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India-Pakistan

Pak govt's lifting of JuD ban slammed as giving 'license to jihad'

2011-11-09

[One Pakistan] A member of the Council of Islamic Ideology in Pakistain has slammed the government for allowing the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... to collect Eid donations, saying it is clearly evident that 'such thug organizations follow the government's agenda and function with its support'. Golly. You don't think they're just pretend-banned, do you? On Eid, the government had placed no restrictions on Jamaatud Dawa from collecting animal hides after the Eidul Azha sacrifice. The group says it has set up a hundred camps for hide collection in Lahore alone. Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer, a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology and a Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pakistain leader, however, said the government was giving "undue favour" to "some thug organizations". "It is clear discrimination. It shows that such thug organizations follow the government's agenda and function with its support. No religious party should have the right to make lashkars or wage so-called jihad. How will the government stop thug groups from functioning when it is giving them a free hand to collect funds?" The Express Tribune reports. The Pakistain interior ministry had earlier released a list of 31 banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all... organizations, excluding Jamaatud Dawa. Most of the organizations were already in the banned list, but People"s Aman Committee of Bloody Karachi, Shia Tulaba Action Committee, Markaz Sabeel Organisation and Tanzeem-i-Naujawanan-i-Sunnat of Gilgit-Baltistan have been added to it now. The list has counted several thug outfits operating under new names as different organizations. Jaish-i-Muhammad and Khuddam-ul-Islam are two names of the same organization. Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistain and Tehreek-i-Jafaria Pakistain have changed their names to Millat-i-Islamia Pakistain and Islami Tehreek, respectively. They have been mentioned as separate entities. Lashkar-i-Taiba is on the list but its changed name, Jamaatud Dawa, is missing. A member of the JD information department, said that the group was operating roughly a hundred camps in Lahore under the name JD or the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

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India-Pakistan

Campaign launched to protect blasphemy law

2010-12-17

[Dawn] A number of political and religious parties and groups announced on Wednesday that a campaign to protect the blasphemy law would be launched and gave a call for countrywide protest demonstrations on Dec 24 and a shutter-down strike on Dec 31. They also resolved to hold a public meeting in Bloody Karachi on Jan 9. The decision was announced by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... at a news conference on the conclusion of the daylong Tahaffuz-i-Nabuwat Conference which was attended by top leadership of Jamaat-i-Islami, PML-Q and Jamaatud Dawa and representatives of Wafaqul Madaris and many other smaller religious organisations and groups. Maulana Fazl said that all religious parties were united on the issue. He vowed to resist any move by the government to make changes in the existing blasphemy law. The issue came to the light when PPP's MNA Sherry Rehman submitted a private member bill to the National Assembly Secretariat last month, seeking some changes in the blasphemy law with an aim to avoid the misuse of the law. The JUI-F chief, who presided over the conference, said all the mosques in the country would organise protest demonstrations on Dec 24 after Friday prayers. He said a big public meeting and protest demonstration would be held in Bloody Karachi on Jan 9, which would be attended by all central leaders of religious parties. He said an action plan would also be unveiled at the meeting. He announced that former MNA Dr Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair had been made chairman of Tehrik-i-Namoos-i-Risalat committee with an aim to organise the movement at grassroots level. Maulana Fazlur Rehman made an appeal to traders' organisations and associations of small and big markets to extend their support to the movement and make the shutter-down strike a success. He said that their protest would be so forceful that no one would dare to think about changing the blasphemy law. Earlier, during the conference, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain declared that his party would oppose every move to change the blasphemy law in the Parliament. JI chief Munawar Hassan said it was wrong to say that the blasphemy law had affected only minorities in the country. Qazi Hussain Ahmed suggested that the present movement should at the later stage be converted into a movement for the enforcement of Islamic system in the country. The participants appealed to the media to play an effective role in making the movement a success for the cause of Islam and to show its love for the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). PML-N's MNA from Islamabad Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry also attended the conference in which some of the speakers, including Maulana Attaul Momin Shah Bukhari of Majlis Ahrarul Islam lashed out at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... for keeping a silence on the issue. Dr Tariq Fazal gave an explanation that Senator Raja Zafarul Haq had been assigned the task to represent the party in the conference but he had to go to his native town after receiving news about the death of a relative. The conference was also attended by Hafiz Saeed of Jamaatud Dawa, Maulana Abdul Majeed Ludhianvi of Majlis Tahaffuz-i-Khatam Nabuwat, Qari Hanif Jalandhary and Dr Abdul Razzaq Sikandar of Wafaqul Madaris, Hafiz Aakif Saeed of Tanzim Islami, Maulana Abdul Aziz of Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith and Allama Sajid Naqvi.

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India-Pakistan

PPP govt's first 100 days a total failure, says Sajid Mir

2008-07-21

Chief of Jamiat Ahle Hadith>Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH) Professor Sajid Mir has said that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) led government's 100 days in office was a total failure. "The PPP government could do nothing in its first 100 days to the dismay of people, who had pinned high hopes on it after the Feb 18 elections," Mir told a news conference here on Sunday. He said it's unfortunate that since the government's formation three months ago, law and order had deteriorated, prices of goods and joblessness had increased and the deposed judges had not been restored. He said it's unfortunate that since the government's formation three months ago, law and order had deteriorated, prices of goods and joblessness had increased and the deposed judges had not been restored. Sajid Mir said that people had rejected the PML-Q because its government had risked the country's sovereignty during the last five years but the current government was doing the same by ignoring frequent US interference in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. He said the November 3 emergency, dismissal of judges for refusing to take oath under the provisional constitutional order (PCO), military action in Balochistan and the killing of Baloch nationalist Akbar Bugti and the Lal Masjid operation were some of the many misdeeds of the previous government. The JAH chief praised the Awami National Party-led government in the NWFP for starting negotiations with the Taliban to restore peace in the province. He, however, said that some secret forces seemed to be at work to fail the peace process. "In my view, the US is to blame for this situation," he said. He suggested that the government tell the US that the FATA issue could be resolved through peace and not use of force.

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India-Pakistan

APDM expels PML-N, JUI-F

2007-12-11

The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) component parties having consensus on boycott of the January 8 elections formed a new faction of the APDM sans the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and Muttahida Jamiat Ahle Hadith (MJAH). After a meeting of the APDM parties favouring polls boycott, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Monday that the above mentioned parties were not part of the APDM. Achakzai replaces Zafar: The 12 APDM component parties favouring boycott also dismissed alliance’s convenor Raja Zafarul Haq, and appointed Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai as the new convenor. Imran said a national conference was being convened in Islamabad on December 18 to chalk out a strategy for a mass movement against the polls. Withdrawal of nomination papers: Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the candidates of the new APDM would withdraw their nomination papers on December 15. About the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Qazi said it was no more an election alliance, adding that he being the MMA president would not allow anyone to use the alliance’s election symbol, book, without his consent. The leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), PTI, PkMAP, National Party, Khaksar Tehreek, Sindh Tarakipasand Party (STP), Balochistan National Party (BNP), Awami Tehreek, Tehreek-e-Ittehad, National Workers Party (NWP), Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) and Tehreek-e-Istaqlal attended the meeting.

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India-Pakistan

No more meetings with govt, MMA tells Fazl

2007-09-04

The MMA on Monday stopped its leaders, especially secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rehman, from meeting government leaders and officials on their own. A meeting of the MMA chaired by Qazi Hussain Ahmed at his residence here also reiterated the alliance’s opposition to President General Pervez Musharraf’s re-election with or without uniform. The meeting was attended by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, JUI-S’s Pir Abdul Rahim Naqshbandi, Jamiat Ahle Hadith’s Prof Sajid Mir and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan’s Sahibzada Abu Al-Khair Al Zubair. Qazi Hussain told reporters after the meeting that no MMA leader would meet government leaders and officials without seeking permission from the top leadership of the alliance. Sources told Daily Times that some participants of the meeting, especially Prof Sajid Mir and Sahibzada Al Zubair, criticised Maulana Fazl for meeting Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in Islamabad in which Shujaat had sought his help for the president’s re-election.

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India-Pakistan

Top MMA leaders meet today

2007-09-03

The heads of the six religious parties that form the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal will meet here today to finalise a policy on a number of key political issues. “We will review the presidential election, return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan and other issues,” said Syed Abdul Jalil Naqvi of the Millat-e-Jafria Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Pir Abdur Rahid Naqshbandi of the JUI-Senior, Prof Sajid Mir of the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith and Sahibzada Abu Alkhair Al Zubair of the JUP have confirmed their participation at the meeting.

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India-Pakistan

MMA holds resignation option on Musharraf's re-election: Mir

2007-08-29

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) central leadership has not decided about its members resigning from the National Assembly on the coming presidential election, MMA vice president Prof Sajjad Mir said on Tuesday. He said opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman had assured the MMA central leadership that he would ‘not give a safe passage’ to President Pervez Musharraf. He told a delegation of the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith of which Mir is the chief senator that Fazl’s recent meetings with the government representatives did not mean that he would give safe passage to Musharraf for his re-election. He said the MMA still had the option of resigning. He said the MMA did not have any internal differences and would not disintegrate. Mir said the MMA would not make electoral adjustments with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the coming elections. Instead, it would prefer adjustments with component parties of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), he added. The MMA had allied with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the previous general elections and it would again ally with PML-N in the coming elections, he added. He said the presidential election to re-elect Musharraf for the second term would not be possible and Musharraf would have to quit the government. He said ruling party members, except for Chaudhrys, had developed ‘difference’ with Musharraf and would ‘not support’ him in his re-election bid.

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India-Pakistan

Nuggets from the Urdu press

2007-05-03

I am still the President of Pakistan As reported in daily Express, ex–president of Pakistan Mohammad Rafiq Tarrar said that he is still the president of Pakistan because President Musharraf is not elected according to the constitution. Speaking to journalists in front of the Supreme Court he said that the united front of the political parties would dislodge the president, General Musharraf. False lawyers beaten by genuine lawyers As reported in daily Nawa-i-Waqt, the supporters of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry beat up the pro-Musharraf lawyers who shouted slogans in favour of President Musharraf. The pro-Musharraf lawyers came with Punjab MPA Khalid Gharral and Deputy Prosecutor General Asjad Gharral from Lahore and Gujrat with a few union nazims and private people in lawyer attire. A fake lawyer, Qari Iftikhar, who is a moazan in the Punjab Institute of Cardiology’s mosque said that a bus full of lawyers was brought from Lahore. Sex pills in Pakistan According to daily Khabrain, after the ban on the American sex drug Viagra in Pakistan, the local non registered drug companies, fake doctors and fake hakims are importing the chemical used in Viagra, ‘SLIDNIFIL’ from China. The chemical is filled in capsules that are sold with names like Niagra, Vagra, Vinagra, Godagra. According to the Drug Act of 1974, the manufacturing of English medicine needs a license from the Ministry of Health but the manufacturing of Aryuvedic, Homeopathic and Tib-e-unani medicine have no legal control. Girl killed for shaking hands with a cousin As reported in daily Express, in Ghakhar Mandi a man killed his young daughter who shook hands with her cousin in a marriage ceremony. His second wife instigated him and he beat her savagely with a hammer and broke her hands and legs and smashed her head. She was buried secretly in the night. Preach team for the World Cup As reported in daily Jang, the media manager of the Pakistani cricket team, PJ Mir, said that the Pakistani cricket team players were more focused on preaching Islam than playing the World Cup in the West Indies. The other teams were also present in the West Indies but Pakistanis players were more enthusiastic about converting non-Muslims. He said the foreign journalists wanted to know why the Pakistani players were saying the azaan in the airplane. No Indian films in Pakistani cinemas As reported in daily Nawa-i-Waqt, the chairperson of the zonal standing committee for sports and culture of Chambers of Commerce, Sangeeta Begum, said that cinemas showing Indian films would be burnt down. She said cinema owners earned money from Pakistani films and now that the Pakistan film industry is facing hard times, the cinema owners are looking towards India. Inspector caught red-handed As reported in Daily Pakistan, DSP Dunyapur raided a police station and caught a police inspector red-handed without his clothes with a 16 year old girl and an empty bottle of liquor. The mother of the girl was sitting in the SHO’s office. According to legal experts the raid of the DSP is against the Women’s Protection Bill and the Police Order 2000. The SHO said that he was being victimized because he stopped the monthly of the DSP by raiding gambling dens. He said the girl was the daughter of his adopted sister. Aunty Shamim and Jamia Hafsa As reported in daily Jang, the victim of the violence and abduction at the hands of Jamia Hafsa students, Aunty Shamim, said that the madarassa is full of automatic weapons and the students are planning to take over Parliament. The maulvi of the Jamia is spreading terrorism under the guise of Islam. She said that if the situation remained the same she would have to migrate from Pakistan. Sharia Courts by ulema are un-Islamic As reported in daily Jang, the well known religious scholar and intellectual Javed Ghamidi said that creating sharia courts and punishing culprits is not the job of ulema (religious scholars). He said that establishing courts is the responsibility of government. God Almighty has restricted muslims to live in social discipline and the responsibility of the ulema is to preach the message of Islam. The ulema can only suggest or point out the problems in a society. Jamaat Islami wants Inzi back as captain As reported in daily Jang, the general secretary of Jamaat Islami Munnawar Hassan said that Inzamam ul Haq shall be made captain again to avoid the worsening of cricket team crises. He said Bob Woolmer was not killed and a conspiracy is being hatched against us. If the MMA came to power they wouldn’t ban women from playing cricket in Pakistan. Divided protest against Jamia Hafsa As reported in daily Express, separate agitations were organised by the PPP, Muslim League (Q) and various NGO’s against the forced implementation of shariat by the Jamia Hafsa students. Mahnaz Rafi said that Islam doesn’t allow building mosques and madrassas on illegally acquired land. The PPP General Secretary Pervez Ashrad said that the state within the state wouldn’t be allowed by the PPP. Informer maulvi attacked in Kasur According to Daily Pakistan, a famous khatib of Jamia Faridia Ahle Hadith, Kasur, Maulana Barakullah, was invited to a house and his one foot long beard, moustashe and eyebrows were shaved at gun point. The culprits who sold liquor suspected him of providing information to the police. The amir and senator of Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pir Sajid Mir and other ulema were furious and wanted strict punishment for the culprits. Police arrested three culprits while the others are still at large.

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India-Pakistan

One dead as ST tries to take control of Ahle Hadith mosque

2007-04-11

One man died and three others were injured when Sunni Tehreek (ST) workers tried to take over the Jamia Masjid Ahle Hadith in Tunisia Lines on Tuesday. According to reports, ST workers from the nearby Faizan-e-Aulia mosque surrounded Jamia Masjid and fired at those inside. Gunfire was returned from within the mosque. During this time, a mob set a police mobile on fire. Police personnel from nearby towns were called in and the area was cordoned off Gunfire was returned from within the mosque. During this time, a mob set a police mobile on fire. Police personnel from nearby towns, including Jamshed, Saddar and Clifton, were called in and the area was cordoned off. One man identified as 24-year-old Shahzad of the Ahle Hadith was shot in the chest and had to be taken to the JPMC. “Isha prayers were being offered when they attacked us,” said Yousaf Salfi, chief organiser of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith. “The mob had ST people in it. We closed the gate of the mosque but they fired at it. This continued for one-and-a-half hours. People are stuck inside and the police has left the area and run off.” Twenty-eight-year-old ASI Zulfiqar was also brought to JPMC with a head injury and broken teeth. He was not shot, however. Tuesday’s violence comes in the aftermath of an incident on Sunday night when Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Sindh Amir and MMA leader Mufti Muhammad Yousuf Kasuri was arrested under the Blasphemy Act.

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India-Pakistan

MMA withdraws decision to resign from assembly

2007-02-14

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Tuesday withdrew its decision to resign from the National Assembly, and unanimously elected Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman president and secretary general of the six-party religious alliance for another two years. The party also decided to end its boycott of the National Assembly. “After a lengthy debate on the issue, the MMA central council decided to withdraw its decision of parliamentary resignations,” MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaquat Baloch told a press conference at Qazi Hussain Ahmed’s residence. “The Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan wanted to go ahead with parliamentary resignations in protest at the Women’s Protection Act, but the other parties – Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Senior and Pakistan Islami Tehrik – opposed this decision,” said Baloch. However, he said that the option of parliamentary resignations would remain open, and the MMA would quit if all other opposition parties went for en-bloc resignations from the NA in the future. He said that the council was of the view that the current situation at the national and international levels was dangerous, therefore the MMA should not resign. Baloch said a meeting of the MMA parliamentary party would be held at Parliament House today. He said that the elections for the MMA’s central offices had also been completed, and Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had been unanimously elected president and secretary general of the alliance.

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India-Pakistan

MMA leaders split over issue of resignations

2006-12-07

The six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has split down the middle over the issue of resignations, with three of its components refusing to quit the National Assembly in protest at the Women’s Protection Bill. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), JUI (Senior) led by Pir Abdur Rahim Naqshbandi, and Jamiat Ahle Hadith led by Professor Sajid Mir said at an MMA parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday that they would not resign from the National Assembly. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, MMA president and chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, is the biggest proponent of resignations. He said at the meeting that the MMA should resign because that was what the Supreme Council had decided. He said it was right to resign because parliament had just passed an “un-Islamic” bill. However, other MMA leaders disagreed. “The decision to resign from the assembly was not taken unanimously. It was a decision which was imposed by the alliance president (Qazi) on all of us,” the sources quoted Mir as saying. “We should not leave the parliament open for PPPP by resigning,” he added.

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India-Pakistan

WPB un-Islamic, says Sajid Mir

2006-11-28

The Women’s Protection Bill (WPB) was repugnant to Islamic injunctions, but the government had passed it to please its ‘Western masters’, said Jamiat Ahle Hadith Ameer Senator Prof Sajid Mir on Monday. Addressing the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), he said that the clerics’ recommendations were not given a consideration, but all what President Pervez Musharraf wanted was included in the bill. He said that changes in the school syllabus and bombing of religious seminaries were a planned agenda against Islam. He said that punishment for rape or fornication included in the bill was un-Islamic. “According to the bill, if a husband accuses his wife of adultery and she confesses it, no action will be taken against her except divorcing her,” he said, adding that such a woman should be treated under rape offence according to Islam. He admitted that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) supported the president on various issues, including the 17th amendment, but the president betrayed it by not resigning from the army. He accused the government of corruption and had failed to maintain law and order. He said that the entire opposition would resign from the assemblies at a suitable time.

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