Licence to kill?

Links to others re my previous post on Osama bin Laden’s death -

The Moral Maze – this evening’s Radio 4 programme on The Killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Would a trial have provoked many more atrocities?  Comparisons with Nuremberg.  If it’s OK to kill bin Laden without trial, who else might warrant the same treatment?  Do two wrongs make a right?  With Michael Buerk, Claire Fox, Melanie Phillips, Michael Portillo and Matthew Taylor.

Channel 4 News online – Ed Fraser There would have been no attempt to capture bin Laden.  “The first US military flag officer to set foot in Afghanistan after 9/11 was a US Navy Seal. Their man-hunt is over.”

The Guardian – Gary Younge on Osama bin Laden’s death: The US patriot reflex.  “If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead.”

Sydney Morning Herald – Geoffrey Robertson on Bin Laden’s summary execution maketh the man, martyr and myth.  “When the time came to consider the fate of men more steeped in wickedness than bin Laden – the Nazi leaders – the British government wanted them hanged within six hours of capture. The president Harry Truman demurred, citing the conclusion of Justice Robert Jackson that summary execution “would not sit easily on the American conscience or be remembered by our children with pride . . . the only course is to determine the innocence or guilt of the accused after a hearing as dispassionate as the times will permit and upon a record that will leave our reasons and motives clear”.

Bin Laden’s death

Two public statements today reflected my own unease on hearing of Osama bin Laden’s death in Pakistan – neither of them were Barack Obama’s.  I was glad bin Laden had been found, but sorry that there seemed to be no official regret that he was killed rather than captured.

“Justice has been done”, says Obama.  For me, justice involves a fair trial.  And this necessitates a sincere attempt at a live arrest.  We don’t always manage this in Britain – I was on the recent march against deaths in police custody after Smiley Culture’s death.

Perhaps the celebrations in the USA have something to do with the popularity of the death penalty there – and the presumption that any bin Laden trial would have led to execution.

In the end we always have to talk and sort conflicts out the hard way – and eventually we’ll need to do this with those who support Al-Qaeda.  It’s not easy – the process is still under way in Northern Ireland.  We need to “be the change we want to see”, as Gandhi said.

Am I just naïvely squeamish?  Would an expensive and security-intensive trial have been impossible?  Did Nuremberg only work because the defendants were the vanquished?

The trials of those accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia have not yet finished – Ratko Mladic is still at large.  I cannot imagine the victims or the victims’ families building a future there without the bedrock of a meticulous judicial system and for the stories to be told.  As Canon David Porter says in his blog, we need to tell our stories, our histories, to each other – and renegotiate them in the re-telling, generation by generation.

The Muslim Council of Britain released this statement.

Few will mourn the reported death of Osama bin Laden, least of all Muslims. Many Muslims will reflect on the ten years that have passed in which our faith and our community have been seen through the prism of terrorism and security. The Muslim Council of Britain has consistently stood firm against terrorism and violence, and will continue to do so. His extremism has been responsible for the deaths of many people, including many Muslims around the world. The actions of his movement which have no basis in the teachings of Islam have led to the pursuit of unjust wars and untold suffering.

Today our thoughts must be with the families of all those who suffered in the terrorist attacks around the world as well as of thousands of innocent lives lost in the wars against terrorism. It is unfortunate that his assassination has deprived them of the opportunity to see him brought to justice in the court of law.

Al-Qaeda’s ability to sow discord and mistrust between Muslims and others has caused untold damage. We must restore our belief in human dignity and peace by ensuring that we stand firm against all forms of hatred, injustices and violence.

The Vatican released this via Fr Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office.

Osama bin Laden – as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the end of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end.

Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.

Ameen and amen to both of these.

Lahore

Lahore Press Club

We arrived at Lahore Press Club for our 2.30pm press conference to find only a dozen journalists.  They were watching live TV reports of attacks at two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore, including a loop of a gunman firing from a minaret, an image which is bound to be reproduced widely.  70 people are now reported dead.

Sober discussion about the place of Ahmadi people in Pakistan over dinner tonight.  This followed a meeting with the Bishop of Lahore which raised similar concerns about the place of Christians.  Western and Christian identities are often conflated, resulting in Pakistani Christians being treated as outsiders in their own country.  Blasphemy laws have made things even worse for them, with violent attacks on the increase.

We return to London soon, having had an absorbing and eventful time here in Pakistan.

Pakistan Express

Whistlestop post – first wi-fi since arriving, and it’s a whirlwind of a trip.  The subject of yesterday’s conference in Multan was the rehabilitation and education of people who have served time for terrorism offences, but the conversations we’ve been having here inevitably range wider than this.

Flying over Afghanistan at dawn

My own presentation (on multifaith activity in London, particularly initiatives relating to violent extremism) suffered from a lack of Plan B when slides failed to appear on the screen, but everyone else’s were pretty sharp.  I fared better the previous evening on a live tv current affairs programme.  Press coverage in Multan was positive, in spite of frequent and passionate questions at our press conference on the shortcomings of UK and US foreign policy.

I’ll add some photos now and post some reflections later.

Mehboob Sada, Director of the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi, where we were welcomed for our first night, with Toaha Qureshi (presenting Multan treats) and Arif Malik, supporting an interfaith moment, behind.

View from the conference table at Bahauddin Zakariya University: 46% of the students are women. Presentations included papers from Lahore and Peshawar.

Control room at the tv studio: Toaha being interviewed (top centre)

Meeting the gentlemen of the press in Multan

The beautiful Bahauddin Zakariya University (the "Green University") which is opening a new Environmental Sciences faculty. I wondered aloud whether Caroline Lucas MP might be interested - turns out she would be very welcome.

Our friendly armed escort while in Multan - security is high.

With Tahir Qureshi in front of the beautiful and much loved shrine to Sheikh Rukn-i Alam, who is famous here for his support for the rights of women and girls. Tahir is rarely off the 'phone. But he does find time for friends on the other side of the world: he is sending my son a cricket bat (we visited together in 2007) - a fabulous gift for a keen sportsman and one which will rekindle very happy memories of Multan for him.

Lahore was a dust cloud when we flew in this afternoon. It was clear by the evening - we walked through the streets to our dinner destination with a near full moon high in the sky.

Peace Mala

Peace Malas www.peacemala.org.uk

Peace Mala wristbands with their rainbow colours are a brilliant way to show that people from different religions (and none) can work together without losing their distinct identities.

I’ve ordered some to take to Pakistan.

City of the Sufis

Multan's blue and turquoise pottery (from www.destoop.com)

Multan is known in Pakistan as the City of the Sufis and that’s where I’ll be next week, speaking at a conference arranged by my old friend and colleague Toaha Qureshi.

I visited Multan three years ago with my son and we had a wonderful time meeting the Qureshi family and visiting the mausoleum of Sheikh Rukn -i Alam, a widely loved C14th scholar.  That was during the winter; at this time of year it is the archetypal heat and dust city (anyone remember that Julie Christie film?).

I hadn’t realised that Multan had such a multifaith history: Alexander the Great is believed to have captured it in 324 BCE and the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang visited in 641 CE.  The Sanskrit Rig-Veda is believed to have been written in Multan and it was the first town of Punjab to be captured by Mohammed bin Qasim in 711.  Under the Mughals, Multan was renowned for its architecture, music, ceramics and artistry.  Before the British stormed the citadel in 1848-9, the Sikhs were in charge.  Quite a history!

This time I’ll be travelling with four colleagues from London and Germany and the focus will be on education and on the exellent work which Toaha and his colleagues are involved with in the UK.  We will be calling in on Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore and the programme is tightly packed with meetings from breakfast to dinner each day.  We will be meeting senior academics at the University of Lahore and senior church leaders who are involved in interfaith work in Pakistan.  I am very much looking forward to learning all about it.

Pakistan is rarely out of the news these days, so it will be good to talk to people who are not hitting the headlines and to listen to their thoughts and ideas.

Please keep in touch with comments! It was so helpful when I visited Bosnia last year – and let me know what kind of questions you would be asking if you were travelling with me.