Headlines:
- Acquittal of CTD Officials Involved in Brutal Sahiwal Travesty Exposes Bajwa-Imran Regime’s False Claim to a Madinah State
- The Khilafah will Preserve the Environmental Balance Allah (swt) Created the World With
- Trader’s Countrywide Strike Reflects Rejection of Democracy Unjust Taxation System
Acquittal of CTD Officials Involved in Brutal Sahiwal Incident Exposes Bajwa-Imran Regime’s False Claim to a Madinah State
On 25th October 2019 Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the Punjab government to submit an appeal against the verdict handed down by a special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), acquitting all suspects in the Sahiwal encounter case. He asked for investigation of the weaknesses and faults of the prosecution case against the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials. A day earlier, the ATC in Lahore acquitted all suspects involved in the Sahiwal incident, citing lack of sufficient evidence and giving ‘benefit of the doubt,’ ordering their release. On 19th January 2019, a family of Lahore was targeted by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) at a highway near Sahiwal. During the operation, the husband, the wife, their young daughter and a neighbor who was driving the car, were killed, whilst three other children survived. The Punjab CTD initially declared them kidnappers and then changed their stance, claiming that they were terrorists and that they only retaliated in self-defense to the firing initiated by the car occupants. However, a passenger bus stopped only a few meters away and some of the passengers recorded this whole episode on their mobile phones, which exposed the false claim of Punjab CTD. Later, detailed investigations also revealed that the deceased family was innocent and the officials targeted them on the basis of erroneous intelligence. The public reacted rapidly and the issue became viral within a short time, demanding immediate justice and the harshest of punishments for the perpetrators of this barbaric crime. Imran Khan, who was on an official visit to Qatar, released a statement that as soon as he returns he will take stern action on the matter. However, from January 2019 to October 2019, state security agencies pressurized the family of the deceased persons and other witnesses to force them to withdraw their testimonies, resulting into the acquittal of all officials involved in this brutal incident.
The incident and the acquittal of the involved personnel is the awful consequence of the US war being fought in Pakistan against Islam. Under US diktats, the political and military leadership of Pakistan killed sincere Mujahedeen that were fighting against the US in Afghanistan, under the banner of fighting the War on Terror. The Sahiwal incident is certainly not the first incident in which innocent people were killed brutally and the perpetrators dodged punishment. Whilst in the opposition, Imran Khan used to severely criticize such brutal incidents and denounced the War on Terror as the US’s war leading people to believe that injustice would end on his assuming power. However, just like the previous regimes who protected murderers of Muslims like Raymond Davis and Rao Anwar, the Bajwa-Imran regime followed the same evil path. After playing a dirty game with witnesses, the regime now claims that it will file an appeal in the Lahore High Court against this verdict, as if it had left no stone unturned to ensure a punishment verdict against the CTD personnel. It is clear to Muslims that whosoever becomes a ruler in Pakistan, he will continue to bow in front of the White House and spill the sacred blood of the Muslims, in order to secure US interests.
This awful state of affairs will continue until ruling according to the revelation of Allah swt is restored in Pakistan. Therefore it is imperative that the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood is established in Pakistan. The political and military leadership of Khilafah will never submit to US demands and commands, obeying only the commands of Allah (swt) and RasulAllah ﷺ. And the Khaleefah Rashid will stop all law enforcement agencies from chasing sincere Muslims, ordering them to instead round up the US spies and agents that roam free. Allah (swt) said,وَمَنۡ يَّقۡتُلۡ مُؤۡمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَآؤُهٗ جَهَـنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيۡهَا وَغَضِبَ اللّٰهُ عَلَيۡهِ وَلَعَنَهٗ وَاَعَدَّ لَهٗ عَذَابًا عَظِيۡمًا “And he who slays a believer wilfully his reward is Hell, where he will abide. Allah’s wrath is against him and He has cast His curse upon him, and has prepared for him a great chastisement.” (Surah An-Nisa’a 4:93).
The Khilafah will Preserve the Environmental Balance Allah (swt) Created the World With
The international human rights organization Amnesty International on 30 October 2019 declared that the government’s “failure to protect people from exposure to hazardous air in Punjab risks violating their human rights to life and health.” In a statement, Amnesty International said that the Air Quality Index in Lahore had reached 484, adding that the threshold for “hazardous” levels of air quality was 300, where people are advised to “avoid all physical activity outdoors”. Air pollution causes damage to crops, animals and forests. It forms acid rain, which harms trees, soils, rivers, and wildlife. Air pollution worsens breathing and heart ailments in human-beings. Urbanization to support larger populations in cities, resulting in energy production, transportation and industries with the emission of harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. Today, millions of tons of waste are shipped from the Western industrialized nations to the so-called developing countries, becoming a lucrative business in itself. The consequence is that land areas and rivers in these countries are contaminated, as a large proportion of the waste is toxic, including heavy metal waste. The environmental problem is not the only failure of the capitalist system, which has caused one crisis after the other.
Islam does not view man’s relation to the environment as one of conflict or contradiction. Allah (swt) has put the universe in man’s service and He (swt) assigned man to cultivate the land. Islam has clarified that in the universe and on the earth, there is a balance and a purposeful and exact measure for all kind of things. Allah (swt) said, اَللّٰهُ الَّذِىۡ خَلَقَ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضَ وَاَنۡزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَاَخۡرَجَ بِهٖ مِنَ الثَّمَرٰتِ رِزۡقًا لَّـكُمۡۚ وَسَخَّرَ لَـكُمُ الۡـفُلۡكَ لِتَجۡرِىَ فِىۡ الۡبَحۡرِ بِاَمۡرِهٖۚ وَسَخَّرَ لَـكُمُ الۡاَنۡهٰرَۚ ۳۲ وَسَخَّرَ لَـكُمُ الشَّمۡسَ وَالۡقَمَرَ دَآٮِٕبَيۡنِۚ وَسَخَّرَ لَـكُمُ الَّيۡلَ وَالنَّهَارَ “It is Allah who created the heavens and the earth and sent down rain from the sky and produced thereby some fruits as provision for you and subjected for you the ships to sail through the sea by His command and subjected for you the rivers. And He subjected for you the sun and the moon, continuous [in orbit], and subjected for you the night and the day.” [Surah Ibrahim 14: 32-33]. Islam has given ruling, so man is prevented in damaging and contaminating the environment. RasulAllah ﷺ said, «لاَ يَبُولَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ فِي الْمَاءِ الدَّائِمِ ثُمَّ يَغْتَسِلُ مِنْهُ» “None of you may urinate in stagnant water, and then use it for bathing.” (Abu Daud). RasulAllah ﷺ said, «وَتُمِيطُ الْأَذَى عَنْ الطَّرِيقِ صَدَقَةٌ» “To remove something harmful from the road is a charity.” (Bukhari and Muslim). RasulAllah ﷺ said, «مَا مِنْ مُسْلِمٍ يَغْرِسُ غَرْسًا أَوْ يَزْرَعُ زَرْعًا فَيَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ طَيْرٌ أَوْ إِنْسَانٌ أَوْ بَهِيمَةٌ إِلاَّ كَانَ لَهُ بِهِ صَدَقَةٌ» “Never does a Muslim plant trees or cultivate land and birds or a man or a beast eat out of them but that is a charity on his behalf.” (Muslim). RasulAllah ﷺ said, «مَنْ أَحْيَا أَرْضًا مَيْتَةً فَهِيَ لَهُ» “Whoever cultivates barren land, it belongs to him.” (Abu Dawud). RasulAllah ﷺ said, «إِنْ قَامَتْ عَلَى أَحَدِكُمْ الْقِيَامَةُ وَفِي يَدِهِ فَسْلَةٌ فَلْيَغْرِسْهَا» “If the Resurrection were established upon one of you while he has in his hand a sapling, then let him plant it.” (Ahmad). In addition, there is a saying of the blessed Companion Muadh ibn Jabal (ra) in which he commended that, اتقوا الملاعن الثلاث: البراز في الموارد، وقارعة الطريق، والظل “Avoid the three actions that bring people’s curses: defecating in water sources, on roads, and in the shade.” (Abu Dawud).
Certainly, Islam focuses on preservation of the environment. Allah (swt) has created nature and put it in service for man, and made man its guardian to benefit of it but not to ruin it. The Islamic ruler is also obliged to remove harm from the community, such as forbidding factories from disposing of their harmful waste products into rivers and oceans. Factory owners and the state which oversees the industry are responsible for removing the harm by treating the hazardous waste to the point of neutralizing the hazard, before disposing and recycling where possible, regardless of how much it will cost. The Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood will take the necessary steps to becoming an industrialized country, and will ensure that the industry is subject to Islam’s laws so that neither the environment nor human beings are harmed.
Trader’s Countrywide Strike Reflects Rejection of Democracy Unjust Taxation System
On 29 October 2019, traders ended a countrywide strike after reaching agreement with government, after some of their demands were agreed, with the main point of providing the Computerized Nationalized Identity Card (CNIC) condition for purchases of over 50,000 Rupees, was extended until January 2020. After coming to power in 2018, the PTI government was exposed as completely ill-prepared to take on the challenge of the dire economic conditions in the country, primarily fueled by debt driven economic growth policy being pursued by previous governments. After assuming power, the government started the standard reform program that is a pre-requisite of any incoming IMF program. It included devaluation of the currency, increasing import duties, cutting down on government subsidies, increasing interest rate and increasing utility prices. These devastating measures were justified as necessary to control the large current account and fiscal deficits that could lead to default on international obligations. This typical IMF prescription of demand contraction had a detrimental impact on local businesses, due to reduction in consumer disposable income and sudden increases in the cost of business. As per the IMF demand, the government further announced a massive tax collection target of Rs 5.5 trillion for the current fiscal year, followed by a new plan to bring the retail market into the tax net, which according to government conducts Rs 30bn business on daily basis, constituting 20% of the GDP. Trade unions rejected the government decision to document business and transactions, by acting as withholding agents to identify the retail supply chain and potential tax evaders, leading them to announce a nationwide strike. The capitalist policies being implemented in Pakistan believe that the engine of growth in the economy is the private sector and that the capital markets and banking sector would fulfill the local demand in literally every sector. Through privatization of oil, gas, minerals, transport, logistics and large scale manufacturing sectors, the government is reduced to an entity which is totally dependent upon heavy taxation and debt to manage its financial obligations towards its citizens. Thus, a common trader in a country like Pakistan, would complain about high utility costs, inflated property prices, high fuel prices impacting goods transportation costs, unavailability of interest free financing options, unstable economic conditions driving the public towards reduced spending and investment, leading towards a distrust in any reform package from the government.
Allah (swt) has defined the type and amount of taxes that an Islamic state can impose upon its citizens. For a trader, it’s a simple Zakah on trading merchandise that is 2.5% and due once in a year. Similarly, there is no income tax or GST on a trader of the Islamic state. Furthermore, implementation of Shariah ruling on public property related to oil and gas and energy sector, fuel price will significantly fall, providing relief for the local traders. Abolishing the interest based banking system would provide the traders and businessmen with the option of interest free Islamic finance options. The Islamic ruling of gold and silver currency, declaring hoarding of wealth illegal, abolishment of stock and financial markets will ensure that money is shifted from these artificial markets to the real economy, directly increasing the business and trade activity in local markets, many folds. Allah (swt) has given his guidance on all aspects of the economy, for truly Islam is a complete code of life. The Islamic economic system alone ensures that there is circulation of wealth in the society, such that wealth does not accumulate in the hands of a few. Only through the implementation of Islam, under the Khilafah, will Pakistan finally be able to achieve its true economic potential. Allah (swt) said, وَابْتَغِ فِيمَا آتَاكَ اللَّهُ الدَّارَ الآخِرَةَ وَلاَ تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَأَحْسِنْ كَمَا أَحْسَنَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ وَلاَ تَبْغِ الْفَسَادَ فِي الأَرْضِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ “But seek the abode of the Hereafter in that which Allah has given you, and do not neglect your portion of worldly life, and be kind even as Allah has been kind to you, and seek not corruption in the earth. Verily, Allah likes not the Mufsidun (those who are mischief-makers, corrupted).” [Surah Al-Qasas 28: 77]