ISLAMABAD: Osama bin Laden’s lover Maulana Attaur Rehman, the younger brother of Fazlur Rehman, became speechless on Friday when stunning information was revealed in the in-camera session of parliament that his party had been receiving dollars from Libya and Saudi Arabia. Upon this information, the entire hall echoed with the thumping of desks, which was the only moment when the house cheered irrespective of party affiliation and association, the sources told The News. In reply to Maulana’s question whether the Army considered them Muslims and yet the Army conducted operations in his constituency and against the OBL, who was first a Mujahid of Islam and now was an enemy, and whether the Army had turned to parliament because the big boss US was angry, the ISI director general requested him not to get involved in such discussions of history of Mujahids. “If we will discuss it, then things will go very far and everyone will come to know who has been receiving dollars from Saudi Arabia and Libya,” the DG ISI said in response to Maulana’s insistence. All parliamentarians started thumping their desks and the Maulana in sheer embarrassment staged a walkout from the hall. However, he came back on his own after 10 minutes, the sources maintained. The sources said General Ahmad Shuja Pasha’s tone was submissive with mild protest that it was a tough time for Pakistan and nations united after such incidents, but Pakistan’s Army was being criticised and parliamentarians were not paying attention to the Army bashing by the foreign media. The sources said nothing new which the media had not reported had bee n said to the parliamentarians. The sources said the tone of a few PML-N parliamentarians was harsh, while Pasha was confident while replying to the questions. “Outsiders want a wedge between the Army and the nation, and a few leaders had also bashed the Army,” sources quoted the DG ISI as saying. The sources said the DG ISI told parliament that if the Army was maligned, then there would be an irreparable loss to the country. REFERENCE: Did Saudis, Libyans pay dollars to JUI-F? Pasha hinted so Usman Manzoor Saturday, May 14, 2011 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=5975&Cat=13&dt=5/14/2011
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD3Qolg-dbw
Saturday, May 14, Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1432 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/may2011-daily/14-05-2011/main.htm
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2009: Was Qaddafi funding Sipahe Sahaba?
ID:1979773/20/2009 10:51Consulate LahoreSECRETLAHORE 000054E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/18/2034TAGS: PTER, PGOV, PKSUBJECT: SIPAH-E-SAHABA STEPS UP ACTIVITIES IN FAISALABADCLASSIFIED BY: Bryan D. Hunt, Principal Officer, American Consulate Lahore, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (d)…2. (S) Leading Faisalabad-based Deobandi scholar and IVLP [International Visitor Leadership Program] alumnus Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX called on the Principal Officer on March 18 to discuss his concerns regarding what he termed as “”growing extremist activity”” in Punjab`s second-largest city Faisalabad. XXXXXXXXXXXX claimed that in the last month he has observed a dramatic increase in propaganda activities from Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). He believed that this increase coincided with a number of visits to Faisalabad from activists both of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and a splinter group from the southern Punjab-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). XXXXXXXXXXXX believed that the activists were involved in recruiting for TTP militant operations in the FATA and NWFP through madrassas in southern Punjab and hoped to replicate that success in Faisalabad. XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that SSP leaders had long-standing ties with JeM, as both were Deobandi organizations that had collaborated in the past in anti-Shia and anti-India activities.
3. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXX shared with Principal Officer an Urdu-language sticker that he claimed he had confiscated from several of his madrassa students in Faisalabad. The sticker, which he stated was also being printed and distributed as a pamphlet, praised the implementation of Sharia law in Swat and exhorted Muslims to pursue the same sort of Sharia law in Faisalabad. It then recounted five steps that every Faisalabad based Muslim should take to begin the process of implementation in the district. The steps were: : (1) cease business and social activities at the five daily calls to prayer, (2) remove all sources of “”vulgarity”” such as televisions, cd players, and radios from their homes, (3) seek dispute resolution through local imams rather than the courts, (4) take Friday rather than Sunday as the weekly holiday, and (4) strictly enforce purdah for female family members.
4. (S) Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX told Principal Officer that he had initially dismissed the pamphlet campaign, but became increasingly concerned after learning of specific threats received by several girls` schools (NFI) in Faisalabad. He claimed that these schools had received letters sent from SSP, referencing the situation in Swat, and warning that if these schools did not begin having their students observe complete purdah, the schools could be the target of violence, including suicide bombing. Principal Officer inquired whether any violence had yet occurred in Faisalabad in connection with the SSP campaign. Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX responded that to his knowledge it had not, but he believed that it could occur in short order if police did not check SSP activities.
5. (S) Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that in addition to its pamphlet campaign, SSP had organized a number of traditional religious conferences in Faisalabad during the Islamic month of Rabwa [sic] [Rabiul Awwal](currently ongoing).
Traditionally such conferences are organized in this month of the Prophet`s birth to discuss the model life that the Prophet lead and to exhort Muslims to follow his example. According to Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX, this year during the SSP conferences, the organizers have exhorted attendees to follow the Prophet`s example and press for the adoption of complete shariah law in Faisalabad, using Swat as a model.
6. (S) Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX shared that he had received reliable information that SSP leader Maulana Ludhianvi was on a fundraising trip to Tripoli sponsored by the Libyan government. XXXXXXXXXXXX claimed that Ludhianvi had made contact with Libyan officials in the guise of working against Iran and Shia agents in Pakistan. (Note: SSP was originally founded as a violent anti-Shia organization and has, in the past, received extensive foreign funding from a variety of Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia. End Note). According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, Ludhianvi was scheduled to return to Pakistan in “”a few days”” and was bringing with him a “”donation”” from the Libyan government valued at nearly 25 million Pakistani rupees (approximately $312,000) that XXXXXXXXXXXX was certain would be used to increase further SSP activities.
7. (S) Comment: Maulana XXXXXXXXXXXX is a long-standing contact of Consulate Lahore… XXXXXXXXXXXX repeatedly credits his trip to the United States and particularly his discussions with Muslim leaders there for changing his previously anti-Western views. XXXXXXXXXXXX has numerous ties within the broader Deobandi community and is well-positioned to obtain information on activities of Deobandi-linked terrorist/extremist groups such as SSP and JeM. He has not/not previously shared such extensive information with post about these groups` activities in Faisalabad. Post believes he has done so on this occasion largely out of concern for his and other moderate Deobandi leaders` safety if these groups expand activities in Faislabad. The significant decline in the Pakistani textile industry and accompanying large-scale lay-offs in Faisalabad —the center of that industry in Punjab — provides groups like SSP with a ready pool of unemployed recruits, who are susceptible to these groups` rhetoric about an Islamic utopia based on Sharia and prepared to engage in violence to bring it about. End Comment.
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Saudi Arabia, UAE financing extremism in south Punjab By Qurat ul ain Siddiqui | From the Newspaper May 22, 2011 (4 days ago)2008: Extremist recruitment on the rise in south Punjab madrassahs http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/22/2008-extremist-recruitment-on-the-rise-in-south-punjab-madrassahs.html178082: Extremist recruitment on the rise in southern Punjab May 22, 2011 http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/the-cables/article2038018.ece
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Even a book confirm the "Allegations" above!
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Excerpts from a book: Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror By Hassan Abbas published by An East Gate Book. M.E. Sharpe Armonk, New York, London England. “The Khomeini revolution in Iran already bolstered the confidence of the Shias, and they were not about to take Sunni dictates in religious matters lying down. Hard-liners among Sunni, for their part, felt that such dictation was their right, and those on the extreme right of the Sunni spectrum simply cut the Gordian knot by taking a position that, correct or not, Pakistan had a Sunni majority and as such it should be declared a Sunni Muslim state in which Shia should be treated as a minority. Since achievement of this holy goal would likely to take some time, some of them decided that the interregnum ought not to be wasted. Thus in 1985 they formed Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba (ASS) – an organization piously dedicated to ridding the country of the nettlesome presence of the Shias by eliminating them physically. Later, when they realized what the organization’s acronym meant in English, they changed the name to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).”“The zealous emissaries of the Iranian Revolutionary Regime started financing their organization Tehreek-e-Nifza-e-Fiqah-e-Jafaria (TNFJ – Movement for the Implementation of Jafaria Religious Law) and providing scholarships for Pakistani student to study in Iranian religious seminaries. For the Zia regime though, the problematic issue was Shia activism leading to a strong reaction to his attempts to impose Hanafi Islam (a branch of Sunni sect). For this he winked to the hard-liners among the Sunni religious groups in order to establish a front to squeeze the Shias. It was in this context that Jhangvi was selected by the intelligence community to do the needful. It is also believed that the JUI recommendation played the decisive part in this choice. The adherents of the Deobandi School were worried about Shia activism for religious reasons anyhow. State patronage came as an additional incentive. Consequently, in a well-designed effort, Shia assertiveness was projected as their disloyalty to Pakistan and its Islamic Ideology.” “In a few months, Saudi funds started pouring in, making the project feasible. For Saudi Arabia, the Iranian revolution was quite scary, for its ideals conflicted with that of a Wahabi monarchy. More so, with an approximately 10% Shia population, Saudi Arabia was concerned about the expansion of Shia activism in any Muslim country. Hence, it was more than willing to curb such trends in Pakistan by making a financial investment to bolster its Wahabi Agenda. According to Vali Raza Nasr, a leading expert on the sectarian groups of Pakistan, the flow of these funds was primarily routed through the Pakistan Military and the ISI. It is not known whether American support for this scheme was readily available, but the Zia regime knew well that the United States would be glad to acquiesce, given the rising US – Iran hostility. However, some analyst believe that CIA funds were involved in the venture.”"UNQUOTE"
Even General Pervez Musharraf's own statement corroborates the Wiki Leaks Expose'
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Why the Pakistani Military used to Support Taliban, Several Sectarian Outfits and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba before 911? And while the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stand officially disbanded, their most militant son and leader, Maulana Azam Tariq, an accused in several cases of sectarian killing, contested elections from jail - albeit as an independent candidate - won his seat, and was released on bail shortly thereafter. Musharraf rewrote election rules to disqualify former Prime Ministers Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, and threatened to toss them in jail if they returned from abroad, which badly undermined both Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Musharraf has plainly given the religious groups more free rein in the campaign than he has allowed the two big parties that were his main rivals. In Jhang city, in Punjab province, Maulana Azam Tariq, leader of an outlawed extremist group called Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to numerous sectarian killings, is being allowed to run as an independent�despite election laws that disqualify any candidate who has criminal charges pending, or even those who did not earn a college degree. "It makes no sense that Benazir can't run in the election," says one Islamabad-based diplomat, "and this nasty guy can."
References: And this takes me back to Pervez Musharraf’s first visit to the US after his coup. At a meeting with a group of journalists among whom I was present, my dear and much lamented friend Tahir Mirza, then the Dawn correspondent, asked Musharraf why he was not acting against Lashkar-e Tayba and Jaish-e Muhammad. Musharraf went red in the face and shot back, “They are not doing anything in Pakistan. They are doing jihad outside.” Pakistani neocons and UN sanctions Khalid Hasan This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm. http://www.khalidhasan.net/2008/12/28/pakistani-neocons-and-un-sanctions/ For http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsJan2003/cover1jan2003.htm - General's Election By TIM MCGIRK / KHANA-KHEL Monday, Oct. 07, 2002 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,361788,00.html
All Generals are liar and Musharraf is the worst kind of "Bayghairat - Shameless" who openly allowed Political Freedom to Religious Fanatics to do whatever they like, let me take all of you back to history. Read and enjoy AS TO HOW GENERAL MUSHARRAF AND COMPANY ACCOMODATED MULLAHS AND TALIBAN UNDER THEIR VERY NOSE WHICH THE VERY SAME MUSHARRAF AND HIS MILITARY BRUTALLY CRUSHED AFTER A SINGLE TELEPHONE CALL FROM WASHINGTON, USA AFTER 911.
An estimated half a million delegates recently attended the International Deoband Conference at Taro Jaba near Peshawar. While the bulk of the delegates came from madrassas in Pakistan, there were also a number of them from Afghanistan and India. The conference was organised by the Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam of Pakistan headed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a cleric from the North West Frontier Province. Libya had sent a high-ranking envoy, Abdullah Jibran, to the conference. He read out a special message from Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi. According to reports from Pakistan a number of Deobandi leaders from India attended the conference including the highly respected Maulana Asad Madni and the vice-chancellor of the Dar ul Uloom, Deoband, Maulana Marghoob-ul-Rahman. The organisers of the conference, the JUI, have a continuing history of support for terrorist groups made up of fundamentalist, religious fanatics. They came into prominence during the CIA and ISI-supported struggle against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. They were somewhat marginalised by General Zia-ul Haq, who extended greater support to groups close to the Jamat Islami, then headed by a relative of General Zia — Mian Tufial Ahmed. But, when the Benazir Bhutto government decided to arm and train a new force for the ISI’s Afghan jehad in 1996, they turned to their coalition partner Maulana Fazlur Rahman to provide the cadres and leadership of the Taleban from the madrassas the JUI controlled in the NWFP and Baluchistan. The Taleban emerged from these madrassas to take control of most of Afghanistan with the active support of the ISI that provided arms, training and even officers and men from the Pakistan army, to participate in its military operations.
The JUI has not confined its activities to supporting the Taleban alone. When the ISI decided that secular groups like the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had to be sidelined in Jammu and Kashmir, it started supporting fanatical Jehadi terrorist groups like the Harkat-ul Ansar, which is now known as the Harkat-ul Mujahideen. It is well known that the supporters of the Harkat are linked to the JUI and that they have camps in Pakistan and in Taleban controlled areas of Afghanistan. The hijacking of IC-814 to Kandahar was organised by the Harkat-ul Mujahideen. The detained Harkat leader Maulana Masood Azhar, who was released and taken to Kandahar in the wake of the hijacking, of IC-814, was and is a close friend and associate of Maulana Fazlur Rahman. The hijackers including the brother of Maulana Masood Azhar were all supporters and members of the Harkat.
Azhar has now set up a new terrorist outfit called the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The UP police recently gunned down three terrorists of the Jaish near Lucknow. Maulana Rahman has also made no secret of his sympathy and support for Chechen separatists and their jehad against Russia. Thus, the conference near Peshawar was organized by people who are internationally known as being religious extremists, given to supporting Jehadi causes and terrorism across the world. The highlight of the three-day conference near Peshawar from April 8 to April 11 was the prominence given to the messages of Colonel Qadhafi, the Taleban leader Mullah Omar and the international terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In his message read out by Taleban Deputy Foreign Minister Mullah Ahsan Akhund, Mullah Omar slammed the United Nations as a western tool and claimed that Muslims were being oppressed in Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya. He asserted that Muslim countries were being subjected to all forms of aggression by non-Muslim powers, with the United Nations doing nothing to help Muslims and Muslim countries. Osama bin Laden described Mullah Omar as a “champion leader” because of his actions like the destruction of the statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan and for resisting armed attacks from “anti-Muslim elements”.
The delegates from India quite obviously did not want to be drawn into the controversies that were bound to arise because of the rhetoric of Mullah Omar, Osama bin Laden and Maulana Fazlur Rahman. Maulana Asad Madni, who was the chief guest at the concluding session, confined himself to praying for Allah’s religion to be observed by Muslims. Maulana Marghoobul Rahman made a scholarly speech referring to the educational, literary and political achievements of Dar-ul-Uloom in Deoband. He urged Muslims to refrain from aggression so that they are not labeled as terrorists or fundamentalists. In marked contrast, their host Maulana Fazlur Rahman strongly criticised the United Nations for its alleged hostility to the Muslim world. He poured venom on the United States and voiced support for the “oppressed Muslims” in Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnya. The resolutions adopted by the International Deoband Conference have far reaching implications. One resolution expressed concern over the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia and called on the Saudi government to expel the troops of the US and its allies from the Muslim holy land. This is a demand that has been consistently been voiced by Osama bin Laden. The conference thus became a tool of extremists who would not hesitate to criticize and destabilize the governments of Gulf Arab States. Another resolution called for the formation of a united Muslim bloc outside the United Nations to “liberate” Palestine and Jerusalem.
Given the close association of the JUI with virulently anti-Shia groups like the Sipah-e-Sahiba in Pakistan and the Taleban in Afghanistan, even Iran is not going to welcome the causes espoused by the conference, despite its strongly anti-American overtones. More importantly, such a conference could never have been held in Pakistan that is ruled by a military dictatorship, without the support and encouragement of the military government itself. General Pervez Musharraf’s government has, after all, banned political gatherings and even prevented foreign travel by political leaders whenever it found it necessary to do so. The permission accorded to the JUI to host the conference clearly indicates that General Musharraf has signaled to people in Pakistan that he understands and supports the causes espoused by the Taleban and Osama bin Laden.
Despite the rhetoric of Mullah Omar and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the resolution on Kashmir adopted by the conference is balanced. This resolution merely calls on the political leadership of India and Pakistan to find a peaceful and just solution to the Kashmir problem to save the sub-continent and Asia from nuclear confrontation. This resolution must have been something of a disappointment to the organizers, the fundamentalist Jehadi groups in Pakistan and to General Musharraf and his government. It is quite obvious that neither Maulana Madni nor Maulana Marghoob-ul Rahman would have countenanced the sentiments voiced by their hosts and Mullah Omar about Kashmir being reflected in the conference resolution. It is to their credit that this was made abundantly clear to their hosts. The Dar-ul-Uloom and the Deobandi leadership are held in high regard not only in India, but also throughout their world, primarily because they have sought to emphasise the egalitarian and spiritual values of Islam. Their role during India’s struggle for independence when they rejected proposals for partition of the country gives them a place of honour and respect in India.
But the leaders in Deoband would have to ask themselves honestly whether it is not a fact that religious bigots like Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden have tarnished the name of Deoband and the tenets of Islam, by their practices and the policies they espouse. Was not the name of Deoband hijacked by such people to organise a conference that extolled bigotry and violence and seriously sought to undermine the policies of governments in friendly Arab countries like Saudi Arabia? It is time for those who cherish the values that Deoband has consistently stood for and espoused, to openly disassociate themselves from the resolutions passed and the extremist and bigoted views expressed at the conference they attended. REFERENCE: Comprehensive Coverage of the Three-day Deobandi Conference Held in Pakistan on April 9, 2001 Tuesday, April 10, 2001 — Moharram Ul Harram 15,1422 A.H
PESHAWAR: Speaking at a largely-attended conference dedicated to the achievements of Darul Uloom Deoband in India during the past 150 years, religious scholars from Pakistan and abroad said Muslims were suffering all over the world due to disunity in their ranks and on account of Western conspiracies against Islam. The three-day conference, which began here on Monday in a huge open ground at Taru Jabba town near Peshawar, is being attended by members and supporters of Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami (JUI) from all the provinces. A huge tented village has sprung up in the sprawling, under-construction Wapda Colony where the event is being staged. Vehicles flying the JUI-F flags brought thousands of party workers, many carrying their beddings, to the venue even after the formal opening of the conference. Elaborate arrangements for seating and feeding the participants were made by the organisers, who claimed rather unconvincingly that the attendance was one million strong. Also attending are delegations from India, Afghanistan, Iran, UK, UAE, Libya and Saudi Arabia. The Indian delegation included Darul Uloom Deoband’s head Maulana Marghoobur Rahman and his deputy Qari Mohammad Usman and Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind leader Maulana Asad Madni. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban were represented by a deputy minister Mulla Mohammad Hussain and Badghis province governor Mulla Abdul Mannan. An Iranian delegation comprising Maulana Ishaq Madni and Syed Mohammad Rizvi, both advisers to President Mohammad Khatemi, as well as Peshawar-based consul general Abbas Ali Abdullahi, also attended the conference.
Among Pakistani politicians, only Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and Maulana Samiul Haq, who heads a rival faction of JUI, were invited to speak. Others like Jamaat-i-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, National Awami Party Pakistan president Ajmal Khattak, Tanzim-i-Islami head Dr Israr Ahmad and former ISI chief Lt Gen (Retd) Hamid Gul sat on the stage listening to the large number of speakers. Almost all known Ulema and JUI politicians were present at the conference but only Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Maulana Hasan Jan, Maulana Mohammad Amir Bijlighar, Maulana Dr Sher Ali Shah, Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, Maulana Izzatullah Shah, etc got the opportunity to speak on the opening day. The different sessions were presided by Maulana Marghoobur Rahman from India, the JUI-F patron Maulana Khan Mohammad Kundian Sharif and the party’s NWFP head Maulana Amanullah. Narrating the services of Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Fazlur Rahman said its ulema and students were in the forefront of the freedom struggle against the British Raj and in spreading the light of religious education in the subcontinent. He said the Ulema of Deoband set up madaressah to educate Muslims and defend Islam.
Criticising the US-led Western countries, he said Muslims were at the receiving end in all conflict zones in the world such as Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia, etc and they were justified in fighting back to protect their rights. Other JUI leaders said it was due to the struggle and sacrifices of Deoband Ulema and their followers that India and Pakistan won freedom from the British colonialists, the Tableegh movement was launched and the Taliban captured power and enforced Shariah in Afghanistan. Qari Mohammad Usman, deputy head of Darul Uloom Deoband, reminded that it was due to the campaign by Ulema and students of Deoband that the Qadiani movement couldn’t succeed. He said Deoband graduates spread all over the world were busy serving Islam and Muslims. Iran’s Maulana Ishaq Madni regretted that Muslims and the Islamic countries were never so weak and vulnerable despite the big increase in their numbers and the accumulation of resources and military hardware by the Muslim states. He made an impassioned plea for unity in Muslims ranks and the shunning of factionalism and sectarianism to combat the conspiracies against Islam by anti-Islamic forces. Nawabzada Nasrullah also praised the contribution by Darul Uloom Deoband in the freedom struggle in undivided India. However, he soon reverted to his favourite subject by demanding holding of elections in Pakistan to elect a popular government that is capable of solving the problems of the people and fighting American imperialism. REFERENCE: ‘Muslims suffering due to West’s conspiracies’ The News International, Pakistan By Rahimullah Yusufzai Tuesday, April 10, 2001 — Moharram Ul Harram 15,1422 A.H
WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) — Weeks after destroying Afghanistan’s Buddhist relics, the Taliban and their supporters are meeting other Muslim radicals in Pakistan this week to seek a greater alliance of Muslim activists. The conference began with a major success for the organizers; bringing together the Taliban and their Iranian adversaries to discuss options for removing their differences. The Taliban belong to the Deobandi school of Muslim jurisprudence, named after a small town in northern India, while the Iranians are Shiites. The two groups have major theological differences that have often led to violent clashes in the past. The Deobandis lead Pakistan’s Sipah-i-Sahaba group which has killed thousands of Shiites during the last five years. The Iranians provide weapons and financial assistance to the rebels fighting the Deobandi Taliban in Afghanistan. The conference also brings another radical Muslim group, the Jamaat-i-Islami, face to face with the Deobandi clerics, who otherwise strongly dislike the Western-educated Islamists of the Jamaat. “They have certainly been encouraged by, what they see as, the Taliban’s victories against the West,” says Farhat Huq, who teaches political science at the Monmouth College in Illinois. “Although not all of them endorse the Taliban decision to demolish Buddhist statues, they admire the way the religious militia ignored the Western demand to stop the destruction.” The 150-year old Deoband seminary in India has trained hundreds of thousands of Muslim clerics in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who vehemently reject “Western cultural and social influences over the Islamic world,” says Nasir Zaidi, a Pakistani journalist flogged in the early 1980s for demanding a free press in Pakistan.
“Stop your aggression against the Muslims or face the consequences,”warned Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Islam party which organized the conference. The former chief of Pakistan’s military intelligence, General Hameed Gul, urged the participants “not to allow the West to destroy the Taliban” as the West hated the religious militia “for enforcing an Islamic code of life in Afghanistan.” To strengthen their demand for replacing Pakistan’s Western-inspired judicial system with the Islamic courts, the conference has set up its own courts to deal with the crime committed during the three-day meeting. “If the Muslims adopt the real spirit of Islam, there is no reason why they remain behind any other nation in the world,” said Maulana Ishaq Madni, an adviser to the Iranian president who came especially from Iran to attend the conference. Delegations have also come from Libya, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territory and other Muslim countries and those representing Muslim minorities in the West. Food kiosks are observing a ban on American products, signs advertising Coca-Cola have been painted over and posters depicting burning U.S. flags are on sale. The boycott is said to be in protest at U.N. sanctions imposed on the Taliban over its refusal to hand over suspected Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden. “The powers responsible for the oppression of Muslims in the Middle East, Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Kashmir should realize that the Muslims are beginning to understand their game,” said Rahman, one of the leaders responsible for gathering various Muslim sects at the conference. “If their aggressive trend persists, we have the full right to defend ourselves against their aggression,” he said. The organizers also endorsed Rahman’s demand for the creation of an Islamic state in Pakistan similar to the Taliban’s regime. REFERENCE: Analysis: Muslim radicals flex muscles Monday, 9 April 2001 21:44 (ET) By ANWAR IQBAL
PESHAWAR: The three-day international Deoband Conference on Wednesday concluded after adopting resolutions challenging the hegemony of US and its allies in world; demanding end to UN sanctions against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and early withdrawal of US-led Western troops from Arab lands. The conference called for formation of a united Muslim block outside the “pro-Jewish” UN to liberate Al-Quds and rest of Palestine from Israeli occupation and protect the rights of Muslims. Another resolution urged the political leadership of India and Pakistan to find a peaceful and just solution to the Kashmir problem to save the subcontinent and Asia from a nuclear confrontation. The sixth resolution accused international media of being biased and anti-Islam and called upon the Muslim Ummah to establish its own information network to break free from the Jewish-controlled medias. The resolutions were read by JUI leader Maulana Abdul Majeed Nadeem in the concluding session of the conference, and were adopted. The anti-US and anti-West tone of the conference, which continued all three days, peaked on Wednesday when US was described in one of the resolutions as “man-eater” who for the first time dropped atomic bomb on another country.
The resolutions demanded end to US hegemony on weapons in the world so that humanity could be saved from such exploitative forces. The conference was declared closed after a 20-minute prayers led by Darul Uloom Deoband’s deputy head Qari Mohammad Usman during which he sought Almighty’s blessings for Muslims. Earlier, Dastarbandi of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman was performed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind President Maulana Maulana Syed Asad Madni and Darul Uloom Deoband head Maulana Marghoobur Rahman. Several JUI office bearers were also honoured by tying turbans on their heads in recognition of their efforts to successfully organise the conference. On the concluding day, the largely-attended conference at Taru Jabba town near Peshawar was addressed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Maulana Asad Madni, Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, former Afghan mujahideen leader Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Abdul Salam Zaef, Maulana Ajmal Khan, Maulana Gul Nasib Khan, Maulana Niamatullah Azmi and Mufti Habibur Rahman Khairabadi. The last-named two were from India, as were Maulanas Madni and Marghoobur Rahman.
A taped message of the Pashto-speaking Taliban supreme leader, Mulla Mohammad Omar, was read out at the conference and simultaneously translated into Urdu. Mulla Omar condemned the UN Security Council sanctions against Afghanistan as unjust and unwarranted and alleged that the Taliban were being punished for enforcing Shariah in their country. He complained that the good deeds of the Taliban like restoring peace in Afghanistan and banning opium poppy-cultivation were ignored while human rights issues were wrongly and deliberately highlighted to malign the Taliban. He argued: “The infidels consider Islam a threat to their worldwide interests. So every effort is made to weaken Muslims. In Afghanistan we control 95 per cent of the country but we are referred to as one of the factions and denied recognition.” He stressed the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would never abandon Islamic principles and would accept no compromise if it clashed with their religious beliefs. Maulana Asad Madni, who was chief guest during the concluding session, excused himself from making a speech by saying he wasn’t a fire-spitting orator. He just prayed for Allah’s religion to be enforced on Allah’s land.
The 80-year old Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, who wasn’t feeling well, haltingly read out part of his long speech and later allowed a colleague to complete it for him. His was a scholarly speech and it focused on the educational, literary and political achievements of Darul Uloom Deoband. He said the Deoband religious school in India had 3,500 students, 80 teachers and 250 other staffers and its yearly annual budget pooled through donations was Rs 52.4 million. The Maulana urged the Muslims to refrain from aggression as preached by the Deoband Ulema so that the anti-Islam forces are unable to describe them as terrorists and fundamentalists. Maulana Fazlur Rahman noted that the mammoth gathering of Muslims at the Deoband Conference was a clear signal to the world, especially to the US and its allies, to either accept the hands of friendship extended to them by the Muslims and give up the policy of confrontation against Islam or be ready for the consequences. “In case the US continues to speak in the language of force, the Muslims would be constrained to fight back and defend themselves,” he warned. The Maulana, who claimed the Deoband Conference attracted between one million to 1.5 million, stressed the need for constituting an Islamic coordiation council to jointly struggle for Islamic causes and against West’s anti-Islam conspiracies and non-governmental organizations. He said the UN sanctions imposed against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya were unjust and cruel and, therefore, unacceptable. Reuters adds: Condemning international sanctions against Muslim nations and demanding immediate withdrawal of Western forces from Saudi Arabia, the conference also slammed the United States and its allies as being “anti-human”. “This meeting condemns the anti-human and anti-peace cruel attitude of the United States and its allies,” its resolution, approved by people waving their hands in the air, said. “Sanctions against Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are open aggression against Muslims; they should be immediately lifted. “The presence of American and European armed forces in Saudi Arabia is the biggest tragedy of our times. We demand of our Arab brothers to arrange an early removal of these forces,” the resolution concluded. REFERENCE: ‘Muslims suffering due to West’s conspiracies’ The News International, Pakistan By Rahimullah Yusufzai Thursday, April 12, 2001 — Moharram Ul Harram 17,1422 A.H Deoband moot ends condemning US hegemony The News International, Pakistan By Rahimullah Yusufzai
An estimated half a million delegates recently attended the International Deoband Conference at Taro Jaba near Peshawar. While the bulk of the delegates came from madrassas in Pakistan, there were also a number of them from Afghanistan and India. The conference was organised by the Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam of Pakistan headed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a cleric from the North West Frontier Province. Libya had sent a high-ranking envoy, Abdullah Jibran, to the conference. He read out a special message from Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi. According to reports from Pakistan a number of Deobandi leaders from India attended the conference including the highly respected Maulana Asad Madni and the vice-chancellor of the Dar ul Uloom, Deoband, Maulana Marghoob-ul-Rahman. The organisers of the conference, the JUI, have a continuing history of support for terrorist groups made up of fundamentalist, religious fanatics. They came into prominence during the CIA and ISI-supported struggle against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. They were somewhat marginalised by General Zia-ul Haq, who extended greater support to groups close to the Jamat Islami, then headed by a relative of General Zia — Mian Tufial Ahmed. But, when the Benazir Bhutto government decided to arm and train a new force for the ISI’s Afghan jehad in 1996, they turned to their coalition partner Maulana Fazlur Rahman to provide the cadres and leadership of the Taleban from the madrassas the JUI controlled in the NWFP and Baluchistan. The Taleban emerged from these madrassas to take control of most of Afghanistan with the active support of the ISI that provided arms, training and even officers and men from the Pakistan army, to participate in its military operations.The JUI has not confined its activities to supporting the Taleban alone. When the ISI decided that secular groups like the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had to be sidelined in Jammu and Kashmir, it started supporting fanatical Jehadi terrorist groups like the Harkat-ul Ansar, which is now known as the Harkat-ul Mujahideen. It is well known that the supporters of the Harkat are linked to the JUI and that they have camps in Pakistan and in Taleban controlled areas of Afghanistan. The hijacking of IC-814 to Kandahar was organised by the Harkat-ul Mujahideen. The detained Harkat leader Maulana Masood Azhar, who was released and taken to Kandahar in the wake of the hijacking, of IC-814, was and is a close friend and associate of Maulana Fazlur Rahman. The hijackers including the brother of Maulana Masood Azhar were all supporters and members of the Harkat.
Azhar has now set up a new terrorist outfit called the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The UP police recently gunned down three terrorists of the Jaish near Lucknow. Maulana Rahman has also made no secret of his sympathy and support for Chechen separatists and their jehad against Russia. Thus, the conference near Peshawar was organized by people who are internationally known as being religious extremists, given to supporting Jehadi causes and terrorism across the world. The highlight of the three-day conference near Peshawar from April 8 to April 11 was the prominence given to the messages of Colonel Qadhafi, the Taleban leader Mullah Omar and the international terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In his message read out by Taleban Deputy Foreign Minister Mullah Ahsan Akhund, Mullah Omar slammed the United Nations as a western tool and claimed that Muslims were being oppressed in Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya. He asserted that Muslim countries were being subjected to all forms of aggression by non-Muslim powers, with the United Nations doing nothing to help Muslims and Muslim countries. Osama bin Laden described Mullah Omar as a “champion leader” because of his actions like the destruction of the statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan and for resisting armed attacks from “anti-Muslim elements”.
The delegates from India quite obviously did not want to be drawn into the controversies that were bound to arise because of the rhetoric of Mullah Omar, Osama bin Laden and Maulana Fazlur Rahman. Maulana Asad Madni, who was the chief guest at the concluding session, confined himself to praying for Allah’s religion to be observed by Muslims. Maulana Marghoobul Rahman made a scholarly speech referring to the educational, literary and political achievements of Dar-ul-Uloom in Deoband. He urged Muslims to refrain from aggression so that they are not labeled as terrorists or fundamentalists. In marked contrast, their host Maulana Fazlur Rahman strongly criticised the United Nations for its alleged hostility to the Muslim world. He poured venom on the United States and voiced support for the “oppressed Muslims” in Kashmir, Palestine, Bosnia and Chechnya. The resolutions adopted by the International Deoband Conference have far reaching implications. One resolution expressed concern over the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia and called on the Saudi government to expel the troops of the US and its allies from the Muslim holy land. This is a demand that has been consistently been voiced by Osama bin Laden. The conference thus became a tool of extremists who would not hesitate to criticize and destabilize the governments of Gulf Arab States. Another resolution called for the formation of a united Muslim bloc outside the United Nations to “liberate” Palestine and Jerusalem.
Given the close association of the JUI with virulently anti-Shia groups like the Sipah-e-Sahiba in Pakistan and the Taleban in Afghanistan, even Iran is not going to welcome the causes espoused by the conference, despite its strongly anti-American overtones. More importantly, such a conference could never have been held in Pakistan that is ruled by a military dictatorship, without the support and encouragement of the military government itself. General Pervez Musharraf’s government has, after all, banned political gatherings and even prevented foreign travel by political leaders whenever it found it necessary to do so. The permission accorded to the JUI to host the conference clearly indicates that General Musharraf has signaled to people in Pakistan that he understands and supports the causes espoused by the Taleban and Osama bin Laden.
Despite the rhetoric of Mullah Omar and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the resolution on Kashmir adopted by the conference is balanced. This resolution merely calls on the political leadership of India and Pakistan to find a peaceful and just solution to the Kashmir problem to save the sub-continent and Asia from nuclear confrontation. This resolution must have been something of a disappointment to the organizers, the fundamentalist Jehadi groups in Pakistan and to General Musharraf and his government. It is quite obvious that neither Maulana Madni nor Maulana Marghoob-ul Rahman would have countenanced the sentiments voiced by their hosts and Mullah Omar about Kashmir being reflected in the conference resolution. It is to their credit that this was made abundantly clear to their hosts. The Dar-ul-Uloom and the Deobandi leadership are held in high regard not only in India, but also throughout their world, primarily because they have sought to emphasise the egalitarian and spiritual values of Islam. Their role during India’s struggle for independence when they rejected proposals for partition of the country gives them a place of honour and respect in India.
But the leaders in Deoband would have to ask themselves honestly whether it is not a fact that religious bigots like Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden have tarnished the name of Deoband and the tenets of Islam, by their practices and the policies they espouse. Was not the name of Deoband hijacked by such people to organise a conference that extolled bigotry and violence and seriously sought to undermine the policies of governments in friendly Arab countries like Saudi Arabia? It is time for those who cherish the values that Deoband has consistently stood for and espoused, to openly disassociate themselves from the resolutions passed and the extremist and bigoted views expressed at the conference they attended. REFERENCE: Comprehensive Coverage of the Three-day Deobandi Conference Held in Pakistan on April 9, 2001 Tuesday, April 10, 2001 — Moharram Ul Harram 15,1422 A.H
PESHAWAR: Speaking at a largely-attended conference dedicated to the achievements of Darul Uloom Deoband in India during the past 150 years, religious scholars from Pakistan and abroad said Muslims were suffering all over the world due to disunity in their ranks and on account of Western conspiracies against Islam. The three-day conference, which began here on Monday in a huge open ground at Taru Jabba town near Peshawar, is being attended by members and supporters of Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami (JUI) from all the provinces. A huge tented village has sprung up in the sprawling, under-construction Wapda Colony where the event is being staged. Vehicles flying the JUI-F flags brought thousands of party workers, many carrying their beddings, to the venue even after the formal opening of the conference. Elaborate arrangements for seating and feeding the participants were made by the organisers, who claimed rather unconvincingly that the attendance was one million strong. Also attending are delegations from India, Afghanistan, Iran, UK, UAE, Libya and Saudi Arabia. The Indian delegation included Darul Uloom Deoband’s head Maulana Marghoobur Rahman and his deputy Qari Mohammad Usman and Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind leader Maulana Asad Madni. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban were represented by a deputy minister Mulla Mohammad Hussain and Badghis province governor Mulla Abdul Mannan. An Iranian delegation comprising Maulana Ishaq Madni and Syed Mohammad Rizvi, both advisers to President Mohammad Khatemi, as well as Peshawar-based consul general Abbas Ali Abdullahi, also attended the conference.Among Pakistani politicians, only Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and Maulana Samiul Haq, who heads a rival faction of JUI, were invited to speak. Others like Jamaat-i-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, National Awami Party Pakistan president Ajmal Khattak, Tanzim-i-Islami head Dr Israr Ahmad and former ISI chief Lt Gen (Retd) Hamid Gul sat on the stage listening to the large number of speakers. Almost all known Ulema and JUI politicians were present at the conference but only Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Maulana Hasan Jan, Maulana Mohammad Amir Bijlighar, Maulana Dr Sher Ali Shah, Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, Maulana Izzatullah Shah, etc got the opportunity to speak on the opening day. The different sessions were presided by Maulana Marghoobur Rahman from India, the JUI-F patron Maulana Khan Mohammad Kundian Sharif and the party’s NWFP head Maulana Amanullah. Narrating the services of Darul Uloom Deoband, Maulana Fazlur Rahman said its ulema and students were in the forefront of the freedom struggle against the British Raj and in spreading the light of religious education in the subcontinent. He said the Ulema of Deoband set up madaressah to educate Muslims and defend Islam.
Criticising the US-led Western countries, he said Muslims were at the receiving end in all conflict zones in the world such as Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia, etc and they were justified in fighting back to protect their rights. Other JUI leaders said it was due to the struggle and sacrifices of Deoband Ulema and their followers that India and Pakistan won freedom from the British colonialists, the Tableegh movement was launched and the Taliban captured power and enforced Shariah in Afghanistan. Qari Mohammad Usman, deputy head of Darul Uloom Deoband, reminded that it was due to the campaign by Ulema and students of Deoband that the Qadiani movement couldn’t succeed. He said Deoband graduates spread all over the world were busy serving Islam and Muslims. Iran’s Maulana Ishaq Madni regretted that Muslims and the Islamic countries were never so weak and vulnerable despite the big increase in their numbers and the accumulation of resources and military hardware by the Muslim states. He made an impassioned plea for unity in Muslims ranks and the shunning of factionalism and sectarianism to combat the conspiracies against Islam by anti-Islamic forces. Nawabzada Nasrullah also praised the contribution by Darul Uloom Deoband in the freedom struggle in undivided India. However, he soon reverted to his favourite subject by demanding holding of elections in Pakistan to elect a popular government that is capable of solving the problems of the people and fighting American imperialism. REFERENCE: ‘Muslims suffering due to West’s conspiracies’ The News International, Pakistan By Rahimullah Yusufzai Tuesday, April 10, 2001 — Moharram Ul Harram 15,1422 A.H
WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) — Weeks after destroying Afghanistan’s Buddhist relics, the Taliban and their supporters are meeting other Muslim radicals in Pakistan this week to seek a greater alliance of Muslim activists. The conference began with a major success for the organizers; bringing together the Taliban and their Iranian adversaries to discuss options for removing their differences. The Taliban belong to the Deobandi school of Muslim jurisprudence, named after a small town in northern India, while the Iranians are Shiites. The two groups have major theological differences that have often led to violent clashes in the past. The Deobandis lead Pakistan’s Sipah-i-Sahaba group which has killed thousands of Shiites during the last five years. The Iranians provide weapons and financial assistance to the rebels fighting the Deobandi Taliban in Afghanistan. The conference also brings another radical Muslim group, the Jamaat-i-Islami, face to face with the Deobandi clerics, who otherwise strongly dislike the Western-educated Islamists of the Jamaat. “They have certainly been encouraged by, what they see as, the Taliban’s victories against the West,” says Farhat Huq, who teaches political science at the Monmouth College in Illinois. “Although not all of them endorse the Taliban decision to demolish Buddhist statues, they admire the way the religious militia ignored the Western demand to stop the destruction.” The 150-year old Deoband seminary in India has trained hundreds of thousands of Muslim clerics in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who vehemently reject “Western cultural and social influences over the Islamic world,” says Nasir Zaidi, a Pakistani journalist flogged in the early 1980s for demanding a free press in Pakistan.
“Stop your aggression against the Muslims or face the consequences,”warned Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Islam party which organized the conference. The former chief of Pakistan’s military intelligence, General Hameed Gul, urged the participants “not to allow the West to destroy the Taliban” as the West hated the religious militia “for enforcing an Islamic code of life in Afghanistan.” To strengthen their demand for replacing Pakistan’s Western-inspired judicial system with the Islamic courts, the conference has set up its own courts to deal with the crime committed during the three-day meeting. “If the Muslims adopt the real spirit of Islam, there is no reason why they remain behind any other nation in the world,” said Maulana Ishaq Madni, an adviser to the Iranian president who came especially from Iran to attend the conference. Delegations have also come from Libya, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territory and other Muslim countries and those representing Muslim minorities in the West. Food kiosks are observing a ban on American products, signs advertising Coca-Cola have been painted over and posters depicting burning U.S. flags are on sale. The boycott is said to be in protest at U.N. sanctions imposed on the Taliban over its refusal to hand over suspected Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden. “The powers responsible for the oppression of Muslims in the Middle East, Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Kashmir should realize that the Muslims are beginning to understand their game,” said Rahman, one of the leaders responsible for gathering various Muslim sects at the conference. “If their aggressive trend persists, we have the full right to defend ourselves against their aggression,” he said. The organizers also endorsed Rahman’s demand for the creation of an Islamic state in Pakistan similar to the Taliban’s regime. REFERENCE: Analysis: Muslim radicals flex muscles Monday, 9 April 2001 21:44 (ET) By ANWAR IQBAL
PESHAWAR: The three-day international Deoband Conference on Wednesday concluded after adopting resolutions challenging the hegemony of US and its allies in world; demanding end to UN sanctions against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and early withdrawal of US-led Western troops from Arab lands. The conference called for formation of a united Muslim block outside the “pro-Jewish” UN to liberate Al-Quds and rest of Palestine from Israeli occupation and protect the rights of Muslims. Another resolution urged the political leadership of India and Pakistan to find a peaceful and just solution to the Kashmir problem to save the subcontinent and Asia from a nuclear confrontation. The sixth resolution accused international media of being biased and anti-Islam and called upon the Muslim Ummah to establish its own information network to break free from the Jewish-controlled medias. The resolutions were read by JUI leader Maulana Abdul Majeed Nadeem in the concluding session of the conference, and were adopted. The anti-US and anti-West tone of the conference, which continued all three days, peaked on Wednesday when US was described in one of the resolutions as “man-eater” who for the first time dropped atomic bomb on another country.The resolutions demanded end to US hegemony on weapons in the world so that humanity could be saved from such exploitative forces. The conference was declared closed after a 20-minute prayers led by Darul Uloom Deoband’s deputy head Qari Mohammad Usman during which he sought Almighty’s blessings for Muslims. Earlier, Dastarbandi of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman was performed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind President Maulana Maulana Syed Asad Madni and Darul Uloom Deoband head Maulana Marghoobur Rahman. Several JUI office bearers were also honoured by tying turbans on their heads in recognition of their efforts to successfully organise the conference. On the concluding day, the largely-attended conference at Taru Jabba town near Peshawar was addressed by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Maulana Asad Madni, Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, former Afghan mujahideen leader Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mulla Abdul Salam Zaef, Maulana Ajmal Khan, Maulana Gul Nasib Khan, Maulana Niamatullah Azmi and Mufti Habibur Rahman Khairabadi. The last-named two were from India, as were Maulanas Madni and Marghoobur Rahman.
A taped message of the Pashto-speaking Taliban supreme leader, Mulla Mohammad Omar, was read out at the conference and simultaneously translated into Urdu. Mulla Omar condemned the UN Security Council sanctions against Afghanistan as unjust and unwarranted and alleged that the Taliban were being punished for enforcing Shariah in their country. He complained that the good deeds of the Taliban like restoring peace in Afghanistan and banning opium poppy-cultivation were ignored while human rights issues were wrongly and deliberately highlighted to malign the Taliban. He argued: “The infidels consider Islam a threat to their worldwide interests. So every effort is made to weaken Muslims. In Afghanistan we control 95 per cent of the country but we are referred to as one of the factions and denied recognition.” He stressed the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would never abandon Islamic principles and would accept no compromise if it clashed with their religious beliefs. Maulana Asad Madni, who was chief guest during the concluding session, excused himself from making a speech by saying he wasn’t a fire-spitting orator. He just prayed for Allah’s religion to be enforced on Allah’s land.
The 80-year old Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, who wasn’t feeling well, haltingly read out part of his long speech and later allowed a colleague to complete it for him. His was a scholarly speech and it focused on the educational, literary and political achievements of Darul Uloom Deoband. He said the Deoband religious school in India had 3,500 students, 80 teachers and 250 other staffers and its yearly annual budget pooled through donations was Rs 52.4 million. The Maulana urged the Muslims to refrain from aggression as preached by the Deoband Ulema so that the anti-Islam forces are unable to describe them as terrorists and fundamentalists. Maulana Fazlur Rahman noted that the mammoth gathering of Muslims at the Deoband Conference was a clear signal to the world, especially to the US and its allies, to either accept the hands of friendship extended to them by the Muslims and give up the policy of confrontation against Islam or be ready for the consequences. “In case the US continues to speak in the language of force, the Muslims would be constrained to fight back and defend themselves,” he warned. The Maulana, who claimed the Deoband Conference attracted between one million to 1.5 million, stressed the need for constituting an Islamic coordiation council to jointly struggle for Islamic causes and against West’s anti-Islam conspiracies and non-governmental organizations. He said the UN sanctions imposed against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya were unjust and cruel and, therefore, unacceptable. Reuters adds: Condemning international sanctions against Muslim nations and demanding immediate withdrawal of Western forces from Saudi Arabia, the conference also slammed the United States and its allies as being “anti-human”. “This meeting condemns the anti-human and anti-peace cruel attitude of the United States and its allies,” its resolution, approved by people waving their hands in the air, said. “Sanctions against Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are open aggression against Muslims; they should be immediately lifted. “The presence of American and European armed forces in Saudi Arabia is the biggest tragedy of our times. We demand of our Arab brothers to arrange an early removal of these forces,” the resolution concluded. REFERENCE: ‘Muslims suffering due to West’s conspiracies’ The News International, Pakistan By Rahimullah Yusufzai Thursday, April 12, 2001 — Moharram Ul Harram 17,1422 A.H Deoband moot ends condemning US hegemony The News International, Pakistan By Rahimullah Yusufzai
Enjoy the picture of Leftist Deobandi Labour Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai with his Caliph Freedom Fighter Masood Azhar: and Guess what it was Karachi Press Club under General The Grunt Enlightened Musharraf’s tenure??? REFERENCE: Sunday, February 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India Masood Azhar, right, accompanied by leader of Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen Mufti Nizamuddin, speaks at Karachi press club on Friday. — PTI http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000206/world.htmChief Mufti Binnori Town Nizamuddin Shamzai:
He also extended support to the Taliban government in Afghanistan. He issued a Fatwa against the US when it launched an invasion of Afghanistan. In February 2001, he, along with the late Maulana Yousuf Ludhyanvi, pledged his loyalty to Maulana Masood Azhar of the Jaish-i-Mohammad. Maulana Shamzai remained associated with many religious parties, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rahman group), Aalami Khatm-i- Nabowwat and Mufti Mahmood Academy. Maulana Shamzai leaves behind his widow, three sons and five daughters. Life-sketch of Shamzai By Our Staff Reporter 31May 2004 Monday 11 Rabi-us-Saani 1425http://www.dawn.com/2004/05/31/nat7.htm
Madressah Haqqania Akhora Khattak
This view is reinforced by the contradictory statements of Pakistani officials. On December 7, Pakistani authorities issued a statement that Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, had been placed under house arrested at his Bahawalpur residence in Punjab. But on December 17, first the Pakistan envoy to New Delhi and then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stunned everybody by saying that Azhar was at large and not in Pakistan. Azhar, a firebrand orator in favor of jihad although he has never been a combatant, was arrested in India in 1994 over his connections with the Kashmiri separatist group Harkatul Mujahideen. In December 1999, Azhar was freed along with separatist guerrillas Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Shiekh (the abductor of US reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002) by the Indian government in exchange for passengers on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 that was held hostage in Kandahar, Afghanistan, under Taliban control. In 2000, Azhar, claimed by Pakistan to have never entered Pakistan, announced the formation of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, at a press briefing at the Karachi Press Club, along with the now slain Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai. Jaish was banned in 2002 under US pressure, but Azhar remained close to the Pakistani establishment, mainly because he refused to support al-Qaeda against the Pakistan military. Why Pakistan’s military is gun shy By Syed Saleem Shahzad South Asia Dec 24, 2008http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL24Df03.html
He also extended support to the Taliban government in Afghanistan. He issued a Fatwa against the US when it launched an invasion of Afghanistan. In February 2001, he, along with the late Maulana Yousuf Ludhyanvi, pledged his loyalty to Maulana Masood Azhar of the Jaish-i-Mohammad. Maulana Shamzai remained associated with many religious parties, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rahman group), Aalami Khatm-i- Nabowwat and Mufti Mahmood Academy. Maulana Shamzai leaves behind his widow, three sons and five daughters. Life-sketch of Shamzai By Our Staff Reporter 31May 2004 Monday 11 Rabi-us-Saani 1425http://www.dawn.com/2004/05/31/nat7.htm
Madressah Haqqania Akhora Khattak
This view is reinforced by the contradictory statements of Pakistani officials. On December 7, Pakistani authorities issued a statement that Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, had been placed under house arrested at his Bahawalpur residence in Punjab. But on December 17, first the Pakistan envoy to New Delhi and then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stunned everybody by saying that Azhar was at large and not in Pakistan. Azhar, a firebrand orator in favor of jihad although he has never been a combatant, was arrested in India in 1994 over his connections with the Kashmiri separatist group Harkatul Mujahideen. In December 1999, Azhar was freed along with separatist guerrillas Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Shiekh (the abductor of US reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002) by the Indian government in exchange for passengers on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 that was held hostage in Kandahar, Afghanistan, under Taliban control. In 2000, Azhar, claimed by Pakistan to have never entered Pakistan, announced the formation of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, at a press briefing at the Karachi Press Club, along with the now slain Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai. Jaish was banned in 2002 under US pressure, but Azhar remained close to the Pakistani establishment, mainly because he refused to support al-Qaeda against the Pakistan military. Why Pakistan’s military is gun shy By Syed Saleem Shahzad South Asia Dec 24, 2008http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL24Df03.html
KANDAHAR, Dec 31: The eight-day hijacking of an Indian airliner with 160 people on board came to a sudden end on New Year’s Eve after India bowed to demands to release three Kashmiri freedom Fighters. After five days of intense negotiations, the five hijackers gave up peacefully just after Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh arrived in Kandahar with the three Mujahideen whose release had been demanded by the hijackers. Wearing masks and armed with pistols, the five hijackers descended from the Airbus A300, got into a van and were driven away from the airport. Shortly afterwards the passengers, trapped and blindfolded for long stretches inside the plane since Dec 24, began to emerge. The 160 passengers and crew were immediately driven in buses to two waiting Indian aircraft and flown to India. Those released included the widow of the only fatality during the hijacking – a newlywed Indian who was stabbed to death, apparently for peeking at the hijackers through his blindfold when the plane was seized on Christmas Eve en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The plane eventually landed in Kandahar, the Taliban headquarters, on Saturday after crisscrossing South Asia and the Gulf. “As a result of the negotiations with the Taliban and the hijackers, there has been an agreement for the release of all the hostages in exchange for three militants,” Indian National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra told reporters in New Delhi. He identified the three Mujahideen as Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Zargar and Ahmad Umar Syed. One of the key issues in the negotiations had been the fate of the hijackers. But Singh scotched rumours they would be given political asylum by the Taliban in Afghanistan, saying they had just 10 hours to leave the country. It was not immediately clear what had happened to the three Kashmiris freed from Indian jails when they arrived in Afghanistan. Azhar, a charismatic scholar arrested in held Kashmir in 1994, was a senior leader of the Harkat-ul-Ansar, one of several hardline Muslim groups fighting Indian occupation forces in Kashmir. India has accused the Harkat of staging the hijacking. Zargar is described by Indian officials as one of the founding fathers of “militancy” in held Kashmir.-AFP REFERENCE: Hijackers get three freedom fighters released Week Ending : 01 January 2000 Issue : 06/01http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/01jan00.htmlHe released a letter written in June 1996 by former interior minister Gen (retd) Naseerullah Babar, to the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad seeking Masood’s release on humanitarian grounds. In the letter, Khan described Masood as a young “Pakistani journalist… (who) travelled to India in February 1994 on a Portuguese passport under the name of Essa bin Adam. Apparently he had gone to India to see the conditions in Jammu and Kashmir himself for some report for his magazine”. REFERENCE: Indian plane’s hijacking: Pakistan seeks Nepalese findings Week Ending : 8 January 2000 Issue : 06/02 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/08jan00.html
Rubin further said Pakistan must assure the safety of US citizens, Indians and all foreigners in their country. “We would hold the government of Pakistan responsible for Masood’s activities which threaten the lives of our citizens. Masood Azhar is the secretary general of the renamed ‘terrorist’ organization. REF: US warns Pakistan over Azhar’s threats. Week Ending : 8 January 2000 Issue : 06/02http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/08jan00.html
News item – “Leaders of religious organizations have said that Khatam-i-Nabuwat conference shall be held today at Mosque Aisha, Sector 11-B North Karachi, under any circumstances. And today evening, in an emergency meeting, central office bearers of Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, Sipah-i-Sahaba, Pakistan Shariat Council, Sawad-i-Azam Ahl-i-Sunnat, International Khatam-i-Nabuwat, Tanzeem Ulema-i-Pakistan, Jaish Muhammad, Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami shall declare strategy for resisting mosque demolition. “Deputy Secretary General of Pakistan Shariat Council and head of Tehrik-i-Ansar-ul-Islam, Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ansari, has said in his statement that in the eyes of Mohtasib, liquor stores are sacred instead of mosque. Mohtasib has issued directions on the advice of English newspaper columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee and minorities member of dissolved Sindh Assembly, Mehromal Jagwani. He said that his crime was that some weeks back he had taken a strong stand and made a speech against Cowasjee in a local hotel and asked Mohtasib Haziq-ul-Khairi to cancel licence of liquor stores established in Muslim neighbourhoods and the selling of liquor to Muslims.
“Mohtasib Sindh was given video film of liquor being sold to Muslims and was told that employees of these stores not only sold liquor to Muslims but these Hindu employees supply illegally to local five-star hotel. Cowasjee got out demolition order for Mosque Aisha by using his influence over Mohtasib Sindh, but licences for these liquor stores have not been cancelled; instead these stores remain open on Shab-i-Barat also. “Moulana Abdur Rashid Ansari has said that today, November 13, in Khatam-i-Nabuwat conference, prominent religious scholars Maulana Manzoor Ahmed Chinioti, Maulana Fida-ul-Rehman Darkhuasty, Maulana Ajmal Qadri, Maulana Asas Thanvi, Maulana Qari Sher Afzal, Maulana Asfandyar, Maulana Ikram-ul-Haq Khairi, Qari Saeed Qamar Qasmi and other shall address the gathering. Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, Maulana Azam Tariq and Maulana Masood Azhar have decided to come to Karachi. We want a peaceful demonstration but if administration creates any trouble, then it shall be responsible for any consequences.” REFERENCE: Man bites dog Ardeshir Cowasjee DATED Week Ending : 25 November 2000 Issue : 06/45 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/nov2500.html
No harm in initiating peace talk with India provided it is backed by well defined and through Institutionalized Decision [I mean thorough debate in Parliament with the consent of Opposition] and also no more “Adventurism” like “Kargil or Operation Gibraltar/Operation Grand Slam” without taking Civilian Government in Confidence when Government was caught its pant down by the International Community and caused much embarrassment and above all those [Musharraf/Mahmood/Aziz/Hamid Javed/Tauqir Zia/Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani] were ran to Nawaz Sharif to save them and later the same group sacked Nawaz Sharif. I learnt about Kargil from Vajpayee, says Nawaz By Our Correspondent May 29, 2006 Monday Jumadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427 http://www.dawn.com/2006/05/29/nat1.htm Musharraf advised against Kargil, says Benazir Staff Report Wednesday, July 02, 2003http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-7-2003_pg7_19 LAHORE: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday said President Pervez Musharraf had brought the Kargil plan to her when she was prime minister and he was the director general of Military Operations. “Kargil was an absolute disaster,” Benazir said in an interview with the Third Eye Television. “I asked Gen Musharraf what would happen after the execution of his plan. He said he would hoist the flag of Pakistan atop the Srinagar Assembly. I vetoed the plan because I knew we would have to surrender the territory when it would come to the international community and that’s exactly what happened.”
Rubin further said Pakistan must assure the safety of US citizens, Indians and all foreigners in their country. “We would hold the government of Pakistan responsible for Masood’s activities which threaten the lives of our citizens. Masood Azhar is the secretary general of the renamed ‘terrorist’ organization. REF: US warns Pakistan over Azhar’s threats. Week Ending : 8 January 2000 Issue : 06/02http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/08jan00.html
News item – “Leaders of religious organizations have said that Khatam-i-Nabuwat conference shall be held today at Mosque Aisha, Sector 11-B North Karachi, under any circumstances. And today evening, in an emergency meeting, central office bearers of Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, Sipah-i-Sahaba, Pakistan Shariat Council, Sawad-i-Azam Ahl-i-Sunnat, International Khatam-i-Nabuwat, Tanzeem Ulema-i-Pakistan, Jaish Muhammad, Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami shall declare strategy for resisting mosque demolition. “Deputy Secretary General of Pakistan Shariat Council and head of Tehrik-i-Ansar-ul-Islam, Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ansari, has said in his statement that in the eyes of Mohtasib, liquor stores are sacred instead of mosque. Mohtasib has issued directions on the advice of English newspaper columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee and minorities member of dissolved Sindh Assembly, Mehromal Jagwani. He said that his crime was that some weeks back he had taken a strong stand and made a speech against Cowasjee in a local hotel and asked Mohtasib Haziq-ul-Khairi to cancel licence of liquor stores established in Muslim neighbourhoods and the selling of liquor to Muslims.“Mohtasib Sindh was given video film of liquor being sold to Muslims and was told that employees of these stores not only sold liquor to Muslims but these Hindu employees supply illegally to local five-star hotel. Cowasjee got out demolition order for Mosque Aisha by using his influence over Mohtasib Sindh, but licences for these liquor stores have not been cancelled; instead these stores remain open on Shab-i-Barat also. “Moulana Abdur Rashid Ansari has said that today, November 13, in Khatam-i-Nabuwat conference, prominent religious scholars Maulana Manzoor Ahmed Chinioti, Maulana Fida-ul-Rehman Darkhuasty, Maulana Ajmal Qadri, Maulana Asas Thanvi, Maulana Qari Sher Afzal, Maulana Asfandyar, Maulana Ikram-ul-Haq Khairi, Qari Saeed Qamar Qasmi and other shall address the gathering. Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, Maulana Azam Tariq and Maulana Masood Azhar have decided to come to Karachi. We want a peaceful demonstration but if administration creates any trouble, then it shall be responsible for any consequences.” REFERENCE: Man bites dog Ardeshir Cowasjee DATED Week Ending : 25 November 2000 Issue : 06/45 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/nov2500.html
No harm in initiating peace talk with India provided it is backed by well defined and through Institutionalized Decision [I mean thorough debate in Parliament with the consent of Opposition] and also no more “Adventurism” like “Kargil or Operation Gibraltar/Operation Grand Slam” without taking Civilian Government in Confidence when Government was caught its pant down by the International Community and caused much embarrassment and above all those [Musharraf/Mahmood/Aziz/Hamid Javed/Tauqir Zia/Jamshed Gulzar Kiyani] were ran to Nawaz Sharif to save them and later the same group sacked Nawaz Sharif. I learnt about Kargil from Vajpayee, says Nawaz By Our Correspondent May 29, 2006 Monday Jumadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427 http://www.dawn.com/2006/05/29/nat1.htm Musharraf advised against Kargil, says Benazir Staff Report Wednesday, July 02, 2003http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_2-7-2003_pg7_19 LAHORE: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday said President Pervez Musharraf had brought the Kargil plan to her when she was prime minister and he was the director general of Military Operations. “Kargil was an absolute disaster,” Benazir said in an interview with the Third Eye Television. “I asked Gen Musharraf what would happen after the execution of his plan. He said he would hoist the flag of Pakistan atop the Srinagar Assembly. I vetoed the plan because I knew we would have to surrender the territory when it would come to the international community and that’s exactly what happened.”
PORTLAND: The former president of Pakistan criticized U.S. plans to begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan in just over a year. At a stop on his speaking tour, Pervez Musharraf praised President Barack Obama for committing 30,000 more troops to fighting the Taliban. But the former leader was sharply opposed to Obama's plan to begin withdrawing forces in July 2011, saying U.S. soldiers should fight until the Taliban is defeated. ``We are there because we understand how critical it is to the region, to the world,'' Musharraf said. ``We must win.'' The recent arrests of key Taliban leaders in Pakistan are positive signs but not a major blow to Taliban forces, Musharraf said. ``The Taliban is spread over the Afghan countryside,'' he said. ``I get the feeling here that people think it's a monolith. The Taliban is not a monolith. A person who is the second-most important man. He's not a great impact on the Taliban.'' Musharraf said he would return to Pakistan if its people wanted him and if he could help the country.Musharraf opposes plan for Afghan pullout Updated at: 1245 PST, Tuesday, March 16, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=100836Musharraf is stopping USA from early pull out from the region due to Militancy whereas General Musharraf and Pakistan Army themselves had promoted the Militancy and that too after 911.
KHAAR, Nov 2: A second batch of about one thousand Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi activists crossed into Afghanistan to take part in Jihad. The first group of armed men had entered Afghanistan on Thursday. Riding pick-up trucks, the armed group crossed the Ghaki Pass border to enter the Kunar province around 12 noon. TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad who is in Afghanistan persuading the Taliban leadership to let his volunteers take part in fighting, has not returned. REFERENCE: More fighters cross into Afghanistan Staff Correspondent Dawn Wire Service Dated 3 November 2001 Issue : 07/44http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/nov0301.html
PESHAWAR, Nov 21: Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief, Maulana Sufi Mohammed, was imprisoned for three years under section 40 of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), governing the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) at Kurram Agency, according to official sources. The secretary of home and tribal affairs, Javed Iqbal, told Dawn that section 40 FCR had been applied to the TNSM chief by the court of political agent of Kurram Agency. “THIS IS NOT A CONVICTION,” the secretary said, adding that the PA court had the authority to release him any time. Maulana Sufi Mohammed and some 30 of his armed supporters were arrested by the political authorities of Kurram Agency in Fata, on Friday last on the charges of entering Pakistan without valid documents and possessing unlicensed weapons. The secretary said the PA court had the authority to release him if he the TNSM chief furnished an affidavit assuring good conduct in future. The TNSM chief and his supporters were sent to Dera Ismail Khan jail under tight security. Legal experts said under the law the detainees did not have the right to move higher courts. However, they could be released at any time or their imprisonment could be extended for another three years if the detainees failed to improve their behaviour. REFERENCE: TNSM chief jailed for three years By Intikhab Amir 24 November 2001 Issue : 07/47http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2001/nov2401.html
RIGHT UNDER THE NOSE OF GENERAL MUSHARRAF MARTIAL LAW.
In October 2001, Sufi Mohammad after taking over parts of Swat, Dir and Korakoram Highway, led his 5000 strong army of Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-I-Mohammadi to attack the US forces operating in Afghanistan, with weapons ranging from world war 1 antiques to mortars used by modern day armies. The fact that most of these illiterate and misguided soldiers lost their lives to unfriendly daisy cutters, and Sufi, who had himself never seen either an American or an aeroplane, deserted the battle field, ran for his life, and ended up in a Pakistani jail, with a cosmetic three year sentence, perhaps for not possessing valid travel documents.
In December 2000, Maulana Akram Awan marching with his private army of ten thousand misguided zealots, camped at Chakwal, and threatened to capture Islamabad, the capital of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, if the laws considered Islamic in the medieval mind of Maulana were not promulgated throughout the country. The government was so unnerved that it sent a delegation consisting of the Home Secretary, Inspector General Police and the minister for religious affairs to please, pamper and compensate the Maulana and convince him to return with his army to where ever he came from. Having never met an official beyond the rank of SHO, the Moulana was so moved at the top officials of the nuclear state obsequiously falling to his feet, that he withdrew without a battle, and declared to come back next year to implement his promised mission.
For ten long years the JUI Madrassahs of Balochistan retained the dubious distinction of operating as the world’s largest nursery for producing teenage soldiers who had only two missions in life. To secure an entry into paradise by their rhythmic pendulum like reproduction of memorised portions from the Holy Book, and to participate in a global jihad with ignorance and Klashnikovs as their only two assets. In the last ten years any thing between 10 to 20 thousand of these innocent children were killed as fodder in the proxy war that ultimately reduced Afghanistan to rubble, and Pakistan to an embarrassing but much needed voltafaccia. Those responsible for this mass genocide however still wear royal robes and go around freely to restart if possible, from where they last left.
Till a few days back travelling between Lahore and Peshawar by road, one could see dozens of sign boards offering short cuts to paradise to those who sought recruitment in one of the many private armies operating under names such as Jaish-e- Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayuba or Harkat ul Majahideen. The proliferating religious fervour of these private armies has resulted in creation of downstream sectarian militant organisations whose strong sense of loyalty to their own brand of ideology requires killing of every one else who does not subscribe to their point of view. The ignorant Mullah has often joined this chorus of madness by condoning this barbarism from his unchallenged pulpit, and even suggesting that such acts could in fact guarantee the reservation of suitable seats in paradise. Karachi alone bore the sorrow and pain of hundreds of its outstanding citizens mercilessly killed by these sectarian fanatics. The brother of the interior minister is shot to death two days after the minister articulates his much belated intention of curbing the religious extremists. The private armies thus freely rule and till recently even collected “bhatta” (compulsory donations) in the land of the pure, making a mockery of the writ of the state. This phenomenon often generically referred to as “Talibanisation” of society remained unchecked till recently when its excessive export drew an angry response from the world at large as well as the already fed up neighbours.
Pakistan’s primary think tanks remain pathologically addicted to a frozen world view based on a dogmatic and bigoted understanding of religion, emphasis on rituals instead of spirit, hatred instead of tolerance, ideological slogans instead of service to people, state agencies instead of participative institutions, abhorrence to science and technology, deep disinclination to reason and rationality, obsession with female behaviour and dress, and the megalomaniac self image as the flag bearer and champion of the cause of Ummah, (not one of the Ummah countries offered even lip service of support at the time of India Pakistan stand off.) It is around this irrelevancy that the state has coined its signature for the past fifty years. While the large majority of Pakistanis are as moderate, tenacious, vibrant and enterprising as people of any other country, their rightful place amongst the developed and civilised nations of the world has been a hostage to the tribal traditions, private armies and religious fanatics who forcibly dictate the social order of the country. Only a week back the Orakzai tribes got together to declare photography as an offence punishable by demolition of the offenders’ house and a fine of one million rupees.
The events of nine-eleven in many ways provide a miraculous opportunity and impetus for Pakistan to re-evaluate its direction and make a conscious decision to make a departure from the past. It can choose to follow the path that has enabled other nations to pursue progress, prosperity and enlightenment. Alternately it can remain glued to its ancient and obsolete mindset, and gradually acquire the status of an irrelevant and failed state. Many would argue that it has already reached that point. A more factual assessment would be that while Pakistan does have the necessary capacity and desire to enter the 21st century, it is restrained by its own medieval mindset that is frozen in an imaginary past and not open to the reality and ideas of the modern times.
Any nation must first address issues that are vital to itself and its own citizens. For Pakistan these are issues of creating a just and civil governance mechanism, education, industry, addressing poverty, and providing host of basic amenities and services to its burgeoning population. For too long the voluntarily adopted culture of obscurantism has come in direct conflict with the scientific and rational methods that could be applied towards solving these issues. The bigoted clergy, the Lashkars, the Sipahs , the Jaishes the agencies and the increasingly bureaucratic and incompetent state machinery are either completely reluctant to change for better or desire a change in the reverse direction only.
The first step is to realise that there can possibly be no sanity, peace or progress in Pakistan, as long as it retains a multitude of fully loaded private armies, each in pursuit of its own brand of intolerance and bigotry. It is time for Pakistan to realise that the private armies representing the feudal and tribal thinking of the medieval times are simply not compatible with how the progressive modern nations pursue their interests and conduct their business in the 21st century. There can be no serious investment or development interest by any outsider (for that matter even insiders) in a writ-less state ruled by private armies eternally at war within and without. The first step towards peace and progress must therefore begin by firmly disbanding and disarming all militant religious, political and tribal organisations in Pakistan. This needs to be done as a national challenge and not like the lame, half hearted, incompetently managed and half way aborted earlier de-weaponisation campaign. It is also time to extend the rule law to areas and tribes that hitherto made their own laws. The days of private armies and the wild west must come to an end if a new beginning is to be contemplated. While this may also be a high profile international demand, it is essentially for its own good that Pakistan needs to clean up its militant backyard. It is only through creating a law abiding, pluralistic and tolerant society that Pakistan can hope for peace, progress and dignity in the years to come. REFERENCE: Peace, progress and the private armies [Courtesy: South Asia Watch] Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 17:17:24 +0500 http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2002-January/001038.html
RIGHT UNDER THE NOSE OF GENERAL MUSHARRAF AND GEORGE W BUSH!!!
In interviews, however, American intelligence officials and high-ranking military officers said that Pakistanis were indeed flown to safety, in a series of nighttime airlifts that were approved by the Bush Administration. The Americans also said that what was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of control, and, as an unintended consequence, an unknown number of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters managed to join in the exodus. “Dirt got through the screen,” a senior intelligence official told me. Last week, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld did not respond to a request for comment. Musharraf won American support for the airlift by warning that the humiliation of losing hundreds—and perhaps thousands—of Pakistani Army men and intelligence operatives would jeopardize his political survival. “Clearly, there is a great willingness to help Musharraf,” an American intelligence official told me. A C.I.A. analyst said that it was his understanding that the decision to permit the airlift was made by the White House and was indeed driven by a desire to protect the Pakistani leader. The airlift “made sense at the time,” the C.I.A. analyst said. “Many of the people they spirited away were the Taliban leadership”—who Pakistan hoped could play a role in a postwar Afghan government. According to this person, “Musharraf wanted to have these people to put another card on the table” in future political negotiations. “We were supposed to have access to them,” he said, but “it didn’t happen,” and the rescued Taliban remain unavailable to American intelligence. According to a former high-level American defense official, the airlift was approved because of representations by the Pakistanis that “there were guys— intelligence agents and underground guys—who needed to get out.” REFERENCE: The Getaway Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift. by Seymour M. Hersh January 28, 2002 http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/01/28/020128fa_FACT"QUOTE"
Gen. Zia chose Gen. Musharraf (then a Brigadier) in 1987 to command a newly-raised Special Services Group (SSG) base at Khapalu in the Siachen area. To please Gen. Zia, Gen. Musharraf with his SSG commandos launched an attack on an Indian post at Bilfond La in September, 1987,and was beaten back. Despite this, he continued to enjoy the confidence of Zia.
Gen. Musharraf has since then spent seven years in two tenures with the SSG and prides himself on being an SSG commando and projects himself as the greatest expert of the Pakistan Army in mountain warfare. When he recently received Gen. Anthony Zinni, the Commanding Officer of the US Central Command, he was dressed as an SSG Commando. In May,1988, the Shias, who are in a majority in Gilgit, rose in revolt against the Sunni-dominated administration. Zia put an SSG group commanded by Gen. Musharraf in charge of suppressing the revolt. Gen. Musharraf transported a large number of Wahabi Pakhtoon tribesmen from the NWFP and Afghanistan, commanded by bin Laden, to Gilgit to teach the Shias a lesson. These tribesmen under bin Laden massacred hundreds of Shias. In its issue of May,1990, "Herald", the monthly journal of the "Dawn" group of publications of Karachi, wrote as follows: " In May,1988, low-intensity political rivalry and sectarian tension ignited into full-scale carnage as thousands of armed tribesmen from outside Gilgit district invaded Gilgit along the Karakoram Highway. Nobody stopped them. They destroyed crops and houses, lynched and burnt people to death in the villages around Gilgit town. The number of dead and injured was put in the hundreds. But numbers alone tell nothing of the savagery of the invading hordes and the chilling impact it has left on these peaceful valleys." Gen. Musharraf started a policy of bringing in Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside and settling them down in Gilgit and Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shias to a minority in their traditional land and this is continuing till today. The "Friday Times" of October 15-21, 1992, quoted Mr. Muhammad Yahya Shah, a local Shia leader, as saying: " We were ruled by the Whites during the British days. We are now being ruled by the Browns from the plains. The rapid settling-in of Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside, particularly the trading classes, has created a sense of acute insecurity among the local Shias." Zia became the first victim of the carnage unleashed by Gen. Musharraf on the Shias of Gilgit. Though the Pakistani authorities have not released the report of the committee, which enquired into the crash of Zia's plane in August,1988, it is widely believed in Pakistan that a Shia airman from Gilgit, wanting to take revenge for the May,1988, carnage, was responsible for the crash. REFERENCE: Talibanisation of the heart — by Dr. Abbas Zaidi, The writer is a researcher and has a PhD in sociolinguistics DATED 24 August 2010 http://criticalppp.com/archives/21850Biography of General Pervez Musharraf: His Past and Presenthttp://www.angelfire.com/al4/terror/musharraf.htm
"QUOTE"
In 1988, there was a violent uprising of the Shias in Gilgit, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Musharraf, who was given the task of dealing with the revolt by Zia-ul-Haq. Musharraf had a large number of Sunni Pashtun tribesmen from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) led by Osama bin Laden brought into Gilgit. They carried out a massacre of the Shias in the NA as well as the adjoining NWFP areas. It is believed by many in Pakistan that the crash of the aircraft in which Zia was travelling from Bahawalpur in August 1988 resulting in his death was caused by a Shia airman from Gilgit sympathetic to the TJP in retaliation for this massacre. To keep the Shias of Gilgit under control, Musharraf encouraged the the SSP, which had come into existence in the Punjab in the early 1980s at the instance of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to extend its activities amongst the Sunni population of Gilgit and to politically organise them against the the TJP. Since then, there have frequently been clashes between the TJP and the SSP followers in Gilgit, the latest outbreak of such violent incidents having taken place in June, 2001, before Musharraf's visit to India for the summit talks with Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister. REFERENCE: Musharraf�s Ban: An Analysis Author: B.Raman Publication: South Asia Analysis Group Date: January 18, 2002 URL:http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper395.html http://www.hvk.org/articles/0102/71.html
The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director,Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
Gen. Zia chose Gen. Musharraf (then a Brigadier) in 1987 to command a newly-raised Special Services Group (SSG) base at Khapalu in the Siachen area. To please Gen. Zia, Gen. Musharraf with his SSG commandos launched an attack on an Indian post at Bilfond La in September, 1987,and was beaten back. Despite this, he continued to enjoy the confidence of Zia.
Gen. Musharraf has since then spent seven years in two tenures with the SSG and prides himself on being an SSG commando and projects himself as the greatest expert of the Pakistan Army in mountain warfare. When he recently received Gen. Anthony Zinni, the Commanding Officer of the US Central Command, he was dressed as an SSG Commando. In May,1988, the Shias, who are in a majority in Gilgit, rose in revolt against the Sunni-dominated administration. Zia put an SSG group commanded by Gen. Musharraf in charge of suppressing the revolt. Gen. Musharraf transported a large number of Wahabi Pakhtoon tribesmen from the NWFP and Afghanistan, commanded by bin Laden, to Gilgit to teach the Shias a lesson. These tribesmen under bin Laden massacred hundreds of Shias. In its issue of May,1990, "Herald", the monthly journal of the "Dawn" group of publications of Karachi, wrote as follows: " In May,1988, low-intensity political rivalry and sectarian tension ignited into full-scale carnage as thousands of armed tribesmen from outside Gilgit district invaded Gilgit along the Karakoram Highway. Nobody stopped them. They destroyed crops and houses, lynched and burnt people to death in the villages around Gilgit town. The number of dead and injured was put in the hundreds. But numbers alone tell nothing of the savagery of the invading hordes and the chilling impact it has left on these peaceful valleys." Gen. Musharraf started a policy of bringing in Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside and settling them down in Gilgit and Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shias to a minority in their traditional land and this is continuing till today. The "Friday Times" of October 15-21, 1992, quoted Mr. Muhammad Yahya Shah, a local Shia leader, as saying: " We were ruled by the Whites during the British days. We are now being ruled by the Browns from the plains. The rapid settling-in of Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside, particularly the trading classes, has created a sense of acute insecurity among the local Shias." Zia became the first victim of the carnage unleashed by Gen. Musharraf on the Shias of Gilgit. Though the Pakistani authorities have not released the report of the committee, which enquired into the crash of Zia's plane in August,1988, it is widely believed in Pakistan that a Shia airman from Gilgit, wanting to take revenge for the May,1988, carnage, was responsible for the crash. REFERENCE: Talibanisation of the heart — by Dr. Abbas Zaidi, The writer is a researcher and has a PhD in sociolinguistics DATED 24 August 2010 http://criticalppp.com/archives/21850Biography of General Pervez Musharraf: His Past and Presenthttp://www.angelfire.com/al4/terror/musharraf.htm"QUOTE"
In 1988, there was a violent uprising of the Shias in Gilgit, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Musharraf, who was given the task of dealing with the revolt by Zia-ul-Haq. Musharraf had a large number of Sunni Pashtun tribesmen from the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) led by Osama bin Laden brought into Gilgit. They carried out a massacre of the Shias in the NA as well as the adjoining NWFP areas. It is believed by many in Pakistan that the crash of the aircraft in which Zia was travelling from Bahawalpur in August 1988 resulting in his death was caused by a Shia airman from Gilgit sympathetic to the TJP in retaliation for this massacre. To keep the Shias of Gilgit under control, Musharraf encouraged the the SSP, which had come into existence in the Punjab in the early 1980s at the instance of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to extend its activities amongst the Sunni population of Gilgit and to politically organise them against the the TJP. Since then, there have frequently been clashes between the TJP and the SSP followers in Gilgit, the latest outbreak of such violent incidents having taken place in June, 2001, before Musharraf's visit to India for the summit talks with Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, the Indian Prime Minister. REFERENCE: Musharraf�s Ban: An Analysis Author: B.Raman Publication: South Asia Analysis Group Date: January 18, 2002 URL:http://www.saag.org/papers4/paper395.html http://www.hvk.org/articles/0102/71.htmlThe writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director,Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.
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Sectarian conflict in Pakistan is the direct consequence of state policies of Islamisation and marginalisation of secular democratic forces. Co-option and patronage of religious parties by successive military governments have brought Pakistan to a point where religious extremism threatens to erode the foundations of the state and society. As President Pervez Musharraf is praised by the international community for his role in the war against terrorism, the frequency and viciousness of sectarian terrorism continues to increase in his country.
Instead of empowering liberal, democratic voices, the government has co-opted the religious right and continues to rely on it to counter civilian opposition. By depriving democratic forces of an even playing field and continuing to ignore the need for state policies that would encourage and indeed reflect the country's religious diversity, the government has allowed religious extremist organisations and jihadi groups, and the madrasas that provide them an endless stream of recruits, to flourish. It has failed to protect a vulnerable judiciary and equip its law-enforcement agencies with the tools they need to eliminate sectarian terrorism.
Constitutional provisions to "Islamise" laws, education and culture, and official dissemination of a particular brand of Islamic ideology, not only militate against Pakistan's religious diversity but also breed discrimination against non-Muslim minorities. The political use of Islam by the state promotes an aggressive competition for official patronage between and within the many variations of Sunni and Shia Islam, with the clerical elite of major sects and subsects striving to build up their political parties, raise jihadi militias, expand madrasa networks and, as has happened on Musharraf's watch, become part of government. Like all other Pakistani military governments, the Musharraf administration has also weakened secular and democratic political forces.
Administrative and legal action against militant organisations has failed to dismantle a well-entrenched and widely spread terror infrastructure. All banned extremist groups persist with new labels, although old names are also still in use. The jihadi media is flourishing, and the leading figures of extremist Sunni organisations are free to preach their jihadi ideologies. Leaders of banned groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Sipahe Sahaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed appear to enjoy virtual immunity from the law. They have gained new avenues to propagate their militant ideas since the chief patrons of jihad, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), have acquired prominent and powerful roles in Musharraf's political structure.
The Islamisation of laws and education, in particular, graphically illustrates the Sunni sectarian bias of the Pakistani state. General Zia-ul-Haq's Islamic penal code, retained by General Musharraf, is derived entirely from classical Sunni-Hanafi orthodox sources. The same is true of "Islamic" textbooks in public schools and colleges. The Shia minority -- and, in some cases, even the majority Sunni Barelvi sect -- is deeply resentful of this orthodox Hanafi Sunni bias in state policies. Within Sunnism itself, the competition for state patronage and a share in power has turned minor theological debates and cultural differences into unbridgeable, volatile sectarian divisions. After decades of co-option by the civil-military establishment, Pakistan's puritanical clergy is attempting to turn the country into a confessional state where the religious creed of a person is the sole marker of identity.
Except for a few showcase "reformed" madrasas, no sign of change is visible. Because of the mullahs' political utility, the military-led government's proposed measures, from curriculum changes to a new registration law, have been dropped in the face of opposition by the MMA (Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal) and its madrasa subsidiaries. Instead, financial and political incentives to the mullahs have raised their public profile and influence. The government's approach towards religious extremism is epitomised by its deals with extremists in the tribal areas, concluded through JUI mediation after payment of bribes to militant leaders.
The anomalous constitutional status and political disenfranchisement of regions like the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Northern Areas have turned them into sanctuaries for sectarian and international terrorists and centres of the arms and drugs trade. Parallel legal and judicial systems, which exist in many parts of the country with the blessing of the state, undermine the rule of law. The reform of discriminatory laws and procedures has, at best, been cosmetic -- they remain open to abuse by religious fanatics. Bereft of independence, the judiciary is unable to check the rising sectarian violence. Subjected to political interference, an inefficient police has become even more incapable of dealing with sectarian terrorism. President Musharraf's lack of domestic legitimacy has forced the military to rely on alliances of convenience with the religious right, based on the politics of patronage. In the absence of international support, moderate, secular and democratic parties will remain in the political cold. The choice that Pakistan faces is not between the military and the mullahs, as is generally believed in the West; it is between genuine democracy and a military-mullah alliance that is responsible for producing and sustaining religious extremism of many hues.
Given the intrinsic links between Pakistan-based homegrown and transnational terrorists, the one cannot be effectively contained and ultimately eliminated without acting against the other. The government's unwillingness to demonstrate political will to deal with the internal jihad could cost it international support, much of which is contingent upon Pakistan's performance in the war against terrorism. The U.S. and other influential actors have realised with regard to their own societies that terrorism can only be eliminated through pluralistic democratic structures. Pakistan should not be treated as an exception.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Government of Pakistan:
1. Recognise the diversity of Islam in Pakistan, reaffirm the constitutional principle of equality for all citizens regardless of religion or sect, and give meaning to this by taking the following steps:
(a) repeal all laws, penal codes and official procedures that reinforce sectarian identities and cause discrimination on the basis of faith, such as the mandatory affirmation of religious creed in applications for jobs, passports and national identity cards;
(b) repeal the Hudood laws and the blasphemy laws;
(c) disband privately-run Sharia courts in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and take action against religious organisations operating them;
(d) do not use zakat or other sources of government funding to finance the activities, educational or otherwise, of any sect; and
(e) purge Islamic Studies textbooks of sectarian material that promotes or undermines specific sects.
2. Disband, in furtherance of Article 256 of the constitution, all private militias, including those organised for sectarian and jihadi causes.
3. Make curbs on sectarian leaders and extremist groups more effective by:
(a) publicising the evidence for banning jihadi groups;
(b) implementing the laws against hate-speech and incitement of communal violence;
(c) taking legal action against the administration of any mosque or madrasa or religious leader responsible for verbal or written edicts of apostasy;
(d) taking legal action against the administration of any mosque or madrasa whose leader calls for internal or external jihad;
(e) cancelling the print declarations (licences) of jihadi publications and prosecuting the publishers;
(f) closing down madrasas run by sectarian and jihadi organisations; and
(g) ending registration of new madrasas until a new madrasa law is in place, and registering all madrasas under this new law, including those currently registered under the Societies Act.
4. Appoint prayer leaders and orators at mosques and madrasas run by the Auqaf Department (the government department of religious endowments) only after verifying that the applicant has no record of sectarian extremism, and dismiss those sectarian leaders who are employees of the Auqaf Department.
5. Review periodically the activities of all government appointed clergy and strictly enforce the ban on loudspeakers used in mosques other than for permitted religious activities.
6. Implement police and judiciary reforms, including the following:
(a) ensure institutional independence and guarantees against political interference;
(b) guarantee the physical security of judges presiding over cases of sectarian terrorism; and
(c) end the political and policing role of intelligence agencies and establish parliamentary oversight of their activities.
7. Use federal prerogative to veto the MMA's Islamisation agenda, including the Hasba Bill.
8. Provide constitutional and political rights to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the Northern Areas by:
(a) doing away with their special status and deciding on a final constitutional and legal status after negotiations with their directly elected representatives;
(b) granting decision-making powers and local administrative and legislative authority to the Northern Areas Council;
(c) setting up and linking courts in these areas to Pakistan's mainstream judicial institutions; and
(d) ending the practices of raising tribal lashkars and paying bribes to militants.
9. Regulate the arms industry in FATA to prevent the proliferation of weapons countrywide.
To the United States and the European Union:
10. Press the Musharraf government to carry out its commitment of introducing a madrasa registration regime and instituting a regulatory authority in conformity with international conventions on terrorism and extremism.
11. Urge the Pakistan government to repeal discriminatory legislation that targets women and minorities.
REFERENCE: The State of Sectarianism in Pakistan Asia Report Nº9518 Apr 2005 http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/pakistan/095-the-state-of-sectarianism-in-pakistan.aspxMore in Pakistan: The Militant Jihadi Challenge Asia Report N°16413 Mar 2009 http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/pakistan/164-pakistan-the-militant-jihadi-challenge.aspx Pakistan: Karachi’s Madrasas and Violent Extremism Asia Report N°13029 Mar 2007 http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/pakistan/130-pakistan-karachis-madrasas-and-violent-extremism.aspx
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