In this madness imposed by Mullahs on our TV screens and in our midst for their own profits I am missing upright Maulanas like Maulana Hasan Jaan Shaheed. He was assassinated in Ramzan in 2007, most probably because of his anti-suicide bombing fatwas and his sermons against

extremism and terrorism. He was the Imam of Masjid-e-Darwaish in Peshawar and had the Madrassa there. Masjid-e-Darwaish is wall to wall neighbor with the biggest church in Peshawar, St. Michael's Cathedral. The minarates of the Masjid throws its shadows to lawn of the church and

the cross of the church sneaks into the prayer room of the mosque. If you pass by there you can hear the Tilawat coming from the Madrasa mixed with hymns coming from the church.

Maulana Hasan Jan trained thousands of students in tolerance and acceptance of others as well as of

reason. He paid the price for standing up for people through his life. When everyone was quivering at the sight of Taliban and suicide attacks it was him who was at the forefront of invoking the legal doctrines of Islam against that onslaught. Maulana Hasan Jaan once contested

elections against Wali Khan in 1990 and became MNA. But seeing the snares of the corridors of power, the story goes, he resigned and went to Wali Khan to persuade him to run for his seat and that the Maulana would campaign for him. Power wasn't what he was fantasizing.

He defeated a popular leader but, people say, he used to lament that election as Wali Khan left politics after that.

Masjid-e-Darwaish is an emblem of interfaith harmony and the Madrassa there prides itself in having computerized data of all its graduates and the fact that none

of its students has even been involved in any extremist activity. But when Imran Khan wanted to 'reform' Madaris he punpued hundreds of millions into seminary of Sami-ul-Haq, the hub of extremism, for his own political gains. Maulana Hasan Jaan like many other of his tradition

has stood for people and at tremendous loss to themselves, and have paid even the ultimate price: loss of life. I just wish we have more and more Hasan Jaans. -end-