Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Pakistan rejects India's denial, says there is irrefutable evidence of India's involvement in Lahore blast

2021-07-10

[NATION.PK] Pakistain’s Foreign Ministry rejected India's statement of denying involvement in Lahore blast by saying that there is irrefutable evidence of India’s aiding, abetting and financing of the terrorist attack.

"We have pointed out in the past also Indian state sponsorship of terrorism in Pakistain," said Zahid Hafeez.

"There is no doubt that the intelligence agency from across the border was involved in planning and executing terrorist attacks against Pakistain," he added.

He accused India of using terrorism as an instrument of state policy and said it makes India inculpable under international law, the UN sanctions regime and international counter-terrorism conventions.
Then his lips fell off.
The FO said that the former Indian Naval officer "Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was caught red-handed in March 2016, is the most familiar and undeniable face of India’s state sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistain."

He urged the international community to hold India to account and take practical steps to proceed against the Indian nationals involved in patronage of terrorism against Pakistain.

On June 23, at least three people were killed and 24 others maimed in a powerful blast near the house of Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go....
, the leader of Jamaatud-Dawa (JuD).

On Sunday, Moeed Yusuf, Pakistain's national security advisor, said Pakistain's intelligence agencies had found irrefutable evidence of India’s involvement in the Lahore terrorist attack.

"A detailed forensic [analysis] of all the equipment, including cellular phones, has been conducted, which has clearly indicated a connection with Indian state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistain," Yusuf told news hounds.

"There is no doubt that the Johar Town blast and cyberattacks are interlinked and state-supported by India.

"We presented a detailed dossier in November last year with very minute details highlighting terror financing, phone calls indicating network linkages and a terrorism racket run by India," he said.

Last year, Pakistain said India was funding the Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain and ethnic Baloch armed separatist groups that conducted attacks on Pak soil.

Link

India-Pakistan

Lahore ATC to announce verdicts on six cases against Hafiz Saeed, others by end of week

2020-02-12

[DAWN] A Lahore anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday accepted a plea seeking the simultaneous hearing and verdict of six cases against the chief of the proscribed organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD), Hafiz Saeed

...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go....
, and his associates.

Deputy Prosecutor General Abdul Rauf Wattoo told DawnNewsTV that in total six cases against the said individuals were pending before the same court, adding that in four of these cases presentation of evidence was in progress.

Wattoo said hearing of all four remaining cases will be concluded simultaneously at the end of the week, which is when the court will issue its verdicts. The court has already reserved its verdicts in two of the cases. The reserved verdicts, which relate to terror financing cases, will also be announced with those on other cases at the end of the week, he added.

On Saturday, the ATC had delayed announcing its verdict in the terror financing cases and had decided to hear arguments on February 11 (today) on the defendants' application to hear all cases first before announcing the verdict. The application, filed by the suspects' counsel, demands that collective verdicts be issued after the completion of trials in all the cases pending against them.

Link

India-Pakistan

LHC allows Hafiz Saeed's case to be shifted from Gujranwala to Lahore

2019-10-01

[DAWN] The Lahore High Court on Monday allowed that a terrorism financing case against Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD), be shifted from a Gujranwala anti-terrorism court (ATC) to one in Lahore.

LHC Chief Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed heard a petition filed by Saeed in which he said that he was being kept in a jail in Lahore but was transported to Gujranwala for every appearance before the court.

He said that in light of the security situation, appearing before the Gujranwala court was not fitting and added that if he was being held in a jail in Lahore, the case should also be shifted there.

During the proceedings, a lawyer for the government said that they had no objection to shifting the case.

Issuing the order, the LHC chief justice wrapped up the petition.

In July, Saeed was arrested in connection with the terrorism financing case while on his way from Lahore to Gujranwala. Prior to his arrest, the , were booked in nearly two dozen casestop 13 leaders of JuD, including Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Link

India-Pakistan

Haqqani network on top as US shares list of 20 terror groups with Pakistan

2017-11-03

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The United States has shared a list of at least twenty terrorist groups with Islamabad which Washington insists use the Pak soil for the terrorist activities in Afghanistan and elsewhere, it has been reported.

Diplomatic sources have confirmed to the local news outlet Dawn News that the White House retains a list of 20 terrorist groups that the Trump administration claims are operating in Pakistain.

The sources further added that the list has reportedly been shared with Islamabad by Afghanistan and the United States.

In the meantime, reports indicate that the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the US and Pakistain had been engaged in "a very healthy exchange of information on terrorists" since his visit to Islamabad last week.

Tillerson has further added that further information will also be shared with Pakistain in the future to include information on "specific location on any given day of where certain individuals or certain cells may be located."

According to reports, the Haqqani terrorist network is on the top of the list shared with Islamabad as the US officials are saying that the network has safe havens in Fata and uses them to launch attacks into Afghanistan.

But the Pak officials reject the claims by Washigton and insist that no such safe havens exist in the country.

Added from Dawn:
Top on the list is the Haqqani network which, the United States claims, has safe havens in Fata and uses them to launch attacks into Afghanistan. Pakistan strongly rejects the charge, saying that there are no such safe havens inside the country.

Harakatul Mujahideen is a Pakistan-based militant group operating primarily in Kashmir. The US says that group had links to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda as well.

Jaish-e-Mohammed operates mainly in Kashmir and the liberation of the Indian occupied Kashmir is its declared objective.

Jundullah is associated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and was commanded by militant Hakimullah Mehsud, the Emir of TTP until his death in November 2013. It had vowed allegiance to the militant Islamic State group.

The United States identified Lashkar-e-Taiba as one of the largest and most active terrorist organisations in South Asia. Founded in 1987 by Hafiz Saeed, Abdullah Azzam and Zafar Iqbal in Afghanistan, the group had its headquarters in Muridke. It too is focused on Kashmir.

Lashkar-e-Taiba was involved in the 2001 Indian parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Lashkar-i-Jhanghvi, an offshoot of anti-Shia sectarian group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, was founded by former SSP activists Riaz Basra, Malik Ishaq, Akram Lahori and Ghulam Rasool Shah.

The US blames this group for committing hundreds of target killings and dozens of mass attacks inside Pakistan.

Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella organisation of various militant groups, was based in Fata, but has now relocated to Afghanistan. The US says that the group wants to enforce its own interpretation of Sharia and plans to unite against Nato-led forces in Afghanistan. It has conducted hundreds of terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

Other groups on the list are: Harakatul Jihadi-i-Islami, Jamaatul Ahrar, Jamaatud Dawa al-Quran and Tariq Gidar Group, which is one of 13 TTP affiliates. The Tariq Gidar Group has been behind some of the deadliest attacks inside Pakistan, including the Dec 16, 2014, massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar that left 132 schoolchildren and nine staffers dead.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Commander Nazir Group, Indian Mujahideen, Islamic Jihad Union, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan ISIS-Khorasan, Al Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent and the Turkistan Islamic Party Movement are also on the list.

Link

India-Pakistan

Unknown assailants attack JuD madrassah, leave 15 injured

2016-05-03

PESHAWAR: Fifteen people, including three children, were injured in a late-night attack Sunday on a Jamaatud Dawa madrassah in Peshawar's Tehkal area.

Superintendent Police Cantonment Peshawar Kashif said the assailants opened fire and lobbed grenades at the Baitul Mukarrama Alhadees seminary. Members of the seminary were having dinner after lessons when the unknown men attacked the building.

One of the attackers suffered serious injuries and was shifted to Combined Military Hospital Peshawar for treatment where he is in critical condition, the SP said, adding it was possible the attacker was injured as a result of firing by one of his own men. He said the injured attacker was shifted to CMH from Khyber Teaching Hospital as there were no CT Scan machines available.

The SP said interrogation of the arrested individual may shed some light on the motives behind the seminary attack.

Khyber Teaching Hospital sources confirmed they received 16 people injured in the seminary attack, out of which four people were discharged after treatment and 11 retained in the hospital.

Link

India-Pakistan

8 ‘IS militants’ arrested from Daska

2015-12-30

LAHORE: Police have arrested eight suspected members of the Islamic State group for planning to establish a terrorist network and carry out attacks, officials said Tuesday.

The eight suspects were arrested after anti-terror police raided their hideout in Daska, provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said. “They were trying to establish their group network and had plans to carry out attacks,” he said.

“All of them are young and in their 20?s. Police also seized Daesh literature and CDs,” he added. “They were taking instruction via the Internet from a person named Abu Muawiyah”. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group, which controls wide swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. Police commandos from the counter-terrorism department (CTD) raided the hideout and made the arrests on Monday, according to the official. A senior CTD official confirmed the arrests and said that some of the suspected militants were former members of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD).

The arrests came as a Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 26 people after crashing into the main gate of a government office in Mardan. The blast in Mardan demonstrated the Taliban’s continued ability to stage deadly attacks, despite a major military offensive against its headquarters that analysts say has reduced its capacity. The government has officially denied that IS is operating in Pakistan, which has been wracked by al Qaeda and Taliban-linked violence for more than a decade. But authorities have expressed fears that IS could find recruits among Pakistan’s myriad of extremist militant groups.

Link

India-Pakistan

IS cell busted in Sialkot, claim officials

2015-12-29

LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Monday that it had busted a cell of the militant Islamic State group operating in Sialkot, arrested eight suspects and seized weapons, explosives and laptops, as well as a large number of compact discs containing publicity material.

Investigators claimed that the suspects had taken an oath to “overthrow democracy and introduce Khilafat in Pakistan through armed struggle”. The suspects arrested by CTD belong to different districts of Punjab, but Sialkot served as the base of their operations. They had already established infrastructure in the district to carry out operations across the country.

It was, however, not clear when did the CTD bust the cell. The FIR was lodged on Monday.

Three of the suspects have received “militant training”, according to documents detailing their interrogation.

The operation, the first of its kind in the country, enabled the CTD to break the network and infrastructure of the group anywhere in Pakistan. The CTD has already shifted the suspects to an unspecified “highly secure place”.

Suspects got militant training and vowed to overthrow democracy
Interrogations show that the suspects were trying to extend their network to other parts of Punjab through recruitment.

They have been identified as Jawad Ahmad aka Abu Hafs, Amir Sohail, Ijaz Ahmad, Adnan Babar aka Danu Kabarria, Saeed Ahmad aka Abuzar, Yasir Ali, Hamza Imtiaz, and Waqas Ahmad.

Originally the suspects belonged to Jamaatud Dawa, but later joined the IS.

The arrested members of the IS had been communicating with one another through social media and Skype to avoid arrests.

DISLIKE FOR DEMOCRACY:

Initial investigations into the case reveal that the suspects were also involved in recruitment and collection of funds for the group.

“The suspects dislike democracy in Pakistan while they hate police and Pakistan Army,” official documents said.

“In order to persuade other people to join their organisation, they would show them some video clips in which the Rangers were seen shooting a young man in Karachi. The prime objective of the IS men was to fan hatred against the country’s law enforcement agencies (LEAs).”

Interrogations have revealed that IS chief Abu-Bakr Baghdadi had appointed Hafiz Saeed Khan as the group’s Emir in ‘Khorasan’ (areas comprising Iran and some parts of Afghanistan) and proposed him as Emir for Pakistan too.

The investigators believe that the suspects also planned to launch attacks against LEAs.

According to CTD investigations, the suspects were indoctrinated and recruited by two brothers — Babar Butt aka Abu Akasha and Nadeem Butt.

“They had sworn allegiance to Khalifa al Baghdadi and joined IS in Daska tehsil of Sialkot district in June this year,” the documents revealed.

The documents say Abu Akasha had facilitated contacts between the suspects and a Pakistan national, Abu Muavia Salfi, who was in charge of Pakistani militants in Syria.

The interrogations show that Waqas aka Rizwan, also member of the IS from Sialkot, had been killed in clashes with the Syrian forces.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2015

Link

India-Pakistan

Two killed in kaboom outside mosque in Karachi

2014-07-06

[DAWN] KARACHI: A kaboom outside a mosque on New Preedy Street in Saddar on Friday noon killed at least two people and injured two others, according to police and hospital officials.

One of the two deceased or both might be transporting the improvised bomb attached with steel nails on a cycle of violence when it went kaboom! due to mishandling, believed police sources.

The bomb, weighing between two and four kilograms, went kaboom! due to 'mishandling' according to initial report of investigation, Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo told Dawn.

He said it seemed that the mosque, Jamia Masjid Muhajir Makki, and its neighbouring seminary, Mahd-ul-Irshad Islami Madressah, were not the actual target.

The police sources said that the possible target could be the nearby rally of a religious group, Jamaatud Da'awa, and the bomb went kaboom! on a moving cycle of violence due to some mishandling.

A police official who wished not to be named also told Dawn that the possible target could be a rally organised by Jamaatud Da'awa at the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, as its offices and properties had been recently targeted with planted bombs at Nipa, old Sabzi Mandi and Gulshan-e-Hadeed. The blast was so powerful that it damaged the glasses of the unused multi-storey Parking Plaza across the road and destroyed two motorbikes.

CID police counter-terror chief Raja Umer Khattab said that it emerged during the initial investigation that it was not suicide kaboom. "No suicide jacket was found at the blast site," he said.

He said the police Sherlocks were treating both the dear departed as possible suspects, because the bodies were badly damaged and both sustained wounds caused by kaboom on their right side of the bodies.

"It is yet to be ascertained as to whether they were riding separate motorbikes or one motorbike," the CID chief added.

Identity of the dear departed

"We received one body in fragmented pieces while the other body though badly damaged was intact," said police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir.

He said the right arm as well as the right side of the head and brain substance were missing. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
the body's left side was intact that could help the Sherlocks to identify him.

The other body, which was relatively in a better position despite fractured limbs and chest and abdomen exposed, was identified as that of Abdul Fatah Dahiri, because the face was intact and recognisable.

The police said one of the dear departed was identified as Abdul Fatah Dahiri, originally hailing from Daulatpur, Nawabshah, and resident of Khandu Goth, Nazimabad. They quoted his wife as telling the police that he used to leave home in the morning as he dealt in mobile phones and return home at night.

However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
a hospital official said the brother of the dear departed who arrived at the JPMC mortuary to receive the body told the hospital administration that Dahiri ran a video shop in Khandu Goth.

Motorbikes

An official at the Brigade cop shoppe said one of the destroyed motorbikes was owned by a resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Amir Sultan, and the police Sherlocks were trying to ascertain as to whether the other motorbike belonged to him or to the critically maimed, Maqsood, who was riding it.

Maqsood was being operated upon at the JPMC where he was not in a position to speak, he said.

The other maimed person was identified as Mohammed Khan, a fruit vendor, who was discharged from hospital after being given first aid. He told the police that he was selling fruit to car riders when he heard the kaboom.

Blast site

The area was cordoned off following the blast. There was a crowd of onlookers besides ambulances and media crew at the scene. With the impact of the blast, windows of the Parking Plaza across the road were broken.

Blood-stained mangoes were spread over the road outside Jamia Masjid Muhajir Makki (named after Haji Imdadmullah Muhajir Makki) and Madressah Mahd-ul-Irshad Islami (named after Maulana Irshad Ahmed Shaheed) after the blast.

"Look at all the pieces of flesh scattered all over the place. We found a human skull stuck to the wall there," said a Chhipa volunteer, Abdul Hameed.

"This can only happen to the one carrying the bomb," he said.

Besides the two motorbikes, a dark green Cultus showered in blood was parked near the blast site.

The car belonged to two brothers, Mohammad Saad and Adnan, who weren't sure what they should do about it. "I'm manager at a Meezan Bank branch nearby. My brother and I only stopped for a few minutes here to buy some fruit for Iftar when the blast occurred. We just got down. Now we have gathered some courage to come forward and ask the officers here if we can take our car," said Mr Saad, while speaking to Dawn.

His brother, Adnan, said that they were also hesitant to come forward as they wondered if they would be included in the suspects somehow.

Mohammad Asif, a resident of Lines Area, said he rushed to the location on hearing the blast. "Everyone was running helter-skelter. These surveillance cameras if they are working must have recorded the entire thing," he said.

Outside the mortuary

Mohammad Azeem, a KKF ambulance driver outside the mortuary of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said that the bodies were in pieces and beyond recognition. "There is a fruit vendor whose remains they have been put together to identify him and there is the fellow with whose motorbike perhaps the bomber collided. His torso and legs are here with cycle of violence parts stuck in the flesh. The other parts of his body were in the cop shoppe."

Link

India-Pakistan

LHC issues notice on Hafiz Saeed's plea for security

2012-04-19

[Dawn] The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the federal interior ministry and Punjab home department for April 25 on a petition filed by Jamaatud Daawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed

...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
and his aide Hafiz Abdur Rehman Maki for security following announcement of bounty on them by the United States.

LHC Chief Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed was hearing the petition who also directed petitioners to approach the home department Punjab for security.

Earlier, the petitioner's counsel submitted that Pak courts had exonerated Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
from charges levelled against him by India and the US.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan rejects US bounty on Hafiz Saeed

2012-04-05

ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the US bounty on Jamaatud%20Dawa>Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Pakistan on Wednesday said the United States must provide concrete evidence if it wanted Islamabad to act against Saeed.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Islamabad would rather be presented with evidence about Hafiz Saeed than have a public discussion on the matter. In a democratic country like Pakistan, where judiciary is independent, evidence against anyone must withstand judicial scrutiny, the spokesman added in a statement.

The United States on Monday slapped a $10 million bounty on Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the banned organisation accused of masterminding the carnage that killed 166 people in Mumbai four years ago. The reward was announced by US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman in India on Monday.

Paks don't want to turn him over? Make the bounty $20 million...

Meanwhile, Saeed made a defiant public appearance mocking his US bounty. He said he was ready to face any American court to answer charges. The 62-year-old former engineering and Arabic professor appeared on stage at a specially-convened press conference in the Flashman Hotel, close to the headquarters of the Pakistan Army in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. If the United States wants to contact me, I am present, they can contact me. I am also ready to face any American court, or wherever there is proof against me, he told reporters in the hotel named after a fictional colonial hero.

Saeed lives openly in Pakistan and has spent recent months making a number of high-profile appearances at demonstrations calling on the government not to reopen NATO supply lines to Afghanistan, which have been closed since November.

He mocked the idea of offering a bounty for someone who lives so openly. Americans seriously lack information. Dont they know where I go and where I live and what I do? he said. These rewards are usually announced for people who are hiding in mountains or caves. I wish the Americans would give this reward money to me. The US decision is aimed at silencing the Defence Council of Pakistan and to ensure resumption of supplies through backdoor channels and increase interference in Pakistan, he said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Nationalists refuse to attend All-Parties Conference on Balochistan

2012-02-27

QUETTA: Baloch and Pashtun nationalists have declined the invitation of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council to participate in the All-Parties Conference (APC) on Balochistan, scheduled to be held in Quetta today (Monday).

They still don't trust Rehman Malik. Wonder why...

Major political parties, including the Balochistan National Party (BNP), National Party (NP), Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have reportedly received the formal invitation for the APC. It will be useless if stakeholders concerned like BNP, NP and JWP are not taking part in this conference.

The Baloch National Front, an alliance of several hardliner nationalist parties and students organisations, had already boycotted the APC. On the other hand, the DFCs contact committee is busy in persuading political and nationalist parties for the past four days to ensure their participation, but Balochistan PPP former president Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, JWP President Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti and PML-N leader General (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch have announced their boycott of the APC. Arrangements have been finalised for the APC, which would be chaired by DFC Chairman Samiul Haq. All leaders of the council, including Maulana Samiul Haq, JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch, Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, former ISI chief General (r) Hameed Gul, Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat leader Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, Ulema Pakistan Council leader Tahir Ashrafi and PML-Zia President Ejazul Haq have reached to attend the APC.

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India-Pakistan

Jihadis on the march again

2012-01-24

[Dawn] Whether the rally held here on Sunday for the defence of Pakistain was to revive the Jihadi spirit of the 1980s or to voice genuine concern at the threats that government policies may pose in the long-term would be known later, but the show at the Liaquat Bagh was not much impressive.

The 'defence of Pakistain rally' witnessed a gathering of Jihadi groups, radical Islamists, sectarian warriors and even some mashaikh.

Apart from various rightwing or pro-rightwing groups belonging to Pakistain Defence Council, comprising 44 politico-religious parties, the rally was also participated by the leadership of two Rawalpindi-based factions of Pakistain Mohammedan League and two former army generals. Almost all the speakers threatened to take over Islamabad by force if the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
supplies were restored and India was granted the MFN (most favoured nation) status.

The rally was also attended by Jamaat-e-Islami
...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 independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. 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

Syed Munawar Hassan
... The funny-looking Amir of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He joined the National Students Federation (NSF), a lefty student body, and was elected its President in 1959. He came into contact with the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) Pakistan and studied the writings of Mawlana Syed Abul Ala Maududi, The Great Apostasizer. As a result, he joined IJT in 1960 and soon he was elected as President of its University of Karachi Unit and member of the Central Executive Council. He was Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistain in 1992-93, and became Secretary General in 1993. After years of holding Qazi's camel he was named Amir when the old man stepped down in 2009...
, Sardar Atiq Ahmed Khan, the president of Mohammedan Conference and former president of AJK, and ex-COAS Gen (retired) Aslam Beg.

About 10,000 to 15,000 people, including those from many districts of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, attended the rally. Those who came from distant places expressed the confidence that the rally would pave the way towards ideological and political illusory sovereignty of the country which they believed was lacking.

"This will show the Americans that we are united like Taliban of Afghanistan for our independence," said Umar Gul, of Tehrik Irshad-i-Tauheed wa Sunnah, who came from Swabi. He said such show of strength would stop drone attacks.

Meanwhile,
...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!...
one worker of Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaat (former Sipah-i-Sahaba), who came from Narang Mandi of Mandi Bahauddin, said they wanted the restriction on their party lifted.
"This is unfair and all done at the behest of Americans as the US is afraid of Islamic revolution in Pakistain," he said.

Addressing the gathering, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Ijazul Haq criticised the religious leadership for not being united and having strong discord in their ranks.

"There are active conspiracies against the country but they are all successful only because of disagreement among the Islamists. It will all end the day Maulana Samiul Haq votes for Fazl, older and even wider than he used to be...

Fazl, older and even wider than he used to be...

Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
and vice versa," said Sheikh Rashid, the president of Awami Mohammedan League.

Spearheaded by Hafiz Saeed, leader of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), the umbrella organization of the banned Lashkar-i-Taiba, the gathering also showcased the organizational strength of JuD as its workers managed all the arrangements, including security of the stage and the venue as a whole.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
none of the parties or the participants displayed weapons while armed police personnel were seen around Liaquat Bagh and at the stage.

It may be noted that the Defence of Pakistain Council was created in the wake of the NATO attack on Salala checkpost in

Mohmand
... 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 Beautiful Downtown 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...
Agency under the patronage of chief of his own faction of Jamaat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Samiul Haq.

Addressing the gathering, Maulana Samiul Haq took oath from the participants that the Islamists would surround the parliament if the government reopened the NATO supply routes.

"Jehad against the US aggressors will continue in Afghanistan till the American forces are forced to retreat back," said the Maulana.

Meanwhile,
...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!...
JuD leader Hafiz Saeed dispelled the impression created by other speakers that the rally could provide a platform to Islamist rightwing groups or his entry into national politics.

"We are neither a political alliance nor having any aim to overthrow the government but only want an end to American interference in Pakistain. America cannot
be Pakistain's friend."

He added that the Taliban in Afghanistan and the people of Pakistain were one entity, adding: "We are all in Jehad against the US aggressors."

He also warned the government against granting MFN status to India. "I tell you that an aggressive movement will be launched if any interest of sacred land (Pakistain) is compromised for India."

The rally also provided a chance to the banned beturbanned goon groups to show their presence in the public -- one reception stall was established by Ahle Sunnah wal Jamaat showcasing its old name Sipah Sahaba Pakistain (SSP) which has been banned, and the workers were openly distributing party flags to the participants.

Some even paid tributes to the banned groups, saying they had suffered at the hands of policy makers and were now ready to render sacrifices for defence of the country.

"The leaders of the country should see that those who had been banned and persecuted for 10 years are now at the forefront to defend the country," Gen (retired)

Hamid Gul
The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command...
said.

"The decision taken by our leaders to please the Americans has only caused sufferings for Mohammedan nation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistain and elsewhere."

The former head of ISI said people were being called to defend the country because successive governments and politicians did not do their job well during the last 10 years.

"We have strong presence of 2.5 million ex-servicemen who will come out and along with the courageous Islamists free Islamabad of the US agents," he added.

The speakers said the public meeting was aimed to give a message of solidarity with the Paks and make a call for independent foreign and internal policies.

While being a strong opponent of taking pictures of living beings on religious grounds, Hafiz Saeed was seen talking on camera with the foreign media.

Though strong speeches and powerful rhetoric were witnessed against the government and politicians for their proposals to reopen NATO supply routes and grant MFN status to India, the leaders of the Islamic groups refrained from criticising the armed forces.

Link

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