Numerous books have been written on Islam in Pakistan. So, two years ago, I set out to write a book on the history of liberalism in Pakistan. It is still an ongoing project requiring additional research.

There is one realisation, though, that continues to be strengthened by the research: Pakistani liberals and so-called ‘progressives’ are the most uncanny embodiments of what are called ‘useful idiots.’

A ‘useful idiot’ is a gullible person who can be manipulated to advance someone else’s cause or agenda. Liberals and progressives continue to become the means of outcomes that are actually the opposite of whatever liberalism stands for. And, no, by this I certainly do not mean what the former prime minister Imran Khan posited while talking about liberalism. He imagined himself as being the ‘real liberal’, not because he was a committed democrat but because, apparently, he was ‘anti-war.’ Rather, one particular war — the one against Islamist militants.

To him, the militants were fellow Pakistanis who were fighting against US imperialism, and the Pakistani state’s conflict with them was part of a war that was imposed on us by the West. During the period when militants were blowing themselves up in markets, mosques, schools and shrines, Khan was opposing a military operation against them, insisting that the security forces should be helping him to root out ‘corruption’ instead.

Self-styled ‘liberals’ and ‘progressives’ in Pakistan have, for decades, inadvertently advanced causes and agendas that have run contrary to their ideals

He lashed out against those who were supporting the possibility of a military operation. He called them “fake liberals” and “khooni [murderous] liberals.” Yet, he never called out........

© Dawn (Magazines)