Sectarian Militancy-case Study of Jhang

CONTEXTUALIZING SECTARIAN

MILITANCY IN PAKISTAN A CASE

STUDY OF JHANG1

TAHIR KAMRANUniversity of Southampton

INTRODUCTION

Given the scale and kind of chaos in Iraq after the end of the ruleof Saddam Hussein the issue of sectarianism has assumed a newsignificance as a possible lsquoClash within Muslim Civilizationrsquo seemsimminent The issue is one that merits serious scholarly investigation thatgoes beyond understanding it as a side-effect of so-called fundamental-ism or as a response to national or international political developmentsIn most of the studies done so far on the issue of sectarianism in Pakistanthe local context has not been fully explored This article examinessectarianism in the district of Jhang which became the epicentre ofviolence against the Shi6a in the 1980s and 1990s From Jhang it spreadto Multan Faisalabad Sargodha and Bahawalpur and thence beyondPunjab to Karachi and also the Tribal and Northern Areas

If sectarian murders in Jhang could be linked to a single event it wouldbe the assassination of the radical Deobandi2 cleric and leader of the

1 The names of persons places and groups have been spelled out in thecharacters of the Latin alphabet as they are most commonly found in theestablished usage in Pakistanmdashformal transliteration would not be helpful toanyone following up references containing these names In those instances whereit seemed appropriate formal transliteration is provided in parentheses at firstoccurrence of the namemdashEd

2 lsquoIn the case of the Deobandis devotion to the Prophet himself to histeaching and to those who as his heirs offered guidance served as the basis fornew bonds and for cultural and psychological resources in a period of consider-able socio-political change [ ] an acceptance of the period of the life of theProphet and the first decades of Islam as providing the fundamental examples ofbehaviour and belief all seek self consciously by a wide variety of means

The Author (2008) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oxford Centre for Islamic

Studies All rights reserved For Permissions please email journalspermissionsoxfordjournalsorg

Published online 8 August 2008Journal of Islamic Studies 201 (2009) pp 55ndash85 doi101093jisetn057

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militant Sunni organization Sipah-i Sahaba (Siph-i 4aAba) HaqqNawaz Jhangvi (Eaqq Nawz Jhangv)3 on 22 February 1990 He hadjust set foot out of his house around 8 pm to attend the wedding ofShaykh Shawkat 6Alrsquos son in nearby Ahrar Park when two motor-cyclists emerged from the corner of the street approached HaqqNawaz sprayed him with bullets and melted away into the darknessof the wintry night4 The victimrsquos diminutive blood-splattered body wasrushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Jhang where he waspronounced clinically dead However the legacy of death and hatred thatthe incident bequeathed survives to this day Soon after that incidentJhang witnessed greater mass protests than ever before An eyewitnessaccount recalls that it was lsquoas if the whole city of Jhang had throngedoutside the main building of the hospital everyone visibly sad andsombre many of them were genuinely hateful seething with angerand indignation accusing the Shi6a elite of the Jhang district of the

to relive that pristine time A cluster of terms describes these movements ofwhich two particularly recur One is tajdd which suggests the process of renewaland specifically commitment to the way of the Prophet A second is jihd whichpoints to the effort or the action required in conforming to the way of GodrsquoBarbara D Metcalf Islamic Revival in British India Deoband 1860ndash1900(Delhi Oxford University Press 2002) 4 See also Syed Mehbub Rizvi Ta8rkhDr al-6Ulltm Deoband Bar-i Baghr kay musalmn on ka sab say ba_ra krnma(Lahore Idra-i Islmiyyt 2005)

3 Haqq Nawaz belonged to Mauza (mawi6) Chela Thana Massan Tehsil(taABl) and District Jhang He was born in 1952 and hailed from the Sipra clanwhich has a very small landholding His father Wal MuAammad was a knownKh ojj of the area Haqq Nawaz did not go beyond fourth grade in school Hewas then sent to EfiC Jn MuAammad to learn the Qur8n by heart which hedid in two years EfiC Jn MuAammad persuaded him to go to Masjid SheikhanWali (Shaykhan Wal) in Abdul Hakim (presently in District Khanewal) There helearnt the art of recitation from Qr Tj MuAammad and also grammar Thenhe spent five years at Dr al-6Ulltm Kabirwala and was greatly influenced byMawln Manzur Ahmed (ManCltr AAmad) a famous Deobandi scholar of thearea Lastly he went to Khayr al-Madris Multan to learn Aadth He remainedthere for seven years He served briefly as imm at Toba Tek Singh He came toJhang in 1973 as a khatb of the Masjid Mohalla (maAalla) Piplianwala(Interview with Haqq Nawazrsquos older brother Mehr Sher MuAammad and hiscousin EfiC MuAammad Nawz in Mauza Chela Jhang August 2006)

4 See for further reference the daily Jang (Lahore) 23 February 1990 thedaily Naw-i waqt (Lahore) 23 February 1990 the editorial in the monthlyKhilfat-i Rshida 14 (June 1990) the fortnightly Khadm al-Dn 3534ndash5(Lahore 9ndash22 March 1990) See also Azmat Abbas Sectarianism The Playersand the Game (Lahore South Asia Partnership 2002) 11ndash12

56 tahir kamran

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ghastly actrsquo5 The cry Kfir Kfir Sh 6a6 Kfir (Infidel Infidel Shi6aInfidel) reverberated around Jhang Thereafter sectarian militancybecame synonymous with Jhang displacing the long-standing culturaleclecticism sectarian mutuality and compassion amply symbolized inthe romantic tales of Hr and Ranj Mirz 4aAiban and the poetry ofSul3n Bhlt Love and romance were replaced with hatred and peacewith lsquotit-for-tat killingrsquo7 Haqq Nawaz Jhangvirsquos death precipitatedmurders which spread from Jhang to other parts of Punjab and Pakistan

There have been a number of general studies of sectarian militancy inPakistan which notably attribute its rise to the changes brought aboutduring the Zia period following the Iranian revolution This paper is anattempt to provide a localized study focused on Jhang the epicentre ofsectarian violence in 1990s Punjab (see Map 1) It seeks to understandhow sectarian mobilization intersected with and competed with birdar(kinship group) politics It also situates sectarian militancy within thecontext of a rising urban commercial class in Jhang City drawn largelyfrom local shaykhs and East Punjab artisan migrants who were lockedout of political power by the Shi6a landowners who traditionallydominated district politics Local traders and bazaar merchants who hadwealth but no political clout extended unequivocal support and fundingto sectarian Sunni organizations like the Sipah-i Sahaba (SSP) and itsoffshoot Lashkar-i Jhangvi (LJ) In addition to reflecting on this politicaleconomy of sectarianism and the extent to which it was permanentlyable to displace birdar influences this paper attempts to uncover theimpact of violence on voting patterns Finally the paper is concernedwith a series of events that were turning-points in the rise of militancy inJhang While much of the analysis reveals situations unique to Jhangthis case study is important in revealing the complex interplay between

5 Interview with Ej 6Abd al-6Azz a resident of Jhang a Sipah-i Sahabaactivist and eyewitness Jhang 12 August 2006

6 Shi6a here denote the ithna-i 6ashar or Twelvers They believe in theinstitution of Immat whereby the twelve Imams are considered as the truerepresentatives of Islam as against Khilfat or Khulaf8-i Rshidn See John LEsposito What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam (New York OxfordUniversity Press 2002) 45ndash7

7 The contention of the International Crisis Grouprsquos report (April 2005) Thisview has been contested by the claim of Mawln Ilyas Balakoti (Ilys Blk o)an ideologue of the SSP that lsquoMore than 300 Shi6a were killed in sectarianviolence between 1985 and 1989 in Jhang district before Jhangvi was murderedin January 1990rsquo In fact Jhangvi was killed in February 1990 (Interview withIlyas Balakoti at Jmi6a-i 6Uthmniya Satellite Town Jhang 11 August 2006)See also Muhammad Ilyas Balakoti Firqa wriyyat jriAiyyat (Jhang n p1996) 1ndash9

S E C T A R I A N M IL I T A N C Y IN PA K I S T A N 57

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different sources of political identity and mobilization in PakistanGeneralized more-or-less journalistic accounts of Islamic militancytend to overlook these complex realities Before turning to an analysisof those realities which will begin with a description of Jhang districtit is important to make some remarks about the birdar system in Jhangand to review some of the existing literature on the rise of sectarianmilitancy in Pakistan

The leading birdar groupings in Jhang are the Syeds (Sayyid) andthe Sials (Siyl) The Syeds are all Shi6a So too are the Sials withthe exception of the Bharwnas of Tehsil Jhang The Sials with Shi6aadherence are concentrated in the tehsils of Shorkot and Ahmedpur

Map 1 Punjab province Pakistan

58 tahir kamran

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Sial respectively8 As elsewhere in the Punjab British rule consolidatedthe authority of these mediator groups9 After 1857 birdars weresubsumed into a system of governance of the Raj The birdar headswhom the British called lsquonatural leadersrsquo received in lieu of the servicesthey provided to the Raj patronage through acts of investiture Hencemany of them were granted much coveted ranks like zaildars (dhayldr)and safaydp osh They acted as mediators between the populace and theBritish rulers The interests of these landed magnates were safeguardedagainst the fast-encroaching urban bourgeoisie through legislation likethe Land Alienation Act (1900) and Court of Wards Act (1902) Thesekinships later on provided an institutional base for the Unionist Partyformed in 1923 As happened all over Punjab the birdars vied for morepatronage from the Britishmdashfor example the Tiwnas and Awns inShahpur district Similarly in the case of Jhang the Syeds and Sials werecompeting factions Political rivalry continued unabated in independentPakistan During the 1980s and 1990s interestingly there have beeninstances of intra-kinship rivalry when one faction within the samekinship worked to the detriment of the other by stoking sectarian issuesTherefore intra-kinship as well as inter-kinship rivalries figured quiteprominently in precipitating sectarian tensions in Jhang Considerationthus needs to be given to the way in which birdar politics couldreinforce as well as compete with sectarian mobilization The questionthat needs to be asked is Are rural birdar politics and urban religiousmobilization totally autonomous This paper attempts to explore theconnections between them

Existing studies of sectarian militancy do not go into this subjectInstead they locate sectarianism in terms of regional and nationalpolitical developments These are then seen as encouraging the growthof sectarian militant groupings which are themselves the offspring ofsectarian parties and organizations The latter provide ideologicalinspiration for the violence carried out by the paramilitary organiza-tions A number of general studies of sectarianism in Pakistan referonly in passing to Jhang The main works are by such scholars as ValiNasr Qasim Zaman and Mohammad Waseem10 They link increased

8 For details see Siddique Sadiq Jhang The Land of Two Rivers (JhangLahore Ahmad Sajjad Art Press 2002) 209ndash27

9 See David Gilmartin Empire and Islam Punjab and the Making ofPakistan (Berkeley CA University of California Press 1988) 108ndash45 and IanTalbot Punjab and the Raj (New Delhi Manohar 1988)

10 Vali Reza Nasr lsquoThe Rise of Sunni Militancy in Pakistan The ChangingRole of Islamism and the Ulema in Society and Politicsrsquo Modern AsianStudies 341 (2000) 139ndash80 Qasim Zaman lsquoSectarianism in Pakistan the


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sectarianism with Zia-ul-Haqrsquos Islamization the Afghan War theproliferation of Deobandi madrasas and the 1979 Iranian RevolutionThe Crisis Group Asia Report No 95 on The State of Sectarianism inPakistan adopts a similar approach One of the few studies to reflectspecifically on Jhang by Mukhtar Ahmed Ali11 is written more as areport than an in-depth scholarly study the historical social and geo-graphical context is underdeveloped It is to these contexts that we willnow turn

JHANG DISTRICT

Jhang12 is located in the south-west of the Pakistani Punjab 210kilometres from the provincial capital Lahore and 76 kilometres fromFaisalabad once its divisional headquarters (see Map 2) Most of itseconomy is agriculture based and a large proportion of its population(constituting 766) live in 1083 registered villages and around 2735unregistered bds13

Jhang historically has possessed an overwhelmingly Sunni populationbut one devoted to an intercessional version of Islam in which the Sufisaint is sacralized as the intermediary between man and God Thereforethe saint and shrine are central in the religious expression of the peopleof Jhang Bah8 al-Eaqq of Multan Jall al-Dn Shh Surkh Bukhrof Uch and Fard Ganj Shakar of Pakpattan have a fairly large followingin Jhang The Shi6a form a minority but have traditionally wieldedlanded power

Radicalization of Shii and Sunni Identitiesrsquo Modern Asian Studies 323 (1998)689ndash716 Mohammad Waseem lsquoPolitical Sources of Islamic Militancy inPakistanrsquo in Ian Talbot (ed) The Deadly Embrace Religion Violence andPolitics in India and Pakistan 1947ndash2002 (Karachi Oxford University Press2007) 145ndash63

11 Mukhtar Ahmed Ali Sectarian Problems of Pakistan A Case Study ofJhang (Colombo Regional Centre for Strategic Studies 2000)

12 Urban Jhang consists of three distinct parts namely Jhang City which is theold historical site and the ruling seat of the Sials Jhang Meghiana a relativelylater addition to which the British gave the name of Jhang Sadar and to whichthey shifted the District Courts and offices for fear of floods and Satellite Townfounded during the 1960s See Government of Pakistan District Census Reportof Jhang (Islamabad Statistical Division 2000) 13

13 Ibid 92ndash3

60 tahir kamran

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Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


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The colonial Gazetteer of Jhang District reported in 1883ndash4 that

Shi6ahs are unusually numerous in Jhang a fact due to the influence of the Shi6ah

Kuraishis of Shorkot and Hassu Balel and the Sayads of Uch who are connected

with the famous Sayad family of Belot in Dera Ismael Khan District and Shah

Jiwana and Rajoa in the Jhang District They are the most bigoted type They

observe the Muharram most strictly abstaining from all luxuries for the first ten

days of the month and on the 10th they accompany the Taziahs [ta6ziya] bare-

headed and bare-footed They throw dust on their heads and beat their breasts

with extreme violence and allow neither Hindu nor Muhammadan to approach

the Taziah without baring his head and removing his shoes14

This was repeated verbatim in the District Gazetteer of 1929 with thecomment

Shi6aism is on the increase in the district The influx of wealth on account of

canal irrigation has invested some Sayyid families with added importance and

has proved helpful in spreading Shi6aism15

The absence of documentary sources precludes precise information ofthe sectarian demography of the Jhang District one can neverthelessinfer the progressive rise in the Shi6a population in the decades thatfollowed This rise was aided by the landed power of the Syeds and theSials Shi6a identity was considerably crystallized by the 1930s In 1939for example one thousand Shi6a went to Lucknow from Jhang andcourted arrest in support of the Tabarra Agitation16 which had beendisallowed by the Government of UP17

14 Gazetteer of Jhang District 1883ndash84 (Lahore Sang-i Ml Publications2000) 50 Drawing on the Census of 1881 it states that the total number ofMuslims in the district was 326919 among whom 11835 were Shi6a and only 8Wahhabis

15 Gazetteer of Jhang District 1929 6916 Tabarra ie cursing the first three caliphs Ablt Bakr 6Umar and 6Uthmn

who according to the Shi6a deceitfully deprived 6Al the Prophetrsquos son-in-law andcousin of his right to succession Therefore the Shi6a resort to tabarra Tocounter that agitation Majlis-i AArr started the practice of madh-i BaAbawherein the Sunnis recited verses praising the four rightly-guided caliphs Thatmovement forced UP Government to put a ban on tabarra which stirred theShi6a up a great deal Dietrich Reetz Islam in the Public Sphere ReligiousGroups in India 1900ndash1947 (New Delhi Oxford University Press 2006) 257

17 The Shi6a activists were sent to Lucknow at the behest of Mubrak 6AlShh a leading member of the Shah Jiwana clan Bill Zubayr T8rikh-i Jhang(Jhang 1973) 371 Siddiq Sadiq Jhang 237ndash8

62 tahir kamran

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BIR2DARgtS

Almost eighteen birdars inhabit rural Jhang Sials being the mostinfluential because of their numbers affluence and political clout18 TheSyeds are also politically powerful and wealthy In population termsJhang is overwhelmingly a rural district Nevertheless migrants fromEast Punjab form an important group in Jhang City They are drawnfrom the trading and weaving communities Despite their wealth thesecommunities were traditionally marginalized in the realm of powerpolitics by the dominant local landholders

Jhangrsquos history until the reign of Waldd Khn Siyl (d 1747) inthe early eighteenth century is shrouded in lsquodarknessrsquo However theaccounts of the Greek historians Arrian and Curtius along with theChinese pilgrim Hwen Thsang allude to its very remote history thatcertainly goes as far back as fourth century bc when the region hadits first taste of marauders at the hands of Alexander in 327 bc19

Despite Jhangrsquos ancient past the documented sources with some lsquovalidityclaimrsquo do not go back beyond the eighteenth century when Sial rule wasfirmly in place Therefore the histories of Jhang and the Sial tribe areinextricably enmeshed Consequently the adage lsquothe history of Jhang isthe history of the Sialrsquo20 has a substantial element of truth in it

Ml Khnrsquos (d 1503) assumption of leadership ushered in an era ofSial supremacy in Jhang He meted out a crushing defeat to the rulingNawls and rebuilt the city of Jhang in 1462 which had been devastatedin the battle Sial rule reached its zenith during the reign of WalddKhn (1717ndash47) spanning over three decades His legacy was sustainedby his successors until Ranjit Singhrsquos rise to power in the Punjab AAmadKhn the last Sial chieftain after offering stiff resistance to the Sikharmy was eventually cowed in 1810 and Sial suzerainty over Jhang wasended After annexation of the Punjab in 1849 the Sial chief Ism6lKhn was co-opted by the British and duly rewarded for the serviceshe discharged during 1857 Thus the political importance of the triberemained throughout the colonial period as its chiefs fitted very wellinto the clientndashpatron network set up by the British Sials continuedto be influential after independence despite the fact that the Sial chiefInyatullh Khn had opposed the idea of Pakistan in 1947 At the

18 Ibid 4019 Gazetteer of the Jhang District 1883ndash84 23 Some old material collected

from Shorkot mound in Jhang District namely an agate seal in pictographiclanguage is supposed to be 10000 to 15000 years old For the reference seeSiddiq Sadiq Jhang 67

20 Gazetteer of the Jhang District 1883ndash84 27


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present time Amnullh Khn is one of many claimants to the Sialleadership but the internecine conflicts among the Sials have weakenedtheir power relative to the Syeds in local politics Apart from theBharwna Sials of Tehsil Jhang and the Janjina Sials of Shorkot theleading Sials are all Shi6a

The prominent Syed families are that of Raj oa in Tehsil Chaniot andShh Jiwna in Tehsil Jhang However the Syeds have a marked presencein Shorkot and Uch Most of them trace their descent to Sher ShhSayyid Jall al-Dn Surkh Bukhr21 They own large tracts of land inJhang and Chiniot Both Syed families enjoyed the full patronage of theBritish as a reward for the lsquogood servicersquo that they rendered as and whenit was needed Sayyid MuAammad Ghawth Sayyid Chirgh Shh SardrEusayn Shh and Sayyid Ghulm 6Abbs among the Raj oa Syeds heldpositions of pre-eminence during British rule At the present timeSardrzda Gafar 6Abbs is the leading figure among the Raj oa SyedsSimilarly Sayyid Khizar Hayat (Khair Eayt) from the Shh JiwnaSyeds who lsquohave always been of importancersquo was virtually reared by theBritish through the Court of Wards His younger brother Mubrak Shhand Sayyid Rja Shhrsquos son Abid Hussain (62bid Eusayn) rapidlyachieved a political fame that still resonates in his daughter and heirAbida Hussain (62bida Eusayn) and her cousin and political rival FayBal4liA Eayt Both of these Syed families are Shi6a so that many politicalanalysts looked askance at them for manoeuvring sectarian loyalties forpolitical gain Abid Hussain was a close associate of Muhammad AliJinnah in the 1940s and used his influence quite sagaciously to earnministerial positions in the 1950s In the political arena Sials had noleader who could match Abid Hussain in terms of political insight andstature22 Indeed the emergence of Abid Hussain on the political sceneconsigned the Sials to insignificance particularly in the period from therun-up to the creation of Pakistan up to the 1970 elections

21 Bill Zubayr Tadhkira-i awliy8-i Jhang (Jhang Jhang 2db Academy2000) 213

22 Abid Hussain entered the political limelight in 1936 when as a studentleader he presented a welcome address to Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Lahore whowas there to preside over a meeting of the Muslim Students Federation Later onhe was elected Chairman District Board Jhang (1937ndash54) He became MLA(Member Legislative Assembly) in 1946 and member of the Punjab Assembly in1951 In 1954 he joined the cabinet of Muhammad Ali Bogra as Minister ofAgriculture Later on he joined the Republican Party and became its secretary-general Ayub Khan put him under an Elected Bodies Disqualification Order andso he could not contest the 1962 and 1965 elections The last election hecontested was in 1970 which he lost to the Jmi6atu l-6Ulam8-i Islm candidateGhulm Eaydar Bharwna He died in 1971 Siddiq Sadiq Jhang 217ndash18

64 tahir kamran

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SyedndashSial factional rivalries have contributed to sectarianism InJhang the politics of sectarian differentiation first emerged during the1951 Punjab election Ironically the two Syed families Shh Jiwna andRaj oamdashclose relatives yet political adversariesmdashin order to undermineeach other politically lent unswerving support to non-Syed and Sunnicandidates Abid Hussain successfully lured the pr of Sial Sharif intothrowing in his lot with Mawln MuAammad Zakir (Dhkir) whopulled off a victory against Raj oa candidate Sardr Ghulm MuAammadShh from the Chiniot constituency Similarly Raj oa Syeds went all outin support of Mawln Ghulm Eusayn against Mubrak 6Al Shha candidate of the Shh Jiwna group from Jhang constituency DespiteShi6andashSunni differences being considerably whipped up in the run-up tothe electoral contest Mubrak 6Al nevertheless secured a comfortablevictory23 Sectarianism was thus used as a ploy by Shi6a Syed families aspart of their factional rivalries The power politics articulated in intra-clan divergence was transformed into inter-clan rivalry in the span oftwo decades Hence the Syed in-fight gave way to a SialndashSyed contestfor power As we shall see below birdar rivalries intersected withsectarianism not just in electoral contests but in outbreaks of violencesuch as the Bb-i 6Umar episode This can be understood as a majorturning-point in the rise of sectarianism in Jhang

Another local political factor was the role of the local merchants andtraders (shaykhs) and the artisan class The latter predominantlyweavers are mostly migrants from Gurgaon Rohtak and Hissar whosettled in Jhang City after Partition Jhang like other cities of the Punjabwas more a market centre than an industrial area in the 1970s and1980s it witnessed urban growth along with remittances from the MiddleEast Affluence engendered among the urban bourgeoisie a desire tobreak free of the political stranglehold of the largely feudal Shi6a elite24

Since 1947 the migrant community had traditionally supported NawabIftikhar Ahmed Ansari (Nawb Iftikhr AAmad AnBr) but in thisperiod was beginning to show signs of discontent Ansarirsquos unequivocalsupport to the Shah Jiwana Syeds was ostensibly the prime factor ineventually easing him out of the political reckoning during the 1970sThe migrants alienated from Nawab Ansari constantly playing secondfiddle to Shi6a landlords coalesced behind the SSP leadership and from

23 NaBr AAmad Salm lsquoJhang mayn Sh6a-Sunn tanzu6a ghz say anjmtakrsquo in Zindag (Lahore 14ndash20 December 1991) 19ndash21

24 Ian Talbot lsquoUnderstanding Religious Violence in Contemporary PakistanThemes and Theoriesrsquo in R Kaur (ed) Religion Violence and PoliticalMobilization in South Asia (New Delhi Sage Publications 2005) 157


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the 1980s onwards they were a crucial element of the SSPrsquos electoralstrength in Jhang City25

THE AER2R INFLUENCE

Like other Punjab towns Jhang experienced religious mobilization inthe 1930s that took on sectarian as well as communal characteristicsThe Majlis-i AArr-i Islm (founded in 1929) established its roots inJhang City through the efforts of Chirgh 6Al Chisht and MawlnMuAkam Dn26 The Ahrar had an avowedly antagonistic stance againstAhmadis and the Shi6a27 It had in its ranks firebrand orators likeMaChar 6Al Azhar D8ltd Ghaznav and 6A38ullh Shh Bukhr lateran inspiration to the SSP leadership particularly Haqq Nawaz andZiau-r-Rehman Farooqi (Diy8 al-RaAmn Frltq)28 The latterrsquos fatherMuAammad 6Al Jnbz was a committed Ahrari and instilled the samefervour in his son29 Haqq Nawaz used to hold a wooden hatchet in hishand which had been the Ahrar symbol while delivering the Fridaysermon in the mosque particularly at the outset of his career as khatb30

Interestingly the Sipah-i Sahaba shared many common characteristicswith Majlis-i Ahrar It drew its leadership from a similar lower middleclass background Both movements reposed unflinching faith in theDeobandi version of scriptural literalist Islam and also the tacticsemployed by both were much the same31 They both used agitational and

25 They have formed a voter bank of around 14000 supporters of SSP fromJhang City

26 Bill Zubayr Ta8rkh-i Jhang 37127 Dietrich Reetz Islam in the Public Sphere Religious Groups in India

1900ndash1947 (New Delhi Oxford University Press 2006) 25728 Balakoti in the course of his interview used the phrase muqarrir-i bebadal

(peerless orator) for Haqq Nawaz29 Mawln Mujb al-Rahm Inqilb (AafiCa-hu Allh) Harat Mawln

Diy8 al-RaAmn Frltq Shahd (raAima-hu Allh) A Caller to the Unity of theUmma wwwpitascomdailyislamzia_farooqihtml accessed 3 March 2007

30 Interview with Mehr Sher Muhammad older brother of Haqq NawazJhangvi Mauza Chela Jhang August 2006 For further references on the Ahrarsee Jnbz Mirz Krwn-i aArr (Lahore Maktaba-i TabBira 8 vols 1975)

31 Ahrar has among its leaders men from different sectarian persuasions likeMazhar Ali Azhar who was a Shi6a but whose overarching ideology wasembedded in Deobandi Islam Ablt l-Kalm 2zd and Eusayn AAmad Madanare known to be the eminences grises behind the Ahrar Mirz Karwn-i Arrvol i

66 tahir kamran

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militant methods for political gain and in particular they relied on fieryspeakers to seek popular attention They could enthrall audiencesfor hours by appealing to their religious sentiments However the SSPalso issued its party magazine Khilfat-i Rshida quite regularly fromFaisalabad Lastly both targeted minority groups Manzoor AhmedChinioti (ManCltr AAmad Chni o)(1931ndash2004) one of the foundingmembers of the SSP received instruction at the Multan-based anti-Ahmadi seminary of Ataullah Shah Bukhari in 195132 Haqq Nawaztoo came to prominence during the anti-Qadiyani movement in 1974which culminated in Ahmadis being designated as non-Muslims as aresult of a constitutional amendment on 30 June 1974 That develop-ment worked as a shot in the arm for puritanical clerics like HaqqNawaz Jhangvi and Manzur Ahmed Chinioti The anti-Qadiyani move-ment served as a prototype for the anti-Shi6a movement launched andfomented by Haqq Nawaz He wanted the Shi6a to be pronouncedapostates through constitutional means exactly like the Qadiyanis Thatformed the main theme of his speeches in the 1980s His call to declarethe Shi6a as kfir had besides the local perspective some national andinternational dynamicsmdashthe Iranian Revolution and the sharpening ofsectarian identities in Pakistan Despite these wider regional influencesHaqq Nawazrsquos public agitational career owed much to its more parochialAhrari inspiration

THE GROWTH OF SECTARIANISM IN JHANG

The SSPrsquos ability to institutionalize sectarianism in Jhang occurredagainst the backdrop of increasing SunnindashShi6a tension We have seenearlier how this was partly rooted in the factional rivalries of elite Shi6afamilies It also owed much to a series of incidents the first of which tookplace in Hassu Balail a village at Bhakkar Road in Shorkot Tehsil inOctober 1957 An effigy of 6Umar the second caliph of the Muslims wasdesecrated and subsequently burnt NaCar Eusayn Quraysh a Shi6alandlord was the chief organizer of the episode which profoundlyimpacted on the future course of local politics The commotion emanat-ing from the episode led to the formation of a Sunni organizationMajlis-i TaAaffuC-i Nmlts-i 4aAba spearheaded by Mawln Ghulm

32 Later on Chinioti gave instruction at the Banuri Mosque Karachi lsquoin hisspeciality of condemning the Ahmadi community as apostatesrsquo See KhaledAhmed lsquoMaulana Chinioti the Great Apostatiser (1931ndash2004)rsquo Friday Times(Lahore) 13ndash19 August 2004


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Eusayn the then khatb of Jami6a Mosque Dujji Road Jhang33 Theestablishment of that organization was a decisive step forward inmaking sectarian difference a rallying point for the Sunnis Similarly inMauza Kaki Nau also in Tehsil Shorkot Mawlaw Khud Bakhsh Gillwas gunned down by MuAammad Nawz Kathia in 1964 just whenhe was delivering his khutba in the course of which he eulogized theCompanions of the Prophet34 Despite the protests against this episodethe perpetrator of the crime could not be apprehended The dust hadhardly settled when in Rodo Sultan a small town in Tehsil JhangMawln D ost MuAammad a Deobandi lsquomaulvirsquo (mawlaw) andJami6atu l-6Ulama-i Islam activist was brutally murdered in 196735 Hewas known for his oratory condemning Shi6a landlords which eventuallycost him his life

The cumulative effect of these episodes was to increase sectariantensions An even more crucial turning-point however was the 1969Bb-i 6Umar incident36 This again must be understood not merely asa straightforward sectarian conflict but as an episode that was alsorooted in factional rivalries between Shi6a groupings Shi6as wereprepared to stir up sectarian rivalries in order to do down their fellowShi6a from rival birdars We thus have here an immensely importantintersection between sectarian and birdar politics

The Bb-i 6Umar incident occurred on the eve of a mourning proces-sion on 7 MuAarram in Jhang City The procession originated from theImmbargah Muhjirn right after fajr prayer and after taking quitea labyrinthine route assigned by the district administration terminatedat Immbargah-i Qadm37 There were two Deobandi mosques on theprocession route Masjid-i Taqwa and Masjid-i Ahl-i Eadith A day priorto the procession a huge billboard was seen installed exactly on theroute very close to Masjid-i Taqwa38 This worried the district admin-istration However a compromise was reached on the condition that theprocession would go its usual route without objecting to the billboard

33 Interview with Mawln Ilyas Balakoti Jhang August 200634 Ziau l-Qasimi (Diy8 al-Qsim) MuAammad Diy8 al-Qsim Swnih

Aayt amr-i 6aCmat nmlts-i 4aAba Mawln Eaqq Nawz Shahd AykshawBiyyat ayk ta8rkh ayk 3ltfn (Faisalabad Maktaba-i Qsimiyya 1991) 44

35 Ibid 4536 Ibid 47ndash937 Interview with Sayyid Than8 al-Eaqq Tirmidh Jhang August 200638 Jhang City has three gates Nur Shah Gate Khewa Gate and Mamna Gate

The Khewa gate was given the second name of Bb-i 6Umar during MuAarram of1969 Interview with Mehr Afzal Sial (Aful Siyl) a renowned advocate inJhang of Shi6a persuasion Jhang August 2006

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put up on the way The only condition put forward by the Shi6a organ-izers of the procession was that the inscription on the board should beshrouded After the compromise was reached the procession started offAfter coursing through the narrow streets of Jhang City as it reachedclose to the two mosques someone unveiled the board Subsequentlya processionist by the name of Ashraf Bal och an underling of the Sialsfrom Jhang City soaked his shirt in the nearby drain then hurled it on towhere the name 6Umar was written This was an act of utter desecrationfor the Sunnis39 Tumult ensued It was nothing short of a pitched battlebetween the rival sects By the time the fury had subsided six people hadlost their lives including Mawln Shrn a khatb and prayer leader ofMasjid-i Taqwa40 That was the first instance of the two sects collidinghead on General Yahya Khanrsquos coup drsquoetat and emergency on the veryday of the Bb-i 6Umar incident prevented further loss of life HoweverSunni clerics like Mawln 6Abd al-Halm Mawln Yasn AsadullhQsim and Sayyid Ghulm MuB3af Shh infused a new lease of lifein a dysfunctional Majlis-i TaAaffuC-i Nmlts-i 4aAba and launcheda campaign in the condemnation of the Shi6a that had a telling impact onthe general public and more so on the electoral outcome

The Bb-i 6Umar incident caused a turn-around in the socio-politicalcomplexion of Jhang The anti-Syed group capitalized on the Sunnisrsquocharged sentiments In all three National Assembly constituencies itparaded the widows of those killed in the incident in black mourningdress in the Sunni congested areas of the city This fanned sectarianemotions and overturned the political chessboard41 Abid Hussain fromShah Jiwana lost to his old time friend Ghulm Eaydr Bharwna 62rifKhn Siyl tasted defeat at the hands of NCir Sul3n and Gafar 6Abbsfrom Raj oa went down to Mawln MuAammad Zakir of MuhammadiSharif Even a Sunni candidate like Iftikhar Ansari lost against ShaykhIqbl a local trader on a provincial Assembly seat because of his politicalallegiance to Abid Hussain

It emerged later that the billboard had been unveiled to precipitatea riot at the behest of Nawab Habibullah Khan Sial (Nawb EabbullhKhn Siyl) This stage-managing of violence for political purposes hasbeen written about by Paul Brass in the different context of the

39 The whole event was narrated by Sayyid Than8 al-Eaqq Tirmidh an eye-witness to the episode August 2006

40 Mawln Shrn was an Urdu speaking Muhjir Afterwards the Masjid-iTaqwa was named after him Interview with MuAammad Frltq resident ofJhang city 2 September 2006

41 Interview with Eajj 6Abd al-6Azz Jhang Sadar 12 August 2006


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institutionalized HindundashMuslim riot systems of such UP cities asAligarh42 Interestingly Habibullah Khan Sial himself was Shi6a likethe Syeds of Shah Jiwana However in the particular case factional clanand kinship rivalry took precedence over sectarian affinities they wereused as a ploy to scuttle the political influence of a rival birdar Theploy worked very well to serve the ambitions of Habibullah though itwould wreak havoc in the days ahead The two main characters in thatepisode were according to Sayyid Than8 al-Eaqq Tirmidh a local Shi6anotable MuAammad Arshad and Ashraf Bal och It was Arshad whouncovered the board exactly when the MuAarram procession reached thecorner of the street from which Bb-i 6Umar was merely a few yardsaway and Bal och who perpetrated the act of desecration by throwingfilth at the name of 6Umar MuAammad Arshad43 was in the pay ofHabibullah Khan and Ashraf Bal och was his personal attendantHabibullah Khanrsquos grandson was quite categorical when asked abouthis grandfatherrsquos alleged involvement in the Bb-i 6Umar incident lsquoMygrandfather did all that to avenge the defeat that he suffered at the handsof Colonel Abid Hussain in the 1946 electionsrsquo44 This episode arisingout of birdar rivalries helped pave the way for the institutionalizationof sectarianism in the SSP This threatened for a time to eclipse birdar-based politics in Jhang

NATIONAL AND REGIONAL INFLUENCESON SECTARIANISM

Thus far we have been uncovering the local roots of sectarianism inJhang It is important however to set these in a wider national andregional context and that is the focus of this section After examiningthis broader perspective we will return to the impact of sectarianism inJhang following the creation of the SSP The three key wider develop-ments are the Iranian Revolution the Afghan Jihd and General Ziarsquos

42 Paul Brass The Production of HindundashMuslim Violence in ContemporaryIndia (Seattle University of Washington Press 2003) 32ndash3

43 Muhammad Arshad divulged the secret to Than8 al-Eaqq Tirmidh whenhis own son was killed in cross-fire between rival sectarian groups in a SabziMandi (vegetable market) area of Jhang in 1993 He then repented confessinghis role as an accomplice in a heinous crime carried out at the behest ofHabibullah Sial Interview with Than8 al-Eaqq Tirmidh Jhang city 10 August2006

44 Interview with Eusnayn Siyl Jhang City August 2006

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state-sponsored Islamization which encouraged a lsquoSunnificationrsquo ofPakistan

The 1979 Iranian Revolution emboldened Pakistanrsquos Shi6a so that theylsquoabandoned the Shi6a tradition of political quietismrsquo45 Sipah-i Sahabahspokesmen are quite strident in pointing out the huge amount of Shi6aliterature being produced in Urdu and freely distributed through theconsistently widening network of the Iranian Cultural Centres In thatliterature lsquo[the] 4aAba [the Companions] were denigrated in [an] utterlybrazen wayrsquo46 So not only lsquoawakenedrsquo but lsquoemboldenedrsquo in the wake ofthe Revolutionrsquos success in Iran the Shi6a were public and vociferous inputting forward demands for lsquorights and representationrsquo trusting inKhomeinirsquos support which he quite lavishly extended to them FormerForeign Minister of Pakistan Agha Shahi revealed an interesting factlsquoKhomeini once sent a message to the Pakistani military ruler Zia ul Haqtelling him that if he mistreated the Shi6a he [Khomeini] would do to himwhat he had done to the Shahrsquo47

This favourable international environment encouraged membership ofavowedly Shi6a political movements sponsored both financially andpolitically by Tehran Tahrk-i Nifdh-i Fiqh-i Ja6fariyya Pkistn (TNFJ)was one such organization with monetary and political ties with TehranProselytization was yet another impact of a vigorous lsquoShi6a revivalismrsquoevoking as a consequence a sharp Sunni counter to re-balance thesituation Zaman while drawing on the claim made by Sayyid ArifHusayn Naqvi finds lsquoconsiderable evidence of Shii proselytizationespecially in rural and small town Punjabrsquo48 The compulsory deductionof zakh from bank accounts also became a reason for defections fromSunni ranks Many non-practising Sunnis converted to Shi6ism just toavoid having zakh deducted from their annual savings49 With the Shi6arevival in Iran as Nasr puts it lsquothe years of sectarian tolerance wereover What followed was a Sunni-versus-Shi6a contest for dominance

45 lsquoPolitical quietismrsquo here means taqiyya or dissimulation of Shi6i adherenceSee Ian Talbot lsquoUnderstanding Religious Violencersquo 154

46 Interview with Maulana Ilyas Balakoti Jhang August 200647 Vali Nasr The Shia Revival How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the

Future (New York W W Norton amp Company 2006) 13848 Sayyid 62rif Eusayn Naqv Tadhkira-i 6Ulam8-i Immiyya-i Pkistn

(Islamabad Markaz-i TaAqiqat-i Frs-i Irn wa Pkistn 1984) quoted inQasim Zaman lsquoSectarianism in Pakistanrsquo 689ndash716

49 Hussain Haqqani lsquoWeeding out the Heretics Sectarianism in PakistanrsquoCurrent Trends in Islamist Ideology 4 (Hudson Institute Washington DCNovember 2006) at wwwfutureofmuslimworldcomresearchpubID58pub_detailasp


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and it grew intensersquo50 Nasrrsquos assertion of course seems quite sweeping asthe phenomenon of sectarian differentiation was inextricably complexemanating from the interplay of myriad currents and cross-currentsNevertheless the Iranian revolution and the impact it had on thePakistani Shi6a spurred Deobandi reaction which had so far beensporadic ManCltr Nu6mnrsquos book Irn Inqilb Imm Khumayn awrShi 6iyyat with its preface written by Ablt l-Easan Nadw represents aconcerted response to the mounting Iranian influence in Pakistan Thatbook was later to become lsquothe gospel of Deobandi militant organizationsthat in 1980s mushroomed across Pakistan to press the fight againstthe Shi6arsquo51

The Afghan Jihd against the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan wascrucial in strengthening existing Deobandi influence in Pakistan anddirecting it in favour of militancy The flow of foreign funds into Pakistanduring the 1980s saw a proliferation of Deobandi madrasas in thePunjab Karachi and NWFP Some of these worked as a prime source ofimparting jihd training along with ideological instruction to the youngstudents The total number of madrasas in Pakistan in 1947 was 245by 2003 the figure had risen to an astounding 700052 These institutionswere avowedly sectarian in their outlook as well as committed to a jihd-centric interpretation of Islam Hussain Haqqani explores the role of theZia regime in sponsoring such organizations like the SSP as a counter-weight to the Shi6a ascendancy He therefore maintains

The Zia ul Haq regime saw the SSP as a check on the rise of Shi6a influence and

gave it a free hand Soon covert links had been established between SSP and

Pakistanrsquos Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which managed official Pakistani

support of Jihadi operations in Afghanistan and Indian controlled Kashmir SSP

cadres attended Afghan Mujahideen training camps and returned to kill Shi6aleaders within Pakistan The rise of the Taliban in the 1990s further deepened the

ties among Pakistanrsquos various Jihadi groups Deobandi madrasas and Sunni

sectarian organizations like Sipah-e Sahaba53

Thus state patronage and foreign funding provided a favourableenvironment for the expansion of such organizations as the SSP and LJ54

When in 1991 for example the SSP held Haqq Nawaz International

50 Vali Nasr lsquoShi6a Revivalismrsquo 14851 Ibid 16552 Ali Riaz Global Jihad Sectarianism and the Madrassahs in Pakistan

(Singapore Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies 2005) 853 Hussain Haqani lsquoWeeding out the Hereticsrsquo54 Encouragement from successive regimes and unremitting flow of foreign

funds (especially from Saudi Arabia) combining with absence of governmental

72 tahir kamran

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Conference in Islamabad persons like Mawln 6Abd al-Qdir 2zdan employee of the Government of the Punjab and khatb of theBdshh Mosque Lahore was one of the speakers Similarly SenatorSam6 al-Eaqqrsquos participation in the conference points to the statersquosfavourable disposition toward SSP55 Mawln 6Abd al-EafC Makk56

a scholar from Saudi Arabia was the chief guestmdasha clear illustration ofthe extraneous sources of support furnished to the SSP

The need to counter a lsquoShi6a threatrsquo in Pakistan had been broughthome to the Zia regime by the Shi6a protests at the time of the Zakat and6Ushr Ordinance promulgated in 1979 This formed a crucial element inthe state-sponsored Islamization process It brought Shi6a out in protestin unprecedented numbers The parliament in Islamabad was besiegedby more than 5000057 Shi6a from all over Pakistan in July 1980 Theycame together under the banner of Wifq-i 6Ulama8-i Sh6a Pkistn58

Imamia Student Organization (ISO)59 played a pivotal role in making thewhole episode in Islamabad a remarkable success The convergence ofsuch a huge number of Shi6a at the federal capital was made possiblelargely because of the ISOrsquos unflinching endeavours Thus it was broughthome to the government that lsquothe mode of zakat collection enumeratedin the Ordinance was not in conformity with their beliefs and demandedthat Shi6as should be treated in accordance with their personal lawrsquo60

The parliament house in Islamabad remained under siege for two daysforcing Zia to amend the Ordinance Immediately afterwards the Shi6aclergy thought of constituting an organization with the express objectiveof averting the danger of the blatant lsquoSunnificationrsquo61 of Pakistan and

oversight have been cited as principal factors in the dramatic rise in the numbersof madris (European Commission 2002) quoted in Ali Riazi Global Jihad 5

55 Zindag (Lahore 8ndash14 June 1991)56 Ibid57 See Azmat Abbas Sectarianism 7 However Vali Nasr (lsquoThe Shi6a Revivalrsquo

161) puts the figure of Shi6a activists who gathered in Islamabad at 2500058 Ibid59 A group of students from Lahore University of Engineering and Technology

founded ISO on 22 May 1972 to provide an All-Pakistan Shi6a platformDr Majid Noroze Abidi (Mjid Nawr oz 62bid) and Ali Reza Naqvi (6Al RiNaqv) were among the founders of the organization The numerical strength andorganizational capability of ISO leaders became evident during the 1979ndash80agitation of the Shi6a against Ziarsquos Zakat and 6Ushr Ordinance See AzmatAbbas Sectarianism 9

60 Ibid 761 Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr lsquoIslam the State and the Rise of Sectarian Militancy

in Pakistanrsquo in Christophe Jaffrelot (ed) Pakistan Nationalism Without aNation (London Zed Books 2001) 87ndash90


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safeguarding the interests of their community Hence TNFJ62 came intobeing in 1979 in Bhakkar under the leadership of Muft Ja6far Eusayn63

It became palpably more assertive in its political stance when 62rifal-Eusayn succeeded him as leader in 198464 In 1993 there emerged itsarmed offshoot by the name of Siph-i MuAammad (SMP) under theleadership of Ghulm Ri Naqv the then district President of Tahrk-iJa6fariyya Jhang By the end of 1994 SMP established its headquartersat Thokar Niaz Beg a suburb of Lahore which possessed a sizable Shi6apopulation

THE FORMATION OF THE SSP ANDITS ACTIVITIES IN JHANG

Haqq Nawaz Jhangvi was influenced by all these national and inter-national currents as well as by the earlier model of sectarian mobilizationprovided by Ahrar It was under his leadership that sectarianism wasinstitutionalized with the formation of Anjuman-i Siph-i 4aAba on6 September 1985 Soon afterwards its name was changed into Sipah-i4aAba Pkistn (SSP) The association came into being in the Jmi6aMasjid Piplianwali where Haqq Nawaz had been a prayer leader (imm)and given sermons since 197365 Then Haqq Nawaz was n8ib amr(deputy leader) of Jmi6at al-6Ulam-i Islm Punjab The SSPrsquos centralexecutive comprised 28 founding members Sectarianism was institution-alized when the SSP was formed with radd-i rfiiyyt (refutation ofthe Shi6as) as its core objective Interestingly Haqq Nawaz took on the

62 The TNFJ was renamed as Tahrk-i Ja6fariyya Pkistn in a convention heldin March 1993 at Faisalabad See Azmat Abbas Sectarianism 8

63 Ja6far Eusayn (1916ndash83) was born in Gujranwala educated in LucknowIndia and Najaf in southern Iraq He then taught at a Shi6a seminary in his nativecity He served on various government committees including the Council ofIslamic Ideology Qasim Zaman lsquoSectarianism in Pakistanrsquo 694ndash5

64 6Allm 2rif Eusayn al-Eusayn was a Turi Pushtun from the Shi6astronghold of Parachinar in northern Pakistan He had received instruction fromNajaf and Qum and was sent to Pakistan by the Iranian government in 1978However according to his official biography he was expelled from Iran beforethe Revolution Azmat Abbas Sectarianism 8

65 Dastltr Anjuman-i Siph-i 4aAba (Jhang Markaz Daftar Anjuman-iSiph-i 4aAba Pkistn Jmi6a Masjid Pipliawali nd) and also see Ziaul-Qasimi Swnih Aayt 39 It was registered on 21 January 1986 under theSocieties Registration Act XXI of 1860 see the Certificate of Registrationno RP799ndashFS86352

74 tahir kamran

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Barelvis at the outset of his political career The munCara (religiousdebate) held at Kot Lakhnana Jhang between him and Mawln AshrafSiylv strained relations between the Barelvis and Deobandis HaqqNawaz lost that munzara BarelvindashDeobandi tension grew into physicalconfrontation in 1987 when two Barelvis were murdered by an SSPsupporter in Purani Eidgah Soon afterwards Haqq Nawaz realized thatthe BarelvindashDeobandi confrontation was counterproductive changedcourse and started working to forge a Sunni alliance against the Shi6a66

SSP ideologues like Ziau l-Qasimi Ilyas Balakoti and MuAammadSalm Butt link the emergence of their organization with such events asthe Tabarra campaign conducted in Hassu Balail Kaki Nau and RoduSultan at the behest of Shi6a landlords against the Companions of theProphet They attach most significance to the Bb-i 6Umar incidentwhich took place in 1969 However as we have seen this obscures thelarger context for the rise of sectarianism provided by Ziarsquos policy oflsquoShariatizationrsquo the 1979 Iranian Revolution the Afghan Jihd andproliferation of dn madrasas

Sectarianism lay at the heart of the SSPrsquos goals Out of the eight aimsspelled out by its founding members five aimed at circumscribingShi6ism in Pakistan if not completely extirpating it Assuring the sover-eignty of God and the finality of the Prophet striving for the legitimatestatus of the Companions of the Prophet for the implementation ofKhilfat-i rshida doing their best to condemn Shi6ism and makingsincere efforts to bring together all Sunni schools of thoughtmdashwere alltendentious clauses in the list of objectives put together by the SSPleadership67 Similarly the criteria of eligibility for membership of theorganization particularly the first and the last of the four mentioned inthe Dastltr (the party constitution) were very explicit about its sectarianexclusivism This allowed Sunnis to be members but explicitly excludedthe Shi6a The Dastltr was promulgated from the 1st January 198668

66 Interview with Mehr Afal Khn Siyl advocate in Jhang August 200667 Dastltr Anjuman-i Siph-i 4aAba 1 See also these comments from an

interview with Salm Butt Jhang August 2006 lsquoThe very first clause warrantssome explanation as Shi6a religious scholars affirm the ending of Prophethoodaccepting MuAammad as the last Prophet However the exponents of theDeobandi version particularly ManCltr Nu6mn through his journal al-Furqnclaims that the notion of Immat in Shi6ism is in sheer contradiction to theIslamic tenet of khatam-i nabuwwa [the sealing of Prophethood] They think thatShi6as hold their twelve Imms in much higher esteem than even Prophets It ledas a consequence to a fatwa issued by many Deobandi clerics declaring Shi6asnon-Muslimsrsquo See further Sa6d al-RaAmn 6Alaw Afkr-i Shi 6a (Lahore np1991) 462ndash9

68 Ibid


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The official flag of the SSP reflected an unequivocal devotion to theCompanions Ablt Bakr 6Umar 6Uthmn 6Al and Mu6wiya wererepresented as stars with the inscription on a crescent of the AadthlsquoMy Companions are like stars follow them and you will be led tosalvationrsquo That was the core theme of the campaign initiated by theSSPrsquos Patron-in-Chief with great verve and gusto

As already referred to the migrant East Punjab community mostlyfrom Gurgaon Hissar and Karnal provided a key base of support for theSSP in its Jhang heartland Its other support there came firstly from localtraders and shopkeepers (mostly shaykhs by caste) from Jhang Sadarsecondly from returned workers from the Gulf These sought politicalopportunities to reflect their newly acquired wealth They had alsobrought back a redefined religious identity that was militantly Sunni andregarded Shi6is as lsquothe otherrsquo Both these factors encouraged their supportfor SSP69 The profile of the founding leadership of SSP affords ampletestimony of the potential base and constituency it was destined to havein the years to come Mukhtar Ahmed Ali has worked out the ethnicidentity of the Senior SSP leadership in Jhang as follows70

Barring Haqq Nawaz himself and to a far lesser extant Shaykh HakimAli there was no local influential SSP leader Most of its leadership cadrewas drawn from the Partition migrantsrsquo community Zia-ul Qasimi

Eaqq Nawz Founder and first Sarparast-i a6l Local

Diy8 al-Qsim Chairman Supreme Council Muhjir

Isrr al-Eaqq Qsim N8ib Sarparast-i a6l Muhjir

Diy8 al-RaAmn Farltq Sarparast-i a6l (killed 1998) Muhjir

A6zam Friq N8ib-Sarapast-i a6l (killed 2003) Muhjir

Shaykh Eakm 6Al President Local

M Nasm 4iddq Secretary-General Muhjir

Shaykh Ashfq Finance Secretary Local

Munr AAmad Shahd Chairman Municipal Committee Muhjir

M Salm Butt Legal Advisor and member Majlis-i Shltr Muhjir

69 Muhammad Qasim Zaman while quoting Omer Noman dates the processof the proliferation of the middle class in the Punjab to the 1970s and 1980s Theoutflow of labour overseas brought about remarkable changes in status andexpectations There was an encouragement to radical sectarianism in PakistanSee Zaman The Ulema in Contemporary Islam Custodians of Change(Karachi Oxford University Press 2002) 126

70 Mukhtar Ahmed Ali lsquoSectarianism in Pakistanrsquo My thanks to Salm Buttfor pointing out an error in the table prepared by Mukhtar Ahmed Ali The firstSecretary-General according to Salm Butt was Nasm 4iddq and not YltsufMujhid

76 tahir kamran

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(Diy8 al-Qsim) Esar-ul Haq Qasimi (Asrr al-Eaqq Qsim) andZia-ur Rehman Farooqi (Diy8 al-RaAmn Frltqi) were East Punjabmigrants who had originally settled in Faisalabad whereas Azam Tariq(A6zam Friq) hailed from Chichawantani district Sahiwal

From the outset the SSP adopted an aggressive posture This was seenat Kull Pkistn Difh-i 4aAba Conference (All Pakistan Conference forthe Defence of the Prophetrsquos Companions) held on 7th February 1986 atChandan Wala Mohalla Jhang Sadar Haqq Nawaz Jhangvi presenteda welcome address which amounted to an indictment against the Shi6acommunity at large The real motive of Haqq Nawaz in the text of theaddress mentioned was to rally the Sunni ulema around him in orderto launch a nationwide movement against the Shi6a71 He managed tosecure support from some of those present such as Mawln KhnMuAammad and Mawln 2mir Eusayn Shh Giln Yet his extremistmessage was too aggressive for the majority

With the launch of the SSP Haqq Nawaz busied himself in stormytours of various districts and cities deploying his oratory to best effectBecause of the incendiary sectarian content of his speeches he wason numerous occasions debarred from entering the cities where hisvisits had been scheduledmdashOkara Chichawatni Ahmadpur East andMuzzafargarh to name a few72 Besides he devoted considerable time inhelping poor litigants in Jhang District Courts and in the process as hewas of fiery disposition fell out with the district administration onnumerous occasions His assertive style nevertheless won him numerouspersonal admirers and increased the support for his organizationThus the popularity of the SSP and its founder grew rapidly This wasreflected in the 1988 elections in which Haqq Nawaz bagged 38995votes from the constituency NAndash68 Jhang III He lost to Abida Hussainby a relatively narrow margin as she obtained 47374 votes73 lsquoA leaderof a national stature Abida Hussain was the favourite who was expectedto win hands downrsquo Mehr Zafarullah Khan Bharwana Sial has declared

71 Haqq Nawaz Khutba-i istaqbaliyya Kull Pakistan Difh-i-4aAbaConference held on 7th February 1986 in Jhang That Khutba-i istaqbaliyya(welcome address) for the invitees of the conference was the only thing everwritten by Haqq Nawaz Jhangvi himself Interview with Salm Butt Jhang10 August 2006

72 Ziau l-Qasimi Swnih Aayt 123ndash3673 Another interesting fact is that Haqq Nawaz contested the election on the

JUI ticket See Mr Justice (Retd) Sardar Fakhre Alam (Chairman ElectionCommission) Mr Justice Rashid Aziz Khan (Member Election Commission)Mr Justice Hamid Ali Mirza (Member Election Commission) General ElectionsReport Vol 2 Comparative Statistics for General Elections 1988 1990 1993and 1997 (Islamabad Government of Pakistan) 57


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lsquoEveryone except a khatb of a local mosque anticipated a far moreconvincing victory for her After that defeat all was auguring well forHaqq Nawaz Jhangvirsquo74

However by that time sectarian killing had already begun withthe murders of AAsan Allh Zahr in 1987 and TNFJ leader 6Allma62rif al-Eusyn in 1988 Haqq Nawaz himself had not many more daysto live On 22 February 1990 his tumultuous life and career came toan end75 SSPrsquos rhetoric had always been aggressive but now deedsmatched words Eventually in 1996 Lashkar-i Jhangvi was to emergeas an armed off-shoot of the SSP Militancy not only intimidated Shi6isbut increased SSPrsquos electoral support From the time of Haqq Nawazinfluence in the National Assembly was sought in order to amend theConstitution so that there could be a lsquoSunnificationrsquo of the Pakistanistate

After the assassination of Haqq Nawaz sectarianism vied withbirdar politics as the dominant form of mobilization in the Jhangregion Deobandi clerics took on an increasingly important political roleas the SSP assumed centre stage in urban political activity Birdarallegiances continued to be a key factor nevertheless in the politics ofrural Jhang This was demonstrated by the continued monopoly of theSials and Syeds of the Jhang District Council The chair of the JhangDistrict BoardDistrict Council since Partition has been either a Syed ora Sial76 Even in urban Jhang militant sectarianism never completelyreplaced birdar politics and especially the influence of the Sial factionRuling it out completely was an error of judgement on the part of theGovernment and Jhang district administration particularly on the eveof MuAarram 1990

On that occasion the government of the Punjab was visibly perplexedabout the law and order situation during the period of mourning asthis followed hard on the heels of the murder of Haqq Nawaz As a pre-emptive measure the government called together urban notables and

74 Interview with Mehr Zafarullah Khan Bharwana Sial an ex-member of theProvincial Assembly Punjab former Chairman District Council Jhang JhangAugust 2006

75 Mawln Diy8 al-Rahmn Frltq became the Chief Patron of SSP afterHaqq Nawaz Jhangvirsquos assassination Before that he was imm and khatb of amosque run by the Awqaf Dept at Sumundri District Faisalabad Zindag(Lahore 14ndash20 March 1991)

76 The chairpersons have been Abid Hussain Muhammad Arif Khan SialAbida Hussain (two tenures) Mehr Akhter Bharwana Mehr MuhammadZafarullah Bharwana Sughra Imam Siddiq Sadiq lsquoJhang The Land of TwoRiversrsquo 403

78 tahir kamran

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leaders of the SSP for negotiation Malik Saleem Iqbal the HealthMinister of the Punjab presided over the proceedings on 16 July 1990District administration the SSP leadership and other important personswere made part of the negotiations and taken into confidence An amnmu6hada (peace treaty) was concluded to the satisfaction of thegovernment77 But only a few days after the treaty a bomb explodedat Chowk Bab-i 6Umar in Jhang City killing 3 Sunnis and injuring 28This effectively sabotaged the peace efforts The very site of the bombexplosion was not far away from Amanullah Khan Sialrsquos Aavayl inJhang City This is highly suggestive of the fact that the efforts to bringpeace to the conflict ridden city were stymied because birdars had beencounted out as stakeholders from the whole process

However the SSP did expand beyond its roots in sectarian rivalriesand birdar politics in Jhang It organized itself remarkably well atdistrict and tehsil level According to one estimate the SSP had 74 districtand 225 tehsil level units before it was proscribed on 12 January 2002 Itadditionally ran 17 branches in foreign countries including Saudi ArabiaBangladesh Canada and the UK With its 6000 trained and professionalcadres and 100000 registered workers78 it was the best-knit andorganized Islamic party in Pakistan after Jama6at-i Islm

SSP AND THE SPREAD OF SECTARIANVIOLENCE IN THE PUNJAB

SSPrsquos growing influence was accompanied by an association withviolence While Jhang was the scene of many sectarian killings theyspread to other areas of Punjab and beyond Although SSP attemptedto distance itself from the activities of the armed offshoot

77 Along with Malik Saleem Iqbal Arshad Lodhi Deputy Commissioner andSuperintendent of Police those who took part in the negotiations were MaulanaRashid Ahmad Madni Mohalla Chandanwalla Dildar Ali (Secretary Anjuman-iTajran) Haji Muhammad Ali (President Anjuman-i Tajran) Mian IqbalHussain Muhammad Zahur Chuhan Advocate Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal(Chairman Municipal Committee Jhang) Muhammad Farooq (PresidentAnjuman-i Tajran Jhang City) MuAammad Rafique Saqi (General SecretaryAnjuman-i Tajran Jhang City) Muhammad Aslam (Joint Secretary Anjuman-iTajran Jhang City) and Maulana Esar ul Qasimi See Amn mu6ahda (ManCltrShltda) Dil6 intiCmya wa membrn-i Committee Anjuman-i Siph-i 4Abawa mu6azizn-i Jhang (Jhang hand-written document 1990)

78 Ibid See also lsquoSipah-i Sahaba PakistanTerrorist Group of Pakistan SouthAsia Terrorism Portal 21 June 2004rsquo at wwwsatporgsatporgtpcountriesPakistanterroristoutfitsssphtm accessed 23 February 2007


at University O



ownloaded from

Lashkar-i Jhangvi which was created in 1996 this was never doneconvincingly LJ had links with lsquointernational terroristrsquo movementswhich culminated in the banning of both organizations by PresidentMusharraf in response to the post 911 situation Support for the SSP andLJ has as a result been driven underground

The end of the Afghan War resulted in the existence of a large numberof well-trained militants Some of these were attracted to organizationslike SSP which were able to employ them SSP was a cash-rich organ-ization because of its indirect funding from Saudi Arabia and IraqPopular philanthropy much of which came from Deobandi sources alsoswelled its coffers The Deobandi madrasa union Wifq al-madriswhich has its head office in Multan along with Khayr al-madrisseminary the national centre for Deobandi instruction openly supportedthe SSP79 Young zealots mostly recruited from the seminaries were sentfor training in the arts of violence in Afghanistan Therefore sectarianmilitancy escalated to a considerable extent Under the leadership of RiazBasra (Riy BaBra) the LJ comprised those militants well instructedin the use of explosives and guerrilla tactics They went to Afghanistanfor training in a camp in Sirobi near Kabul run by the Taliban MinisterMawlaw Eamdullh80

The Taliban had been a great source of inspiration for the SSP leaderswho sought to replicate their policies in Pakistan Azam Tariq whilespeaking at an International Dif6a-i 4aAba Conference in Karachiin October 2000 said lsquothe SSP aims to transform 28 large Pakistanicities into model Islamic citiesrsquo where television cinema and musicwould be bannedrsquo81 Azam Tariq was an ardent supporter of the jihd inIndian-controlled Kashmir When Masud Azhar (Mas6ltd AChar) foundedJaysh-i MuAammad in the aftermath of his release in Kandaharfollowing the hijacking of an Indian aircraft in December 1999 AzamTariq pledged to send 500000 jihds to Jammu and Kashmir to fightIndian security forces82

SSP extremists had two major styles of operation namely targetedkillings and indiscriminate shootings at places of worship A number

79 International Crisis Group lsquoThe State of Sectarianism in Pakistanrsquo 1580 Owais Tohid lsquoAn Eye for an Eye in Death as in Life Interview Qari

Shafiqur Rehmanrsquo October 2003 at wwwnewslinecompknewsoct2003stopoct1htm

81 lsquoSipah-i Sahaba Pakistan Terrorist Group of Pakistanrsquo at wwwsatporgsatporgtpcountriesPakistanterroristoutfitsssphtm accessed 3 March 2007

82 lsquoIn the Spotlight Sipah-i Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)rsquo 9 July 2004 at httpwwwcdiorgprogramdocumentcfmdocumentid=2308ampprogramID=39ampfrom_page=friendlyversionprintversioncfm accessed 3 March 2007

80 tahir kamran

at University O



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of leading Shi6is were assassinated They included Tajamal Abbass(Tajamm al-6Abbs) the Commissioner Sargodha Ali Reza DeputyCommissioner Khanewal Zainul Abideen (Zayn al-62bidn) JailSuperintendent Jhang and ISOrsquos Dr Naqvi to name a few instancesIndiscriminate firing on worshippers in mosqueimmbra was the othermethod that resulted in numerous killings The Momenpura incidenton 11 January 1998 was a case in point with 27 Shi6is massacred17 were killed in Muzaffargarh in January 199983 and 57 in two sepa-rate incidents in Quetta on 9 June and 4 July 200384 However it wasnot a one-sided affair to say the least Countless Sunnis also lost theirlives in retribution On 13 August 1991 Mian Muhammad Iqbal of SufiGroup of Industries and SSP nominee for Provincial assembly seat PPndash65was killed in Jhang Within a month five Sunni clerics were gunned downnear Malhuana Mor Jhang85 In September and October of 199648 Sunnis were killed in Multan while offering prayers in the mosqueConcurrently the five-day long battle between Shi6is and Sunnis inParachinar with the death toll at 20086 from both sides aggravated thesituation beyond repair

By 1992 the SSP activists had gained access to sophisticated weaponssystems In June of that year they used a rocket launcher in an attackwhich killed five police personnel87 The attempted assassination of thePrime Minister Nawaz Sharif in January 1999 is yet another exampleHe was lucky that the bomb planted beneath the bridge on the RaiwindRoad on the route to his residence exploded prematurely but it wasa clear testimony of how lethal the sectarian terrorists had become Theywere not only growing in fighting power but multiplying in numbersAnimosh Roul mentions six other splinter groups of SSP besides the LJnamely lsquoJhangvi Tigersrsquo lsquoAl Haq Tigersrsquo lsquoTanzeem ul Haqrsquo lsquoAl Farooqrsquoand lsquoAl Badr Foundationrsquo88

83 Rana Jawad The News International Pakistan (Lahore) 19 January 199984 Suba Chandran Sectarian Violence in Pakistan (New Delhi Institute of

Peace and Conflict Studies Publications August 2003)85 The clerics killed on 7 September 1991 were Sayyid 4diq Eusayn Shh

Mawln Rashd AAmad Madan EfiC Eabib al-RaAmn Ej 6Azzal-RaAmn and Qr MuAammad Eudhayfa All of them belonged to Jami6atal-6Ulam8-i Islm and were SSP sympathizers See Siddique Sadiq Jhang TheLand of Two Rivers 250

86 V Nasr lsquoRise of Sunni Militancy in Pakistanrsquo 14187 lsquoSiph-i 4ahaba Pakistan Terrorist Group of Pakistanrsquo wwwsatporg

satporgtpcountriesPakistanterroristoutfitsssphtm accessed 3 March 200788 Animosh Roul lsquoSipah-i 4aAba Fomenting Sectarian Violence in Pakistanrsquo

Terrorism Monitorrsquo 32 (27 January 2005) at wwwjamestownorgterrorismnewsarticlephparticleidfrac142369166


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During the 1990s Iranian officials functioning in various capacities inPakistan became the target of SSP militants Most prominent amongthem was 2gha 4diq Ganj Iranian Consul-General who was gunneddown on 19 December 1990 by a young lad from Jhang Shaykh EaqqNawz89 Ganji is widely believed by SSP supporters to have master-minded Haqq Nawaz Jhangvirsquos murder However there was no tenableevidence of 4diq Ganjrsquos involvement other than his presence in Jhangon the day of the murder MuAammad 6Al RaAm an Iranian diplomatwas another victim of a targeted killing in Multan in 1997 The IranianCultural Centre at Lahore was set ablaze the same year in January It wasin retribution for the assassination of Ziau r-Rehman Farooqi along with26 others at the Lahore Session Court Five members of the Iranianarmed forces were fatally ambushed in September sparking off a seriousdiplomatic row between Islamabad and Tehran lsquoThe targeting ofIranians was apparently meant to convey the message to Shi6a militantsthat not even their lsquopatronsrsquo were safersquo90

Like all revolutions the anti-Shi6a campaign of SSP thrived on thespilling of human blood The cult of the martyr was very effectivelydeployed by the successors of Haqq Nawaz which enhanced not onlySSPrsquos electoral standing but also its renown Thus ironically Shi6ainfluence implicitly permeated into the SSPrsquos overall schema as the Shi6atheological discourse is structured around the cult of the martyr Scoresof martyrs and the ongoing sectarian strife gave the SSP a lsquofunctionalutilityrsquo91 that contributed immensely to perpetuating its hold over JhangThe way sectarian polarization enabled SSP to increase its vote bankhas similarities with the way that communal violence in a number ofUP towns has strengthened the hold of the BJP In the central Jhangconstituency in the 1990 election Mawln Esar al-Qasimi HaqqNawazrsquos successor and Vice Patron secured election with a considerablemajority As Islm Jumhltr Ittihdrsquos (IJI) candidate for the NationalAssembly he obtained 62486 votes He also stood as an independentcandidate for a Provincial Assembly seat and defeated IJI ticket holder

89 Zindag (Lahore) 14ndash20 December 1991 Shaykh Eaqq Nawz was laterhanged in Mianwali jail on 28th February 2001 Kka Ball kin of AmanullahSial was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of Haqq NawazJhangvi lsquoSipah-i Sahaba Pakistan Terrorist Group of Pakistanrsquo at wwwsatporgsatporgtpcountriesPakistanterroristoutfitsssphtm accessed 3 March 2007See also Azmat Abbas Sectarianism 13

90 Owais Tohid lsquoAn Eye for an Eyersquo91 Brass lsquoProduction of HindundashMuslim Violencersquo 377

82 tahir kamran

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and favourite Shaykh Iqbal with a margin of almost 10000 votes92 Esaral-Qasimi did not live long after winning the election He was the victimof a political assassination in January 1991 while returning from thepolling station on the southern corner of Jhang Sadar His murder tookplace on the very day of the by-election for the Provincial Assemblyseat PPndash65 Jhang V Ironically Esar al-Qasimirsquos assassination wasnot orchestrated by any Shi6a machination He was allegedly killed at thebehest of the local Sunni power broker Shaykh Iqbal His son was theprincipal accused and Shaykh Iqbal had to pay the huge sum ofRs 35 million as blood-money to Esar al-Qasimirsquos family to settle theissue Nevertheless sectarian killings continued unabated The situationbecame so bad that it is said an important political figure like AbidaHussain from the Syed family took up an ambassadorial post in USAin 1990ndash93 as Pakistan was no longer safe for her93

Esar al-Qasimi was succeeded by Mawln Azam Tariq (1962ndash2003)as SSP nominee for the National Assembly seat NA 68 He convinc-ingly won elections in 1993 against his close rivals Amanullah Sialand Shaykh Iqbal However in 1997 he lost to PML(N) candidateAmanullah Sial and retained by just seven votes his Provincial Assemblyseat of PPndash65 against Dr Ablt l-Easan AnBr94 This result signalled thereturn of birdar influence to Jhang politics It also indicated that thepeople of Jhang had grown weary of violence and militancy Lashkar-iJhangvi with Riaz Basra Akram Lahori and Asif Ramzi in its ranksbrought notoriety to SSP despite Azam Tariqrsquos denial that there were anyconnections between LJ and SSP lsquoProclaimed offenders like Salm FawjAnlt Gadh 6Ijz alias Jajj and Flib Qiymat had unleashed a reign ofterror in urban Jhang Sunnis as well as Shi6is left the troubled city whoseeconomy had been ruinedrsquo95 The situation obtaining in the 1990s hasbeen well depicted by 4afdar Salm Siyl in this verse

Ayk kuttay ney apnay sth kuttay say kah Salm

bhgh j warna dm k mawt mar j8i g

A dog said to his dog companion Salm

Run away or else yoursquoll die the death of a human

Nawaz Sharifrsquos crackdown on militancy during 1997ndash99 togetherwith the general disapproval of violence and militancy saw a

92 General Elections Report ii 243 He contested that election from JUI(Sami al-Haq Group) quota See Zindag (Lahore)14ndash20 March 1991

93 See for reference Takbr (Karachi) 5 December 199194 Azam Tariq got 25501 votes against Dr Ablt l-AnBrrsquos 25494 votes

General Elections Report ii 24295 Interview with 4afdar Salm Siyl Jhang August 2006


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considerable decline in sectarian killing in Jhang Leading militants suchas Riaz Basra and Asif Ramzi died in police lsquoencountersrsquo while AkramLahori is held in prison Peace returned to the district From January1999 to December 2000 not a single incident of sectarian violence wasreported The military takeover on 12 October 1999 may be one of thereasons that militant groups had assumed a low profile However thenext elections held in 2002 under military rule reversed the processAzam Tariq won the election even though he was in jail Both the LJ andSSP along with their Shi6a rivals SMP and TJ had been banned by PervaizMusharaf on 14 August 2001 and 2002 respectively96 NeverthelessAzam Tariq was allowed to contest the elections as an independentcandidate This decision evoked sharp reaction from many quartersAzam Tariqrsquos victory was quite unexpected Nevertheless it fits a patternin Pakistan in which representatives of militant religious outfits tendto do well in the conditions of lsquoguided democracyrsquo because of themarginalization of mainstream parties However after 911 such figuresas Azam Tariq have had to act circumspectly After securing electionvictory instead of siding with the opposition alliance of religiousparties MMA Tariq went along with the pro-Musharraf Muslim League(Quaid-i Azam) and managed to secure the release of the imprisoned SSPactivists In October 2003 Azam Tariq was killed in Islamabad thedeath most foretold in the history of Pakistan according to the DailyTimes Lahore There had been 20 attempts on his life prior to it AzamTariqrsquos murder was a death knell to SSP or lsquoMillat-i Islmiyyarsquo (the namegiven to the organization after the SSP was proscribed in 2002) Theresulting leadership vacuum has rendered the organization rudderlessIts immediate future seems bleak Long awaited peace has returned toJhang where birdar allegiances have resumed their traditional politicalinfluence

CONCLUSION

This article argues that it is crucial to understand sectarianism in terms ofits politicization It has revealed that in the case of Jhang the birdarsused sectarianism as an instrument for political gain The stage managingof the Bb-i 6Umar incident is a case in point However in due course oftime sectarianism secured a political space in urban Jhang where it

96 See for further detail Ch Akhter Ali lsquoReference under 6(2) of the PoliticalParties Act (as amended)rsquo Supreme Court of Pakistan Islamabad 29 January2002

84 tahir kamran

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afforded opportunities for previously marginalized local and refugeecommunities It thrived on existing patterns of religious sectarian mobil-ization which had been directed against the Qadiyanis IncreasinglyShi6is were the target of sectarian militancy in the wake of the AfghanJihd and the Iranian Revolution The proliferation of madrasas withforeign funding provided much needed cadres for such organizations asthe SSP However sectarianism never totally replaced birdar politics

While the conditions in Jhang were especially propitious for the riseof sectarianism the key to understanding its spread elsewhere in Pakistanalso lies in seeing it as a vehicle for the politics of identity for margin-alized social groups This offers an approach that may better explainsectarianism and perhaps also evolve to counter it

E-mail tahirkamran_gcuyahoocom


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militant Sunni organization Sipah-i Sahaba (Siph-i 4aAba) HaqqNawaz Jhangvi (Eaqq Nawz Jhangv)3 on 22 February 1990 He hadjust set foot out of his house around 8 pm to attend the wedding ofShaykh Shawkat 6Alrsquos son in nearby Ahrar Park when two motor-cyclists emerged from the corner of the street approached HaqqNawaz sprayed him with bullets and melted away into the darknessof the wintry night4 The victimrsquos diminutive blood-splattered body wasrushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Jhang where he waspronounced clinically dead However the legacy of death and hatred thatthe incident bequeathed survives to this day Soon after that incidentJhang witnessed greater mass protests than ever before An eyewitnessaccount recalls that it was lsquoas if the whole city of Jhang had throngedoutside the main building of the hospital everyone visibly sad andsombre many of them were genuinely hateful seething with angerand indignation accusing the Shi6a elite of the Jhang district of the

to relive that pristine time A cluster of terms describes these movements ofwhich two particularly recur One is tajdd which suggests the process of renewaland specifically commitment to the way of the Prophet A second is jihd whichpoints to the effort or the action required in conforming to the way of GodrsquoBarbara D Metcalf Islamic Revival in British India Deoband 1860ndash1900(Delhi Oxford University Press 2002) 4 See also Syed Mehbub Rizvi Ta8rkhDr al-6Ulltm Deoband Bar-i Baghr kay musalmn on ka sab say ba_ra krnma(Lahore Idra-i Islmiyyt 2005)

3 Haqq Nawaz belonged to Mauza (mawi6) Chela Thana Massan Tehsil(taABl) and District Jhang He was born in 1952 and hailed from the Sipra clanwhich has a very small landholding His father Wal MuAammad was a knownKh ojj of the area Haqq Nawaz did not go beyond fourth grade in school Hewas then sent to EfiC Jn MuAammad to learn the Qur8n by heart which hedid in two years EfiC Jn MuAammad persuaded him to go to Masjid SheikhanWali (Shaykhan Wal) in Abdul Hakim (presently in District Khanewal) There helearnt the art of recitation from Qr Tj MuAammad and also grammar Thenhe spent five years at Dr al-6Ulltm Kabirwala and was greatly influenced byMawln Manzur Ahmed (ManCltr AAmad) a famous Deobandi scholar of thearea Lastly he went to Khayr al-Madris Multan to learn Aadth He remainedthere for seven years He served briefly as imm at Toba Tek Singh He came toJhang in 1973 as a khatb of the Masjid Mohalla (maAalla) Piplianwala(Interview with Haqq Nawazrsquos older brother Mehr Sher MuAammad and hiscousin EfiC MuAammad Nawz in Mauza Chela Jhang August 2006)

4 See for further reference the daily Jang (Lahore) 23 February 1990 thedaily Naw-i waqt (Lahore) 23 February 1990 the editorial in the monthlyKhilfat-i Rshida 14 (June 1990) the fortnightly Khadm al-Dn 3534ndash5(Lahore 9ndash22 March 1990) See also Azmat Abbas Sectarianism The Playersand the Game (Lahore South Asia Partnership 2002) 11ndash12

56 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from




58 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


JHANG DISTRICT






13 Ibid 92ndash3

60 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from




58 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


JHANG DISTRICT






13 Ibid 92ndash3

60 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from




58 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


JHANG DISTRICT






13 Ibid 92ndash3

60 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


JHANG DISTRICT






13 Ibid 92ndash3

60 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from


JHANG DISTRICT






13 Ibid 92ndash3

60 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from

Map

2

Jhang

Dis

tric

t


at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from




















62 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from

BIR2DARgtS









at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from





64 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from







at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from


THE AER2R INFLUENCE










66 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from






at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from








68 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from







70 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from















72 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from













at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from









74 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from






68 Ibid


at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from
















76 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from








78 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from








at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from









80 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from










at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from





82 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from












at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from


CONCLUSION



84 tahir kamran

at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from





at University O



ownloaded from

Sectarian Militancy-case Study of Jhang

Documents