It has been only 2 weeks since the Pakistani army launched an offensive in North Waziristan, and the nation finds itself on the brink of another refuge crisis. But this time of gigantic proportions. On June 25, 2014, the Pakistani government officially announced that 450,681 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had been registered so far, and that the number could top 600,000 as the military operations continue. Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadri Baloch claimed that the government was fully prepared to look after IDPs, but later he contradicted himself, when he appealed to the Pakistani public to donate money. He said, "It is the national duty of every Pakistani, particularly people with means to open up their pockets for the brethren in need.

" This is not the first time; Pakistan is faced with a massive refugee crisis of its own making. In August 2009, the army under America's tutelage launched Operation Black Thunderstorm against the Taleban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and this resulted in 1.2 million Pakistani citizens being displaced. Judging by the inept response of both Pakistani government and the military in dealing with IDPs in 2009, it is very unlikely that Pakistan's present refugees will find any respite from their man-made ordeal. Back then many generous Pakistani appalled by the sheer incompetence of both their government and army leadership stepped in to look after the IDPs. But the size of the task now is simply overwhelming, and frankly speaking is a by- product of Pakistan's lopsided relations with America. Ever since, Pakistan sided with America's war against Islam in 2001, internally displaced Pakistanis have become a permanent feature of the Pakistani landscape. What started out as a trickle in 2001 has become a flood in 2014, making Pakistan's one of the largest internally displaced populations in the world.

Things are bound to become worse, as the Raheel-Nawaz partnership spares no effort in pleasing America by conducting further operations all over Pakistan to weed out not just militants, but anyone opposed to America's hegemony over Pakistan Let's not forget that when Pakistan sided with America in 1980s to contain the advance of the Soviet Union, Pakistan ended up with 3 million Afghan refugees who are still holed up in the country and are unable to return. Now Pakistan has to contend with circa 4.5 million refugees as a direct consequence of American instigated operations in Pakistan's tribal belt. Added to this refugee calamity are the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Pakistanis still reeling from Pakistan's earthquake in 2005 and the country's worst floods in 2010.

These people were simply abandoned by both the government and the army, as assets and money were diverted to fight militants at America's behest. In siding with America, the civil and military leaders over the past decade, have lost Pakistan's strategic depth in Afghanistan, gravely undermined Pakistan's stance on Kashmir, compromised the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, plunged the economy of the country into an abyss of debt, strengthened Pakistan's arch enemy India and have displaced millions of Pakistani citizens. Yet for some strange reason some Pakistanis still cling to the vain hope that somehow their civil and military leaders will lead the country out of its present predicament and create a better future for them and their children. And how naive they have become...

Allah (swt) says:

((إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلَا مَرَدَّ لَهُ وَمَا لَهُمْ مِنْ دُونِهِ مِنْ وَالٍ))

"Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector." [TMQ: Al Rad: 11]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

by Abu Hashim

News:

For the past few weeks, the Malaysian media was dominated by the case of the Cadbury chocolate products. The Malaysian Ministry of Health (MMoH) confirmed that samples of Cadbury Hazelnut Milk Chocolate and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond contained porcine DNA.  A day later, the Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia (Jakim) suspended the halal certification for the two products.  Jakim Director-General, Datuk Othman Mustapha said that the action was taken following the analysis conducted by MMoH and that further investigation will be carried out to identify the source of the porcine contamination. A few days later, the Chairman of the National Fatwa Council confirmed that the Cadbury products are halal, as it was, before the alleged contamination. The ruling was based on the condition of ‘umum al-balwa', a condition of misfortune or hardship which is prevalent and difficult to avoid. To the surprise of many, Jakim later retracted their stand and said that the two samples of Cadbury's chocolate products contain no porcine DNA. And to add to the surprise, MMoH which previously defended their decision, also later claimed to have made a mistake on the announcement that there are traces of porcine DNA in the two Cadbury chocolate products!

Comment:

The whole episode on the Cadbury chocolates is full of irony. Controversial decisions of the National Fatwa Council, MMoH and Jakim in "re-legalizing" Cadbury's chocolates after they were diagnosed to contain porcine DNA are indeed strange and confusing. This had certainly tainted their credibility and had given rise to speculation that there was pressure and specific directions that caused the decisions of these institutions to change drastically. If this is true, it is not unexpected that an international company such as Cadbury will do anything it takes, with the backup of political stakeholders, to not remain silent in matters that would certainly cause significant losses to their business. In any case, it is rather too late now. Muslims in general will not even touch Cadbury products. Such is the sensitivity of Muslims in Malaysia in issues regarding food. They will go to great lengths to ensure that the food they consume is 100% halal.

This is good and well which certainly manifests the care shown by Muslims in Malaysia on halal food. However, why should this mentality stop only as far as halal food? It is certainly unfortunate that the sensitivity of Muslims on halal food had been blown out of proportion such that the unlawfulness of pig products is ‘everything' as if it represents the concept of ‘haram' in its totality!! Ironically, various other prohibitions are continually neglected, viewed as if they are not part of Islam! If Muslims are well aware of the prohibition of pork, then they should also leave all other unlawful actions of such riba, exposing one's ‘aurah', lying, hurting other Muslims by slander and defamation, keeping silent towards the tyranny of non-Islamic laws, fighting under the flags of ‘assabiyyah' and ‘wathaniyyah' and leaving the responsibility of carrying da'wah. It is certainly unfortunate that in issues related to the forbidden nature of pigs, Muslims are so perturbed but on other more dominant haram issues, many are oblivious or worse indifferent to them.

The quick actions of Jakim on this issue are to be praised and commended. But it is highly regrettable that action was carried out only on the issue of the unlawfulness of pigs. Why is it that only the issue of pigs which is raised and acted upon? Why isn't Jakim taking action on the unlawfulness of the riba based economic system prevalent in the country? Why isn't they taking action on the unlawful system implemented by the Malaysian government which has led to various other unlawfulness (haram) in the country? The reality is that the secular democratic capitalistic system implemented by the government, as a whole, is deeply engrained in the minds of Muslims, not just in Malaysia but also the whole Muslim world. The system is so strongly engrained that Muslims are oblivious to its unlawfulness and worse, the system as a whole is accepted as the norm! If this is understood, then it is easier to understand why Jakim, as a governmental Islamic institution has failed and will always fail in sanctifying and protecting Islam as an ideology.

Whether the leaders are oblivious or very much aware of the fact that the system they are implementing is a system which is diametrically opposed to the basis of Islam, the reality remains that the current system bears no intention to implement, protect or disseminate Islam as an ideology.  The government seems to be so concerned with this recent episode because the leaders are themselves Muslims who, like most Muslims in Malaysia have been  deeply cultured in the secular view of Islam where Islam is viewed as a personal issue, where governmental role as far as protecting Islam is concerned revolves only around a very limited scope of Islam. Islam is never viewed as a Deen in its totality and is never viewed as a solution to ALL of man's problems!

O Allah! Show us the right path! Give us victory in the re-establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" where all of Islam will be implemented and Your Deen is the only reference point for us in solving our problems.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Dr. Muhammad - Malaysia

"The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey - then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful." [Al-Baqara: 85]

O Muslims of Pakistan!

At the time of complete ruling by the truth of Islam, Ramadhan was glorified by great worship of Allah (swt). The Muslims did not restrict themselves to fasting, tarawih and invitations to iftaaris, rather they ensured that Islam was applied to all spheres of life, individual and collective, including economics, foreign policy and education.