09 Mar 2011 11:49
Source: reuters // Reuters
March 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan's religious parties are growing stronger, riding a tide of growing anti-Americanism and outrage over blasphemy cases that has led to the assassination of two government officials.
Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer and Minister of Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti were both killed this year for their support for changing Pakistan's harsh anti-blasphemy law, a move opposed by Pakistan's religious parties.
These parties in Pakistan are beginning to set aside sectarian differences that have divided them for years to coalesce around an explicitly anti-American agenda, creating a political bloc that could challenge the ruling parties and ultimately weaken Pakistan's alliance with the United States.
Groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) are forming a new coalition of about 18 parties and groups that are anticipating early elections against the governing Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
Here are some facts on some of the more important religious parties and groups:
JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI
Jamaat-e-Islami seeks to impose Islamic law in Pakistan through elections. It is largely comprised of urban, middle-class citizens across Pakistan. The party was a strong opponent of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and supports the Pakistan-supported "jihad" in Indian Kashmir. It is linked to the Hizbul Mujahideen, which appears on the U.S. State Department's list of "other groups of concern." Its current leader, Syed Munawar Hasan, praised the killing of Salman Taseer and said Bhatti's killing was "the work of CIA to hush up the court trial of Raymond Davis in the media."
MILLAT-E-ISLAMI
Led by Ahmed Ludhianvi, Milliat-e-Islami is the political wing of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a banned militant organisation that considers Shi'ites as non-Muslims. Repeatedly banned, the group has reinvented itself several times under different names.
JAMAAT-UD-DAWA
The group has its roots in the Markaz ad-Dawat wal-Irshad (MDI), an organisation created in the mid-1980s to support the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and to provide Islamic charity and spiritual guidance. The organisation then split into two wings:
* Lashkar-e-Taiba is its military wing. Founded in 1990, it began operations in Indian Kashmir in 1993.
* Jamaat ud-Dawa is its humanitarian wing. It provides extensive education, healthcare and disaster relief.
While its military focus has been on Kashmir, its ideology is pan-Islamic. The group is based in Punjab province and in Pakistani Kashmir. JuD runs a large educational complex at Muridke near Lahore. The MDI's founder, Hafez Saeed, is a former professor.
JuD does not believe in electoral politics or democracy, but is supporting the new alliance.
JAMIAT ULEMA-E-ISLAM (FAZL-UR-REHMAN BRANCH)
Drawing much of its support from Pakistan's network of religious schools, called madrassas, Fazl-ur-Rehman's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam is a pro-Taliban party dedicated to imposing Islamic law in Pakistan. It has a rigid interpretation of Islam. Rehman is a native of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and served as leader of the opposition in the Senate from 2004-2007. He is considered a political pragmatist, despite pulling out of the governing coalition in December 2010 over a dispute over ministerial posts. The JUI-F draws its electoral support mainly from Pakistan's two western provinces, including in the cities of Peshawar and Quetta.
PAKISTAN TEHREEK-E-INSAF
Led by former cricketer Imran Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is the only non-Islamist party in the cluster of anti-American parties. It is staunchly opposed to involvement by the United States in Pakistan's affairs and supports Islamic democracy. The party has called for the U.S. to pull out of Afghanistan and end drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal region, and for the relationship between Pakistan and the United State to come to an end. In a poll examining political allegiance in September 2010, 28 percent of respondents polled in Pakistan's deeply religious tribal areas expressed support for the party.
(Additional reporting by Rebecca Conway, Myra MacDonald; Additional material from Congressional Research Service; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
(For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan)
(If you have a query or comment about this story, send an e-mail to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)
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Asim Tanveer, Reuters October 15, 2010, 5:43 am
A policeman sits beside detained and hooded men inside a secure police van in Bahawalpur, located in Pakistan s Punjab province on October 14, 2010. Pakistan police arrested a group of suspected militants accused of plotting to kill the prime minister and several senior government figures, security officials said on Thursday. REUTERS/Stringer
Reuters © Enlarge photo
BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan police arrested a group of suspected militants accused of plotting to kill the prime minister and several senior government figures, security officials said on Thursday.
The seven suspects arrested on Wednesday night after a shootout near the eastern city of Bahawalpur belong to the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is allied to al Qaeda.
"They had plans to blow up an explosive-laden vehicle near the house of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in Multan when he was visiting there," a security official in Bahawalpur told Reuters, referring to the ancestral residence of Gilani in a nearby city in Punjab province.
He was confirming reports from a police official. Federal government and security officials were not immediately available for comment.
Islamist militants have killed hundreds of people in a wave of bomb and suicide attacks across Pakistan to destabilize the U.S.-backed Pakistani government, despite several army offensives in their strongholds.
The police paraded the men, with their faces covered with cloth, before the media.
The police said in a statement the militants had plotted to kill the prime minister, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and the minister for religious affairs, who last year survived an assassination attempt, and other senior government officials.
The men were also suspected of involvement in a number of attacks, including a suicide bombing at an office of the country's main spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, in Multan last year in which seven people were killed.
"They are members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group," Bahawalpur police chief Abid Qadri told a news conference.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) emerged as a sectarian group in the 1990s targeting minority Shi'ite Muslims but later graduated to more audacious attacks. Pakistan banned it in January 2002.
Punjabi militants are believed to have developed closer ties with al Qaeda and the Taliban, representing a growing threat for Pakistan which is already hit hard by militancy raging in the volatile northwest bordering Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting and writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Michael Georgy and Myra MacDonald)
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Q+A-Strength and strategy of Pakistani militants
15 Oct 2010 13:05:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more on Pakistan see [ID:nAFPAK]
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Pakistani police have arrested seven suspected militants accused of plotting to kill Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and several senior government figures.
The suspects arrested on Wednesday after a shootout near the city of Bahawalpur in the central province of Punjab are members of the Sunni Muslim militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is allegedly allied to al Qaeda.
Pakistan's lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan are regarded as safe havens for al Qaeda-linked militants drawn from all over the world.
Western security officials last month said they had foiled an alleged al Qaeda plot originating from Pakistan to attack European targets.
Here are some questions and answers on the strength and strategy of Pakistani militants allied to al Qaeda and Taliban.
WHAT IS THE MILITANTS' STRATEGY?
Militants such as al Qaeda and others thrive in chaos and ungoverned spaces. So attacks are part of a bloody campaign to topple the U.S.-backed Pakistani government, led by President Asif Ali Zardari and to take over the nuclear-armed state.
While this is highly unlikely to succeed, the government is unpopular and with their attacks, the militants are undermining any confidence the government might enjoy.
With the government on the back foot, militants are able to establish small territories and fiefdoms such as in North Waziristan and support the Afghan Taliban and run criminal enterprises, including drugs and gun running and kidnapping networks.
Security officials say the militants have stepped up attacks on "soft targets", like crowded markets, shrines and religious processions, in recent months after government tightened security for its main installations. More than 550 people have been killed in such attacks in the country this year.
If militants can create greater insecurity, sectarian conflict and terrify the populace, they would have the freedom to operate at will.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT STRENGTH OF PAKISTANI MILITANTS?
The Pakistan military launched two major offensives against homegrown militants in the volatile northwest last year. Hundreds of militants were killed and many of their bases destroyed, but the insurgents have showed resilience.
Militants have killed hundreds of people in a wave of bomb and suicide attacks across the country. They have also attacked government leaders, pro-U.S. politicians and security officials.
These militants were blamed for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. Former military President Pervez Musharraf survived at least two assassination attempts in 2003.
While there is no clear estimate of the militants' numbers across Pakistan, one leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement of Pakistan) said his group had about 18,000 members across the country. There is no way to verify his claim.
HOW DID MILITANCY START IN PAKISTAN?
Islamist militancy took roots in Pakistan in the 1980s when Pakistani intelligence agencies helped set up militant groups to fight the U.S.-backed war in Afghanistan against Soviet invasion.
Some of these groups later joined the Muslim insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
However, these militant groups became more powerful after they allied with al Qaeda and Taliban. Most of these groups operate from their safe havens in the northwest but security officials say militants drawn from Punjab, known as "Punjabi Taliban", are believed to have developed closer ties with al Qaeda and Taliban, representing a growing threat for Pakistan. (Editing by Chris Allbritton and Sugita Katyal)
(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan.
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Taliban split: Pakistan warlord 'defects from TTP'
By AFP
Published: June 27, 2011
A Pakistani Taliban warlord who claims to control hundreds of foot soldiers said he had broken with the militia. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR: A Pakistani Taliban warlord who claims to control hundreds of foot soldiers said Monday he had broken with the militia and would form his own anti-American group along the Afghan border.
Fazal Saeed described himself as the leader of Pakistan’s umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) faction in the tribal district of Kurram, but said he had run out of patience with the network for killing civilians.
TTP has claimed a series of high-profile attacks in the nearly two months since US troops killed Osama bin Laden.
Hinting at a possible a split in Pakistan’s deadliest militant outfit, blamed for more than 4,500 deaths in attacks since July 2007, Saeed said he had decided to form a new organisation — Tehreek-e-Taliban Islami.
“I repeatedly told the leadership council of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan that they should stop suicide attacks against mosques, markets and other civilian targets,” Saeed told AFP by telephone.
“Islam does not allow killings of innocent civilians in suicide attacks,” he said, likening what TTP does in Pakistan to “what US troops are doing in Afghanistan” and vowing to continue the fight alone against the Americans.
“I have therefore decided to quit TTP,” Saeed said, claiming to have defected along with “hundreds of supporters.”
A 10-member consultative council will meet within days to formulate the group’s programme, he told AFP.
Saeed said he was TTP leader in Kurram, one of seven districts in Pakistan’s tribal belt known as havens of Taliban and al Qaeda linked groups fighting US and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.
He denied that his defection had anything to do with the government, or Pakistani intelligence and security agencies.
“I have no links with them,” Saeed said, adding that he considered America as “our main enemy” and describing attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan as “justified.”
He said his goal was to enforce sharia law and Islamic rule in Afghanistan and Pakistan, claiming that he had supporters all over Pakistan.
Kurram is unique in that its upper part has a Shiite Muslim majority while its lower reaches are dominated by Sunni Muslims. There have been outbreaks of sectarian violence between the two communities.
Shiite travellers to Peshawar and adjoining cities have often been attacked by groups of Sunni militants backed by the Taliban.
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Alleged Hizbut Tahrir links: Brigadier opts for court martial
By Qaiser Butt
Published: July 17, 2011
Inquiry board says allegations leveled against him have been substantiated. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Brigadier Ali Khan, who was arrested in May for his alleged links with the banned militant outfit Hizbut Tahrir (HuT), has opted to be tried by court martial, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Brig Khan’s decision came soon after an inquiry board informed him that the allegations leveled against him had been substantiated. Brig Khan rejected the inquiry board’s findings and asked the officials concerned to prove the allegations before the court.
Brig Attique of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) declined to comment on the case or speculate whether he (Brig Khan) would face a military court.
An army official said that investigations against the arrested officer were still under way, even after two months. An inquiry was initiated after Brig Khan was arrested in May.
He was to be retired from the army on July 9 after completing his service tenure but he remained under detention.
The arrested officer will be allowed to hire a defence lawyer from among the legal branch of Pakistan Army, a source familiar with the procedure said. He “can also hire a civilian defence counsel to contest his case in the military court under the Pakistan Army Act”, the source said. The army detained Brig Khan, who was at that time serving at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, a week after the US incursion in Abbottabad on May 2.
The brigadier was charged for his alleged ties to extremist organisations, including the banned UK-based organisation HuT. A day later, four army majors were also arrested for their alleged links with HuT. It is yet to be ascertained whether the other four army officers will also be put on trial along with Brig Khan.
Meanwhile, security agencies arrested HuT deputy spokesperson Imran Yousafzai from Islamabad earlier this week. According to the HuT announcement, Yousafzai who is second-in-command of HuT in Pakistan was arrested when he was on his way to meet a local journalist. Security agencies arrested another Hizbut Tahrir activist from Islamabad right after Yousafzai’s arrest. Three other HuT activists were arrested from Islamabad and Multan.
Demanding the release of their activist, HuT has warned authorities that their “struggle…will continue unabated”.
Officials familiar with the army procedure of court martial are expecting a joint trial for the arrested army officers and the HuT activists.
According to a Supreme Court ruling, a civilian can be tried by the military tribunal if the person is implicated in an offence against the Pakistan Army, said lawyer Qazi Mohammad Anwar.
The Express Tribune has learnt that the arrested HuT activists were accused of providing “inflammatory” material to army officers, besides urging them to work against their high command and the civilian government.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2011.
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Intelligence Bureau report: ‘SSP, LeJ expand reach, grow robust’
By Our Correspondent
Published: May 28, 2012
Shia Muslims shout slogans as they carry coffins of their community members during a funeral ceremony in Quetta on September 21, 2011. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: Sectarian groups in Pakistan have grown ‘stronger than ever’ and pose a grave threat to state and society, according to an assessment carried out by the country’s intelligence services.
A report of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has warned that organisations such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jundallah are more powerful than in the ‘80s and ‘90s when they wreaked havoc across the country through sectarian attacks.
“Even today they pose a challenge as big as al Qaeda and they are getting more powerful. Imagine where they will be in a couple of years,” said an official who was a member of the IB team that prepared the report.
The report contains information on SSP, LeJ and associated groups and individuals outside Pakistan after monitoring their activities for several months.
Some of the contents of the report were shared with The Express Tribune, which stated that the SSP and LeJ had already extended their network outside their traditional strongholds in South Punjab, southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Pakhtun belt of Balochistan, including Quetta.
“Now they are everywhere…from interior Sindh to the base of the Himalayas,” added the official. The SSP and LeJ were among several outfits that were banned by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf back in 2002, but their infrastructure and manpower remained untouched.
“We went into hiding for some years but our system was very much there,” said an activist of SSP, who would give only his last name.
“That is why we are back now…with more force. Allah help us revive,” remarked Maulana Mohavia, who runs a seminary in Tokhar Niaz Baig just outside Lahore.
Amir Rana, director of independent think tank the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) which monitors the rise and fall of such organisations, said such militant outfits had been attracting more manpower after they were joined by international players like al Qaeda in the aftermath of 9/11.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2012.
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