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India-Pakistan
Thousands of Sipah-e-Sahaba members descend on Islamabad
2006-04-07
Sipah-e-Sahaba has thousands of members? Dear God ...
Thousands of activists from an outlawed Sunni Muslim militant group rallied in Pakistan's capital, calling for the establishment of an Islamic theocracy in the country and across the world.

Activists of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) openly distributed pamphlets preaching jihad, or holy war, and hatred against minority Shi'ites in Islamabad as their leaders delivered fiery speeches to a crowd of around 5,000 late on Thursday.

They also sold video compact discs of beheadings of American soldiers in Iraq, militant activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the rally, which they said was convened to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad this month.

One of the organisers thanked the Islamabad administration for allowing the rally, which was held under floodlights in a bus depot, with hundreds of riot police watching on.

The group is known to have close links with Jaish-e-Mohammad, a key militant group fighting in Indian-ruled Kashmir and an organisation that has forged links with al Qaeda.

The rally was also addressed by Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, a former general who was sacked and arrested in 1995 for trying to topple the government of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the military's top brass with an aim to enforce a Taliban-like rule in the country.

"The concept of nation state is an obstacle in the way of establishment of Khilafat (puritanical Islamic rule)," he said.

"We will start establishment of Khilafat in Pakistan and then will do so across the world," he vowed.

Last July, President Pervez Musharraf ordered a major crackdown against clerics and organisations inciting sectarian violence, having already banned SSP, or "Army of the Companions of the Prophet Mohammad" in 2002.

Some of the crowd briefly chanted anti-Shi'ite slogans, until they were told to refrain by their leaders.

They also swore allegiance to their late leader, Maulana Azam Tariq, a fiery pro-Taliban cleric who was assassinated in Islamabad in 2003, and founder of their militant organisation, Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, who was killed in 1980s.

On Thursday, a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the southern city of Karachi after his car was hit by a remote-controlled bomb.

Authorities have launched several crackdowns on militant outfits since Pakistan joined a U.S.-led war on terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States, but critics say that the steps taken have been half-hearted and many groups have resurfaced under new names.

Like other groups, SSP remerged under the new name of Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan or Islamic Nation of Pakistan.

Founded in the 1980s, it wants Pakistan to be officially declared a Sunni Muslim state.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#11  Suddenly, I don't have anything to say.
Posted by: Yusef Islam   2006-04-07 12:56  

#10  Suddenly, I got nothin' to say.
Posted by: Yusef Islam   2006-04-07 05:02  

#9  Yeah, whatever. I wouldn't want to put a rain cloud over your happy world, LH. Everyone is good. No one is bad. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.
Posted by: 2b   2006-04-07 19:00  

#8  As ive said before, only a minority of muslims beleive in the seperation of Islam and state. By the same token only a minority of muslims believe in reestablishing the Caliphate, or in forcing jews and christians around the world to dhimmitude. Rather most muslims living in muslim countries would like their countries to recognize islam as the official religion of the country, and recognize SOME aspects of Sharia, esp family and inheritance law, as state law. I dont like the latter, and i dont think the latter helps those countries to advance, but its NOT what the current war is about.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-04-07 14:43  

#7  If we misread that and think that the name of Islam is about political domination,

I think the problem is that the clerics in the mosque misread it to mean submission and are preaching that worldwide in the mosques. It's a bit as if a good percentage of the local churches started preaching that the will of God was to kill Jews and Muslims and subject the government to the laws of the church and a good number of follwers began to implement their suggestions. That becomes a problem that needs to be identified and dealt with, and I think you'd have a problem with Christians doing that, even though its not the true meaning of Christianity. For some reason, you have deluded yourself that that is just not happening in mosques, since you don't want it to be so.

I agree with you that the majority of Muslims are just good, ordinary folks. That's not really the issue that faces us today in the form of suicide bombs, advances in nuclear technology and attempts to redefine our freedoms, repress free speech and allow for the subjugation of women here and world wide, now is it?

Optimism is good. Denial of reality is bad.
Posted by: 2b   2006-04-07 13:30  

#6  'Those that insist that the laws of Islam (which I understand means submission, not peace)

It means both, IIUC, just as Shalom means peace, but is also fullness. completion Shalem. In Islam one attains peace by submission to Allah, just as in Judaism one attains peace, a state of completing oneself, by studying and following Torah.

If we misread that and think that the name of Islam is about political domination, then we have forfeited the meaning of Islam to precisely those like Sipah e sahaba who want to establish a caliphate, and we make it more difficult to reach out to those who dont.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-04-07 13:08  

#5  One MOAB, please.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-04-07 09:15  

#4  "Yusef Islam" is MBD (Man Bites Dog) trolling, again.
Posted by: Criger Shaling7432   2006-04-07 07:59  

#3  The good news announces itself, Yusef Islam. The bad is what we need to keep track of, to know how the war is going against those who use terror in their efforts to expand the Ummah and establish the Caliphate. We welcome those Muslims who understand that their religion is as personal and private as whatever faith or non-faith others may choose, and that the rules of Islam must be subject to the secular laws of the nation. Those that insist that the laws of Islam (which I understand means submission, not peace) will rule over all, believers and non-believers alike, can go to Hell, or to a country more congenial to their way of thinking, whichever they choose. And those Muslims that try to proselytize me will be treated the same as anyone else who tries to pursuade me: I assess areas of ignorance and assign homework.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-04-07 07:51  

#2  This must be the very low profile
Posted by: Paul Moloney   2006-04-07 05:49  

#1  It's a good thing dogs can lick their own balls. That part about eating their own butt nuggets, however, is a bit much.
Posted by: Criger Shaling7432   2006-04-07 05:05  

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