By Tahir Hasan Khan, *A tale of two mindsets* - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The province of Sindh has always been known as the land of Sufism, and a majority of the people here believe that Islam spread in the region through the practices of famous Sufi saints.
Most of the population hold the ‘Pir’ in high esteem and follow them religiously. This, in turn, enables family members of the ‘Pirs’ to enter the realm of politics, as they already have a large number of people supporting and following them. In fact, political parties in Sindh with no connection with Sufism often fail as none of them manage to win any election from the rural areas of the province.
In Karachi, majority of the Muhajirs, who migrated from India after partition, also belong to same school of thought. Although Jamat-e-Islami (JI) had a strong base of loyalists in the city, Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan (JUP), led by Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani swept the elections held in 1971.
After General Ziaul Haq captured power from Zulfiqar Bhutto, steps were taken to destabilise JUP as Mualana Noorani had opposed General Zia’s martial law. However, JI was a staunch supported of the Gen Zia due to its involvement in the Afghan Jihad. The military regime created rifts within the JUP ranks and most of the leaders joined Ziaul Haq’s government. JI tried to take advantage of that situation to increase its political stronghold.
However people rejected JI in the 1985 non party elections as well. Candidates who got selected from Karachi and Hyderabad belonged to Barelvi school of thought. Despite increasing pressure by the military rulers, religious seminaries under the Barelvi system refused to support the Afghan Jihad, which led Gen Zia to promote the Deobandi school of thought. Throughout the country, there was a mushrooming of religious seminaries under the Deobandi system, which promoted the Jihadi culture.
Most of today’s Taliban belong to such Maderressahs. The Nishtar Park bomb blast three years ago killed the top leadership of the Barelvi school of thought. Although some Barelvi Ulema and leaders blamed Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the incident, the authorities claimed that pro-Taliban elements were involved in this attack.
MQM’s chief Altaf Hussain also belongs to Barelvi faction and this has helped the party garner a strong loyalty and support from the people of Karachi. In fact, MQM has taken over JUP’s support and after yesterday’s suicide attack which killed Maulana Sarfaraz Naeemi in Lahore, the party announced a day of mourning.
It might be noted that Maulana Naeemi was a strong critic of the Taliban and had declared suicide bombing an un-Islamic act. Maulana Naeemi and other religious party leaders were trying to form an Anti-Taliban alliance, and his gruesome murder can be termed a message for people resisting the Taliban.
This incident also raised fear that the country’s political leadership was also being warned, since Maulana Naeemi was close to Nawaz Sharif.
Although the strike today against the killing of Maulana Naeemi was observed peacefully without any major incident (at the time of writing), this calm has an uneasy air about it.
It is, after all, the calm before the next round of clashes begins between pro and anti-Taliban forces in country.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
An Uneasy Air
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The province of Sindh has always been known as the land of Sufism, and a majority of the people here believe that Islam spread in the region through the practices of famous Sufi saints.
Most of the population hold the ‘Pir’ in high esteem and follow them religiously. This, in turn, enables family members of the ‘Pirs’ to enter the realm of politics, as they already have a large number of people supporting and following them. In fact, political parties in Sindh with no connection with Sufism often fail as none of them manage to win any election from the rural areas of the province.
In Karachi, majority of the Muhajirs, who migrated from India after partition, also belong to same school of thought. Although Jamat-e-Islami (JI) had a strong base of loyalists in the city, Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan (JUP), led by Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani swept the elections held in 1971.
After General Ziaul Haq captured power from Zulfiqar Bhutto, steps were taken to destabilise JUP as Mualana Noorani had opposed General Zia’s martial law. However, JI was a staunch supported of the Gen Zia due to its involvement in the Afghan Jihad. The military regime created rifts within the JUP ranks and most of the leaders joined Ziaul Haq’s government. JI tried to take advantage of that situation to increase its political stronghold.
However people rejected JI in the 1985 non party elections as well. Candidates who got selected from Karachi and Hyderabad belonged to Barelvi school of thought. Despite increasing pressure by the military rulers, religious seminaries under the Barelvi system refused to support the Afghan Jihad, which led Gen Zia to promote the Deobandi school of thought. Throughout the country, there was a mushrooming of religious seminaries under the Deobandi system, which promoted the Jihadi culture.
Most of today’s Taliban belong to such Maderressahs. The Nishtar Park bomb blast three years ago killed the top leadership of the Barelvi school of thought. Although some Barelvi Ulema and leaders blamed Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the incident, the authorities claimed that pro-Taliban elements were involved in this attack.
MQM’s chief Altaf Hussain also belongs to Barelvi faction and this has helped the party garner a strong loyalty and support from the people of Karachi. In fact, MQM has taken over JUP’s support and after yesterday’s suicide attack which killed Maulana Sarfaraz Naeemi in Lahore, the party announced a day of mourning.
It might be noted that Maulana Naeemi was a strong critic of the Taliban and had declared suicide bombing an un-Islamic act. Maulana Naeemi and other religious party leaders were trying to form an Anti-Taliban alliance, and his gruesome murder can be termed a message for people resisting the Taliban.
This incident also raised fear that the country’s political leadership was also being warned, since Maulana Naeemi was close to Nawaz Sharif.
Although the strike today against the killing of Maulana Naeemi was observed peacefully without any major incident (at the time of writing), this calm has an uneasy air about it.
It is, after all, the calm before the next round of clashes begins between pro and anti-Taliban forces in country.
Labels:
politics
By Tahir Hasan Khan, *A tale of two mindsets* - The News International - Karachi, PakistanSunday, June 14, 2009
The province of Sindh has always been known as the land of Sufism, and a majority of the people here believe that Islam spread in the region through the practices of famous Sufi saints.
Most of the population hold the ‘Pir’ in high esteem and follow them religiously. This, in turn, enables family members of the ‘Pirs’ to enter the realm of politics, as they already have a large number of people supporting and following them. In fact, political parties in Sindh with no connection with Sufism often fail as none of them manage to win any election from the rural areas of the province.
In Karachi, majority of the Muhajirs, who migrated from India after partition, also belong to same school of thought. Although Jamat-e-Islami (JI) had a strong base of loyalists in the city, Jamiat-Ulema-Pakistan (JUP), led by Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani swept the elections held in 1971.
After General Ziaul Haq captured power from Zulfiqar Bhutto, steps were taken to destabilise JUP as Mualana Noorani had opposed General Zia’s martial law. However, JI was a staunch supported of the Gen Zia due to its involvement in the Afghan Jihad. The military regime created rifts within the JUP ranks and most of the leaders joined Ziaul Haq’s government. JI tried to take advantage of that situation to increase its political stronghold.
However people rejected JI in the 1985 non party elections as well. Candidates who got selected from Karachi and Hyderabad belonged to Barelvi school of thought. Despite increasing pressure by the military rulers, religious seminaries under the Barelvi system refused to support the Afghan Jihad, which led Gen Zia to promote the Deobandi school of thought. Throughout the country, there was a mushrooming of religious seminaries under the Deobandi system, which promoted the Jihadi culture.
Most of today’s Taliban belong to such Maderressahs. The Nishtar Park bomb blast three years ago killed the top leadership of the Barelvi school of thought. Although some Barelvi Ulema and leaders blamed Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the incident, the authorities claimed that pro-Taliban elements were involved in this attack.
MQM’s chief Altaf Hussain also belongs to Barelvi faction and this has helped the party garner a strong loyalty and support from the people of Karachi. In fact, MQM has taken over JUP’s support and after yesterday’s suicide attack which killed Maulana Sarfaraz Naeemi in Lahore, the party announced a day of mourning.
It might be noted that Maulana Naeemi was a strong critic of the Taliban and had declared suicide bombing an un-Islamic act. Maulana Naeemi and other religious party leaders were trying to form an Anti-Taliban alliance, and his gruesome murder can be termed a message for people resisting the Taliban.
This incident also raised fear that the country’s political leadership was also being warned, since Maulana Naeemi was close to Nawaz Sharif.
Although the strike today against the killing of Maulana Naeemi was observed peacefully without any major incident (at the time of writing), this calm has an uneasy air about it.
It is, after all, the calm before the next round of clashes begins between pro and anti-Taliban forces in country.
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