Page 2 of 2 THE FIGHT FOR PAKISTAN'S POLITICAL
SOUL, Part 2 A new face for militants emerges
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto went to the residence of JI founder Maududi and asked him
to fight against the martial law and save him (Bhutto) from court trails.
Maududi did issue statements against martial law, but JI president Mian Tufail
strongly supported Haq and the decision to execute Bhutto over charges of the
murder of a political opponent. (Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979 - aged 51-
in Rawalpindi jail.)
These experiences helped the military establishment understand the value of the
JI, which is why it takes a special interest in its president.
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 an Afghan
Islamic resistance sprung up. This proved to be another major turning point in
relations between the Pakistan military and the JI, which at that time was the
only political and religious party which supported the Afghan resistance.
All the big parties, including the PPP and the National Awami Party (NAP - now
the Awami National Party), claimed to be Marxists and therefore supported the
invasion. The NAP openly supported a "red revolution" in Pakistan and even
wanted to welcome Soviet tanks into Pakistan.
Half of the NAP leadership fled to Russia and Afghanistan, including Afrasiab
Khattak (now the provincial president of the ANP in North-West Frontier
Province) and Ajmal Khattack. Two other major religious parties, the
Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam led by Fazlur Rahman (now pro-Taliban) and the
Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan, were close to pro-Russian Muslim countries like Iraq
and Libya, therefore they declared the Afghan resistance merely a civil war.
Pakistan was concerned of a Soviet threat on its western borders, while the
Soviet presence emboldened pro-Russian India against Pakistan.
The JI supported the Afghan resistance as some of its leaders, such as Ahmad
Shah Massoud, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Professor Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf and
Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, were ideologically close to the ideology of the
Muslim Brotherhood.
JI leader Qazi (now the president) was sent by party founder Maududi in the
mid-1960s to Kabul University to lay the foundations of an Islamist student
union, which further strengthened the JI's ties to the resistance leaders.
Washington was sponsoring the Afghan resistance through Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the JI was its field force. When Mian
Tufail stepped down as chief of the JI, the ISI for the first time exerted
influence over the JI's elections and helped have Qazi elected as president in
1986.
The ISI wanted to use the JI not only in Afghanistan but also for newly planned
operations in disputed Kashmir, which started in 1988-89. The JI had to fuel
these operations woth supplies and human resources.
After 2001, a personality clash between Qazi and Musharraf created some
distance between the JI and the military establishment, but the JI did not turn
hostile, rather remained neutral and inactive.
Qazi has written articles critical of the Taliban's policies, their vision and
their brand of Islam - he was inspired by the Iranian Islamic revolution of
1979 and is against the Taliban.
When the administration of US president Bill Clinton adopted a policy of
engagement with democratic forces in the Muslim world and encouraged engagement
with the Muslim Brotherhood, the US State Department invited Qazi to the US
under its International Visitor's leadership program. Qazi became a regular
guest at an influential think-tank close to the Democrats.
However, some JI workers who had fought against the Soviets became active and
hosted some of their old Arab friends, including Khalid Shiekh Mohammad of
September 11 infamy and others.
At least four important al-Qaeda members were arrested from the houses of JI
workers, including Khalid. Washington put intense pressure on Pakistan to ban
the JI and Interior minister Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat issued a statement on the
possibility of doing this.
Within days, the ISI sprang into action and Hayat was removed and the
government clarified the JI's position - it would not be banned. Qazi sent out
instructions for JI members to stay away from the Taliban and al-Qaeda and made
it clear that any person found harboring such people would be disowned.
At this point, party secretary general Syed Munawar Hasan publicly adopted a
separate line and proclaimed that the JI did not have any problem with the
"Arab mujahideen".
"We don't know what al-Qaeda is all about. We heard this name from the
Americans only. We know our Arab mujahideen who fought with our people against
the Soviets. If today a world superpower is after them and they ask their
Muslim brothers to support them, we don't have any problem helping them," Hasan
said.
"Nevertheless, we would never support any sort of terrorism, neither would we
allow them any operations from Pakistan."
These words stunned everybody, including the JI's leadership, but Hasan
immediately became a hero figure within militant circles disgruntled with the
behavior of Islamic parties. Hasan was approached by the military establishment
for negotiations, but his refusal in bitter language caused alarm.
Hasan was a student leader at Karachi University and did his masters in
sociology in the late 1960s, then emerging as a popular English- and
Urdu-language orator.
The socialist-turned-Islamist known for his criticism of the military
establishment gradually climbed up the ladder of the JI to become its powerful
secretary general. The establishment is clearly concerned that he will become
the JI's next president - a landslide victory is predicted.
The timing is not good for Pakistan for this to happen. The military has been
forced to back off from operations against militants in the Swat Valley
following the government negotiating a ceasefire and the Islamists aim to gain
from this in urban centers.
Militants sitting in the mountains are convinced that Hasan will provide them
with a political front to fight for their cause - something they have not had
before.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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