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Pakistani religious parties directly linked to al-Qaeda
The radical Pakistan political party, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) and several of the country's extremist militias are suspected of having had direct links with al-Qaeda and are known to sympathize with al-Qaeda ideology, an American scholar, speaking at a terrorism seminar in Islamabad has claimed. In a paper presented at the âGlobal terrorismâ seminar organised by the Islamabad-based Institute of Regional Studies, Rodney Jones said that the most prominent and militant parties involved in recruitment and training of âjihadisâ were the JUI and Jamaat-i-Islami.However, a Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman, Aftab Ahmed Sharpao, has dismissed the claims, saying there is no evidence linking the groups and parties to Osama bin Laden's terror network. If anay religious party was found to have such links the Pakistani government would act against it in accordance with the law, Sherpao said. âThe most prominent and militant of these parties are the Deobandi oriented Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) of which there are two competing factions led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Samiul Haq, each with extensive followings in the NWFP, Balochistan and in the larger cities; the urban-based Jamaat-i- Islami and the Markaz al-Dawa-wal Irshad,â Jones said in his presentation at the conference. The Deobandi are Muslims of South Asia and Afghanistan who follow the fiqh (tradition of jurisprudence) of Imam Abu Hanifa. The name comes from Deoband, India, where the madrassa Darul Uloom Deoband is sited. They consider the Shia sect to be an apostate group. Jones said the more militant of the Islamist parties in the main six party religious alliance in Pakistan, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), were often manifestly at odds in the areas they governed with Pakistanâs commitment to sever ties with the Taliban and with Pakistanâs international commitments in the war on terrorism. He said the JUI and JI were intimately involved with the anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan. As in Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf states, the indigenous Pakistani extremist groups were deeply embedded in society and politics and overcoming them by direct repression was not politically feasible, he said. Jones suggested that the US and the West help president Pervez Musharraf in Kashmir and support his idea of enlightened moderation. The three day seminar in Islamabad on "Global Terrorism" ended on Wednesday. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-09-02 |
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