US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: Hearings - Al Qaeda, the Taliban & Other Extremist Groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Here are a few links from the Senate hearing that I want to focus on:
Please watch the 2 youtube links before reading the content below:
Wahabi/Salafi/Ahle-Hadith are the same thing. In the first link, from 2:10-2:15, Christine Fair, a well-known journalist (who also works for a prominent think tank here in America) who has a big say in Pakistan issues related to the WOT claims that the local splinter groups such as the LeJ, HuM, TTP are Deobandi, & are ideologically the closest to Al-Qaeda, a Wahabi/Salafi group. This is totally incorrect. Wahabism/Salafism/Ahle-Hadith fall under the school of Hanbali thought, one of the four schools of Sunni Islam. The Deobandis (as are the Barelvis) belong to the Hanafi school of thought, which is different from the Hanbali school of thought. So she is completely wrong there.
Christine Fair first claims that Al-Qaeda are Wahabi, & the LeT are Ahle-Hadith; & that Al-Qaeda is a threat to Pakistan but LeT isn't; insinuating Wahabis/Ahle-Hadith are different, even though they are ideologically the same. She tries to claim that all splinter Deobandi groups are a threat to Pakistan, as they are ideologically closely related to Wahabi Al-Qaeda: both of these statements are false. Firstly, not all Deobandi groups are a threat to the state of Pakistan, although almost all Deobandi groups threaten the Shias, Barelvi Sunnis, Ahmedi citizens etc; but they are not a threat to the government of Pakistan. In fact, most of these local splinter Deobandi groups that aid the LeT in Kashmir, & the Taliban & the Al-Qaeda & its affiliates in Afghanistan are not a direct threat to the Pakistani establishment.
She is claiming in this Senate hearing that the Pakistani ISI as an institution was responsible for supporting the LeT to carry out the Mumbai attacks. Even David Headley does not agree with her. Even top US officials on the ground have admitted before that the Pakistani establishment has broken ties with the LeT. It is the local splinter Punjab Taliban & other Pashtun groups that are supporting the LeT inside India. Christine Fair's thinking that the ISI still uses the LeT is simply false. Christine Fair thinks that the Pakistan establishment will not let ties with LeT break is because they use the LeT to indoctrinate local 'violent' Deobandi groups into 'peaceful' Ahle-Hadith groups is not only false, but also contradictory to the fact that the Al-Qaeda are Ahle-Hadith, & the biggest threat to the nation of Pakistan.
Here are a few links from the Senate hearing that I want to focus on:
Please watch the 2 youtube links before reading the content below:
Wahabi/Salafi/Ahle-Hadith are the same thing. In the first link, from 2:10-2:15, Christine Fair, a well-known journalist (who also works for a prominent think tank here in America) who has a big say in Pakistan issues related to the WOT claims that the local splinter groups such as the LeJ, HuM, TTP are Deobandi, & are ideologically the closest to Al-Qaeda, a Wahabi/Salafi group. This is totally incorrect. Wahabism/Salafism/Ahle-Hadith fall under the school of Hanbali thought, one of the four schools of Sunni Islam. The Deobandis (as are the Barelvis) belong to the Hanafi school of thought, which is different from the Hanbali school of thought. So she is completely wrong there.
Christine Fair first claims that Al-Qaeda are Wahabi, & the LeT are Ahle-Hadith; & that Al-Qaeda is a threat to Pakistan but LeT isn't; insinuating Wahabis/Ahle-Hadith are different, even though they are ideologically the same. She tries to claim that all splinter Deobandi groups are a threat to Pakistan, as they are ideologically closely related to Wahabi Al-Qaeda: both of these statements are false. Firstly, not all Deobandi groups are a threat to the state of Pakistan, although almost all Deobandi groups threaten the Shias, Barelvi Sunnis, Ahmedi citizens etc; but they are not a threat to the government of Pakistan. In fact, most of these local splinter Deobandi groups that aid the LeT in Kashmir, & the Taliban & the Al-Qaeda & its affiliates in Afghanistan are not a direct threat to the Pakistani establishment.
She is claiming in this Senate hearing that the Pakistani ISI as an institution was responsible for supporting the LeT to carry out the Mumbai attacks. Even David Headley does not agree with her. Even top US officials on the ground have admitted before that the Pakistani establishment has broken ties with the LeT. It is the local splinter Punjab Taliban & other Pashtun groups that are supporting the LeT inside India. Christine Fair's thinking that the ISI still uses the LeT is simply false. Christine Fair thinks that the Pakistan establishment will not let ties with LeT break is because they use the LeT to indoctrinate local 'violent' Deobandi groups into 'peaceful' Ahle-Hadith groups is not only false, but also contradictory to the fact that the Al-Qaeda are Ahle-Hadith, & the biggest threat to the nation of Pakistan.
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