Blast at Jamia Naeemia; Dr Sarfraz martyred

[wtf]

Not sure what you are rambling about here, though I suspect its the typical underhanded shots at our supposed 'Islamist' beliefs, more of your pursuit of that imaginary 'closet' you fancy I am in.

Back to my posts however, my points on the name calling on Qsaark stands. If you cannot make your point with civility, don't bother posting , since we will delete the post.

On the issue of Taliban funding, it is ironic that I called out the fact that there is little 'evidence' in support of the US contention that donations from the Gulf rival narcotics based funding. I am not contesting the fact that such sources of funding exist (in fact I commented on a whole litany of sources that have been reported upon over the years), rather the extent of the funding due to a paucity of multiple sources validating the claims made by the US.

Such sources may indeed come to light as time goes by, may even exist as we speak and perhaps have not come to my attention, but till they do I maintain my position in my last post.

This may be off topic. The original Saudi funding story came to light when after 9/11 the funding was found to be through Hawala channels. Later there was a worldwide crackdown on untraceable movement of money. In India the vestiges of D-Company based Hawala was closed down.

The next iteration was "Zakat" or charity based funding of terror. It was (I think) more European/Middle Eastern phenomenon that something that took funds to US. There are efforts going on to crack down on the above. I don't think this is a solved problem, but Saudi hands almost certainly were involved. There are a bunch of buried skeletons there...

The great escape - Page 3 - Salon.com
As for Prince Ahmed, on July 22, 2002, he died mysteriously of a heart attack at the age of 43, so he was never interviewed about his connections to al-Qaida and his alleged foreknowledge of the events of 9/11. Not that the FBI didn't have its chance at him. On Sept. 16, 2001, after the Bush administration had approved the Saudi evacuation, Prince Ahmed had boarded that 727 in Lexington, Ky. He had been identified by FBI officials, but not seriously interrogated. It was an inauspicious start to the just-declared war on terror. "What happened on Sept. 11 was a horrific crime," says John Martin, a former official in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department. "It was an act of war. And the answer is no, this is not any way to go about investigating it."

That said the drug based funding at least from the rough calculations I made on the previous Taliban funding thread seem huge.

 

[waraich66]

Taliban Swatter.

Repeating assertions ad nauseam do not make them correct, as all you have done is repeat your 'views' which are shaped by a certain paradigm that you seem to hold to.

Let me help you break this paradigm.

Violent, radical, takfiri ideology is not a new phenomenon, not the invention of a Talib nor any 'Wahabi' cleric.

We have seen them in the guise of the Ismaili Nizari Hashisheen in the middle ages, the Batinis and mehdist cults like saqna in the times of Banu Abbas, right back to the time of Hazrat Ali, and the deserters from his army, the Khawarij whom he fought at Al Nahrawan, and was inventually assasinated by.

Nor does this phenomenon occur in one sub sect of Islam, in fact, throughout history, sunnis, shias, sufis and others have at one time or another had members succumb to this.

Of course every time it comes in a new garb, a new theology, a new polemic, a new inventor. Rather like the bulimic who believes that he/she is the inventor of an amazing cure for their perceived obesity which involves their fore-finger. In this case the perceived disease is the 'state of the ummah' and the cure another form of mass-massochism, violent takfiri struggle against the 'ummah' itself.

The motherland of modern day takfiri ideology is Egypt, where one person has been the most instrumental in its formation as we know today. Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian scholar who was vilely tortured, and ended up lashing out against the whole body-politik of Islam. His condemnation of the muslim world and its leaders, and his likening them to 'kufr' was a direct result of the personal tragedies that he had faced in those torture cells in Egypt. It was an ideology born out of hatred and vengeance, and oppression. Not every hero of the oppressed can become a Moses.

Sayyid Qutb revolutionalised Islamist thinking, and introduced violent revolutionary struggle borrowed straight from the revolutionary texts of the West. It was a far cry from the foundation laid by the first organised Islamists, Maulana Maududi of India/Pakistan and Hasan Al Banna of Egypt, both of whom are probably the two most influential (whether rightly or wrongly is another issue) muslim thinkers of the past century. Although Maududi does criticise the prohibition of KHurooj (rebelling against the muslim ruler) as a concensus among muslim scholars, he never actively encouraged violent revolution. One can say that he along with Al Banna did lay the foundations for what would later come.

Now this ideology propounded by Al Banna and Maududi (Ikhwanal muslimeen and jamate islami) was distinct and seperate from the salafi/wahabi ideas of the Saudis and others, however there were some inter-influences, as is usually the case with islamic movements and sects...Nothing is static, so for a time, especially the 50's,60's, maududi and the ikhwan were highly regarded and influential in saudi arabia, no doubt with the blessing of the americans, who saw these groups as a bulwark against the marching communist legions in muslim countries.

The tipping point came with the Afgan Jihad. A prominent Saudi scholar used to say "We sent our boys, our students to Afghanistan, with love for us in their hearts...They came back and their hearts had only hatred for us".

The pious mujahideen had gotten into contact with the Egyptian radicals (who had been waging an on and off war with the egyptian establishment since the 50's), and ideologies, attitudes, changed rapidly. The influence of people like Al zwahiri upon the likes of Bin Ladin is for all to see, especially since the assasination of the unofficial leader of the jihad, Abdullah Azzaam. If he had not been killed, i doubt AQ would be the organisation it is today, nor would we have seen 9.11.

To cut a long story short, those crazies from Egypt infected all they met with their vile ideology, taken from admirers and students of thew orks of sayyid qutb.

The saudi scholars, like scholars from other parts of the muslim world, were taken aback, their status was eroded, and they were declared as stooges of the rulers and the west by these radical takfiris.

Before declaring anyone kafirs, they start with the very scholars that people liek Taliban Swatter so love to vilify.

Some of the first fatwas, speeches against terrorism, suicide bombing, and the radical takfiri ideology has come from Saudi Arabia. The internet is awash with speeches by saudi scholars condemning, and refuting the terrrorists and their 'proofs'.

To think that this extremism is a wahabi problem is to be ignorant of facts.
The Taliban in Afghanistan were a scrictly deobandi movement, while much of the taliban in pakistan also adhere to that school of thought. yet sufi muhammad is not a salafi/wahabi nor a deobandi, but he is also there creating problems. no persons from any sect are immune to this ideology, even those of a sufi bent.

These people are nothing more than criminals, and trying to blame the saudis, or their shoclars for their crimes, is dishonest and betrays ignorance.

Impressive analysis, one point i want to clarify that talabans lead by Mullah Omar are not true followers of deobandi teachings because they are supporting OBL methodology of implememtation of islam.

We can say only Tableegi Jamat is true follower of deobandi school of thaught ,they dont believe on extremisim and distruction and power politics.
They believe that islam teachings should be first practically implemented in general public through long term struggle and then shariah law can only be implemented sucessfully .

Talaban and Jamat islami ,Al Qaeda etc have totally opposite approach.They want to implememt islam through gain of power.

 

[TalibanSwatter]

Dark Star:

Your comments about Sayyid Qutb's influence (Milestones) on takfiri ideology are excellent and thoughtful. However, we are not debating an either Egyptian or wahhabi role - it is a nexus. Please note that 60% of Saudis are not wahhabi. However, importantly, the ruling alliance is heavily influenced by the wahhabis. This ruling alliance dynamic has existed for a hundred years and is documented by historians. After the iranian revolution, the Saudis started exporting this ideology to counter the Shiite influence. The Afghan jihad was a godsend opportunity in this regard. Unfortunately, the late scoundrel Zia ul Haq more than accomodated the saudis for his own political agenda, sowing the evil seeds that are sprouting monsters to this day.

Is it a coincidence that the Saudi wahhabis have funded most of the taliban and anti shia terrorist groups as well as JI and JUI madrassas? The wahhabi estbalishment does'nt give money to these madrassas to promote the love of cricket - it is to promote their doctrine with a insidious anti-shia twist. I would refer you to Zahid Hussain's excellent work on the topic. The point is not whether the taliban call themselves deobandi or wahhabi. Rather, it is the influence the wahhabi estbalishment has come to exercise over our religious infrastructure over the last two decades - he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Why was the pro-taliban Lal Masjid Cleric killed in 2007 so intent on implementing 'Saudi law'?? Why do the Taliban follow wahhabi practices? - desecrating graves and blowing up shrines are just that. Is it because the taliban had a divine revelation or was it because they were schooled in saudi wahhabi funded madrassas? The US State Department would not be running after saudi charities unless it was a major problem. To imply that the saudi wahhabis were peace loving people and would be the same today were it not for the 'crazy egyptians' infecting them, would be inaccurate and a disservice to history. Please refer to the 'detailed reporting on foreigners arrested....' thread to learn a bit more about the history of the wahhabi doctrine. There are several informative links and articles posted there.

Lawrence Wright has written extensively about the nexus between the wahhabis and sayyid qutb's followers - please check it out as well. While the role of Sayid Qutb and Hasan Banna in shaping the jihadist ideology cannot be denied, the wahhabis/salafis served as more than willing partners-in-crime, and are not the innocent corrupted souls you seem to make them out to be.

The reason I focus on the wahhabi extremists in saudi is because of their deep pockets and proven abilility to lavishly fund and export extremism around the world including thailand, somalia, phillipines, indonesia, as well as our own backyard.

I have suggested sources for further research. While your personal analysis is highly appreciated, it would be great if you could share a few sources for more rigorous exploration of the topic.

Taliban Swatter.

Repeating assertions ad nauseam do not make them correct, as all you have done is repeat your 'views' which are shaped by a certain paradigm that you seem to hold to.

Let me help you break this paradigm.

Violent, radical, takfiri ideology is not a new phenomenon, not the invention of a Talib nor any 'Wahabi' cleric.

We have seen them in the guise of the Ismaili Nizari Hashisheen in the middle ages, the Batinis and mehdist cults like saqna in the times of Banu Abbas, right back to the time of Hazrat Ali, and the deserters from his army, the Khawarij whom he fought at Al Nahrawan, and was inventually assasinated by.

Nor does this phenomenon occur in one sub sect of Islam, in fact, throughout history, sunnis, shias, sufis and others have at one time or another had members succumb to this.

Of course every time it comes in a new garb, a new theology, a new polemic, a new inventor. Rather like the bulimic who believes that he/she is the inventor of an amazing cure for their perceived obesity which involves their fore-finger. In this case the perceived disease is the 'state of the ummah' and the cure another form of mass-massochism, violent takfiri struggle against the 'ummah' itself.

The motherland of modern day takfiri ideology is Egypt, where one person has been the most instrumental in its formation as we know today. Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian scholar who was vilely tortured, and ended up lashing out against the whole body-politik of Islam. His condemnation of the muslim world and its leaders, and his likening them to 'kufr' was a direct result of the personal tragedies that he had faced in those torture cells in Egypt. It was an ideology born out of hatred and vengeance, and oppression. Not every hero of the oppressed can become a Moses.

Sayyid Qutb revolutionalised Islamist thinking, and introduced violent revolutionary struggle borrowed straight from the revolutionary texts of the West. It was a far cry from the foundation laid by the first organised Islamists, Maulana Maududi of India/Pakistan and Hasan Al Banna of Egypt, both of whom are probably the two most influential (whether rightly or wrongly is another issue) muslim thinkers of the past century. Although Maududi does criticise the prohibition of KHurooj (rebelling against the muslim ruler) as a concensus among muslim scholars, he never actively encouraged violent revolution. One can say that he along with Al Banna did lay the foundations for what would later come.

Now this ideology propounded by Al Banna and Maududi (Ikhwanal muslimeen and jamate islami) was distinct and seperate from the salafi/wahabi ideas of the Saudis and others, however there were some inter-influences, as is usually the case with islamic movements and sects...Nothing is static, so for a time, especially the 50's,60's, maududi and the ikhwan were highly regarded and influential in saudi arabia, no doubt with the blessing of the americans, who saw these groups as a bulwark against the marching communist legions in muslim countries.

The tipping point came with the Afgan Jihad. A prominent Saudi scholar used to say "We sent our boys, our students to Afghanistan, with love for us in their hearts...They came back and their hearts had only hatred for us".

The pious mujahideen had gotten into contact with the Egyptian radicals (who had been waging an on and off war with the egyptian establishment since the 50's), and ideologies, attitudes, changed rapidly. The influence of people like Al zwahiri upon the likes of Bin Ladin is for all to see, especially since the assasination of the unofficial leader of the jihad, Abdullah Azzaam. If he had not been killed, i doubt AQ would be the organisation it is today, nor would we have seen 9.11.

To cut a long story short, those crazies from Egypt infected all they met with their vile ideology, taken from admirers and students of thew orks of sayyid qutb.

The saudi scholars, like scholars from other parts of the muslim world, were taken aback, their status was eroded, and they were declared as stooges of the rulers and the west by these radical takfiris.

Before declaring anyone kafirs, they start with the very scholars that people liek Taliban Swatter so love to vilify.

Some of the first fatwas, speeches against terrorism, suicide bombing, and the radical takfiri ideology has come from Saudi Arabia. The internet is awash with speeches by saudi scholars condemning, and refuting the terrrorists and their 'proofs'.

To think that this extremism is a wahabi problem is to be ignorant of facts.
The Taliban in Afghanistan were a scrictly deobandi movement, while much of the taliban in pakistan also adhere to that school of thought. yet sufi muhammad is not a salafi/wahabi nor a deobandi, but he is also there creating problems. no persons from any sect are immune to this ideology, even those of a sufi bent.

These people are nothing more than criminals, and trying to blame the saudis, or their shoclars for their crimes, is dishonest and betrays ignorance.

 

[TalibanSwatter]

Madrassas and jihad - Khaled Ahmad

Until the 1970s, Pakistani madrassas largely followed the Dars-i-Nizamia curriculum and its variants established in the 1700s in India. Even the Deobandi alteration of this curriculum focused on purification of faith for the purposes of knowledge, rather than militancy and jihad. All this changed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. General Zia ul-Haq, who took power after a military coup in 1977, was an ardent Islamist. He started off with some ill-fated attempts at rushing through "Islamic law" within Pakistan. Zia's existing plans to turn Pakistan into an "Islamic" state gained urgency and a more fundamentalist tone after two major events - the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 10 years later.

The twin shocks also encouraged a new movement within the Deobandi madrassas , which sought to change the way Islam was taught to students. While it is true that many madrassas dropped secular subjects like mathematics and sciences in part or whole, what was more significant than the narrowing of the syllabus was the change in focus and interpretation in the teaching of the Koran and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed), drawing on the incendiary combination of Muslim Brotherhood and Wahhabi/Salafi thinking developed under Saudi funding from places like the Islamic University of Medina, and propagated by other Saudi-controlled foundations, such as the World Muslim League.

The emphasis in madrassa curriculum was shifted almost entirely from the standard pillars of faith such as prayer, charity and pilgrimage to the obligation and rewards of violent jihad. The madrassas taught the young students that the world was divided into believers and unbelievers in a black and white setting. Jews, Hindus and Christians were portrayed as evil usurpers. The curriculum started emphasizing the need for Islamic warriors or jihadis to "liberate" regions dominated by unbelievers as well as "purify" Islamic nations in order to establish a single Islamic caliphate where pure Islam would be followed. The students were taught that the only means to achieving this Utopian state was by waging a near-perpetual war, pursued by any and all means against unbelievers as well as "impure" sects within Muslims. The era of the jihadi madrassas was born.

Jihad as a policy tool
During the 1980s, radical Pakistani madrassas pumped out thousands of Afghan foot soldiers for the US and Saudi-funded jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. They also helped bind the independent-minded Pashtun tribesmen closely to the Pakistani government for the first time in its history; easing the acute insecurity Pakistan had felt towards Afghanistan and the disputed border.

Gulf petrodollars funded a sustained spurt in Deobandi madrassas not only in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan near the Afghan border, but also in the port city of Karachi as well as rural Punjab. The Saudi and Gulf-Arab money also encouraged a Wahhabi jihad-centered curriculum. Prominent madrassas included the Darul Uloom Haqqania at Akora Khattak in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Binori madrassa in Karachi. The Haqqania boasts almost the entire Taliban leadership among its graduates, including Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, while the Binori madrassa, whose leader Mufti Shamzai was recently assassinated, was once talked about as a possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden, and is also reportedly the place where bin Laden met Mullah Omar to form the al-Qaeda-Taliban partnership.

After the Soviets were ousted from Afghanistan in 1989, instead of a slow-down, the rapid spread of jihadi madrassas in Pakistan continued unabated. The reasons for this are manifold. The first and most important reason is that Saudi money continued to flow to the madrassa system. The prestige and influence of the big madrassas encouraged wealthy Pakistanis to contribute more than ever before, sometimes as an expression of conviction, and sometimes as a means of ingratiating themselves with what had become major power players.

Pakistani governments had grown comfortable spending massive amounts of money on defense and almost nothing on education during the days of Afghan jihad when US and Saudi aid flowed freely. In the 1990s, after US-imposed sanctions due to Pakistan's nuclear program, the economy almost collapsed and the education infrastructure deteriorated rapidly.

For the poor, the madrassas offered a place where their children could get free boarding, food and education, and it turned out to be an irresistible option when compared to crumbling or non-existent government-funded secular schools. Pakistani governments also encouraged this to avoid spending much on education. The sheer magnitude of this increase can be fathomed by this simple statistic: according to former Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani, only 7,000 Pakistani children attended madrassas as early as 20 years ago. That number has grown today to closer to 2 million, by conservative estimates.

The Pakistani army on its part saw the large number of madrassa-trained jihadis as an asset for its covert support of the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as its proxy war with India in Kashmir. While the NWFP madrassas supplied both Afghan refugees and Pakistanis as cannon fodder for the Taliban, the Binori madrassa and associated ones formed the base for Deobandi groups like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which sought to do the Pakistan army's bidding in Kashmir. The many Ahle-Hadith(Wahhabi) seminaries supplied Salafi groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Arab sheikhs funded madrassas in the Rahimyar Khan area of rural Punjab, which formed the backbone of hardcore anti-Shi'ite jihadi groups like the Sipah-e-Sahaba, and its even more militant offshoot the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

 

[TalibanSwatter]

News Jang Group

By Khurshid Khan

January 2009

In his article, “Behind the crises in Swat” (Nov 27, 2008), Sartaj Khan described the conflict in Swat as a class struggle. Farhat Taj (Dec 18) responded with “No class war in Swat.” Sartaj’s contentions are believed by many as the real depiction of the current turbulence, but that is not the case. Before coming to any conclusions about the current turbulence in the valley we have to keep in view the weaknesses of the state institutions, people’s grievances and the impacts of international politics on the valley.

Fredrik Barth, a Norwegian social anthropologist author of Political Leadership among Swat Pathans, carried out considerable research in Swat in the 1950s and wrote numerous papers. His work is of great importance but the situation has immensely changed since then.

Since the early 1970s people travel to the Arab states in search of lucrative employment opportunities. The inflow of foreign remittances transformed the socio-economic structure of Swat’s society. Education increased and people acquired employment in various fields across the country. Emigration to America, Canada and Europe and the Far East in the 1980s increased overseas remittances creating a new prosperous society in Swat.

During this period Swat witnessed numerous changes, both positive and negative. Fertile soil and abundance of irrigation water paved the way for innovations in farming. New varieties of fruits and crops were introduced and farming became more profitable. Being a tax-free zone trade, Swat saw commerce flourishing. The scenic beauty and rich heritage made Swat a favourite spot for national and international tourists. The hotel industry became a big contributor to the economy of Swat.

The tenants/peasants, on the whole, became comparatively prosperous in Swat. A section of them have purchased cultivated land from the previous owners and manage it properly with latest technology. A study has revealed in Upper Swat that in one village a Khan has 20 jaraib of cultivated land (one jaraib is equal to approximately 1,100 square feet) while a Gujjar has 150 jaraib. The Gujjar community has earned billion of rupees in the Arab states. Another community, the “Shapankyan” or “Shpoon” (shepherd) are the wealthiest community today in Swat. Most of them they have now settled permanently and abandoned nomadic life. They have given up rearing herds and are employed. Many of them run businesses in Arab states. Both communities enjoy a relatively high standard of living and have western-style houses. The shepherd community belongs to the Wahhabi sect and is better organised than the other groups.

In the 1970s the regulations of PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas) were promulgated in the whole of Malakand division which gave enormous powers to the civil bureaucracy and paved ways for corruption. The people of Swat were unfamiliar to the new setup. The new judicial apparatus did not appeal to the masses, as they were conversant with the judicial system of the former state of Swat. This state of affairs created a gap between the state and the people. The state-sponsored peasant movement in 1974 created hatred and tension between tenants and landowners, and bloody clashes took place in some areas in Swat. The landowners and a number of the other side went for justice to the civil courts but the complex judicial system disappointed them, persuading them to seek other solutions to their disputes. Many landowners sold their land to peasant occupants in various areas of Swat.

The Afghan war also affected the valley like other Pashto-speaking areas. Religious seminaries mushroomed and jihadi organisations established their offices in Swat. Those subscribing to the Wahhabi school of thought tried to establish their seminaries but were opposed by the local traditional clerics belonging to the Deobandi school of thought. This coincided with the emergence in the 1980s in Swat of the staunch Wahhabi Sufi Muhammad, who set up a seminary in Sangota, which was razed to the ground by those loyal to the dominant religious figures of the time.

The TNSM was founded in 1989 in Dir and penetrated into Swat. It was tacitly supported in Swat by the then commissioner of Malakand Division through a so-called loya jirga. The jirga demanded the implementation of Sharia in Swat and joined hands with Sufi Muhammad, a close friend of Major Amir, the then director of the Intelligence Bureau. This support encouraged him and he freely started visiting Swat. The people, who were disappointed by the judicial system, the police and the revenue department, supported the demand for the enforcement of the Sharia. In 1994 bloody clashes occurred between local people and the security forces. In 2001, Sufi Muhammad declared jihad against the US in Afghanistan and went there along with thousand of followers. Hundred of people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. On his return the political agent of Kurram Agency imprisoned him under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) without trial.

During the TNSM movement in Swat the Wahhabi school of thought spread its roots and established its religious seminaries. In the absence of Sufi Muhammad, his son-in-law, Fazlullah, filled this gap and became popular in the area. The Wahhabis joined his group and seized all the important areas. Besides other, Maulana Shah Dawran and Maulana Muhammad Alam are key clerics who keep important portfolios in the Taliban movement in Swat. They are known for their hard and harsh beliefs, and hence it could be said that the Swat Taliban are completely under the influence of violent jihad doctrines.

They loathe the Barelvi school of thought and have assassinated many renowned religious scholars in Swat during the ongoing turbulence and unrest. They consider them mushrik (one who ascribes partners to Allah). The assassination of Pir Samiullah and the hanging of his mutilated body in a square for public display show their attitude towards their opponents. The militants said that they have buried Pir Sami at an unidentified place ostensibly to stop his followers from building a shrine at his grave. Besides, Buner police arrested a suspected bomber last Ramazan. During interrogations he revealed that his target was the tomb of Pir Baba. He insisted that the shrine is the principal centre of shirk.

They consider amulets, visits to shrines and offerings on on shrines on specific days to be shirk. Someone who used to write amulets (good luck charms) was killed in Khwazakhela. The valley is witnessing a surge and dominance of the Wahhabi doctrine which was until recently alien to the local culture.

The Wahhabis are making a state within a state in Swat. Fazlullah has established his own administration on the pattern of the Saudi monarchs. He has created his own trained army equipped with the latest weapons and controlled by his loyal commanders. A well functioning judiciary is established across the valley dealing with cases of various natures and the verdict is always enforced. People are inclined towards these Islamic courts. He has established a baitul maal (treasury) and has a mechanism for revenue generation and collection. His commanders collected ushr (one tenth of agriculture produce) in some areas of the valley during the 2008 winter harvest. (The rulers of Swat used to collect ushr which was a major source of their revenue.) Taliban also collected skins of the sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha this year worth billion of rupees.

The writer is a social activist and resident of Swat.

 

[waraich66]

Dark Star:

Your comments about Sayyid Qutb's influence (Milestones) on takfiri ideology are excellent and thoughtful. However, we are not debating an either Egyptian or wahhabi role - it is a nexus. Please note that 60% of Saudis are not wahhabi. However, importantly, the ruling alliance is heavily influenced by the wahhabis. This ruling alliance dynamic has existed for a hundred years and is documented by historians. After the iranian revolution, the Saudis started exporting this ideology to counter the Shiite influence. The Afghan jihad was a godsend opportunity in this regard. Unfortunately, the late scoundrel Zia ul Haq more than accomodated the saudis for his own political agenda, sowing the evil seeds that are sprouting monsters to this day.

Is it a coincidence that the Saudi wahhabis have funded most of the taliban and anti shia terrorist groups as well as JI and JUI madrassas? The wahhabi estbalishment does'nt give money to these madrassas to promote the love of cricket - it is to promote their doctrine with a insidious anti-shia twist. I would refer you to Zahid Hussain's excellent work on the topic. The point is not whether the taliban call themselves deobandi or wahhabi. Rather, it is the influence the wahhabi estbalishment has come to exercise over our religious infrastructure over the last two decades - he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Why was the pro-taliban Lal Masjid Cleric killed in 2007 so intent on implementing 'Saudi law'?? Why do the Taliban follow wahhabi practices? - desecrating graves and blowing up shrines are just that. Is it because the taliban had a divine revelation or was it because they were schooled in saudi wahhabi funded madrassas? Just think about it - the US state department would not be running after saudi charities unless it was a major problem. To imply that the saudi wahhabis were peace loving people and would be the same today were it not for the 'crazy egyptians' infecting them, would be inaccurate and a disservice to history. Please refer to the 'detailed reporting on foreigners arrested....' thread to learn a bit more about the history of the wahhabi doctrine. There are several informative links and articles posted there.

Lawrence Wright has written extensively about the nexus between the wahhabis and sayyid qutb's followers - please check it out as well. While the role of Sayid Qutb and Hasan Banna in shaping the jihadist ideology cannot be denied, the wahhabis served as more than willing partners-in-crime, and are not the innocent corrupted souls you seem to make them out to be.

The reason I focus on the wahhabi extremists in saudi is because of their deep pockets and proven abilility to lavishly fund and export extremism around the world including thailand, somalia, phillipines, indonesia, as well as our own backyard.

I have suggested sources for further research. While your personal analysis is highly appreciated, it would be great if you could share a few sources for more rigorous exploration of the topic.

Every action has reaction,these extremists scholars emerged in Islamic World due to reaction (although wrong as per islamic teachings which is against extremisim and distruction),because if you see in 1924 Britishers after winning world war 1 they first broke the Sultanate Usmania with Arab's support but you know there was movements(Rasmi Rumal) also started in India headed by Mullana Hussain Madni ,Mullana Sabeer Usmani and many other Ullema of deoband , it was reaction from Muslim Ummah.

What ever Israel is doing in Gaza ,is also very dangerous satuation and it may further escalate exterisim in muslim ummah and i think Israel played very important role in popularity of Al Qaeda.

Obama and other US leaders have recognised this fact and trying their best to bring Israel on table for peaceful solution of Palestine.But Israeli president recent speach is again disoppointing for Palestinians and Muslim Ummah.

 

[TalibanSwatter]

DarkStar:

William Dalrymple March 2009

Rahman Baba, "the Nightingale of Peshawar," was an 18th-century poet and mystic, a sort of North West Frontier version of Julian of Norwich.

He withdrew from the world and promised his followers that if they also loosened their ties with the world, they could purge their souls of worries and move towards direct experience of God. Rituals and fasting were for the pious, said the saint. What was important was to understand that divinity can best be reached through the gateway of the human heart - that we all have paradise within us, if we know where to look.

For centuries, Rahman Baba's shrine at the foot of the Khyber Pass has been a place where musicians and poets have gathered, and his Sufi verses in the Pukhtun language made him the national poet of the Pathans. As a young journalist covering the Soviet-mujahideen conflict I used to visit the shrine to watch Afghan refugee musicians sing their songs to their saint by the light of the moon.

Then, about 10 years ago, a Saudi-funded Wahhabi madrasa was built at the end of the track leading to the shrine. Soon its students took it on themselves to halt what they saw as unIslamic practices. On my last visit, I talked about the situation with the shrine keeper, Tila Mohammed. He described how young Islamists now came and complained that his shrine was a centre of idolatry and superstition: "My family have been singing here for generations," said Tila. "But now these Arab madrasa students come here and create trouble.

"They tell us that what we do is wrong. They ask people who are singing to stop. Sometimes arguments break out - even fist fights. This used to be a place where people came to get peace of mind. Now when they come here they just encounter more problems, so gradually have stopped coming."

"Before the Afghan war, there was nothing like this. But then the Saudis came, with their propaganda, to stop us visiting the saints, and to stop us preaching 'ishq [love]. Now this trouble happens more and more frequently."

Behind the violence lies a long theological conflict that has divided the Islamic world for centuries. Rahman Baba believed passionately in the importance of music, poetry and dancing as a path for reaching God, as a way of opening the gates of Paradise. But this use of poetry and music in ritual is one of the many aspects of Sufi practice that has attracted the wrath of modern Islamists. For although there is nothing in the Qur'an that bans music, Islamic tradition has always associated music with dancing girls and immorality, and there is a long tradition of clerical opposition.

At Attock, not far from the shrine of Rahman Baba, stands the Haqqania, one of the most radical madrasas in South Asia. Much of the Taliban leadership, including its leader, Mullah Omar, were trained here, so I asked the madrasa's director, Maulana Sami ul-Haq, about what I had heard at Rahman Baba's tomb. The matter was quite simple." Music is against Islam," he said. "Musical instruments lead men astray and are sinful. They are forbidden, and these musicians are wrongdoers."

Nor were Sami's strictures limited to the shrine's music: "We don't like tomb worship," he continued. "We do not pray to dead men, even the saints. We believe there is no power but God. I invite people who come here to return to the true path of the Qur'an. Do not pray to a corpse: Rahman Baba is dead. Go to the mosque, not to a grave."

This sort of madrasa-driven change in attitudes is being reproduced across Pakistan. There are now 27 times as many madrasas in the country as there were in 1947: from 245 at independence, the number has shot up to 6870 in 2001. Across Pakistan, the religious tenor has been correspondingly radicalised: the tolerant, Sufi-minded Barelvi form of Islam is now out of fashion in northern Pakistan, especially in the NWFP, overtaken by the rise of the more hardline and politicised Wahhabism.

Later, I returned to the shrine and found Tila Mahommed tending the grave. Making sure no one was listening, he whispered: "We pray that right will overpower wrong, that good will overcome evil. But our way is pacifist," he said." As Baba put it,

I am a lover, and I deal in love. Sow flowers,
So your surroundings become a garden
Don't sow thorns; for they will prick your feet.
We are all one body,
Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.

I thought of this conversation, when I heard that the shrine of Rahman Baba had finally been blown up on Thursday, a few hours after the Sri Lankan cricketers were ambushed in Lahore. The rise of Islamic radicalism is often presented in starkly political terms, but what happened in Peshawar this week is a reminder that, at the heart of the current conflict, lie two very different understandings of Islam. Wahhabi fundamentalism has advanced so quickly in Pakistan partly because the Saudis have financed the building of so many madrasas, which have filled the vacuum left by the collapse of state education. These have taught an entire generation to abhor the gentle, syncretic Sufi Islam that has dominated south Asia for centuries, and to embrace instead an imported form of Saudi Wahhabism.

Sufism is an entirely indigenous Islamic resistance movement to fundamentalism, with its deep roots in South Asian soil. The Pakistani government could finance schools that taught Pakistanis to respect their own religious traditions, rather than buying fleets of American F-16 fighters and handing over education to the Saudis. Instead, every day, it increasingly resembles a tragic clone of Taliban's Afghanistan.

 

[zubair723]

Please read below article

Who benefits from the Afghan Opium Trade?


by Michel Chossudovsky

.
Global Research, September 21, 2006



Email this article to a friend
Print this article





The United Nations has announced that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has soared and is expected to increase by 59% in 2006. The production of opium is estimated to have increased by 49% in relation to 2005.

The Western media in chorus blame the Taliban and the warlords. The Bush administration is said to be committed to curbing the Afghan drug trade: "The US is the main backer of a huge drive to rid Afghanistan of opium... "

Yet in a bitter irony, US military presence has served to restore rather than eradicate the drug trade.

What the reports fail to acknowledge is that the Taliban government was instrumental in implementing a successful drug eradication program, with the support and collaboration of the UN.

Implemented in 2000-2001, the Taliban's drug eradication program led to a 94 percent decline in opium cultivation. In 2001, according to UN figures, opium production had fallen to 185 tons. Immediately following the October 2001 US led invasion, production increased dramatically, regaining its historical levels.

The Vienna based UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that the 2006 harvest will be of the order of 6,100 tonnes, 33 times its production levels in 2001 under the Taliban government (3200 % increase in 5 years).

Cultivation in 2006 reached a record 165,000 hectares compared with 104,000 in 2005 and 7,606 in 2001 under the Taliban (See table below).

Multibillion dollar trade

According to the UN, Afghanistan supplies in 2006 some 92 percent of the world's supply of opium, which is used to make heroin.

The UN estimates that for 2006, the contribution of the drug trade to the Afghan economy is of the order of 2.7 billion. What it fails to mention is the fact that more than 95 percent of the revenues generated by this lucrative contraband accrues to business syndicates, organized crime and banking and financial institutions. A very small percentage accrues to farmers and traders in the producing country.

(See also UNODC, The Opium Economy in Afghanistan,
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/publications/afg_opium_economy_www.pdf , Vienna, 2003, p. 7-8)

"Afghan heroin sells on the international narcotics market for 100 times the price farmers get for their opium right out of the field".(US State Department quoted by the Voice of America (VOA), 27 February 2004).

Based on wholesale and retail prices in Western markets, the earnings generated by the Afghan drug trade are colossal. In July 2006, street prices in Britain for heroin were of the order of Pound Sterling 54, or $102 a gram.

Narcotics On the Streets of Western Europe

One kilo of opium produces approximately 100 grams of (pure) heroin. 6100 tons of opium allows the production of 1220 tons of heroin with a 50 percent purity ratio.

The average purity of retailed heroin can vary. It is on average 36%. In Britain, the purity is rarely in excess of 50 percent, while in the US it can be of the order of 50-60 percent.

Based on the structure of British retail prices for heroin, the total proceeds of the Afghan heroin trade would be of the order of 124.4 billion dollars, assuming a 50 percent purity ratio. Assuming an average purity ratio of 36 percent and the average British price, the cash value of Afghan heroin sales would be of the order of 194.4 billion dollars.

While these figures do not constitute precise estimates, they nonetheless convey the sheer magnitude of this multibillion dollar narcotics trade out of Afghanistan. Based on the first figure which provides a conservative estimate, the cash value of these sales, once they reach Western retail markets are in excess of 120 billion dollars a year.

(See also our detailed estimates for 2003 in The Spoils of War: Afghanistan's Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade, by Michel Chossudovsky, The UNODC estimates the average retail price of heroin for 2004 to be of the order of $157 per gram, based on the average purity ratio).

Narcotics: Second to Oil and the Arms Trade

The foregoing estimates are consistent with the UN's assessment concerning the size and magnitude of the global drug trade.

The Afghan trade in opiates (92 percent of total World production of opiates) constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $400-500 billion.

(Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a Changing World, Technical document No. 4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also United Nations Drug Control Program, Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1999, E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations, Vienna 1999, p. 49-51, and Richard Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February 2000).

Based on 2003 figures, drug trafficking constitutes "the third biggest global commodity in cash terms after oil and the arms trade." (The Independent, 29 February 2004).

Afghanistan and Colombia are the largest drug producing economies in the world, which feed a flourishing criminal economy. These countries are heavily militarized. The drug trade is protected. Amply documented the CIA has played a central role in the development of both the Latin American and Asian drug triangles.

The IMF estimated global money laundering to be between 590 billion and 1.5 trillion dollars a year, representing 2-5 percent of global GDP. (Asian Banker, 15 August 2003). A large share of global money laundering as estimated by the IMF is linked to the trade in narcotics.

Legal Business and Illicit Trade are Intertwined

There are powerful business and financial interests behind narcotics. From this standpoint, geopolitical and military control over the drug routes is as strategic as oil and oil pipelines.

Moreover, the above figures including those on money laundering, confirm that the bulk of the revenues associated with the global trade in narcotics are not appropriated by terrorist groups and warlords, as suggested by the UNODC report. In the case of Afghanistan, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that a mere 2.7 billion accrues as revenue within Afghanistan. According to the US State department "Afghanistan drug profits support the Taliban and their terrorism efforts against the United States, its allies and the Afghan government." (statement, the House Appropriations foreign operations, export financing and related programs subcommittee. September 12, 2006)

However, what distinguishes narcotics from legal commodity trade is that narcotics constitutes a major source of wealth formation not only for organized crime but also for the US intelligence apparatus, which increasingly constitutes a powerful actor in the spheres of finance and banking. This relationship has been documented by several studies including the writings of Alfred McCoy. (Drug Fallout: the CIA's Forty Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade. The Progressive, 1 August 1997).

In other words, intelligence agencies, powerful business, drug traders and organized crime are competing for the strategic control over the heroin routes. A large share of this multi-billion dollar revenues of narcotics are deposited in the Western banking system. Most of the large international banks together with their affiliates in the offshore banking havens launder large amounts of narco-dollars.

This trade can only prosper if the main actors involved in narcotics have "political friends in high places." Legal and illegal undertakings are increasingly intertwined, the dividing line between "businesspeople" and criminals is blurred. In turn, the relationship among criminals, politicians and members of the intelligence establishment has tainted the structures of the state and the role of its institutions including the Military.

Related Article: The Spoils of War: Afghanistan's Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade, by Michel Chossudovsky, July 2005





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 1

Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan



Year Cultivation in hectares Production (tons)

1994 71,470 3,400

1995 53,759 2,300

1996 56,824 2,200

1997 58,416 2,800

1998 63,674 2,700

1999 90,983 4,600

2000 82,172 3,300

2001 7,606 185

2002 74,000 3400

2003 80,000 3600

2004 131,000 4200

2005 104,000 3800

2006 165,000** 6100**

Who benefits from the Afghan Opium Trade?

Good & informative. Just to add, in AFGHAN JIHAD era during GEN. ZIA. Few top generals of PAK ARMY & CIA were summugling HEROIN to USA & west using CIA logistic channels. Few GENERALS families are now ****** rich dynasties in PAKISTAN & I wonder how many in USA moved up on this money---if some inquiry is done a lot of POWERFUL names will come up in USA

 

[zubair723]

Not sure if your narcotics comment adds value to the discussion - Are you saying the wahhabis are opposing the US? Is that why they are funding the taliban?

I am trying to say is that NARCO label on TALIBAN is just a big lie. All societies have right wing lobbies-if taliban are getting funds then there are some big players behind it & its not about just WAHABISM

 

[TalibanSwatter]

I am trying to say is that NARCO label on TALIBAN is just a big lie. All societies have right wing lobbies-if taliban are getting funds then there are some big players behind it & its not about just WAHABISM

I'm inclined to agree with your assertion that narcotics is not the main source of funding and that there are big players behind the funding.

All I'm saying is that one of the big players is the saudi wahhabi bloc led by influential extremists.

 

[muse]

Interested friends, Lets move along, and leave those who wish to disrupt the thread and spread confusion -- lets see if there is any common thread to the following and whether or not it may figure in the plans of the islamist insurgency and whether or not other insurgencies are seeking to make common cause and bring pressure on govt in other places:


World has fought only symptoms, not disease, in Afghanistan: Zardari

* President says no country stands to gain more from Afghan peace than Pakistan
* Says SCO must find effective ways to rally region’s resources to its needs

YEKATERINBURG: The international community has been fighting the symptoms of terrorism in Afghanistan for eight years, but has ignored the disease, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Tuesday.

Addressing the ninth Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, he said Pakistan needed help to evolve a security mechanism to meet the threats of terrorism, narcotics and organised crime, and a mechanism on energy would help it utilise the energy surplus of other countries in the region. He said the mechanism on economic cooperation would help Pakistan build trade and communication corridors within the region.

Maximum benefit: He said Afghanistan had remained mired in conflict for over 30 years, as prolonged international neglect and pervasive poverty had stoked the fires of terrorism and extremism. He said no country had suffered from the fallout of this conflict more than Pakistan, and no country stood to gain more from peace and stability than Pakistan. He said comprehensive solutions to such problems could only be found by facing them with leadership, courage, vision and unity. He said Pakistan was gratified at the success of the SCO Conference on Afghanistan and termed it a step in right direction.

Indigenous solutions: The president said resource deficits have to be addressed through greater trade and commercial partnerships. He called upon the SCO members, in particular Russia and China, to help give shape to a solid trans-regional development agenda that could uplift economies and create livelihoods. “It [SCO] must apply indigenous solutions to indigenous problems and find effective ways to rally the region’s resources to the region’s needs,” he said.

“Pakistan remains committed to deepening and strengthening our bonds of friendship and cooperation with each SCO member state, bilaterally and in the SCO framework,” he said. app


Baloch female militants bomb Quetta shop

QUETTA: Two shops were destroyed and a shop owner injured when the women’s wing of the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) bombed a shop on the Mezan Chowk here on Tuesday. The blast occurred at around 1pm in a juice shop in one of the most crowded business centres of the provincial capital, destroying two neighbouring shops and injuring one of the shops’ owner. “The blast occurred shortly after a woman wearing a veil left the shop. She must’ve left explosives in the shop,” the owner of the juice shop told Daily Times. The women’s wing of the BRA, a hitherto unknown armed group struggling for a separate Baloch homeland, claimed responsibility for the blast. “We accept responsibility for the bomb blast,” said Gohar, spokeswoman of the women’s wing of the BRA in telephone calls to several newspaper offices. She claimed to have personally put the explosives in the shop. “More such attacks would be carried in the future,” she warned. malik siraj a


Ahmedzai Wazirs scramble to keep their areas safe

* Taliban digging tunnels in mountains, mining routes likely to be used by army

By Iqbal Khattak

PESHAWAR: Ahmedzai Wazir tribes are making last-ditch efforts in a bid to keep a military offensive against Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan off their areas, amid shelling in the region, as the Taliban dig tunnels in mountains for protection against bombing, said elders and locals on Tuesday.

“We have been shuttling between the Taliban and the government for three days to reach some sort of an understanding to keep the Taliban from joining Baitullah,” the elders told Daily Times over the telephone from Wana, after talks with the political administration.

The Wazir elders claimed top Taliban leaders had accepted their request to ”remain disengaged with Baitullah” in case the military moved against him, but only if the government met certain demands.

”We cannot say what these demands are,” the elders replied when asked for details. ”What we can tell you is that the military is unwilling to accept the Taliban demands.”

The Wazir elders met top Taliban leaders at an undiclsoed location on Tuesday, to discuss ways to keep Wazir areas safe.

Meanwhile, Taliban loyal to Baitullah are preparing for the military offensive by digging tunnels in mountains and mining routes the army could use.

Meanwhile, the security forces continued pounding Taliban positions from Jandola Manzai, Sarwakai and Chaghmalai forts.



And this rather "dramatic" piece of intimidation as the Saudi ambassador's suggestion of "scholars and Jirga" are dismissed:

TTP threatens more attacks on prominent clerics

Aaj Kal Report

LAHORE: The Ministry of Interior has advised the home departments of all four provinces to tighten security after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened more suicide attacks on prominent religious leaders.

“Now it is your turn—we have sent a jacketwala (a man with a suicide vest) to mend clerics like you. We will also send jacketwalas to other clerics too,” sources told Aaj Kal quoting a threatening letter addressed to a cleric.

According to sources, TTP is written in bold letters at the end of the letter. In light of the letter, law enforcement agencies have been advised to tighten security for leading religious leaders

 

[muse]

Can you say Hammer and Anvil?


Pakistan faces hardened Taliban foe in tribal belt

* Experts say Islamabad must work with Afghan, US militaries to dislodge Taliban, Al Qaeda
* Analyst says Pakistan campaign timing to coincide with Afghanistan’s second presidential election
* Tribal councils in FATA sympathetic to Taliban because of ethnic ties

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army will face huge hurdles in its push to crush the Taliban in the Tribal Areas, where the Taliban are entrenched in a hostile terrain and slip easily across the Afghan frontier, analysts say.

To dislodge Taliban and Al Qaeda from their mountain sanctuaries, Pakistan must work with Afghan and US militaries, experts have said, or risk the rebels evaporating into hideouts over the border. Hasan Askari, a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, said taking on the Taliban in tribal zones where the government holds little sway will pose a much greater challenge than the Swat campaign.

“Unless the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is sealed, unless the movement across the border is tightly controlled, when you take action on the Pakistani side these groups have a tendency to go to the Afghan side,” he said. “And if you take action in Afghanistan they all come to Pakistan, so this is another dimension which Pakistanis and Americans will have to take care of.”

Washington and Kabul have long pressured Islamabad to take action along its border against the Taliban, who for decades had the backing of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, keen for influence in Afghanistan. The US government alleges that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters are holed up in the Tribal Areas, infiltrating Afghanistan and plotting fresh attacks on Western targets. On the other side of the border, some 90,000 foreign troops and the fledgling Afghan forces are struggling to quash an insurgency by the resurgent Taliban, which was ousted from the government by a US-led invasion in 2001.

US push: Bordering Waziristan are Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika and Khost provinces, both regularly rocked by violence. Haroun Mir, an analyst from the Afghanistan Centre for Research and Policy Studies in Kabul, said the timing of a Pakistan campaign could coincide with Afghanistan’s second presidential election in August. “The Americans pushed the Pakistanis ... From now until August they want to make sure those areas are secured for people to be able to vote,” he said. “From the Afghan side of the border the NATO and US and Afghan forces will also launch military operations in order to squeeze the Taliban between the two forces,” he added.

Tribal sympathies: Compounding the problem is the tenuous influence the government has in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and the rugged mountain terrain. Local government and law and order are run by tribal councils, with many sympathetic to the Taliban because of ethnic ties. “The challenges posed to the Pakistan military in the border areas are much the same as they were for the British colonialists” in the 19th century, said Clive Williams, a terrorism expert at the Australian National University. “The tribesmen see the Pakistan military as outsiders.” Army offensives and shaky peace deals with Mehsud over the last four years have stuttered, with Taliban-linked attacks spiralling.

Mehsud, meanwhile, still remains elusive, despite a $ 5 million bounty offered by the US government, which has labelled him “a key Al Qaeda facilitator in the tribal areas of South Waziristan”. Quite what form an offensive in the tribal belt will take is also unclear.

Security forces say they are close to victory in Swat and have killed about 1,440 Taliban since the offensive began, but some are concerned that the army would be overreaching in Waziristan. “We should not open up another front before we complete the Swat operation,” said Brigadier Mahmood Shah, the former security chief for FATA. “This operation is going to be very tough — we need a comprehensive strategy and preparations.” afp

 

[TalibanSwatter]

TTP threatens more attacks on prominent clerics

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The Ministry of Interior has advised the home departments of all four provinces to tighten security after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened more suicide attacks on prominent religious leaders.

“Now it is your turn—we have sent a jacketwala (a man with a suicide vest) to mend clerics like you. We will also send jacketwalas to other clerics too,” sources told Aaj Kal quoting a threatening letter addressed to a cleric.

According to sources, TTP is written in bold letters at the end of the letter. In light of the letter, law enforcement agencies have been advised to tighten security for leading religious leaders.

 

[waraich66]

TTP threatens more attacks on prominent clerics

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The Ministry of Interior has advised the home departments of all four provinces to tighten security after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened more suicide attacks on prominent religious leaders.

“Now it is your turn—we have sent a jacketwala (a man with a suicide vest) to mend clerics like you. We will also send jacketwalas to other clerics too,” sources told Aaj Kal quoting a threatening letter addressed to a cleric.

According to sources, TTP is written in bold letters at the end of the letter. In light of the letter, law enforcement agencies have been advised to tighten security for leading religious leaders.

TTP lost its popularity in pushtoons and in trible belt of FATA and now very close to complete disaster and distruction.


Pakistan is made in the name Islam who try to harm it, will be parished,Inshahallah.

 

[TalibanSwatter]

Clerics back campaign against Taliban -May 2009 WSJ

The military campaign against the Taliban is getting support from more clerics who say they also fear a Taliban takeover.

Most of the anti-Taliban clerics, reports the Wall Street Journal, hail from the Barelvi tradition. In the past, the Barelvis have offered only passive resistance to extremists. Now, some prominent Barelvi clerics are publicly supporting the military offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley and, in one case, offering to send volunteers to fight.

Some officials say they fear images of internally displaced people in squalid camps could turn public opinion against the offensive and prompt the army to pull back.

The largest religious political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has demanded the government resume peace talks. Many leaders of the Deobandi and Wahhabi schools support the Taliban.

But many Barelvi clerics are now pushing the government to sustain its assault on the Taliban and eventually widen it to other regions. "We can't allow the Taliban to take over the country," said Mufti Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi, who heads the Darul Uloom Naimia.

Naeemi is among a group of Barelvi clerics that on Friday announced the formation of a council whose goal, they said, would be to fight the spreading Talibanisation in Pakistan. "Taliban are destroying sacred religious places and killing religious leaders. They are working on an anti-Islam agenda," Naeemi told the WSJ.

The US pushed hard for Pakistan to move against the Taliban in Swat. But the Barelvi leaders were keen that their support for the offensive should not be read as backing for the US, which remains deeply unpopular among the vast majority of Pakistanis.

The Barelvis believe humans can connect to the divine through holy men, many of whose tombs are now important shrines. The Taliban and Al Qaeda, however, view such practices as heresy and have destroyed or taken over several Sufi shrines.

"It is against Islamic tenets to enforce sharia through violence," said Sarwat Qadri, chief of the Sunni Tehrik, which in the late 1990s and early 2000s tried to re-take mosques it said had been taken over by neo-Deobandi and Wahhabi adherents. Sunni Tehrik had since fallen dormant, but this weekend Qadri said: "We are ready to send volunteers to fight along the military against Taliban".