Raja at Gharib Nawaz’ shrine

To learn and practice the ideas of the saint Mr. Raja had no need to visit his shrine. Rather he can sincerely try to follow the saints teachings in letter and spirit

A few days ago, Pakistani Prime Minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf made a lightening fast visit to India with his family. According to media reports politics were kept off the agenda on this visit.  While in India P.M. Raja and his family visited  the shrine of the revered Sufi saint Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti, famously remembered as Gharib Nawaz. The aim was perhaps to seek favours of a saint (in a run up to the upcoming elections circus.) This shrine is often visited by famous political figures of the sub-continent as well as by the so called khans of Bollywood before the premier of a new film.

Before returning to Islamabad the P.M. recorded in the visitor's book that he wished for peace in the world and peace and prosperity in Pakistan. The  irony is that just a day earlier on Friday, March 08, 2013, a mob in Lahore ran amok in a looting spree after torching over 175 Christian homes in a Badami Bagh area over an alleged blasphemy issue.

PM Raja (King) travelled to the shrine in Ajmer  on a Pak Air Force Aircraft with his family and a 48 member delegation to impress the saint called ‘Gharib Nawaz’ (benefactor of the poor). It is worth mentioning that  Mughal Emperor Akbar, during whose reign Ajmer emerged as one of the most important pilgrimage centres, undertook an unceremonial journey on foot to reach Ajmer . In April 2012  Mr. Zardari made a similar pilgrimage.

I doubt if PM Raja ever thought that  he did not have to visit the grave in an air force aircraft, with so much pomp, in order to pay his respects and seek favours of a saint for peace and prosperity. It is worth noting that he also offered a 42 meter long chadar weighing 35 kg, in addition to Nazrana (devotion money), the amount of which is not known , while 1000 police were deployed in and around the shrine by the host government. He could have been respectful of the saints beliefs . We may well ask  where and what was  his practical approach for peace and prosperity in a region mired in poverty, corruption, illiteracy and terrorism among other deep rooted problems of colonialism and the recent wave of capitalist globalization.

The Prime Minister must know that Khawaja sahib who routinely fasted, broke every fast with a crust of bread soaked in water. Social evils, moral degradation and the sufferings of poor saddened him. He stressed renunciation of material goods, generosity to others ( not just to cronies), particularly through the sharing of food and wealth , and tolerance and respect for religious differences. He interpreted religion in terms of human service and exhorted his disciples ‘to develop river like generosity, sun like affection and earth like hospitality’. The highest form of devotion, according to him, was to redress the misery of those in distress , fulfill the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry (looks like PPP’s 1968 manifesto!).
To learn and practice the ideas of the saint Mr. Raja had no need to visit his shrine. Rather he can sincerely try to follow the saints teachings in letter and spirit.

In the post-colonial era, the ideas of the saint are still relevant but emerging realities and new problems, different from those that prevailed in the 12th century when his beloved saint befriended the masses, demand additional strategies. These realities are as follows:

i) In the late 1990s  John Paul Lederach’s work  on Conflict Transformation was instrumental in shaping new thinking in the field of peace building. Conflict Transformation practitioners broke new ground by suggesting that the success of a peace process should not be determined by whether  a settlement is reached but rather in terms of how people in conflict have changed and grown in ways that are positive and constructive. By focusing not just on what is has ended but on what is being built in its place, it sought to avoid the danger of co-optation- the attempt only to get rid of the conflict , even while people were raising legitimate issues of injustices embedded in the basic structure of society. 

ii) Globalization is the dominant trend of our times. The convergence of the military and the market is the major threat to human security. Even where armed conflict is absent, the military power of the state and the new market power of global capital are present. Whether it is the state apparatus  mobilized to prevent farmers from saving seeds to protect the "intellectual rights" of corporations, or the writing of the new Terrorist Acts that define civic action in defense of human security as "terrorism", a state-centric security system is being mobilized to protect and serve a capital-centric system.

iii) South Asia, including the Sub Continent is home to more than a quarter of the world's population and is one of the oldest civilizations. It is  characterized by enormous diversity and social stratification on the basis of gender, class, caste, race, ethnicity and religion. The colonial experience compounded its social and political divisions. In more recent times, the forces of globalization have contributed significantly to social, political and cultural tumult. The idea that armed conflicts are the only indicators of widespread and pervasive violence in a society is not wholly correct. If peace and prosperity are the goals then we must introspectively interrogate all kinds of violence and inequalities in societies. There is a need to prioritize people centered development over neo liberal economic reforms and globalization, dialogic modes of negotiation for conflict resolution over state-sponsored terror and confidence building to counter the spread of fear. It is argued by peace activists, that real human security lies in protection against harm of all kinds, and in a healthy environment, capable of sustaining all life and respect for human dignity.  

In short, peace cannot be defined passively as the absence of war nor more actively as the avoidance of war or internal conflicts by repressing the symptoms using state or international coercion. This approach only  produces what we call essentially unstable and perpetually fragile peace. The quality of peace has never been an issue for the so called champions of the cause. For a stable and durable peace the structural causes of the violence/conflicts have to be removed. In addition  providing and ensuring basic rights like livelihood security, basic education and health facilities to the people must be kept in mind. Consequently, the challenge of human security is to devise methodologies to place people and nature above markets and substitute the culture of militarization with a new culture that values nonviolence.  

In the end, I would also like to point out that Khwaja Gharib Nawaz still continues to live in the hearts of oppressed people of the Sub-Continent. Therefore instead of going to his grave, go to  these very same people. Salman Taseer and Bashir Bilour, his own martyred colleagues, have already set great examples only recently.