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November 17, 2006

Pakistan: Musharraf Widens Rift With Islamists

65 of the 344 seats in Pakistan's National Assembly are held by the Islamists of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or MMA, the United Action Front, a coalition of six parties. The MMA's intentions are ultimately to install widespread sharia law and to destroy the tenuous democracy which exists in Pakistan.

For four years, President Musharraf has conducted a delicate balancing act with these groups who have openly called for his resignation, and even his death. When the MMA mounted their protests against the Danish cartoons in February this year, these became increasingly unruly, with several individuals killed, including an eight-year old child. Protests which began against cartoons became excuses for attacks upon American businesses, and calls for the removal of Musharraf.

On October 4 last year, the president of the MMA, Qazi Hussain Ahmad promised at a meeting in Nowshera to bring on a revolution when Ramadan ended (November 4). Ahmad's plans were thwarted four days later, when a massive earthquake hit northern Pakistan. At the Nowshera rally, Ahmad had said the nation would soon be "rid of the shameful American culture of vulgarity , unemployment, graft and bribery, lawlessness prevailing under the Musharraf regime."

Qazi Hussain Ahmad is also head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, one of the six parties in the MMA coalition. This party was founded in 1941 by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (1903 - 1979), a former journalist who challenged the secular constitution of Pakistan which existed for barely two years after the nation was founded in 1947. Maududi (pictured above right) wrote a pamphlet in 1953 which declared the Muslim sect of Ahmadiyyas to be heretics, which led to riots in Pakistan, and he was accused of sedition. The battle of East Pakistan for independence, which led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, was violently opposed by Jamaat-e-Islami. Followers of the party in emergent Bangladesh slaughtered Hindus and Muslims alike. 3 million people died in the battle for Bangladesh's independence.

Maududi was, along with Sayyid Qutb of the Muslim brotherhood, one of the two leading figures to implement Islamic revivalism, and ultimately Islamism.

The uncompromising attitudes of Maududi, who claimed to be descended from Mohammed, are alive and well in Qazi Hussain Ahmad and the other leaders of the MMA. They take part in the democratic process, but ultimately wish to see it destroyed.

After Maududi's death, the dictator General Zia ul-Haq, who ruled from 1977 until his death in 1988, introduced laws based on the Islamist principles laid out by Maududi. In 1979, ul-Haq introduced the Hudood Ordinances, which made Islamic law applicable to cases of "zina" or prohibited intercourse. As a result, there was no distinction made between rape and adultery. A woman who was raped had to provide four witnesses to prove she had not engaged voluntarily. If she claimed she was raped but did not have four witnesses, she would be seen to have confessed to fornication. As a result, she could be punished for "zina" with death by stoning and 100 lashes.

In 1986, the dictator introduced laws against blasphemy, which included Maududi's definition of the Ahmadiyyas as being non-Muslims. Under Articles 298-B and 298-C of the penal code, anyone from the Ahmadiyya sect (also called Qadiani, Ahmadi) who claimed to be a Muslim, or who tried to preach, would be liable to a three-year jail term and/or a fine.

Under Article 295-B of the penal code, defiling a Koran can see an individual jailed for life, while 295-C states that anyone who insults the child-molesting "prophet" of Islam, Mohammed, can face the death penalty.

The Islamist parties of the MMA comprise, as well as the Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam as led by Sami ul-Haq, head of the Deobandi madrassa at Haqqania in Northwest Frontier Privince, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam as led by Fazlur Rehman, popular in Baluchistan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, which represents the Barelvi strand of Sunni Islam, Tehrik-e-Islami, a Shia group, and Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadith.

The MMA was formed as a group in 2002, to combat the alliance with the West in the "war on terror", promulgated by Pervez Musharraf. The Jamaat-e-Islami has openly supported Al Qaeda, and Sami ul-Haq of one of the two Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam factions educated most of the Afghanistan Taliban leadership at his madrassa.

These parties have sat in the National Assembly, but being avowedly "Islamic" in their nature, they have been able to call upon large groups to protest on the streets against issues put forward in the National Assembly. Musharraf has until recently appeased these groups. But recent events demonstrate that his tolerance for their threats of revolution and street violence has finally come to an end.

The MMA is firmly against any alliance of Pakistan with America and the West. They hold the majority of the seats in North-West Frontier Province's regional assembly. This province, adjoining Afghanistan, has over the past year succumbed to Islamist rule in Waziristan, which is now controlled by the "Pakistan Taliban". Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) is in its border regions has been since late 2001 a place of refuge for members of the Afghanistan Taliban and also Al Qaeda.

80,000 troops have been stationed in the NWFP region for the past four years, but this has not stopped the rise of Pakistan's home-grown Taliban. On December 1, an explosion in the village of Haisori near Miranshah, North Waziristan, killed the third in command of Al Qaeda, Abu Hamza Rabia. Whether the explosion was caused by a US Predator drone is unknown.

On Friday January 13, a US strike at a house in the village of Damadola, in Bajaur agency, six miles from the Afghanistan border, aimed to hit a house where Ayman al-Zawahiri was holding a meeting. Zawahiri, the second in command of Al Qaeda, had not arrived when the Hellfire missiles struck. It later transpired that among the victims were four Al Qaeda members, including a senior Al Qaeda member, 52-year old Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, alias Abu Khabab. The third in command of Al Qaeda, Midhat Mursi was a chemicals poisons and explosives specialist, who ran a terror training camp in Derunta, Afghanistan until the end of 2001, when the US invaded.

The US airstrike on the village in Bajaur Agency was met with widespread protests throughout Pakistan, with many of the demonstrations being mounted by the MMA. 2000 members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition marched toward the village of Damadola on January 23. At Yukka, 30 miles from Damadola, they were stopped by a police roadblock. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, president of the MMA, claimed: "We were going to Bajur to condemn the attacks and to prove that Pakistanis are against such acts against our sovereignty."

The following month, the issue of the Danish cartoons occupied the MMA, who led demonstrations in several parts of the country. On February 24, after five people had died and more than fifty people had been injured in various protests, Qazi Hussain Ahmad was detained for the second time in a week. He was seen as a threat to internal peace, as well as posing a threat to the visit of George W Bush to Pakistan in March.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad was kept under house arrest at his home in Lahore in Punjab province. He was accused of "trying to destabilise the government and also instigating people against the country"s elected government." He appealed against his detention on March 8, but his case was dismissed by Lahore High Court.

Shortly after this, the "Pakistan Taliban" took control of Waziristan. On March 26, the Taliban executed their first criminal at a court in Wana, capital of South Waziristan.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad has repeatedly praised Osama bin Laden.

On May 25, the federal minister for law, justice and human rights, Wasi Zafa, announced that the Hudood Ordinances would be repealed because they were being "misused". This led to fierce attempts from the MMA to prevent an changes to the Hudood laws, which they stated had been "written by Allah".

In September, the government was forced to compromise its proposed amendments to the Hudood Ordinances due to pressure from the MMA, who were threatening to walk out of the National Assembly. Despite the dilution of the amendment, the MMA caused enough threat for the bill, due to have been presented before the parliament on September 11, to be delayed.

At this time, Musharraf was in a weakened position. India had been suggesting that Pakistan was not doing enough to combat terror, and had implied that Pakistani agents had assisted in the Mumbai blasts of July 11. The situation between Pakistan and India has become warmer over the last few weeks, with agreements to work against terror.

The MMA in NWFP hold the majority of seats in the Regional Assembly. In July it had been announced that the Muttahida Majlis e-Amal were negotiating a peace settlement with the Taliban of Waziristan. The negotiations led to a peace accord, which was signed on September 5. The accord was thought to herald a new era of peace in the region, and the Taliban agreed not to send fighters across the border to fight in Afghanistan. US analysts expressed doubts that the deal would actually help the situation in southern Afghanistan.

In practice, the analysts were right. Within days of the accord being signed, the first person assumed to be a "US spy" was decapitated. After the deal, more Pakistani fighters were crossing into Afghanistan than had passed before.

Recent events have widened the gap between Musharraf and the Islamists of the MMA. Where he previously appeared reluctant to invoke their wrath, he seems to no longer care what the MMA thinks.

On Monday, October 30, the Pakistani military, accompanied by air support, attacked an Islamic seminary in the village of Chenagai in Bajaur agency. The madrassa had been run by Maulvi Liaquat Hussain of an extremist group called the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi, or Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws. This group has links with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The army claimed that the madrassa had been a training center for terrorists. 80 students and their leader were killed in the attack.

Major General Shaukat Sultan, an army spokesman, said there was no US involvement. "It was done purely by the Pakistan authorities. There was no American involvement."

The MMA insisted that the United States had been involved in the attack, and called for widespread protests. Qazi Hussain Ahmad (pictured left) said: "It was an American plane behind the attack and Pakistan is taking responsibility because they know there would be a civil war if the American responsibility was known."

In Chenagai, an MMA-led protest saw demonstrators chanting: "Death to Musharraf! Death to Bush!"

Shortly after this attack, a suicide bomber killed 42 soldiers at a training camp in Dargai, Malakand district, in NWFP. This incident, on November 9, was done as an act of revenge for the attack on the seminary in Bajaur. On the same day, Musharraf publicly denounced the MMA. He told ministers: "The MMA has no right to criticise the operation as they give tickets of heaven to extremists while their own children sit in full comfort at home." He stressed that: "We are dealing with the Taliban and Al Qaeda separately and we will be successful in crushing terrorism at its very root."

On November 13, the MMA-led Regional Assembly in NWFP introduced an Islamic morality bill, the "Hisbah Bill" which enforced Sharia within the region. They had tried to introduce the law in July 2005, but it had been deemed unconstitutional. The bill will appoint an Islamic overseer, called a "Mohtasib" to enforce sharia compliance. The bill was called by opposition members of the NWFP assembly as a "maulvi's martial law".

The government defied the protests of the MMA two days ago, when they introduced the amendment to the Hudood Ordinances, the Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill to the National Assembly on November 15.

Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman of the MMA said to the lower house of parliament: "This is an attempt to create a free sex zone in Pakistan. Existing laws are correct and should be maintained. There is no need for any amendment. The changes are not in line with Islamic teaching." The MMA walked out of the National Assembly before the bill was put to a vote by the lower house. The vote was passed. If approved by the upper house, the bill will become law, and for the first time since 1979, a woman who has been raped will no longer run the risk of being jailed for adultery.

In protest at the laws, the leader of the MMA in parliament, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, announced his resignation yesterday.

Today, the MMA said that it would resign en masse from the parliament. A statement from the MMA was read out, which said: "The meeting discussed President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s last night address to the nation, described it as a declaration of war against Islamic culture and civilisation and decided to accept this challenge of ideological polarisation."

"The MMA has decided to accept treading this clear warpath and deemed it necessary to come out in the field to safeguard the country’s ideological precincts, independence and democratic status. It, therefore, has decided to line up the entire nation against American hegemony, killing of innocent people in the tribal areas and crimes against humanity."

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, president of the MMA and also head of Jamaat-e-Islami, held a press conference yesterday. He confirmed that the MMA would resign from the government, but said the final decision would be taken after a meeting in Islamabad on December 6. Qazi Hussain had wanted the entire MMA block to leave forthwith, but Maulana Fazalur Rehman pressed for more time to "consult religious scholars and law experts" on whether the bill is against the teachings of Islam.

Maulana Abdul Malik of the Jamaat-e-Islami stated: "We believe the policies of the Musharraf led government are against the Muslim Ummah, and parliament also passed the Women's Protection Bill which is against the Quran and Sunnah. Therefore, this government should be deposed. The National Assembly passed the Women's Protection Bill because General Musharraf pressured the ruling coalition to please the US. The policies adopted by General Musharraf after the 9/11 episode are against Muslims."

Today, Musharraf enacted something which he had formerly said he was unable to do - the freeing of a British Muslim who had been sentenced to death by a Sharia Court. It has been suggested by the British media that this decision has been made as a result of the request made by Prince Charles, when he met Musharraf on Monday October 30. Recent developments in Pakistan suggest that the decision to free the man were made as an act of defiance to the Islamists.

Several times, Musharraf has been asked to commute the death sentence of Mirza Tahir Hussain, but it seems he previously had not wanted to enrage Islamic feeling by going against the decision of a Shariat (Sharia) court. Hussain had been acquitted of murder by a civil court 18 years ago, but then was re-tried by an Islamic court, which had sentenced him to death. Three times this year, Hussain was due to be hanged, but then had the execution delayed. Though only 36, the stress has caused him to become gray of beard and hair. Tonight, Mirza Tahir Hussain flew back home to Britain.

The decision had been made on November 15. Musharraf used his presidential prerogative to commute Hussain's sentence to life imprisonment. As the man had been in prison for so long he was released today.

18 years ago, Mirza Tahir Hussain went to Pakistan. He wanted to visit his ancestral home, and three days after his arrival in Islamabad hailed a taxi. The driver of the cab, Jamshed Khan, insisted on taking a man with him "for safety". Khan and his associate later tried to rape him at gunpoint. Mirza Tahir Hussain struggled with the taxi driver, and Khan was shot dead. The other man fled. Hussain drove the taxi to a police station and handed himself in.

Though acquitted by a civil court, the Islamic courts took over the case, and Hussain was sentenced to death. Hussain's family offered blood money to Khan's relatives, but this was turned down. Currently, the Khan family are said to be distraught, and are mounting an appeal to the Supreme Court. Khan's mother is threatening to set herself on fire.

With the increasing rift between the government and the Islamists of MMA, who support both the Taliban and Al Qaeda, there has also come the return of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. This morning, fifteen people were injured in Lahore, Punjab province by a bomb, left in a garbage can near a bus stop. The bomb was a home-made device, weighing 1 kilogram.

Hours later in Peshawar in NWFP, a 20-year old suicide bomber tried to attack a police van, but only managed to kill himself. He injured two policemen. The bomber's identity card was found, revealing him to be an electrician. His father and brother are helping police with their enquiries. Peshawar police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said that the police were not the original targets of the bomber. he said: "Nadeem attacked the police when they suspected his movement."

Today, the MMA appears to be having rifts within its own ranks. Qazi Hussain Ahmad told Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F faction: "Ask your MNAs to submit their resignations, otherwise allow other parties of the MMA to do what they want."

The JUI-F faction from Balochistan, led by Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, were not ready to resign, and Qazi insisted that the decision on resignations had been made at the last MMA supreme council meeting.

The rift between Musharraf and the MMA will never be healed. Musharraf likes to present his politics as a form of "enlightened moderation" regarding Islam. The MMA do not care about moderation. Their aim is to implement Islamic law in the nation, achieved by "whatever means necessary". They oppose any war on terror, and support Islamists such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Musharraf must stick to his guns to survive. Appeasing the MMA has brought no rewards. They do not care for democracy, they do not respect the parliament they sit within. Women across Pakistan protested against the MMA's interference with amendments to the Hudood laws. In Karachi in late August, thousands of women even called for their deaths.

If any group is leading Pakistan towards Talibanisation, it is the MMA. It only has political strength while it stays united. Hopefully, the ego and tribal nature of Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who has placed his family members in leading positions in Jamaat-e-Islami, will see their bonds unravel. Should the MMA break up, Pakistan would be a better place, both for its citizens and women, and for its allies.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 17, 2006 8:31 PM

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