Fundamentalism on rise due to lack of govt’s influence, says Fatima

* BB’s niece says Musharraf to remain indispensable to Americaninterests as long as US-led forces in Afghanistan

LAHORE: Fundamentalism is on the rise in Pakistan because of the lack of the government’s influence in the country’s rural areas, Fatima Bhutto said in an interview published at the weekend by Counterpunch, an American political newsletter.She said that because the government did not provide the most basic needs for the people, Islamic organisations had come in and set up madrassas. Therefore “families do not have any other option to get their children educated apart from sending them to madrassas,” she added. She also slammed the Western media for portraying madrassas as terror training camps, which she said was not true. “Of course not all madrassas are bad, and we have to distinguish between good and bad madrassas,” she added.Indispensable: Fatima said that President Pervez Musharraf would remain viable and indispensable to United States’ interests as long as there is an American occupation of Afghanistan. She said the army had had enough of Musharraf and that he had brought on loss of respect for the armed forces. She said that Musharraf’s role in the new government would be to wait and watch, adding that he had preferred to let the new government deal with the problems which emerged during the last government, made up of his supporters. She said that Pakistan could free itself of the military and feudal dynasties’ control of power if accountability and merit were allowed to come into play. She slammed the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which wipes out corruption cases against politicians, bankers and bureaucrats. She denounced the politics of dynasties, saying the politics of principles and platforms should replace the politics of names and personalities. About the February 18 elections, Fatima said they were a “complete farce”. She said that political parties were not given enough time for electioneering according to the Constitution. She said the system of registration was faulty and the voter did not know at which polling station he was registered. She said that voter lists given to polling stations by the Election Commission and the government had a name and a birth date, but no fields for ID card number or address. She said that there was nothing to distinguish people with similar names, adding that the identity of women coming to vote in burqas was not verified. She said the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was founded as a state for Muslims, but the religion had been used as a means of oppression, adding that Islam in Pakistan should be private and followed individually. She also said that Sufi Islam was better than the Wahabi Islam, “which is trickling down from Afghanistan and is funded by Saudi money”. “But you can’t impose one kind of Islam on a nation of people, so it’s better to be private,” she added. daily times monitor