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| Afghanistan/South Asia | |
| Amnesty International Official Recounts Religious Strife in Pakistan | |
| 2005-02-05 | |
| From the Pakistan Christian Post, answers given in an interview with Rehman Faiz, president of the Lahore unit of Amnesty International. He is active in promoting inter-faith dialogue in Pakistan and is the editor of the recently launched inter-faith journal Insight. .... Things began to change in the late 1970s, when general Zia ul-Haq come to power and used a particular sect for promoting his own goals. He was supported in this by the USA and Saudi Arabia, which shared common interests and objectives with the then Pakistani army establishment. At exactly the same time, the Shia Islamic revolution took place in neighbouring Iran, which had a major influence on the Shia population of Pakistan as well. Meanwhile, the establishment's support for the Deobandi sect as a sort of official Islam led, as a reaction, to the formation of the Tehrik-e Nifaz-e Fiqh-e Jaffria(TNFJ)in April 1979, by the Shias of Pakistan under the joint initiative of Mufti Jafar Hussain and Allama Syed Mohammad Rizvi. In order to display its strength, the TNFJ organised a massive demonstration of Shias in Islamabad in July 1980. It was the first demonstration of its type by the Shias in the history of the country. Following this, the Anjuman Sipah-e Sahaba (later called the Sipah-e Sahaba Pakistan or SSP) was set up in 1984, with the support of the then Pakistani establishment, in order to counter the rising force of certain Shia groups, who were said to have been backed by the Iranian intelligence. The sympathy of many Shias towards the Bhutto family helped set off alarm bells in the higher circles of the Pakistani government. Equally worried were forces like the USA and Saudi Arabia. Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, a semi-educated khateeb who had received his religious education at the Darul Uloom, Kabirwala and the Khair-ul Madaris, Multan, was the founder of the SSP. To begin with, the SSP was not a violent organization, but within a few years it merged as a brutal outfit, leading to a major escalation of Shia-Sunni violence. Outside forces also supported and funded Shia-Sunni discord to achieve their goals. This has been recognized by several Pakistani scholars themselves. The daily Nation, in a report published on 20 January, 1995,quoting a confidential report of the Home Department of Punjab, stating: "[Under Zia], the Saudi Government started backing the Deobandi school of thought and, in the wake of the Afghan war, supplied funds and arms to the Deobandis. Indirectly, the USA and a few other Western countries also supported the SSP to counter the growing Shia and Iranian influence in this region". .... The Mohajir Qaumi Movement [later renamed as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)] was set up in the 1980s by Altaf Hussain in order to counter the activities of the Sindu Desh movement under the late G.M. Syed, as well as to undermine the popularity of Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party (PPP). When the MQM went out of the control of the establishment during the first term of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1988-90), the establishment tried to weaken Altaf Hussain's popularity amongst the Mohajirs by trying to divide the Sunni and Shia migrants from UP and Bihar. But after failing to do this, a splinter group of the MQM was set up, the MQM Haqiqi(Real)in order to counter the MQM. The SSP was armed, and its activists were trained and then inducted into Afghanistan in order to fight against the Russians. Among other Deobandi jihadi organizations involved in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan were the Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami(HUJI) and the Harkat-ul Mujahideen (HUM), which are considered to be the offspring of the SSP. Likewise, the Jaish-e Mohammad (JEM), which was formed in 2000 through an apparent division in the HUM. In 1988, the Iranian intelligence, it is said, encouraged the Shias of Gilgit in the Northern Areas to rise in revolt and demand the creation of a separate 'Karakoram' province for the Shias. General Zia inducted jihadi tribal hordes into Gilgit, where they carried out a large-scale massacre of the Shias. Moreover, the SSP of Punjab was allowed to open an office in Gilgit, to rally round the Sunnis in the area against the Shias. This resulted in the spread of sectarian terrorism to the Northern Areas, before which it had limited mainly to Punjab and the NWFP. Then, in 1994, Alaf Hussain's MQM re-organized itself in interior Sindh. To counter this, the SSP, which had been largely restricted to Punjab, was inducted into Sindh in order to reinforce the position of MQM (H). This resulted in the spread of sectarian terrorism to Sindh as well. .... As far as the current government is concerned, it appears to have taken some solid steps in a positive direction, including proscription of violent sectarian groups and imprisonment of many of their activists. This is one of the outcomes of the decision of General Pervez Musharraf to take part in the US led 'war against terrorism'. The decision has totally changed Pakistan's foreign policy, which has also impacted on the way in which Pakistan relates to Afghanistan and Iran, besides also having a positive influence on India-Pakistan relations. The current upsurge of sectarian violence, especially in Balochistan, does not seem related to any 'internal agenda' of the government. Such violence does not provide any strategic benefit to the government. On the contrary, it badly harms its own policy. To me it seems perhaps a result of the dejection that violent groups in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan-Afghan border are today facing. This may also be a reaction to what they see as Shia support to the USA, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whatever the reason might be, it is the duty of the government of Pakistan to provide protection and security to all its citizens. Repeated violence of the same sort and at the same places clearly points to major loopholes in the governmental system and gross negligence, which need to be urgently addressed. .....
Madrasas have played a major role in the rise of Shia-Sunni sectarian intolerance in Pakistan. In 1947, there were around 245 madrasas in Pakistan. In April 2002, Dr. Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi, the Minister of Religious Affairs, put the number of madrasas in the country at 10,000, with some 1.7 million students. In an analysis paper for the Brookings Institution in 2001, P.W. Singer estimated the number of madrasas in the country at 45,000, although he did not cite any source for this. Both Shias and Sunnis have their own separate madrasas. Since the Sunnis form the majority of the population of Pakistan, Sunni madrasas are far more numerous. Among the Sunnis, the three major maslaks (schools of thought), the Deobandis, the Barelvis and the Ahl-e Hadith (Salafis), as well as the Jama'at-e Islami, have their own separate madrasas. The number of madrasas in the country increased rapidly during General Zia ul-Haq's rule (1977-1988). In the course of the war in Afghanistan against the Soviets, the United States sent in money, arms and ammunition to Afghan fighters, and much of this found its way to several madrasas. The Saudi organization, Harumain Islamic Foundation, is said to have generously helped the Ahl-e Hadith, because of which it emerged as a powerful force. The Lashkar-e Taiba, an organization that had been active in fighting in Afghanistan and Kashmir, is associated with the Ahl-e Hadith. In recent years, the influence of the Deobandis has also increased, as the Taliban were trained in their seminaries. It should be remembered that the number of Deobandi madrasas is the highest, and they are thought to be the basic source of manpower and resources for anti-Shia vehemence in Pakistan. .... Except for a very small minority, there are no social differences between common Shias and Sunnis. Hence, one can confidently claim that Shia-Sunni conflict is limited to a fraction of the ulema and some of their followers, and that it is not widespread and deep-rooted among the common people. .... In the early 1980s incidents of sectarian violence occurred primarily in the interior of Punjab, especially in the areas of Jhang, Multan, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffar Garh, etc.. However, with the passage of time it spread to other major cities such as Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Quetta and Sargodha. There have also been incidents of Shia-Sunni violence in Peshawar, Gilgit and Karachi. Today, the areas of acute sensitivity are Quetta, Jhang, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur. ..... | |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 Veeerrrry interesting! Thanks, Mike S. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-02-05 10:22:26 PM |