The 52-year-old Javed Ibrahim Paracha is one of the most controversial politicians of Kohat because of his deeply held anti-Shia beliefs. He was actively supported in the 2002 contest for a national assembly seat by the banned sectarian-terrorist organisation, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. He came to politics early as a student leader representing the Deobandi student wing of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. To remain involved in student politics, he spent most of his life in educational institutions doing four masters in law, history, Islamiyat and Arabic from the University of Peshawar.
Later, he broke away from JUI of Fazlur Rehman after developing differences with the JUIF leadership. He contested the 1997 election on a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz platform and won it. He was also opposed to the Deobandi parties' move to put together an alliance by including in it a Shia party. When sectarian violence was at its peak, Paracha was appointed the head of Sunni Supreme Council, an organisation he has been leading for ten years now. The SSC primarily focuses on countering the Shia sect.
Paracha is widely known to have instigated sectarian violence in the Hangu district and parts of the tribal Orakzai Agency during the nineties. His anti-Shia views were very clear when TFT interviewed him in 1998. Today, he tries to play this down. Two former deputy commissioners of Kohat TFT spoke with were agreed that Paracha is a born troublemaker. One of them said: "He is a master of using the religious card to blackmail bureaucrats." Recently, the government has alleged that he was involved in facilitating the terrorists suspected of blowing up federal targets on the Independence Day. Paracha denies the charge and has moved the provincial High Court. TFT spoke with him in Kohat regarding the latest charges and his general reputation as a sectarian troublemaker. |