Editorial
Attack on 'Balaka'
Vandalism in the name of religion is doubly reprehensible
IT is no doubt a worrying sign that obscurantism is threatening to undermine our cultural identity and heritage. The sculpture 'Balaka,' an object of innocuous beauty, has come under attack by the members of a religious outfit called Anjuman-e Al-Bayinat.
The attack is not the first of its kind-- the memories of Lalan's statue being brought down are still fresh in our minds. And there is reason to believe that a concerted move is on to demonize whatever fails to meet the standards and norms set by the fanatics in the sacred domain of religion. It amounts to a perverted interpretation of Islam -- idolatry being mixed up with work of art having great aesthetic value and nothing to do with religion. Such attempts at exploitation people's religious sentiments with ulterior motives are manifestly sinister. Fanatics, under the highly erroneous notion that they are doing a great service to religion, let their zealotry take hold of them arousing them to violent action to the detriment of social equanimity. Yet, such acts give rise to chaos and confusion and people in general, who have great respect for religion and a soft corner for art and culture too, feel greatly offended. Obviously, cultural freedom is something that they want to retain as a matter of principle.
The police action that followed the damage to Balaka is a routine response to the activities of the organisations like Bayinat. Obviously, the law enforcers treated it as vandalism targeting a public property. But such incidents, now taking place more frequently than ever, need to be prevented through both enforcement of the law and assertion of the tenets of Islam. It is the second part of the job which has to be done properly to convince people that such assaults will be a patent disservice to Islam and could only send wrong signals about our great religion.
The cultural activists have been perfectly within their rights to be demanding punishment to the attackers. However, the best way to deal with the problem is to make sure that it is not repeated. The religious leaders can motivate people to engage in myriad activities that Islam recommends as a way of serving humanity, instead of concentrating on non-issues.
The attackers must not go unpunished. And using religion for attaining individual or organisational goals has to be stopped, once and for all.
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