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Pakistan's Jewish Problem
By: Tufail Ahmad*
A Jewish family in Karachi, circa: unknown (Image courtesy: Dawn.com)
Introduction
I. Brief Historical Background: The Jews and Pakistan
II. Main Characteristics of Antisemitism in Pakistan
a) Antisemitism in Pakistan is Interconnected with Pakistan's Other Perceived Enemies: The "Three Satans" India, the U.S. and Israel (i.e. Hindus, Christians and Jews)
b) Antisemitism is Used Instrumentally by the Pakistani Military
c) Antisemitism is Used to Designate Threats to Pakistan, Such As the Taliban
III. Range of Motifs in Antisemitic Attacks
a) Sports Jews and Indians Lobby against Pakistani Cricketers
b) Polio Vaccination Campaign A Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy
c) Pakistan-India Water Dispute Israel's Hand
d) The U.N. A Jewish Conspiracy
e) Pakistani Interests Abroad Harmed by Jews/Israel
f) Valentine's Day and April's Fool Day Used by Jews and Hindus against Muslims
g) Ahmadi Muslims Agents of Israel/India
h) Video of Taliban Flogging Woman Made by Jews to Smear Pakistan
i) Facebook A Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
j) Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Targeted by Jews/Israel
k) Faisal Shehzad's Times Square Attack A CIA/Mossad Plot to Implicate Pakistan
IV. The Jews and the West Undermine the Identity of Pakistan
Conclusion
Introduction
This paper examines: a) the history of Jews in Pakistan; b) violence against Jews and their synagogues following the creation of the Islamic nation of Pakistan in 1947; c) contemporary protests by Pakistani Muslims against Jews and Israel; and d) Pakistani political and religious leaders' penchant for blaming most problems facing Pakistan on a U.S.-India-Israel axis.
Looking at Pakistani media reports over the past few years, this paper outlines how Pakistani opinion makers barring a small segment of liberal intelligentsia are deepening the anti-Jewish mindset that is typical across the Islamic world. For the purposes of this analysis, this paper does not include statements, protests, editorials, cartoons or viewpoints of Pakistani leaders and the government that are deemed to be justified criticism of Israel over its policies regarding the Palestinian problem and the occupied territories.
This paper does discuss the narrative of antisemitism in Pakistani society, examining how Israel is seen by Islamic scholars and political leaders in Pakistan as representing the Jews rather than the state and government of Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In the context of this paper, a definition of antisemitism means political/religious/cultural attacks on Jews and Israel that are not related to the Palestinian problem but over supposed Jewish-Israeli involvement in international conspiracies.
I. Brief Historical Background: The Jews and Pakistan
There is a long-held view that the Pashtun tribes, who inhabit the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, are one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Navraas Aafreedi, a Pashtun academic at Lucknow University in northern India, told a newspaper in January 2010: "Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century to the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists."[1] However, attempts by anthropologists to establish a definitive Jewish link to the Pashtun tribes have been unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, historical records indicate that Jews, with no connection to the Pashtuns, have lived in Pakistan and the wider South Asian region over the past several centuries. A 2007 report in the Pakistani daily Dawn noted: "The earliest graves... [of Jews in Karachi] are from 1812 and 1814, with a vast majority from the 1950s."[2] The report also cited Aitken's Gazetteer of the Province of Sind, a British-era government document which was published from Karachi in 1907, as recording that "there were only 428 Jews enumerated in the census of 1901, and these were really all in Karachi. Many belonged to the Bene Israel community who observed Sephardic Jewish rites and are believed to have settled in India [which included Pakistan] shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus [the Roman Emperor in 69 AD]."[3]
The Dawn report added: "Other research documents record about 2,500 Jews in Karachi, with about 100 in Peshawar at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time of [Pakistan's] independence [in 1947], many Jews migrated to India, but about 2,000 stayed in Pakistan. Their first real exodus occurred soon after the creation of Israel, which triggered many incidents of violence against Jews, and the Karachi synagogue became a site of anti-Israel demonstrations."[4]
In the late 19th century, one of Karachi's notables was Soloman David, who died in March 1902. He was a surveyor of the Karachi municipality and built the Magain Shalom synagogue in Karachi. His gravestone reads: "The widely known and highly respected Soloman David always sought the welfare of the Jewish community and through his liberality erected at his own expense a handsome synagogue, Magain Shalome [sic]."[5]
Another report estimated the Jewish population of Karachi at 2,500 prior to August 14-15, 1947 when Pakistan was created.[6]
After Pakistan's creation as an Islamic nation, relations between the Jews and their Muslims neighbors began to deteriorate. This strain in Jewish-Muslim relations also resulted from Muslim protests in Pakistan against the newly created State of Israel. Some Pakistani Jews migrated to India and the U.K., and others to Israel. In early 2010, a Pakistani daily carried this first-person observation of anti-Jewish violence in the newly created Islamic nation of Pakistan: "The synagogue in Karachi was set on fire, and several Jews were attacked. The frequency of attacks increased after each of the Arab-Israeli wars, i.e. 1948, 1956 and 1967."[7]
In 2008, a Karachi resident reminisced about the Jews of Karachi in a conversation with Pakistani journalist Syed Intikhab Ali: "[The Jews] were peaceful people having limited relations with local people and used to keep a distance from political activities. When [the] Arab-Israel war broke out in late sixties, they were isolated and started migrating silently and only a few Jewish people [were] left in the city."[8]
From various accounts, it appears that some Jews might be living in Pakistan even now, possibly by hiding their religious identity lest it may not be possible for them to move to Israel due to absence of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Although there is no notable Jewish presence in Pakistan now, the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel protests in Pakistan have taken on an ideological nature, with religious and political leaders blaming Jews/Israel, Christians/the West/U.S., and Hindus/India as the cause of almost all of their problems. By 2010, it could be said that not a week passed in Pakistan without a religious leader, a columnist, or a politician issuing a statement against Israel and the Jewish people, blaming them as well as the United States and India for one or another of the problems facing Pakistan. Although not all criticism of Israel can be described as antisemitic, it does not appear that the Pakistani leaders in their own minds see subtle differences between their hateful ideological sloganeering against the Jews and possibly justified criticism of Israel's policies.
II. Main Characteristics of Antisemitism in Pakistan
The new generations of Pakistani youth are being taught by the influential Urdu-language press that all major problems facing the society and state of Pakistan are created by Israel, the U.S., and India or Jews, Christians, and Hindus respectively. Such thinking originates from deep-rooted antisemitism that has become part of the collective conviction in the Islamic world in contemporary times and has become solidly rooted in the Pakistani public consciousness, with Jews and Israel blamed for almost every problem even when they are not remotely connected to an issue.
With India strengthening its ties to Israel since the mid-1990s, and the United States enhancing its relations with India rapidly in recent years, Pakistani religious leaders view these developments in international relations of the early 21st century as a tripartite "alliance" that threatens the Pakistani state and its Islamic identity. Such an ideological pattern informs the conspiracy-theory narrative that runs through the collective Pakistani psyche and public debate in Pakistan.
a) Antisemitism in Pakistan is Interconnected with Pakistan's Other Perceived Enemies: The "Three Satans" India, the U.S. and Israel (i.e. Hindus, Christians and Jews)
India, the United States, and Israel are seen in Pakistani public consciousness as three Satans acting against the Islamic nuclear state of Pakistan. This view is illustrated in various statements of Pakistani opinion makers. A sample of such statements is given below as representative of a sustained ideological campaign against the three countries.
In 2009, Liaqat Baloch, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the country's largest religious-political party and a mobilizer of mass public opinion, accused India, Israel and the U.S. of pursuing "a single agenda" against Pakistan, stating: "The U.S., Israel and India are pursuing a single agenda [of weakening Pakistan]. The U.S. aims to weaken Pakistan on the economic and military fronts, while India wants to weaken Pakistan internally."[9] Syed Munawwar Hassan, emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has criticized the Pakistani Army operations against the Taliban, arguing that Pakistan faces threats not from the militants but from the "three enemies, in the form of the U.S., Israel and India, which are the center of evils."[10]
In July 2010, the Taliban suicide bombers, who enjoy theological support from Deobandi clerics, bombed the shrine of 11th century Sufi mystic Syed Ali Hajveri in Lahore. The Sufi shrines in South Asia get their theological justification from Barelvi clerics, a school of Sunni Islam disapproved of by Deobandi clerics. Soon after the attack, clerics of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan accused "U.S. Marines, Jews, and Blackwater" (the private U.S. security firm now known as Xe Worldwide Services) of planning and executing the shrine bombing.[11] Syed Munawwar Hasan, emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, said that the Pakistani government was accusing religious organizations of attacking the shrine in order to divert public attention from the U.S.'s role in the shrine bombing, and added: "No Muslim can do what happened in the tomb of Data Sahab [aka Syed Ali Hajveri]. American Marines and Blackwater are responsible for it."[12] Former Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Qazi Hussain Ahmed claimed that India and Israel were involved in the bombings, and stated: "[Indian intelligence] RAW and [Israel's] Mossad are responsible for attacks on the tombs of Sufi mystics. They want to spread sectarian strife in Pakistan."[13]
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, secretary-general of the religious organization Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, blamed India, American agents such as Blackwater, and the Jews for the terror attacks in Pakistan, stating: "Blaming the Taliban for every terrorist activity serves the purpose of the United States. The fact that Blackwater and Jewish elements are involved in terrorism gets ignored. It's not that the Taliban are not involved yet blaming them for everything is not right."[14]
A few weeks before the July 2010 Lahore shrine bombing, Hafiz Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, general secretary of the puritan Islamic group Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, accused India and Israel of fomenting terrorism in Pakistan, stating: "The government of Pakistan needs to check the involvement of India and Israel in the current stream of terror attacks in Pakistan. India and Israel... are patronizing the terrorist activities in Pakistan."[15]
The Lahore shrine bombing led to the emergence of anti-Deobandi, anti-Taliban alliance called Sunni Ittehad Council, which has pressed ahead with its demand that the government act against the Sunni militant organizations. To counter this group led by Barelvi clerics, the rival Deobandi scholars organized a conference in the first week of July at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa of Karachi, where prominent cleric Mufti Mohammad Naeem slammed the terrorists for attacking the shrine but in the same breath also criticized the Sunni Ittehad Council for demanding action against pro-militant religious organizations as well as the Tablighi Jamaat's congregations. Mufti Mohammad Naeem told the press conference: "The demand for a ban on Tablighi congregations by the Sunni Ittihad Council is like reiterating demands by the Jews and Christians. The demands for a ban on Lashkar-e-Taiba and Tablighi Jamaat are being put forward at the behest of India and other anti-Islam forces."[16] Tablighi Jamaat is a revivalist Islamic movement while Lashkar-e-Taiba is a jihadist organization, with both the organizations having their bases in Muridke, near Lahore.
In October 2010, a joint statement on the issue of the emerging Deobandi-Barelvi dispute was signed by clerics of various Islamic schools, among them: Maulana Abdul Malik, the Emir of Jamiat-e-Ittehadul Ulema Pakistan (JIUP); Maulana Abdur Rauf Malik, the chief of Muttahida Ulema Council; JIUP Secretary General Allama Ghulam Rasool Rashidi and his deputy Maulana Abdul Jalail Naqshbandi; JIUP's Punjab chief Maulana Ataur Rehman; and prominent clerics Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Hafiz Muhammad Idrees of Idara Ma'raf-e-Islami Mansoorah. The statement accused what it called the "U.S.-India-Israel troika" of hatching a conspiracy to foment Deobandi-Barelvi clashes, and expressed concern that "a conspiracy is being implemented by the U.S.-India-Israel troika to cause Deobandi-Barelvi clashes to further divide and weaken the Muslim Ummah."[17]
Addressing young students on the 23rd day of an ideological summer school in Lahore in July 2009, Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of the influential Urdu-language Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, stated: "The trinity of satanic alliance [U.S., Israel, and India] is opposed to Pakistan..."[18] This is one point on which Nizami has consistently campaigned to create mass public opinion, especially among young students from schools across Pakistan. In October 2010, Nizami stated that the "real target" of the U.S.-led war on terror is Pakistan, adding: "The U.S. has currently launched a Crusade against the world of Islam... Instead of ending the drone attacks [in Pakistan], the U.S. has increased them. It will not desist until we reply to them [i.e. to the drone attacks]."[19] He also accused India of being on a mission to "undo Pakistan."[20] Nizami has regularly described India, the U.S. and Israel as "three Satans" out to destroy Pakistan.[21]
In mid-2009, Colonel Imam, a prominent and widely interviewed former Pakistani spy who is credited for raising the Taliban and whose real name is Amir Sultan, was speaking about the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province. He went on to speak about Israel, stating that six intelligence international agencies are active against the state of Pakistan, though he named only three RAW of India, the CIA and Israel's Mossad, and also alleged that Mossad has opened an office in Kabul to eliminate Pakistan.[22]
Over the past few years, the Jang Group, the largest media conglomerate in Pakistan, has carried out a concerted campaign to unseat the elected government of President Asif Zardari. Late in 2009, several senior journalists writing in the Urdu-language daily Roznama Jang were dubbed "Israeli agents" by Gul Muhammad Jakhrani, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).[23] Jakhrani said: "[Journalists] Kamran Khan, Shaheen Sehbai, Shahid Masood, Ansar Abbasi and Saleh Zaffir are Israeli agents and they were assigned the task of creating instability in Pakistan and pitting the institutions of the country against one another so that the Israeli desire to keep Pakistan unstable might be fulfilled."[24] It can be said that the lawmaker was probably not serious about his statement that these journalists are Israeli agents; nevertheless, his statement illustrates how Pakistani leaders blame Jews and Israel for every issue that is not even remotely connected to Jews.
b) Antisemitism is Used Instrumentally by the Pakistani Military
Such conspiracy theories against Jews and Israel have also penetrated the Pakistani military establishment, which is strengthened by the day-to-day arguments forwarded by a large number of Pakistani religious organizations. In early 2009, Pakistan's secular leaders signed a shari'a-for-peace deal with Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah; soon after the deal, the Taliban imposed a total ban on girls' education in Swat district. Later, an international outcry against the Taliban forced Pakistan to carry out a military operation in Swat, leading to arrests of hundreds of militants and seizure of arms and ammunition.
The Urdu-language daily Roznama Express alleged in a report that Pakistani "security officials have also confirmed that the weapons seized [from militants in Swat] were Russian-, Indian- and U.S.-made, while Israel provided them modern technology. Evidences have also been secured regarding the use of such technology in the installation of FM radio by Maulana Fazlullah."[25] The reference to FM radio means a radio channel that was run by Maulana Fazlullah to advocate his mission of jihad and the need to enforce Islamic shari'a in Pakistan.
In June 2009, the mass-circulation Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang quoted senior Pakistani military and national security officials as saying that there is "irrefutable evidence" that Israel and India are fomenting trouble in Pakistan's Baluchistan and Waziristan region.[26] The military and security officials were unidentified in the report, as is the norm. Another report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express alleged that there is evidence that Taliban commanders Maulana Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed later in August 2009) conducted meetings with officials of India's external intelligence Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).[27]
Throughout 2010, Pakistan Army was under pressure from the U.S. to carry out a military operation in North Waziristan, a safe haven for terrorists belonging to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Al-Qaeda. In early 2010, the Pakistan Army dropped pamphlets in North Waziristan, linking the Taliban with Israel, India and Al-Qaeda.[28]According to a report in the Lahore-based newspaper Daily Times, the pamphlet gave a detailed account of how the Taliban derives its power from its connections with "[the] anti-Islamic (Indian) RAW and (the Israeli) Mossad intelligence agencies and Indian consulates in Afghanistan."[29]
Urging the tribes to support the government, the two-page pamphlet "informed the tribal people about the Taliban's source of income, which is mainly generated from drug smugglers and 'contacts' (India and Israel)."[30] According to another report in The News daily, the military's pamphlet, which was titled "Correct Decision and First Step Towards Right Direction," accused the Taliban of acquiring funds from India, Israel and Al-Qaeda to buy heavy weapons and brainwash innocent youth.[31]
Earlier, in October 2009, when the Pakistan Army launched an operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed described the military offensive to be the "result of an Indian and Israeli conspiracy to create distance between jihadi organizations and the Pakistan Army."[32] He also said that the "tribesmen" a reference to Taliban militants belonging to the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan who were considered the Pakistan Army's hands, and the U.S. and India were afraid of, are now being pitched against the Pakistan Army.[33]
c) Antisemitism in Pakistan Used to Designate Threats to Pakistan, Such As the Taliban
Pakistan has seen a wave of suicide attacks in recent years. There is a trend of explaining such threats to Pakistan as emanating from outside Pakistan. For example, the Pakistani leaders generally accuse the Taliban militants of being agents of the United States, India and Israel.
In November 2009, a Peshawar-based daily, The Post quoted what it called "reliable sources" as saying that India and Israel had in 2008 agreed on a plan "to start a deadly episode from July 2009 in which regular suicide attacks will be a permanent feature in Pakistan, and no one knows how long this episode will take."[34] The newspaper accused the two countries of setting up what it called the Indo-Israel Intelligence (Triple III) agency to carry out this plan, adding: "The trained commandos of the said agency have been given the tasks to attack security forces, foreign donor agencies offices, communication lines and public places [in Pakistan]... Sources also disclosed that the Mumbai terrorist attack [of November 2008] was actually a conspiracy against Pakistan, planned by the Triple III Agency, to defame Pakistan."[35]
In December 2009, lawyers belonging to the Islamabad Bar Association did not attend court proceedings in order to protest against what they called "the unreasonable interference of the U.S. in Pakistan and the presence of Blackwater (Xe) in the country."[36] Riast Ali Azad, general secretary of the Islamabad Bar Association, told the protesters at a public rally, "Besides the Taliban, Blackwater is also involved in the current incidents of terrorism in the country. Blackwater, Mossad and RAW have teamed up against Pakistan and are supporting miscreants to destabilize our country."[37]
Addressing a meeting in Sialkot town of Punjab province in April 2010, Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the Pakistan-based terrorist organizations alliance Muttahida Jihad Council, accused the Zardari government of describing "heroes of jihad" as terrorists, adding: "Declaring heroes [of jihad] as terrorists is the worst dishonesty this government could do with history under the pressure of Jews and Hindus."[38]
General Mirza Aslam Baig, former Pakistan Army chief, , has accused Indian, U.S. and Israeli secret agencies of supporting the militant organization Jundallah a Sunni militant organization formed by two Pakistan military officers and that has carried out attacks against Shi'ite Muslims in Iran and Pakistan.[39] General Baig said, "The Indian secret agency RAW, the CIA, and Israel's Mossad are supporting Jundallah. Unfortunately, all this is being carried out from [the Jundallah base in] Baluchistan."[40]
In March 2010, Professor Sajid Mir, emir of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith, said that the United States, India and Israel are carrying out acts of terrorism in Pakistan while the Pakistani rulers are wrongly holding the Taliban responsible for terrorism. He stated: "The policy to put terrorism on the account of the Taliban is baseless and has failed, and needs to be reviewed."[41] Syed Munawwar Hasan, emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has accused India of sending suicide bombers into Pakistan, stating: "India is engaged in destabilizing Pakistan under Israeli and U.S. patronage... India is engaged in hatching conspiracies against the ideological and geographical borders of Pakistan and is creating unrest in the country... India is sending suicide bombers to our country and is also involved in terrorism [in Baluchistan]."[42]
In mid-2009, Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, criticized the Taliban for attacks on Sufi shrines in Pakistan, describing the militants as agents of Jews and Christians. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, Zubair said that the Taliban attacks are part of a conspiracy aimed at creating sectarian conflict in Pakistan, calling for confronting the "agents of Jews and Christians who are attacking the shrines of Sufis (mystics) and are killing the Sunni scholars and mystics."[43]
At a Defense of Pakistan conference in Lahore in June 2009, several clerics, including Dr. Sarfraz Naeemi (who later that month was killed by a Taliban suicide bomber) and Pir Sajid-ur-Rehman, asked the Pakistani government to stop fighting in the U.S.-led war on terror and "instead to wage the war to save Pakistan from external and internal enemies, by cutting off the Taliban's supply line of funds from U.S., India, Israel, UAE, and Saudi Arabia."[44] Pir Sajid-ur-Rehman, who called for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Mustafa (the rule of the Prophet) in Pakistan, also accused Washington and New Delhi of running over 50 training centers in Pakistan's tribal areas to prepare Taliban fighters and suicide bombers.[45]
III. Range of Motifs Used in Antisemitic Attacks
The antisemitic thinking of Pakistani leaders spills over into many issues, from sports, the polio vaccination campaign, the Pakistan-India water dispute, Valentine's Day, and April's Fool Day to the United Nations, the Taliban, Islam, and many more. Some, given below, illustrate the extensive scale of antisemitism in Pakistan.
a) Sports Jews and Indians Lobby against Pakistani Cricketers
In August 2010, Pakistani cricketers were allegedly involved in a match-fixing scandal in England, which was revealed in a sting operation by the British tabloid News of the World. Although the cricket scandal was not even distantly linked to Israel or to Jews, the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Roznama Khabrain carried a report alleging that "Indian and Jewish lobbies" in the United Kingdom were responsible for trapping the Pakistani cricket team in order to defame Pakistan and to get rising Pakistani cricketers banned from international cricket.[46]
The Roznama Khabrain report also stated that Jews, through the Indian lobby and Indian bookmakers, paid cash to the match fixers who had Indian wives.[47]
b) The Polio Vaccination Campaign A Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy
In October 2009, Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha, an Urdu-language monthly magazine which is part of the Haftroza Al-Qalam group of publications belonging to the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, alleged in a lengthy article that the international polio eradication campaign was a "dangerous Jewish conspiracy."[48] The article, "Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy," read in part:
"The Jews, who dream of ruling the world, have invented different types of vaccines, drugs, and injections in an organized way to weaken Muslims in their beliefs on spiritual, practical, and moral levels, and make their bodies contaminated.
"The oral polio vaccine campaign is being run under a worldwide conspiracy except in the Zionist countries. Its total focus is now on South Asian countries India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The U.S. has already marked this area as an extremely strategic region..."[49]
"Have we ever thought why these greedy Jews and Christians are spending millions of dollars on this campaign...? An analysis of how the polio vaccination is prepared is sufficient in order to understand how the viruses of haram [forbidden] and unpious animals... are being injected into our [Muslim] bodies..."[50]
c) Pakistan-India Water Dispute Israel's Hand
The dispute between India and Pakistan over the issue of sharing the waters of the rivers that flow from India into Pakistani territory is a purely bilateral matter between the two neighbors. Nevertheless, while articulating their grievances against India, Pakistani leaders make it a point to drag Jews and Israel into the dispute.
In October 2008, Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, wrote an article about the water dispute in which he also described Israel, the U.S. and India as "three Satans" accusing them of being united against "nuclear-capable Pakistan" and warning: "If, in order to resolve our [water and other] problems, we have to wage a nuclear war with India, we will."[51]
At a seminar on the water issue held by the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust in April 2008, Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), spoke about the water issue but also added: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive... Pakistan can be saved by making a role model of the Prophet [Muhammad]."[52]
The former ISI chief also alluded to Samuel P. Huntington's clash-of-civilizations thesis, stating: "At this point, the matter is not of a war between civilizations, but that of a clash between systems. Islam is a humanity-loving religion. The West is fighting the last battle for its survival."[53]
Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir, a prominent anti-India Pakistani activist who works with Hamid Gul and Majeed Nizami, has repeatedly argued the following point about the water dispute: "With the cooperation of the Jewish lobby, India has opened a battlefront of a water war aimed at making Pakistan's fertile lands barren."[54]
d) The UN A Jewish Conspiracy
In 2008, the British government expressed support for India's bid for the permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC). This move was declared by Raja Basharat Khan, convener of the Jamaat-e-Islami (South Zone-UK), to be a result of the West's "enmity with Islam," and warned that if India became a permanent UNSC member, there would be a new campaign against the interests of Pakistan and other Islamic nations.[55] Islamic clerics of Pakistani origin in the UK such as Raja Basharat Khan and those visiting regularly from Pakistan make similar allegations routinely.
In November 2010, when U.S. President Barack Obama expressed support for India's bid for permanent UNSC membership, former Pakistan Army Chief General (retired) Mirza Aslam Baig criticized Obama and added: "After India, the U.S. will make Israel a member of the Security Council."[56]
In June 2010, when the UNSC approved a new set of sanctions against Iran, former ISI chief Lt.-General Hamid Gul said that the move was part of a plot hatched by the U.S. and Israel against Islam and Iran.[57] Gul added: "The U.S. and the Zionist regime (of Israel) are plotting against Islam, and Iran in particular... 'The enemies of Islam do not know that Iran's nation and government will stand against these sanctions as they stood up to the previous sanctions..."[58]
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan commented on the UN sanctions on Iran, stating that they had been "clamped [due to] the plea that Tehran was continuing its nuclear programme despite UN warnings and was not cooperating with the world body a complaint levelled against Tel Aviv with higher intensity... The Zionists and the Hindus are united against the Muslims, but the Muslim rulers are acting as the U.S. stooges... Israel also rejected the UN resolutions on Palestine, but no sanctions were imposed against it."[59]
Speaking on the issue of Israel's May 2010 commando action against the Gaza flotilla, Mian Mehboob Ahmed, retired chief justice of Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court, said in June 2010: "Muslim countries should quit the United Nations Organization (UNO) and strengthen the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to contest the conspiracies by the Jews and the Christians."[60] The former chief justice went on to describe the United Nations as "an extension of the power of Jews and nothing else."[61]
e) Pakistani Interests Abroad Harmed by Jews/Israel
In Pakistani consciousness, nurtured by the religious organizations over the past six decades, Pakistan is seen as an Islamic nation, leading the likely emergence of a global Islamic caliphate. Dr. Rafiq Ahmed, a right-wing thinker and motivational speaker, said in June 2010 that Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was not secular, and described the Pakistan movement that had led to the creation of the country as an Islamic movement. Addressing a congregation of madrassa students in Lahore, Ahmed said, "The Pakistan movement was an Islamic movement which aimed at establishing and reviving the Caliphate after achieving a separate state for Muslims."[62]
Issues related to Pakistanis abroad as well as to Islam are also explained in Pakistan in terms of antisemitic references to Israel and Jews, as Pakistan is viewed as defender of Islamic interests internationally.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is of Pakistani origin, as the chair of his Conservative Party. Warsi's rise to prominence in British politics has been celebrated in Pakistan. In 2010, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was barred by her party from attending an Islamist conference in London. The Global Peace and Unity conference was organized by the Islam television channel, which has been accused of promoting Islamic extremism. The Urdu-language daily Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt published a report stating that the "Jewish lobby" played a key role in stopping Warsi from taking part in the Islamic conference.[63] The report alleged that UK Home Secretary Theresa May and her advisor Mr. Nick Timothy acted at the behest of the Jewish lobby in Britain to stop Warsi from taking part in the event, stating that Ms. May told Warsi that she could not attend the conference. When, according to the report, Warsi told her that she could not stop her, Ms. May contacted her superiors in the Conservative Party and used her influence to stop Ms. Warsi.[64]
The report added that the UK's denial of a visa to former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed to attend the same conference came at the behest of the Jewish lobby.[65]
In February 2010, there was a row in India over a newspaper's publication of a sketch of Jesus Christ. It provoked a strong reaction in Pakistan, where Islamic clerics, speaking at an event organized by the Muhammadia Students, a pro-jihadist youth group, alleged an "Israeli hand" in the publication of the "blasphemous" sketch of Jesus and urged the Indian government to take action against such "an old habit of infidels."[66]
In mid-May 2010, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, a Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan cleric, addressed a meeting of religious leaders in Karachi soon after attending the funeral ceremony of a Jamaat-e-Islami militant who was killed in Indian Kashmir. He told them: "The majority of the Kashmiri population wants annexation of Kashmir with Pakistan, but India, with the consent of the U.S. and Israel, is forcefully depriving them of their right to self-determination. The Muslim Ummah is facing the wrath of Allah for it has distanced itself from Jihad. Jamaat-e-Islami supported jihad and the mujahideen yesterday and will always support them."[67] Maulana Javaid Kasoori, a senior militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen was among those present at the meeting.
f) Valentine's Day and April Fools' Day Used by Jews and Hindus against Muslims
Pakistani leaders use almost every occasion to talk negatively about Israel, the U.S. and India. While some religious leaders can be credited for terming events like Valentine's Day and April Fools' Day in purely scholarly terms, as bid'a (innovation in Islam), and therefore lacking sanction in Islam, a large number of them make Jews, Hindus, and Christians targets in their public speeches.
In February 2008, Samia Raheel Qazi, the daughter of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussein Ahmed, described Valentine's Day as an irreligious event and criticized the Pakistani media for presenting it in a positive manner. In the same breath, she added: "Jews and Hindus have specially designed this occasion in order to weaken the beliefs and traditions of Muslims."[68]
Any event that might have originated in the West is seen by Pakistani leaders as anti-Islam and therefore as anti-Pakistan. Prominent Pakistani cleric Allama Qazi Ahmad Noorani Siddiqui, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, stated in 2010 that events like April Fools' Day or Valentine's Day are bid'ah (innovation or digression), blind imitations of the West, and have no connection to Islam.[69] He noted that April Fools' Day marks the large-scale killings of Muslims in Islamic Granada (Spain) on April 1, 1492 by the armies of Christian ruler Ferdinand II, and the defeat of the Muslims in Spain.
g) Ahmadi Muslims Israeli/Indian Agents
Ahmadi Muslims, whom Islamic clerics accuse of not believing that the Prophet Muhammad is God's final prophet, have been declared to be non-Muslims in Pakistan, are barred from calling themselves Muslims, may not use Islamic symbols, and may not call their places of worship mosques. They are simply called Ahmadis, even by fair-minded Pakistani nationals, due to legal reasons, or pejoratively dismissed as Qadianis, after the Indian town of Qadian where the Ahmadiyya movement began in the late 19th century.
Haftroza Al-Qalam, an Urdu-language weekly published by jihadist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad, published an article accusing "the U.S., Israel and India" of trying to divide Pakistan into pieces.[70] The article alleged that India has sent 10,000 troops to Afghanistan, adding: "The U.S. and NATO forces based in Afghanistan have also deployed 40,000 personnel along Pakistan's border... The U.S. also plans to establish a Qadiani state, consisting of Kashmir and northern areas; Greater Pashtunistan; Greater Baluchistan; Punjab; and Karachi Free Port."[71]
Maulana Allahyar Arshad, the leader of the International Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat, an anti-Ahmadi Muslim movement, accused Qadianis (Ahmadi Muslims) of utilizing their pilgrimages to Qadian in India to connect with Israeli spy agencies and Israeli Qadianis, and added: "The Qadianis [Ahmadi Muslims] are spying on Pakistan and reveal Pakistani secrets during their visit to Qadian for pilgrimage... The Qadianis were traitors yesterday and are so also today; trusting them means playing with the stability of Pakistan."[72]
In March 2010, Liaqat Baloch, general secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, accused Ahmadi Muslims and the Israeli Mossad of trying to jointly destabilize religious institutions, adding: "Anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces want to destabilize religious institutions by igniting violence between the Deobandi and Barelvi [sects of Sunni Islam]. The Mossad and Qadiani lobby are involved in this wicked conspiracy..."[73]
In April 2010, Islamic clerics from the International Khatm-e-Nabuwat Movement, which campaigns against Ahmadi Muslims, accused the "Qadiani lobby" of engaging in activities to eliminate Islam from Pakistan, adding: "Qadianis [i.e. Ahmadi Muslims] have always been trying to achieve the status in Pakistan that Jews have in America."[74] The statement was made at a conference in Lahore where Maulana Abdul Hafeez Makki, a leading cleric of the anti-Ahmadi Muslims movement, was among the speakers.
h) Video of Taliban Flogging Woman Made by Jews to Smear Pakistan
In early 2009, a video emerged showing Pakistani Taliban militants flogging a girl in Pakistan's Swat district, as she lay sobbing in pain. There has been some debate in Pakistan about the authenticity of the video.
Senator Azam Khan Swati, Pakistan's U.S.-educated science and technology minister, blamed the Jews for the video, stating: "The flogging of the 17-year-old girl in Swat was a Jewish conspiracy aimed at destroying peace in Swat and [at] distorting the image of Islamists who sport beards and wear turbans."[75]
i) Facebook A Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
In 2010, the social networking site Facebook was the focus of an international controversy, after one of its millions of users launched a Draw Muhammad Day page asking people to post sketches of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Facebook was condemned widely in Pakistan and was, along with YouTube and hundreds of other websites, blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) for publishing content blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad. However, the PTA did not block any of the numerous websites of Pakistani religious organizations that publish hateful materials.
Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, a prominent Pakistani cleric from the International Khatm-e-Nabuwat Movement, which campaigns to enforce the Islamic doctrinal principle that Islam's Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet of god, commented on the Facebook campaign, urging Muslims worldwide to boycott all products marketed or made by companies that are owned by Jews.[76]
Addressing a public protest meeting against Facebook, Chinioti blamed the Jews for organizing the drawing contest, and added: "We will foil all conspiracies against the sanctity of the prophet; and I have submitted a proposition to condemn this shameful act in the Punjab legislative assembly... I appeal to all the Muslims to stop buying products made by Jews. They earn from us and spend the money on heretic activities against our religion. We are indirectly supporting them in heresy by paying thousands of dollars to them daily."[77]
In July 2010, a report in the pro-Taliban Urdu-language daily Roznama Islam described Facebook as anti-Islam, noting that Facebook is owned by a Zionist Jew, that Israel is using Facebook to recruit spies from Muslim countries, and that after collecting information about people from the website, they are trapped or blackmailed into spying for Israel.[78]
j) Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Targeted by Jews/Israel
Over the past few years, there has been an ongoing international concern over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons amid the Taliban terror attacks. Pakistani leaders think that there is an international game plan to destroy the Islamic nuclear identity of Pakistan.
In November 2009, in the town of Wana, the headquarters of Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan, Pakistani tribesmen held a protest rally against a report in the U.S. magazine The New Yorker that Pakistan and the U.S. were in talks about ways to secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons. According to a report in the Pashtu-language newspaper Wrazpanra Wahdat, thousands of weapons-brandishing tribesmen took part in a jirga, a meeting of tribal elders, which passed a resolution stating: "Pakistan's nuclear command and control system is active. Patriotic tribesmen are always ready for the defense of the motherland."[79] The same resolution inserted an argument about Israel, asking the Afghan government to stop international intelligence agencies' anti-Pakistan activities on Afghan soil, and added: "Israel's secret agency Mossad and the Indian secret agency RAW are using Afghan soil against Pakistan."[80]
According to an Urdu-language daily, Major-General (Retired) Rahat, a former military officer, has said: "The U.S., India and Israel have been trying to capture our nuclear assets or to get the nuclear program rolled back. For this purpose, they have been hatching conspiracies to weaken the two strong institutions of Pakistan, the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."[81] Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, the emir of Jamaat-e-Islami for Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly North West Frontier Province), has urged the Pakistani government to quit its role in the war on terror, stating: "The U.S.-India-Israel nexus is against Pakistan, and is busy hatching conspiracies against Pakistan's nuclear power."[82]
Lt.-Gen. Talat Masood, a retired military officer and well-known political commentator, has accused India, Israel and U.S. non-proliferation lobbies of demonizing Pakistan. In an article that urged the Pakistan Army to stop supporting militant organizations, Masood accused the U.S., India, Israel, and non-proliferation groups worldwide of demonizing Pakistan. He said: "Indian, Israeli and non-proliferation lobbies are... active in demonizing Pakistan and trying to block, delay and reduce U.S. assistance. And these detractors are working overtime to keep reminding the Obama administration of Pakistan's history of proliferation and its support of the Taliban and jihadi groups not realizing that all of these policies were adopted in a certain historical and geostrategic context. The situation now is indeed very different, as Pakistan is locked in a survival struggle fighting the Taliban and militants on a broad front..."[83]
Majeed Nizami, the veteran editor, told a seminar: "The United States has drawn up a plan to hand over Pakistan to India, and Iran to Israel, because Pakistan is an atomic power and Iran is heading to be an atomic power."[84] The Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Khabrain wrote in late 2008 that there was "confirmed information about a [likely] Indian attack on Pakistan's nuclear installations" and added: "In order to attack Pakistan's nuclear installations and the installations of [Pakistan] air force with the help of Israel, the Indian Air Force painted the Indian flag on Israeli fighters planes."[85]
Criticizing the deployment of additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said: "India and Israel have placed stress upon the U.S. to destroy Pakistan's nuclear assets before leaving Afghanistan... India and Israel will not be safe if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and Pakistan's nuclear assets, ISI, and Pakistan Army remain intact."[86]
In early 2009, Roznama Jasarat, an Urdu-language newspaper of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, alleged that Israel is spying on Pakistani nuclear program via Fatah, the organization of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas. It added: "Israel is directly monitoring Pakistan's nuclear program through the Fatah network in Pakistan..."[87] The Urdu daily added that Israel has stations in Afghanistan and India to monitor the Pakistani nuclear program.[88]
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch, arguing that the Americans are now suffering defeat in Afghanistan, said: "The U.S. and Israel want to capture the nuclear installations of Pakistan and gain access to the water and air of Pakistan to reach Iran and China."[89] Abdul Basit, the spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office, has also officially described what he called "India-Israel nexus" as a threat to regional security in South Asia, adding: "We are concerned over the domination of India in traditional and nuclear arms. However, minimum nuclear deterrence would be maintained [by Pakistan] in the region for lasting peace in the region."[90]
k) Faisal Shehzad's Times Square Attack A CIA/Mossad Plot to Implicate Pakistan
On the evening of May 1, 2010, Faisal Shehzad, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, carried out a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square. A video that emerged of Faisal Shehzad afterward showed him embracing Hakimullah Mehsud, the emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban).
However, Sajid Ansari, a columnist with The Frontier Post, a Peshawar-based daily, alleged that the Times Square terror attack was plotted by the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. He wrote: "It may be true, in the wake of 'Times Square Bomb,' possibly a 'set-up' plan [has been] made by CIA and Mossad, to create pleas and justifications to attack and invade Pakistan, as a last resort after failing to achieve the 'desired objectives' to denuclearize Pakistan, exactly as they did with Iraq on a fake CIA report of the presence of WMDs in Iraq... However, in the case of Pakistan, after miserably failing to lay hands on Pakistani nuclear sites and arsenals, through the... Pakistani Taliban and Indian army infiltrators in the cities of the... [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of] Pakistan, the U.S./CIA and the Mossad have now possibly 'set up' a plan to attack Pakistan [using the pretext provided by the] 'Times Square bomb.' And they will, as they are out of time, because President Barack Obama has asked them to 'finish the job' by July 2011... I foresee a possible pre-emptive (nuclear) attack by U.S. and NATO on Pakistan, in collaboration with India..."[91]
Soon, Faisal Shehzad was arrested by the U.S. authorities as he tried to flee the U.S. A report in the Urdu-language Pakistani daily Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt underlined the fear of an international conspiracy in the arrest of Faisal Shehzad, stating: "The fact that [U.S.] federal attorney [Preet Bharara] is a Hindu with a Jewish wife gives the story an air of a conspiracy against Pakistan, jointly hatched by Indian and Israeli lobbies in the U.S."[92] The report also alleged that a number of Pakistani-American citizens are working as American agents and that Faisal Shahzad could be one of them.[93]
IV. The Jews and the West Undermine the Identity of Pakistan
In the intellectual world of Pakistani leaders, Israel, India and the U.S. are out to wipe out the identity and existence of Pakistan. Much of the antisemitism that is being witnessed in Pakistan is rooted in perceived threats seen by Pakistani leaders as emanating from a range of national and international issues, including from statements on the human rights situation in Pakistan by various nongovernmental organizations. Even the internal struggle between secularists and religious groups to shape the identity of Pakistan a struggle that has been ongoing since the creation of the Islamic nation in 1947 is described in terms of antisemitic references to Jews and Israel, Hindus and India, Christians and the U.S.-led Western world.
In 2008, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed accused "the United States and the Jews" of trying to make Pakistan a secular country.[94] He went on to state that the U.S.-led war on terror is a pretext for secularizing Pakistan, and called U.S. aid a dangerous conspiracy against Pakistan.[95] In late 2010, a move by liberal politicians of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to press for amendment in Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law invited strong opposition from all religious organizations in Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan called for foiling "secular conspiracies" against Pakistan.[96] A number of religious organizations joined hands against what they called a "conspiracy of the secular lobby in Pakistan at the behest of the West to repeal the blasphemy laws."[97] During the August 2010 floods that devastated most of Pakistan, Qari Hanif Jalandhari, secretary general of the Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia (which controls thousands of Deobandi madrassas in Pakistan), condemned the secular nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for their flood relief work, stating that the NGOs are anti-Islam and are advancing a Western agenda through their relief work.[98]
Madrassas i.e. the Islamic seminaries responsible for training Taliban militants are seen as fortresses of Islam and as essential to the identity of Pakistan. Commenting on the role of Pakistani madrassas, Pakistani women's rights activist Dr. Fouzia Saeed remarked in early 2010: "All Madrassa students are not suicide bombers, but every suicide bomber hails from a madrassa... The ideology of militancy uses Madaris [Islamic seminaries] as breeding grounds for extremists, militants and suicide bombers."[99]
However, demands by Pakistani social reformers and the Western countries for eradicating extremist influence from madrassas are seen as a Western and Jewish plot to attack at the roots of Pakistan. An attempt in April 2008 to organize a cricket competition a sport widely popular in South Asia among students of various madrassas was opposed by the clerics of Jamiat Ahle Sunnat and Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, who said: "None of our madrassas will take part in the cricket tournament, and if anyone does, we will take action against it as per the rules."[100] These views were expressed during a press conference by the deputy secretary of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, Maulana Qazi Abdur Rashid, and other Islamic scholars.
Pakistan's Minister of Education Khwaja Asif Ahmed Ali said in November 2010 that the madrassa system of education in Pakistan cannot be abandoned just because the Western countries do not like it.[101] In January 2010, the executive council of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, which controls more than 10,000 madrassas in Pakistan, adopted a resolution criticizing negative media propaganda against madrassas. The resolution said that linking religious seminaries to lawlessness, insecurity and terrorism is the "biggest lie of history" and "part of Jewish and Christian propaganda."[102] The executive council which adopted the resolution included Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Samiul Haq, Salimullah Khan, Mufti Rafi Usmani and others. On another occasion, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, chief of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, said that the "baseless propaganda campaign" against the madrassas was launched under "a Jewish plan to defame them."[103]
Views about Jews and Israel are also defined by a conception held by numerous ideologues in Pakistan that out of the two states of Pakistan and Israel, only Pakistan should exist. This viewpoint has been singularly articulated by Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul who, as noted above, has said: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive."[104]
In 2010, a pro-Palestinian Pakistani website published an article stating: "All Pakistanis who support the just cause of Palestine and like-minded people across the world are on the same page. Our supporters across the world are our natural allies. Our opponents are on wrong side of history. They cannot be our friends or allies without siding with us against Zionist Israel. Factually speaking, founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam [Great Leader] Mohammad Ali Jinnah always demanded a just and honorable solution to the Palestine problem. A just solution means one Palestine, and not the Zionist state of Israel. The supporters of Israel are not qualified to influence Pakistan's foreign policy. The United States must choose between support for Israel and friendship with the Pakistani nation. We Pakistanis must ask the U.S. and other allies of Israel in Europe and other continents who they choose: the Pakistani nation or the Zionist regime of Israel. It is high time to tell everyone that Pakistan and supporters of Israel cannot go together..."[105]
In 2010, the WikiLeaks website published classified Pentagon documents and diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies worldwide, causing an international controversy. Some of the WikiLeaks revelations exposed Pakistani military and political leaders' private opinions of each other and Arab leaders' opinions of Pakistani leaders, thereby straining relationships and ties among Islamic nations. The Pakistani Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), which held a meeting under the chairmanship of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad, described the WikiLeaks revelations as "an attempt to damage the tashakkhus [identity/image] of Pakistan."[106]
Speaking about the Pentagon documents, which referred to Pakistan's continued support of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, former ISI chief Hamid Gul blamed Israel and India for the leaks, stating that India and Israel want to use the U.S. against the ISI.[107] A report in the Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt daily also quoted Gul as saying that the documents were leaked by WikiLeaks to create a charge sheet against Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lt.-Gen. Shuja Pasha, the current chief of ISI and Kayani's successor, over the issue of support to the militants in Afghanistan.[108]
Former Pakistani minister Azam Khan Hoti described the release of U.S. diplomatic cables as part of "the CIA's game plan" to create differences between Islamic nations and to defame all those who refuse to toe the U.S. line on international relations.[109] Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan said: "The U.S. is behind the WikiLeaks revelations, the purpose of which is to cause turmoil in Pakistan and conflicts among Islamic nations."[110]
Pakistani columnist Matloob Ahmad Warraich penned a lengthy article in the Urdu language, alleging a Jewish/Christian/Indian conspiracy behind the WikiLeaks revelations. Given that his article summarizes many arguments at one place which otherwise are articulated by Pakistani leaders in bits and pieces, detailed excerpts from the lengthy article are worth stating here:
"The facts are something like this: the owners of the WikiLeaks website are purely Americans and Jews, who from time to time achieve their objectives by causing havoc to international peace..."[111]
"In the U.S., the fast growing and prospering religion of Islam was giving trouble to the orthodox Christians and Jews. And according to a survey, by 2010 an added seven percent of Americans would have converted to Islam if there had been no 9/11, and by 2050 Islam would have become the largest religion followed in the U.S... After the Twin Towers incident in America, we find a wave of transformation and hatred there, the brunt of which was borne only by the Muslim community there..."[112]
"After the tragedy of 9/11, which was in fact a tragedy for Muslims, the alliance between our eternal enemy India and Israel has prospered so much that Israel, which used to fear us [i.e. Pakistan], now together with our enemy is grinning at us. And we keep quiet at times due to the allegations [against us] in the [2008] Mumbai attacks and at times for the allegation of the [2001] attack on the Indian parliament... If the present WikiLeaks revelations are seen in an international context, it comes near to the possibility that Israel and the international organization of Jews [WikiLeaks, probably] have once again tried to hatch a conspiracy to cause instability in the Islamic world by making Muslims fight against each other..."[113]
"On the one hand, there is an attempt to pit Saudi ruler Shah Abdullah against Iran. The world knows that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once declared Hitler by WikiLeaks, is not only fighting valiantly against the international conspiracy of the U.S., but was also successful in briefing world opinion about the truth, in his last UN address. The U.S. would not dare to attack Iran... despite all efforts, while in the past it has achieved its goal by bringing Iran and Iraq to the battlefield. The two big Muslim forces were weakened not only in their defense and economy by the Iraq-Iran War [of the 1980s], but over two million people were killed in this war, which lasted for more than 10 years.
"Even then the thirst of these white wolves [i.e. Western nations] was not quenched. And the U.S. unleashed a reign of barbarism on the defeated Iraqis, and trampled the remaining Iraqis under its defiled feet. The American and the Jewish lobbies, whose mouths have tasted human blood these wolves now want to create confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran... According to WikiLeaks, the Saudi ruler has suggested to the U.S. to attack Iran's nuclear program.
"And on the other hand, India is engaged in its unpious game plan [against Pakistan], and the world knows that Indians residing in the U.S. make the second largest community and these Indian-born Hindus are occupying major posts and positions in the U.S., including in the daily life there.
"On the other hand, Pakistan, which is trapped in its internal trouble and economic instability, has been getting monetary benefits from its friendly country Saudi Arabia. In every difficult situation be it the wars of 1965 and 1971 or be it the Pakistani nuclear program or the earthquake of 2006 [sic] or the flood of 2010 the Saudi government has always stood by Pakistan; it has never left the Pakistani people alone in a difficult time. There might be some truth in this fact [revealed by WikiLeaks] that Saudi Arabia may have had differences of opinion on the issue of the woman ruler [i.e. Benazir Bhutto being the prime minister of Pakistan] or due to personal dislike of [her widower] President Asif Ali Zardari; but when it comes to the people of Pakistan, the Saudi people have always been ready to give free oil and blood to Pakistan.
"Through WikiLeaks, Jewish and Indian lobbies have tried to kill many birds with one stone... WikiLeaks and the Jewish and Christian lobbies should note that no rescue operation can save them if the jungle catches fire. India and Israel go unmentioned in WikiLeaks, and this is what [leads] us to wonder."[114]
Conclusion
In addition to the thousands of Islamic clerics in small towns whose opinions fail to appear in the major newspapers for want of space, some of the prominent Pakistani personalities and ideologues who are engendering anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudices and conspiracy theories in Pakistani society are senior editor Majeed Nizami, former Pakistani Army officer Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, jihadist demagogue Zaid Hamid, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan and his predecessor Qazi Hussain Ahmed. While it can be argued that the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan cannot, for example, win an election on its own, it is nevertheless the largest mass organization in the country. Like other religious organizations, its role in shaping public opinion in Pakistan is thorough.
Retired Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of the Pakistani military's all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has assumed the role of a spokesman for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in recent years. On numerous occasions and in media interviews, he analyzes various Pakistani and international issues of the day in terms of a presumed unified role played by the U.S., India and Israel internationally. Zaid Hamid is a political campaigner who has been leading the mass movement in Pakistan in favor of jihad and has been strengthening antisemitism in the country.
Majeed Nizami is not an average Pakistani journalist trying to shape public opinion in Pakistani society. He enjoys a greater role in influencing a generation of Pakistani journalists. Nizami heads the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust, or the Ideology of Pakistan Trust a think tank created under a legislation passed by the legislative assembly of Punjab, the most influential province in Pakistani politics, armed forces and governance. In October 2010, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani lauded Nizami for his 50 years of journalism and for keeping alive "in all circumstances" the Two-Nation Theory the idea that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together, which led to the creation of Pakistan.[115]
The use of antisemitism is prevalent among all sections of Pakistani society, including leaders of a large number of religious organizations which have mass followings, military officers who cannot be identified, former military leaders who can be quoted by name in the media, politicians and lawmakers, columnists and journalists, and others. There is a small liberal class of political commentators, members of non-governmental organizations, columnists and journalists whose views are limited to mainly English-language media, especially the Dawn and Daily Times newspapers.
However, in Pakistan it is the Urdu-language newspapers and magazines, not the English-language media, which exercise massive influence on mass public opinion. It is also pertinent here to note that in Pakistan, the right-wing is the mainstream, which means that the public space for expression of views by the secular commentariat is indeed small.
* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project.
Endnotes:
[1] DAWN.COM | Latest news, Breaking news, Pakistan News, World news, business, sport and multimedia (Pakistan), January 18, 2010.
[2] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[3] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[4] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[5] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[6] DAWN.COM | Latest news, Breaking news, Pakistan News, World news, business, sport and multimedia (Pakistan), February 27, 2010.
[7] Dawn (Pakistan), February 27, 2010.
[8] The Nation (Pakistan), August 12, 2008.
[9] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), June 22, 2009.
[10] The News (Pakistan), May 11, 2009.
[11] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[12] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[13] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[14] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 15, 2010.
[15] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 10, 2010.
[16] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 7, 2010.
[17] The News (Pakistan), October 21, 2010.
[18] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 22, 2009.
[19] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 6, 2010.
[20] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 6, 2010.
[21] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 27, 2008.
[22] Roznama Mashriq (Pakistan), July 6, 2009.
[23] The News (Pakistan), December 24, 2009.
[24] The News (Pakistan), December 24, 2009.
[25] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[26] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[27] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[28] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[29] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[30] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[31] The News (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[32] Roznama Express (Pakistan), October 19, 2009.
[33] Roznama Express (Pakistan), October 19, 2009.
[34] The Post (Pakistan), November 9, 2009.
[35] The Post (Pakistan), November 9, 2009.
[36] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 17, 2009.
[37] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 17, 2009.
[38] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), April 19, 2010.
[39] About how Pakistani military officers created Jundallah, see Pakistani TV Program: Jundallah Was Formed By Two [Pakistan] Army Junior Officers... Within the Military, in February 2000, at the Quetta Military Camp; MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 3347, November 4, 2010.
[40] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), October 20, 2009.
[41] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), March 15, 2010.
[42] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 4, 2009.
[43] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), May 3, 2009.
[44] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2009.
[45] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2009.
[46] www.khabrain.com (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.
[47] www.khabrain.com (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.
[48] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[49] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[50] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[51] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 27, 2008.
[52] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[53] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[54] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), May 26, 2009.
[55] Roznama Ausaf (UK), March 21, 2008.
[56] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 11, 2010.
[57] Fars News Agency (Iran), June 16, 2010.
[58] Fars News Agency (Iran), June 16, 2010.
[59] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2010.
[60] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 3, 2010.
[61] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 3, 2010.
[62] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 17, 2010.
[63] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[64] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[65] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[66] Roznama Express (Pakistan), February 23, 2010.
[67] Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), May 18, 2010.
[68] Roznama Khabrain (Pakistan), February 13, 2008.
[69] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), April 1, 2010.
[70] Haftroza Al-Qalam (Pakistan), Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 10, October 9-15, 2009.
[71] Haftroza Al-Qalam (Pakistan), Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 10, October 9-15, 2009.
[72] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 25, 2009.
[73] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), March 5, 2010.
[74] Roznama Express (Pakistan), April 14, 2010.
[75] Daily Times (Pakistan), April 5, 2009.
[76] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), May 27, 2010.
[77] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), May 27, 2010.
[78] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 27, 2010.
[79] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 11, 2009.
[80] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 11, 2009.
[81] Roznama Express (Pakistan), November 10, 2009.
[82] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), November 15, 2009.
[83] The News (Pakistan), May 25, 2009.
[84] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 22, 2009.
[85] Roznama Khabrain (Pakistan), December 23, 2008.
[86] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 16, 2009.
[87] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), January 6, 2009.
[88] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), January 6, 2009.
[89] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), September 24, 2009.
[90] The Post (Pakistan), August 10, 2009.
[91] The Frontier Post (Pakistan), May 14, 2010.
[92] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), May 6, 2010.
[93] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), May 6, 2010.
[94] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 15, 2008.
[95] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 15, 2008.
[96] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), November 24, 2010.
[97] Roznama Express (Pakistan), November 28, 2010.
[98] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), August 24, 2010.
[99] The News (Pakistan), February 15, 2010.
[100] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), April 5, 2008.
[101] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 9, 2010.
[102] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), January 18, 2010.
[103] Haftroza Zarb-e-Momin (Pakistan), Issue No. 7, Vol. No. 14, January 29-February 4, 2010.
[104] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[105] PLF Pakistan (Pakistan), April 13, 2010.
[106] Daily Jang | Breaking News | Latest News | Urdu News | Pakistan News (Pakistan), December 3, 2010.
[107] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 28, 2010.
[108] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 28, 2010.
[109] Daily Jang | Breaking News | Latest News | Urdu News | Pakistan News (Pakistan), December 3, 2010.
[110] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), December 2, 2010.
[111] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[112] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[113] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[114] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[115] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 28, 2010.
Pakistan's Jewish Problem
