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| India-Pakistan | |||
| Profile of three more banned militant groups | |||
| 2003-11-22 | |||
| Profiles! Getcher profiles! Y'can't tell the jihadis without a profile! The Government of Pakistan banned three more religious organisations on Thursday and since people know very little about their background, Daily Times compiled their profiles below: The government had banned Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan (MIP), Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan (ITP) and Tehrik-e-Khudamul Islam (TKI) at a meeting attended by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali last Saturday. Jamaatul Furqan (JF): The JF is a breakaway faction of the TKI and was formed on September 25 when the TKI led by Maulana Masood Azhar reached an agreement over distribution of TKI assets with Commander Abdul Jabbarâs group. The two groups also agreed on a âcode of conductâ and a name change for the Jabbar group at a meeting in Lahore. Maulana Jabbar and Commander Umar led the breakaway faction. They accused Maulana Azhar, former head of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad, of embezzling funds and disagreeing with his jihadi policies. Not only that, the two groups clashed for control of assets, such as the TKIâs Karachi headquarters Markaz-e-Batha. One man was reported injured in a gunbattle outside the Markaz on April 14. At the September 25 meeting, the Jabbar group agreed to take the name Jamaatul Furqan in exchange for Rs 1.5 million and a white Toyota Corolla 1988 model car. The Umar group also agreed to destroy the receipts of cheques it had for fundraising under the name of TKI. After reconciliation, Commander Umar became Nazim-e-Aala, Maulana Abdullah Shah Mazhar was named Ameer for Pakistan and Commander Jabbar was made supreme commander, while he was under arrest for the Taxila church explosion and an attack on a missionary in Murree in 2002. Before reconciliation, Masood Azhar wrote a letter to intelligence agencies against 10 of his partymen including Commander Jabbar and other leaders of the breakaway faction. The letter was published in the national press after which Commander Jabbar and others were arrested in July 2003.
Jamaitul Ansar (JA): The JA was the new name given to Deobandi jihadi organisation Harkatul Mujahideen (HM) in March 2003 to escape a ban. But it was not included in the list of organisations banned on January 12, 2002. The JA went through several changes over the years. In 1993, the HM merged with the Harkatul Jihadul Islami to form what came to be knows as Harkatul Ansar (HA). In 1995, an organisation called Al Faran kidnapped American, German, British and Norwegian tourists in Pehlgam in held-Kashmir. The two commanders who set up the group belonged to the HM were Abdul Hammad Turkey and Commander Sikandar. The kidnapped tourists were to be used as a leverage to get Maulana Azhar, commander Shahid Afghani and others freed. The US declared it a terrorist group. The HA was divided into two groups. Chief of HM Maulana [Fazlur Rehman] Khalil came under pressure and he denounced the Al Faran group. Both the commanders were killed later, which made it easier for Maulana Khalil to part ways from Al Faran. The HA split in 1996. The HM was shocked when Maulana Azhar formed Jaish Muhammad in February 2000. A large number of its mujahideen joined Maulana Azhar. When the US attacked Afghanistan in 1998, two HM training camps were destroyed and 21 mujahideen killed. The HM fought against Americans with the Taliban. But the organisation had a major setback when some of its leaders parted ways and formed a faction as Harkatul Mujahideen Al Almi (HMA). Later it established relations with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Maulana Khalil transformed the group into Jamaitul Ansar.
Hizbut Tahrir (HT): The HT is an international organisation working for the establishment of a Khilafat (caliphate) in the world and claims it has an alternative system. The HT has a network in 50 countries but in Pakistan it began working in August 1999 with Naveed Butt as the groupâs official spokesman for Pakistan. Mr Butt told Daily Times in an interview that the HT considered militancy or use of weapons for the establishment of a caliphate as Haram (forbidden). âWe believe in a peaceful change,â he said. However, many of its leaders like Mr Butt and Taimur Butt have been detained many a time in the past.
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |