Ghotki Temple attack-religiously plural Pakistan need of hour

Ghotki Temple attack and its rebuttal remind me of my visit to this fascinating temple-Gurdwara of Ghotki along with my class of M.Phil Political Science from neighboring district Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab.

All the researchers found this visit informative and were amazed to see the religiously plural society in that particular area. The land of saints “Sindh” has traditionally been very open and inclusive for the diverse faiths followed by the natives of this historical land. This legacy continues till today.

Unfortunately, extremism is spreading in our society due to numerous reasons, and incidents like the attack on this historic temple of the Ghotki are living examples of it.

But the good thing about society is, it moves forward with time and nourishes itself for the betterment of its members of all religious backgrounds. 

This reminds me of the concept of solidarity, among members of the society, which has kept states engaged in all eras. This is the true essence of applied sociology.

When we scroll down the pages of history work of Ibn-e-Khaldun enlighten us to a great extent. In his famous book Prolegomenon or “Mukadmah Ibn-e-Khaldun”, he elaborated the concept of “Asbiya” or social solidarity. 

Khaldun explained Solidarity as a binding force of society.  He said that solidarity unites people and lays the foundation of a healthy state and without it, no state can flourish and face its enemies.

This force of solidarity provides power and authority to the state. This concept of Asbiya was a torchbearer for Emile Durkheim.  He further elaborated on the concept classifying it into Mechanical and Organic Solidarity.

He explained that Mechanical solidarity is the binding force for the people on the basis of blood, beliefs, common ancestors, culture traits, ethnicity, race, etc.

On the other hand, organic solidarity is based on the bond created through profession, occupation, common living, etc. He concluded that mechanical solidarity is more forceful and effective. But it has power to create conflicts as well.

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Khaldun’s and Emile’s work paved way for Ferdinand Tonnies, he classified solidarity in two terms Gesellschaft and Gemeineschaft. According to Tonnies, Gemeinschaft represents the traditional society on the basis of close family relationships, norms of love, understanding and protection with the social bond of kinship, beliefs, etc.

Gesellschaft is found in modern industrial society. It is based on economic, artificial and impersonal relationships. He was of the view that Gemeinschaft is more instrumental due to the strong base of religion, blood ties, and ethnicity.

On the same ground, people are even ready to create conflict. They are more than happy to sacrifice their life even, to save their religious beliefs or loved ones.

This debate draws our attention to the conclusion that in traditional societies, religious beliefs and ethnicity are more sensitive issues than the rest.

These can be sensitized by the clergy and tribal heads and the same actors can effectively desensitize it too. Same was the case of Ghotki incident, on one hand, people ill-treated the situation driven by religious extremism, and on the other hand member of the same society well managed and protected the other fellow member of the society on the basis of religious tolerance, ethnicity, same citizenry and other reasons of strong ties.

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Sufism is the driving force to counter religious extremism from within society. Religiously plural society makes the members of the society more tolerant as they live and work together.

Extremism can be countered by involving stakeholders within the society, highlighting the binding forces other than religion. This pluralistic society would be more beneficial for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan. This should be applied in Ghhotki and Pakistan as a whole. 

(Writer is a lecturer at the Department of Peace & Conflict Studies in the National University of Modern Languages Islamabad. He can be reached at moazzamdurrani@numl.edu.pk)

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