Moharram and Nawroz not acceptable say Sunni leaders
Habshi
time fighting each other .
thefridaytimes.com
Sectarian leaders on both sides, despite the truce, refuse to relent
on their stated positions. Shia leaders allege the administration
officials are partial to the Sunni sect. “Without a neutral
administration, anything can happen. A small incident is enough for a
flare up,” Malik Nawab Khan advocate, Imamia Council spokesman for the
Kohat division, told The Friday Times.
Maulvi Muhammad Amin, leader of the Deobandi Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
(SSP), a rabidly anti-Shia group, however, does not leave much room
for constructive engagement. While pledging to abide by the ceasefire,
he rejects the rival sect’s two major demands — observance of Moharram
rituals and Nauroze, New Year celebrations. “Accepting their demands
is against our beliefs as Muslims,” the 57-year-old maulvi told TFT at
his madrassa Jamia Yousafia just outside Hangu. Amin’s statement
clearly shows he and his followers consider the sect heretic.
For its part the administration is hopeful that the ceasefire would
hold. Acting Deputy Commissioner, Hangu, Riaz Khan Mehsud took 11 days
to make a breakthrough on May 16. “We are hopeful the ceasefire will
hold,” the Pushto-speaking acting DC told TFT. His office is heavily
guarded by militia jawans and the police, a pointer to the tense
situation in the area. Only weeks ago, the assistant political agent
of Kurram Agency was gunned down because Shi’ites perceived the
officer to be biased against them. The entire region of Hangu district
and Kurram Agency in the north-west of Hangu and Orakzai Agency in the
north of lower Miranzai Valley have witnessed increasing sectarian
violence since the 80s.
The latest round of sectarian clashes in Hangu followed the hanging of
Haq Nawaz, an SSP activist convicted of killing an Iranian diplomat in
1991. “The violence was a planned affair and media reports had warned
the government in advance of what was in the offing. But the
administration failed to take any preventive measures,” says a source.
Official toll for the April 1 clashes was 17 dead. However, Malik
Nawab told TFT the Sunni tribesmen lost some 24 people while six Shia
were killed after houses of Shia community were attacked by the Sunni
tribesman. Later, the government called out the army, imposed curfew
and issued shoot-on-sight orders.
Malik Nawab says the key issues between the two sects remain
unresolved. “We must be allowed to follow our religious rituals and
why should we not,” he said. He also says the Shia community “is
unfairly treated”.
Under the truce, a jirga will soon be constituted to determine the
causes of the violence and pin responsibility. Both sides have agreed
to the terms pending final settlement. Both sides have deposited Rs 1
million at the DC’s office and the amount would be confiscated if any
side violates the ceasefire. It will be returned, however, if both
sides agree to the terms laid down by the jirga. The two sides have
also deposited Rs 10 million in bonds.
The Shia community spokesman accused a premier intelligence agency of
fuelling the conflict. The community is also unhappy with certain
administration officials. These charges were vehemently denied by NWFP
home secretary, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah. “Such allegations are being made
but they are false and baseless,” he told TFT.
The sectarian situation is the result of the Afghan war and the
Iranian revolution. The two events triggered a cycle of serious
disturbances in the area. The war against the Soviets strengthened
Deobandi elements, while Tehran, too, supported certain Shia elements
within Pakistan. This created a sectarian fault-line, which was
widened because of state legislation that subscribed to the Deobandi
school of thought. Added to that was the factor of proliferation of
small arms and their easy availability.
For its part the SSP attempts to put the conflict and the violence way
back. “It is wrong to say that the two sects never clashed before the
1980s. In 1926, they fought a bloody war in the inaccessible and
lawless Tirah Valley after Maulana Abdur Rehim declared the Shia
heretics,” says Maulvi Amin of the SSP.
While differences between the two communities have persisted for
centuries, the present conflict can concretely be traced to certain
developments in the last two decades. While the Afghan war helped
nourish the Deobandi sect, the Iranian revolution infused a
revisionist, militant streak among the Shia. Two decades of violence
has now made the two viewpoints irreconcilable.
The SSP leaders insist the British introduced the route system for the
Moharram processions deliberately. “Why can’t the Shia mourn at home?
Why must they disturb other people by blocking roads?” asks Maulvi
Amin, adding: “The Shia want to keep the hatred alive through their
processions.”
Amin’s interpretation of history is unlikely to get him good marks in
a history exam but it does instigate Sunni fanatics to kill the Shia.
Amin offers a two-point solution to the problem: total ban on
literature instigating sectarian violence and observance of religious
rituals inside religious places for both the Sunni and Shia sects. “I
have nothing more to offer,” he told TFT.
That may be a good short-term solution, but does not address the basic
problem. For instance, it can be argued that it is Sunni intolerance
that perceives tazia procession as a slur on the Sunni community. “Why
must the Shia only mourn Hazrat Imam Hussain’s martyrdom?” asks an
analyst, adding: “This happens when history is looked at and
interpreted differently.”
The extent of this hatred comes through in what Maulvi Amin told TFT:
“When one’s dignity is attacked then he has to take up arms. Believe
me, my supporters taunted me for asking them to stop fire. My
supporters literally abused me for giving peace another chance.”
The violence has badly disrupted social life in the area. Schools have
remained closed for almost two months, the only exception being the
Hangu Public School, which opened within 16 days of the clashes after
its principal took personal responsibility for the safety of the
children.
The people of Hangu are still living under extraordinary security
measures. Although the curfew has been lifted, shops close down by 5
pm for fear of sectarian attacks in the evening and at night. The
administration has also provided streetlights for the first time in
Hangu, prompting a quip from a lawyer: “Here, violence brings
development.”
Heavily armed paramilitary troops, sandbagged bunkers with machine
guns, and armoured personnel carriers parked on exits and entrances is
a common sight in the city. Elements from the Frontier Corps and
Frontier Constabulary patrol sensitive areas round the clock. The
administration has also deputed paramilitary force on three positions
atop the Shah Almas mountain overlooking the Shia-dominated locality.
During the clashes, Sunni SSP fired rockets on Shia villages from the
positions on the mountain. As part of the truce, the administration
has also destroyed trenches and fortified positions of both sects and
seized a number of such light weapons as RPGs, 75 mm RRs, LMGs and MGs
and these weapons’ ammunition.
However, a police official told TFT, procuring weapons for the two
sides is not much problem. “Both sides can procure sophisticated
weapons again from nearby Kurram and Orakzai Agencies should they
decide on another round. Unless all entry points are completely
plugged, the inflow of weapons into Hangu cannot be stopped,” he said.
The officer revealed that there are no proper check-posts along the
96-kilometre long border of the district either in the north-west or
north to stop the inflow of weapons coming into the area from Kurram
and Orakzai Agencies. “Weapons flow into these tribal areas from
Afghanistan and then find their way to conflict-prone areas,” he said.
Habshi
Salman Hussein
says Karachi may be on the verge of a sectarian flare-up
With a doctor killed in a sectarian attack, a Jaish-e Mohammad
activist and his son gunned down and five activists of the Sunni
Tehreek injured after an armed attack, the situation in Karachi is
likely to deteriorate further.
Most of all, the violence allows activists of the various armed groups
to move around the city armed to the teeth and openly display their
weapons — in the face of the deweaponisation campaign.
But the worst may be yet to come. In a significant development, the
SSP activist that got killed when unknown assassins killed the ST
chief, Salim Qadri, in an ambush is also said to have been a member of
Jaish-e Mohammad. That adds another dimension to the case.
Sources close to Brelvi ST told TFT the Tehreek leaders suspect the
hand of SSP and Jaish in the murder of Qadri. The situation has become
more complicated since the murder of the Jaish activist and his son,
though police officials say they have not found any linkage so far
between Qadri’s killing and the attack on the slain Jaish leader.
ST leaders told TFT the SSP, Jaish, and Harkatul Mujahideen members
are affiliated and move from one to another organisation. That may be
true of the first two but not of HM, which has had a running feud with
Jaish since the latter was formed by Masoud Azhar.
Meanwhile, the SSP and Jaish leaders have already started blaming the
MQM. Even Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani of the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Pakistan
(JUP), a Brelvi religious-political party, has alleged that the
conspiracy to kill Qadri was hatched in London. This may or may not be
true but one fact must be borne in mind. The acquittal of MQM
activists from the murder case of former Sindh governor, Hakim Said,
clearly shows that it may not be a good idea to blame the MQM for
every incident of violence in the city.
Police investigations thus far point the finger towards the SSP.
DIG-Karachi, Tariq Jamil told TFT that the autopsy report of the slain
SSP/Jaish activist, Arshad Khan, has established that he was injured
by Qadri’s bodyguard. “The bullets in his body were fired from the
guard’s weapon,” a police officer confirmed.
Police record also confirms that Arshad was bailed out just days
before Qadri’s murder. Most observers fear the situation could
deteriorate. “Both camps have thousands of armed followers,” says a
source. Jaish is widely regarded as the most sectarian of the jihadi
outfits. It was formed by Masoud Azhar after he was released by India
following the hijacking of the Indian airlines plane. An old HM
activist, Azhar not only broke away from the HM but has since been
trying to put it down. Last year saw many clashes between Jaish and HM
activists and at one point Azhar’s men nearly wiped out the HM Punjab
chapter after they successfully poached many HM activists.
Jaish has since grown in strength. While Azhar’s entry into Sindh is
banned, he often comes to Karachi, according to insiders. Police
sources say if he has in fact gotten into an alliance with local
Deobandi groups that could be dangerous for Karachi.
For their part, the MQM leaders say they have been warning of rising
fundamentalism in Karachi. “All this is being done by the intelligence
agencies. They want to break the MQM’s power and are using these
elements for this purpose,” says a top MQM leader. MQM leaders also
dismiss as absurd allegations that its activists killed Qadri. “It is
their own feud. These people have been fighting over funds and control
of mosques. There is no point in blaming us for this,” says an MQM
source, adding: “We had wiped out the politics of religious extremism
from Karachi, but it seems that some elements want to bring it back.”
Habshi
thefridaytimes.com
Absconding naked in Pakpattan
According to daily Pakistan, when the police invaded a prostitution
den in Pakpattan it found that the SDO Telephones Iqbal was busy in
badikhlaqi (fornication) with a girl student while a blue film was
being made of the act. In another room candidates for the post of
nazim and naib nazim in the local government polls from Faisalabad
were also doing badikhlaqi, but they succeeded in absconding from the
scene in a naked state. An officer of Revenue Department and a doctor
were also doing the same badikhlaqi but were let off after a lot of
mannat samajat (begging).
Standing up for jehad
According to Jang, Council for Islamic Ideology protested at the
ministry of education's measure to remove some Quranic verses from the
matriculation course. The protest was caused in particular because
these verses related to jehad and contained edicts against Jews and
Christians.
The jinn tree of Bhati Gate
According to a report in Nawa-e-Waqt, the great banyan tree which was
split into two by the recent storm was possessed by jinns. There was a
time when it used to go on fire by itself. If someone tried to cut it
he was destroyed. Many times machines were brought to saw it but these
machines also developed defects and caught fire. Because of the fear
of the jinns no one ever sat under it during midday or night. In the
city, there were five banyan trees. This one and another called
mamoon-bhanja were the only ones surviving.
islamisgrowing2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As-salaam Alakum(to Muslims),
Hello(To non Muslims),
My name is Austin and this is my story of my conversion to Islam...
It all began one day when a friend I had known for years called me up
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Daily my friend lectured me on the Islamic way of life, and I compared
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Oct. 10, 1997 I went to a local Mosque and I proclaimed, "I bear
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Sincerely,
Austin, Email: DiGiT...@aol.com
Mirza Ghalib
regard Moharram. For the former it is very relevant because
their leader Ali was deprived of the Caliphate, which was
usurped by Muawwiya, a Sunni. The slayers of Hussain were
also Sunni. But I still do not understand why Sunnins mourn,
for they were the doers of the evil deed against
the prophet's grandchild, and his entire family.
Could be repentence.
Habshi wrote: