A dissident of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) on Tuesday escaped an armed attack on his life in Sharafabad area when he was entering a mosque to offer Isha prayers. Abdullah Shah Mazhar, who is among 12 commanders of the Khuddamul Islam (KI), as the banned JM is now known, was expelled from the party by the party leader, Maulana Masood Azhar, a few months ago over some differences, was entering Jama Masjid in Sharafabad when two armed men riding a motorcycle pulled up outside the mosque and opened fire. Maulana Mazhar ducked while a police constable, Mazhar, guarding the mosque, fired in the air forcing the men to flee. The police said the constable did not target the armed men due to presence of groups of people at the spot. âYes, Mr Mazhar was attacked at the mosque, but he escaped unhurt,â DIG (Operations) Tariq Jamil told the Daily Times. Mazhar, who has now formed his own group, Al-Furqan, was not available on telephone when this reporter tried to contact him. Maulana Masood Azhar, of the Indian Airlines plane hijacking fame, expelled 12 leaders of the group in June. Abdullah Shah Mazhar and Abdul Jabbar were prominently among those.
Apparently the dissidents werenât happy at the millions of rupees being skimmed off the top of the Jaishâs finances by Masood Azhar and his relatives. I donât believe there is any ideological difference between the two. |