsequent reactions of the
United States — its domestic responses against Muslims, its
attitude toward Palestine and the operation in Iraq — led
to total polarization of the Muslim masses against the
United States. It is not Islam as a religion that has
created militancy and extremism but rather political
disputes that have led to antagonism among the Muslim
masses.

This is all history now. What has been done cannot be
undone. But this situation cannot be allowed to fester; a
remedy must be found. I call on the West to help resolve
these political disputes with justice, as part of a
commitment to a strategy of Enlightened Moderation. When I
think of the role of Muslims in today’s world, my heart
weeps. What we need is introspection. Who are we, what do
we as Muslims stand for, where are we going, where should
we be headed and how can we reach it? The answers to these
questions are the Muslim part of Enlightened Moderation.

We have a glorious past. Islam exploded on the world scene
as the flag bearer of a just, lawful, tolerant and
value-oriented society. We had faith in human exaltation
through knowledge and enlightenment. We exemplified
tolerance within ourselves and toward people of other
faiths. The armies of Islam did not march forward to
convert people by the sword, despite what the perceptions
may be, but to deliver them from the darkness through the
visible example of their virtues. What better projection
can be found of these deeper values of Islam than the
personal example of our Holy Prophet (peace be upon him),
who personified justice, compassion, tolerance of others,
generosity of spirit, austerity with a spirit of sacrifice,
and a burning desire to make a better world. Today’s Muslim
world is distant from all these values. We have been left
far behind in social, moral and economic development. We
have remained in our own shell and refused to learn or
acquire from others. We have reached the depths of despair
and despondency. We need to face stark reality. Is the way
ahead one of confrontation and militancy? Could this path
really lead us back to our past glory while also showing
the light of progress and development to the world?

I say to my brother Muslims: The time for renaissance has
come. The way forward is through enlightenment. We must
concentrate on human resource development through the
alleviation of poverty and through education, health care
and social justice. If this is our direction, it cannot be
achieved through confrontation. We must adopt a path of
moderation and a conciliatory approach to fight the common
belief that Islam is a religion of militancy in conflict
with modernization, democracy and secularism. All this must
be done with a realization that, in the world we live in,
fairness does not always rule.

The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is our
collective body. We need to infuse new life into it; it is
now in a state of near impotence. The OIC must be
restructured to meet the challenges of the 21st century, to
fulfill the aspirations of the Muslim world and to take us
toward emancipation. Forming a committee of luminaries to
recommend a restructuring of the OIC is a big step in the
right direction. We have to show resolve and rise above
self-interest for our common good — in the very spirit that
Islam teaches us. The world at large and the powers that be
must realize that confrontation and force will never bring
peace. Justice must be done and be seen to be done. Let it
not be said by future generations that we, the leaders of
today, took humanity toward the apocalypse. (The Washington
Post)









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