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The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
chief indicates a growing ideological divide between religious parties and the Taliban
On October 19, former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed
...the absolutely humorless, xenophobic former head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He was also head of the MMA, a coalition of religious parties formed after 2001 that eventually collapsed under the weight of the holy egos involved. Qazi was the patron of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar during the Afghan mujaheddin's war against the Soviets. His sermons are described as
fiery,which means they rely heavily on gospel and not at all on logic. Qazi once recommended drinking camel pee for good health, but that was before his kidneys went...
narrowly escaped a suicide attack in Gandau area of
Mohmand Agency... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
. A burqa-clad woman blew herself up near his convoy injuring five.
Qazi's procession was headed to the Mian Mandi area of Haleemzai tehsil to address a gathering and open a party office when it came under attack near Ghyiba Chowk, according to Adil Siddique, the political agent. According to a witness, a woman sitting on the roadside detonated the explosives strapped to her body when the convoy arrived. Officials found pieces of female clothing and hair on the site.
The event was not postponed despite the suicide attack. Qazi told news hounds later that he had been attacked by "the agents of the US, Israel and India", and not by Moslems.
Although nobody has grabbed credit for the bombing, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain chief Hakeemullah Mehsud had released a video several months ago in which he had denounced Qazi and questioned his stance on TTP attacks in Pakistain. In the Pashto video made and released by Umer Media, Mehsud cites an April 2012 interview by Salim Safi on Geo TV. He criticized Qazi for saying that the Afghan Taliban's resistance against foreign forces was true jihad and that of the Pak Taliban against Pakistain was un-Islamic. Hakimullah argued that the JI leader was wrong.
Qazi had refused to respond to the video. "I know about the existence of this videotape, but I have no comments to make," he told news hounds.
Militants operating in Mohmand Agency are led by Omar Khalid, whose real name is Abdul Wali. A source in the police said the Mohmand chapter of TTP was involved in most of the recent attacks on politicians in the neighboring Charsadda and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
districts.
On November 11, a bomb planted near the house of Jamaat-e-Islami Peshawar chief and former politician Sabir Hussain Awan went off, damaging a nearby house and a mosque.
Last year, police defused a bomb planted near the house of another JI leader, Shabbir Ahmad Khan. At least 27 people including JI Peshawar vice chief Haji Dost Muhammad and a deputy superintendent of police were killed in a suicide attack in Qissa Khwani Bazar of Peshawar in April 2010.
Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
-Fazl, survived two successive suicide attacks in Swabi and Charsadda in March 2011.
Several activists and leaders of the JUI-F have been targeted and killed in Khyber Pakhtunkwa and FATA in the last four years. Those who died include Mairajuddin, a former MNA from the Mehsud area of South
Wazoo, Noor Muhammad Wazir, a former MNA from the Wazir area of South Waziristan, and Haji Afzal Khan, former district mayor of Hangu.These attacks are significant because JUI-F and JI are considered pro-Taliban. Some political analysts believe the attacks indicate a growing ideological divide between the religious political parties and Pak Taliban concerning the legitimacy of the Pak state.
The TTP openly denounces democracy and calls the state un-Islamic. The religious parties participate in elections and recognize the authority of the Pak state.
The March 2011 liquidation attempts on Fazlur Rehman came days after leaked US State Department cables revealed JUI-F leaders reportedly wanted to mediate between the US and the Afghan Taliban. Analysts say the Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda decided to sever links with the JUI-F after that.
Serious differences had also been reported between Jamaat-e-Islami and Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi led by Sufi Mohammad and his son-in-law Fazlullah. Sufi was a local leader of the JI in Dir district until the early 1980s, when he parted ways with them and violated their policy of getting power only through elections.