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August 9, 2006

Pakistan: Islamist Political Killer Is Hanged

News from Pakistan Daily Times, the BBC and the China Post relates that a militant Muslim was hanged earlier today in eastern Pakistan.

The man, Hafiz Shafiur Rahman was a member of the extreme Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He had been arrested in Multan in 1997 after a Shia politician was shot dead. The politician was Ijaz Shah, who was the local leader of Tehrik-e-Jaaferi. Rahman was found guilty and sentenced to death at an Anti-Terrorism Court in 1999.

Appeals courts rejected his requests for clemency, and President Musharraf refused to grant a waiver of the death sentence. As he was executed, his family members are said to have shouted out "God is Great".

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is said by Pakistani authorities to be linked to Al Qaeda. It is influenced by the hardline principles of Deobandi ideology, which also influenced the leadership of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

There are 150 million people in Pakistan, mostly Sunni Muslims, and Shia comprise about 20% of the population.

Lashkar-e-Jhangi is renowned for its sectarian attacks, mostly against Shias. However, in December the group was threatening Christians with death in Sangla Hill. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was formed in 1996 by a breakaway section of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, a Sunni extremist group.

It was designated a terrorist group by the United States in January 2003. It became a "proscribed" organisation in Britain in October 2005.

In January 2002, it was a group of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi members who kidnapped and decapitated US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Keywords: Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-i Jhangvi

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 9, 2006 7:35 PM

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