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| India-Pakistan |
| Background into Pakistani sectarian militancy |
| 2003-10-02 |
| This is an old article and it wouldn’t be of interest to many, but it gives a good overview of the plethora of different players in Pakistani Islamism. However, the reason for the sheer number of groups has more to do with egotism of the Mullahs and the amount of money available to ones who can attract enough followers. That most of the major political parties listen here have been able to form the MMA alliance in order to achieve power, shows how meaningless the thousands of sectarian murders by their followers for the past decade really were. Until the 1980s Pakistan had only three mainstream Sunni parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Jamiat ul Ulema-i-Islam, and Jamaat-Ulema Pakistan. At this point a new set of militants entered the scene partly because of socio-economic conditions, partly through the factionalising of the existing politico-religious parties. The JUP, a Barelvi politico-religious party split into five groups. The Sunni Tehreek in Karachi is the largest of these. It is headed by Maulana Saleem Qadri. Another big faction is the Dawat-e-Islami headed by Maulana Ilyas Qadri (former Punjab president of Anjuman Tulaba-e-Islam, the JUPs youth wing). Another smaller group is the Punjab Sunni Tehreek. In 1982, Maulana Ilyas Qadri declared himself Amir-e-Ahle-Sunnat and founded the organisation in Karachi. Until 1994 the Dawat held its annual congregation in that city but since then it has become more active in Punjab and the congregation is now held in Multan for the last three years. The DI puts its own strength of activists at over 100,000. The DI runs scores of madaris all over the country. It is planning to set up an Islamic university in Karachi. Another breakaway faction of the JUP is run by Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri. Apart from the Minhaj-ul-Quran which is a forum for teaching the Quran. the political wings of his establishment are Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat and Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat. The JUP is a Sunni group of the Brehvli school of thought, which has worship of saints and shrines that is looked down upon by more puritanical sects. The majority of Pakistanis follow the Brehvli tradition, but they have very little presence in either the Army of the government. According to the Barelvi ulema the Deobandi sect was a minority until 1970. Subsequently, Maulana Mufti Mahmood’s government in NWFP patronised Deobandi mullahs and appointed them to head official mosques which were looked after by the provincial Muslim Auqaf (Trust). This led to the growth of Deobandi madaris in NWFP (from where the Taliban derive their strength). General Zia also patronised Deobandis, and Saudi Arabia helps them financially. All this has led the Barelvis to come up with a response. The JUI was split into the Sami, the Darkhwasti and the Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman groups. Later the SSP was founded. A number of other factions also emerged from the base of the JUI. Among them were the Tahaffaz-e-Khatm-e-Nabwwat under Maulana Khan Muhammad of Kundian Sharif and the Harkat-ul-Ansar under Maulana Saadat Ullah Khan. The latter’s involvement in Kashmir and Afghanistan is well known. The Harkat-ul-Ansar has since split into the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The latter has split into 2 major factions, with up to ten smaller and more radical splinter groups also in existance. The splits were mainly over control of the Jihadi outfits large property and financial assets The relationship between the JUI and the other factions (as in similar cases of breakaway groups) is not necessarily one of sustained antagonism. This is illustrated by Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman’s volunteering to negotiate with the Harkat when it was alleged that it was the organisation responsible for the kidnapping of the five foreigners in Kashmir. It may at times may be more of a division of labour arrangement wherein the primarily political is separated from the primarily militant so that each side can work effectively in its own sphere. That seems quite likely as the Deobandi groups all follow the same religious leaders. It is also worth pointing out that the Army and ISI is dominated by Deobandis, even though they make up only a fraction of Pakistan’s Muslims. They have however, been able to propagate their own puratanical sect throughout the country, due to state support. This has lead to extremism increasing in the once moderate Brehvlis. The Jamiat Ahle-Hadith split up as well. The Jamaat Ahle Hadith was founded by Maulana Habibur Remain Yazdani and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Ahle e Hadith by Maulana Abdul Qadeer Khamosh. Another significant faction is the Al-Dawah-wal-Irshad. The Ahle-Hadith are Wahabis, and have little following in Pakistan The Shia party, the TNFJ, also split into two groups. Now Tehreek-e-fiqh-e-Jaffaria is the main Shia politico-religious party led by Allama Sajid Naqvi. The move was not endorsed by Allama Hamid Ali Moosvi. Subsequently, the Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) was created out of the TJP and adopted a more militant stance against the SSP than the TJP would allow. The sects and sub-sects also seem to be trying harder to mobilise followers at a mass level. In 1997, within almost exactly a month there were three major gatherings of Sunni sub-sects in the Punjab. The Barelvi Dawat-e-Islami held a 4 day gathering in Multan starting 17 October. The Al-Dawah-wal-Irshad held its annual 3 day convention at Muridke in the first week of November, and the Tableeghi Jamaat held its annual moot in the second week of November. The attendance at each of these three gatherings ran into lakhs with young people, significantly, making up a sizeable number of the participants. The meetings, however, are sometimes occasions for violence. At the Dawat-i-Islami congregation six Deobandi students who had come to attend, for whatever reason, were kidnapped and tortured, and four were killed. A key feature now of sectarian militancy is that it is not the province of a few extremists acting in isolation. Their support system extends well beyond their own organisation. The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, for instance, could look to the JUI or the Taliban in time of need. The SSP itself is considered a legitimate political party, participates in the elections and has been part of the governing coalition at the provincial level. This was before the SSP was ’banned’, but it’s leadership just renamed the party and are currently part of the Pakistani government, so the point remains the same. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #10 how dare you blame the death of the deobandies at the dawat-e-islami ijtima... that was all done by najdis to give dawat-e-islami a bad name.. and Thanking Allah.. the najdis that murdered them were also captured... so get your facts right you bimbo. |
| Posted by: Snereper Thromble7441 2005-01-20 8:42:55 AM |
| #9 Sunni Muslims do not worship saints and graves. |
| Posted by: Raza 2004-08-16 4:53:57 PM |
| #8 I just want to know what is the purpose of this article.In response One of the reader describe are you Alim,Why If just by showing this information person becomes an alim. I don't think there is any purpose of the article.Yes of course it can be used for the research purposes.suppose if you want to write a Phd thesis. Thank you |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-3-3 12:31:50 PM |
| #7 Paul Moloney, thanks for your helpful postings and commentary. I'm learning a lot about the Lakshar-e-Jigsaw Puzzle... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2003-10-2 1:29:02 PM |
| #6 People get down on Musharaf, but I grade on a scale (with Saudi Arabia getting an F- of course.) I doubt that removing several deeply imbedded cancers that have spread society wide can be accomplished rapidly. The complexity of the schisms that Paul has described makes my knees wobbly. You could generate a card deck out of all these groups but it would be obselete tomorrow. It looks like he is fighting the vilian from Terminator 2 that shattes and reconstitutes continuously. |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-10-2 1:03:01 PM |
| #5 Hmmm, apart from the relations of Pakistan with India and the embargo imposed due to its nuclear development program I would say that the Pakistani army should be supported and helped a hand to follow a secular road. The only way to eradicate the deeply rooted fundamentalists can be done by a military clampdown IMO. Sometimes less democratic means are needed to enforce democracy. An overnight clampdown that imprisons the leader cadres of those jamaats and sects can be done without plunging the country into a civil war. If the Pakistani army can’t bring it up to clean their country from fundamentalism soon, I am afraid your conclusion of becoming a failed state will come true. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-10-2 10:01:32 AM |
| #4 The Pakistani Army is probably mroe like the Iranian Army than the Turkish army. This is because, for the last 20 or so years, when General Zia ul Haq seized power in a military coup, he used Islam as a way of perpetuating his rule. So the fundamentalist bearded types in the military were given promotions, while the secular ones mostly stagnated. While this process ended someone in the early 90's, it still means that outside of the Generals, there are a large number of Islamist minded officers, who are known to support things like Pakistan's blaspehmy laws, continued support for Jihad outfits and the like. Most of the top Generals seem somewhat secular (with the notable exception of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who is a Kashmiri with well known radical views), but most of them, including both Musharaf and the previously mentioned Kashmiri General are due to retire in the next couple years. So the new officers who take over the army will probably decide what role the Army plays in Pakistani society. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-10-2 9:36:14 AM |
| #3 Interesting views and admitting I am a little bit disappointed too in his handling of radical Islam, but I think he deserves some support from the west in this area. Usually the army is the only well organized body with the power to fight deeply rooted sects as in Pakistan, provided that the power and influence of those sects have not the upper hand in that army (like in Iran). As a military leader and his secular personage he is the right person who could push for secular reforms in Pakistan. The question however is, are the Pakistani army top commanders like him (secular minded) and willing to support him with the needed power against the rooted power of those sects which seem to control the society. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-10-2 8:51:00 AM |
| #2 I'm not a scholar, but Pakistan and Afghanistan have been an interest of mine since around 1998, when I first heard about the Taliban and wanted to find out more about them and where they came from. Since then I have spent a lot of time reading the English language media from those countries and India, and became even more interested after 9/11. As for Musharaf, I believe he is a Pakistani nationalist, who would like to see his country develop and become the leader of the Islamic world. I also believe he is firmly committed to wresting Kashmir from India, and maintaining the dominance of the Army in Pakistani politics for quite some time to come. Having being interested in Pakistan for a while, I was suprised when Musharaf, who had been portrayed in the media as a pariah, suddenly became Pakistan's last best hope against radical Islam, in the wake of September 11. I've always believed that the Pakistani Army is the principal cause of much of the extremism that is allowed to run rampart in Pakistani society, and although Musharaf is ceratinly more pragmatic and secular than many of his colleagues, I feel that in the 4 years he has been in control of the country, he has done essentially nothing against radical Islam. He has cracked down on Al Qaeda Arabs, local sectarian terrorists, and provided the Americans with the means to defeat the Taliban (a Pakistani Army creation), but he has done nothing about the radical madrassas, the private Jihadi militias that operate openly in the country, or the regrouping Taliban operating in Pakistan's border provinces. I think that Musharaf could still be a good leader for his country, if he worked towards genuine democracy with the main moderate political parties (Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League), instead of undermining them because of his personal dislike for their leaders. Before 9/11, I thought Pakistan was on it's way towards becoming a failed state, and even now, i'm not sure if that fate hasn't just been pushed back 5 years, although I hope that isn't the case. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-10-2 7:41:27 AM |
| #1 I am impressed about your knowledge of sects in Pakistan, are you a scholar in this area? What is your opinion on Musharaf? |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-10-2 6:58:22 AM |