n We must learn to respect dissent THE assassination attempts on Maulana Fazlur Rehman, on two successive days, should not come as a surprise: he is not the first “moderate” religious leader in Pakistan whom extremists have tried to eliminate. He is lucky to have survived; others were not. The recent attempts on the life of the JUI-F chief conform to doctrinaire strategies which all ideologically motivated movements follow. A “soft-liner” in the fraternity – whatever the term might mean at a given time – is a greater enemy and threat than the “real” enemy, writes the Dawn in its editorial. Excerpts: The Taliban have no shame in declaring that they are at war with the state of Pakistan. For that reason they target all state institutions and those who run them. They have denounced the electoral process and allege that democracy is Western in nature. Maulana Fazl and his party do not appear to share this philosophy and, believing in parliamentary democracy, take part in elections, thus incurring the TTP's and Al-Qaeda's wrath. The JUI-F has also been part of coalition governments in Islamabad and two provinces and has exhibited common sense by believing that democracy is the best way of solving political differences and resolving ideological schisms. This, in the eyes of the extremists, is a crime punishable by death. Speaking to the media after Thursday's attack, the maulana said that he had been targeted because of his opposition to the drone attacks and his support for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui – there was obvious reluctance to openly condemn religious extremism although he is aware that such violent tactics are linked mostly to the TTP. We urge the government to hold an inquiry to determine who planned to assassinate Maulana Fazl, a veteran politician of national stature. __
