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| India-Pakistan |
| Decapation Attack on Anti-Salafi group in Karachi |
| 2006-04-13 |
| A decapitation explosion at a religious congregation in Karachi on April 11, 2006, killed the entire senior leadership of the Sunni Tehrik, an anti-Deobandi, anti-Wahabi and anti-Salafi Sunni organisation of Pakistan, which has maintained its distance from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and International Islamic Front (IIF). The religious congregation was organised by the Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat (JAS) to mark the Holy Prophet's birthday. Fifty other innocent civilians, many of them lower-level leaders of the Tehrik, were killed in the explosion. The Pakistani authorities have blamed two suicide bombers for the devastating explosion, which killed Abbas Qadri, the Amir of the Sunni Tehrik, and four other senior leaders. No organisation has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion. In the past, this organisation had been projected by the Deobandis, the Wahabis and the Salafis of Pakistan as a Sunni surrogate of the Iranian intelligence to counter the growing influence of the Wahabi-Salafi ideology among the Sunnis of Pakistan. The Sunni Tehrik draws its following mainly from the Barelvis, a Sunni school of thought, which is generally perceived as more tolerant than the Deobandis. In fact, the Barelvis, many, if not most, of whom are descendents of converts from Hinduism, are in a numerical majority in Pakistan and in a preponderant majority in the Sindh province. The Deobandis, most of whose following is restricted to the Pakistani Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), are descendents of Muslims, who came into the sub-continent from Central Asia, Afghanistan and West Asia. They look upon the Barelvis as inferior to them and as soft due to the distorting influence of Hinduism on their thinking and behaviour. While the Deobandi extremists have been backing---openly or covertly--- Al Qaeda and its ideology, the Barelvis have been uncomfortable over it. Many of them have been critical of the use of the Pakistani territory by Al Qaeda and the IIF for their terrorist operations in other countries. For the last fifteen years, there has been a conflict between the Deobandis and the Barelvis for the control of the mosques and their funds not only in Pakistan, but also in the UK. Previously, the Barelvis used to control the mosques in the UK frequented by immigrants from the sub-continent, but they have since been driven out by the Deobandis and Wahabis. This was the starting point for the radicalisation of the Pakistani-origin Muslims in the UK and in the other countries of West Europe. The ISI has been supporting the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ in Pakistan as well as in West Europe. Since its formation, the Sunni Tehrik has been involved in a sub-sectarian conflict with the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ and in a political conflict with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of Altaf Hussain. While the Sunni Tehrik and the MQM have been countering the activities of the Deobandis, Wahabis and Salafis and their attempts to Arabise and Wahabise the Indian Muslim migrants (Mohajirs) to Pakistan, they have at the same time been quarelling with each other over the collection of funds from the Mohajirs for their respective political activities. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #2 The Deobandis, most of whose following is restricted to the Pakistani Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), are descendents of Muslims, who came into the sub-continent from Central Asia, Afghanistan and West Asia. See: Moghul Emperors |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-04-13 12:16 |
| #1 ROP |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2006-04-13 10:09 |