Sins of Jamat-e-Islami

Too many to count

Some five years after he riddled Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer with 28 bullets, Mumtaz Qadri was hanged to death in the early hours on Monday.

Taking up the case of Asia Bibi who was wrongfully convicted of blasphemy as an example, Taseer shaheed had gone public, criticising the existing blasphemy laws and called for reforms. His campaign didn’t go well with the deeply politicised clergy of Pakistan as fatwas against him started surfacing.

Remaining defiant till his end, Taseer kept asserting he wasn’t asking for the removal of blasphemy laws but modification in such a way that it could not be misused by anyone. He didn’t withdraw his support for Asia and when asked in TV talk show, refused to cow down to the rightist pressure.

This resulted in his death on January 4, 2011, as his own bodyguard killed him over suspected blasphemy.

Almost five years after Taseer’s death, state asserted its authority by executing Qadri who belonged to Barelvi sect. As expected, it fetched backlash from Barelvi organisations which had started calling for protests in the night, suspecting Qadri would be hanged.

He was unanimously hailed as hero by religious parties as their leaders attended Qadri’s funeral. After Barelvis, who owned Qadri due to his sect, the most vehement support came from Jamat-e-Islami.

With its vote bank and public support dying rapidly, Jamat-e-Islami saw a redemption in Qadri’s execution. Dressed up in black clothes to mourn his death, JI Chief Sirajul Haq led the funeral prayer in absentia of Mumtaz Qadri, followed by a protest rally. He announced more protest rallies against his execution in the near future.

On the funeral day, Jamat-e-Islami was most visible of the non-Barelvi parties. Witnessing the funeral personally, I saw many JI flags in the procession, along with the banners, terming Qadri a ‘shaheed’.

Qadri’s case is not just another murder trial. He confessed about killing Taseer for which he was convicted. Supreme Court upheld the sentence and the President of Pakistan rejected his plea for clemency. The trial was fair and open, exactly according to the constitution.

What led Jamat-e-Islami to protest against his execution then? If the state convicted him itself and then executed him, why did Jamat-e-Islami call him a ‘shaheed’? Clearly, shaheed is the one who dies fighting against the infidels or oppressors, according to Islamic perspective. Is Jamat-e-Islami implying Pakistani state is infidel or our constitution is oppressive?

Also, is it just a mindless move to cash in the Qadri factor for political gains since it is in huge public demand?

Historically speaking, Jamat-e-Islami has stooped to even lower levels to cash religious sentiments for political and PR gains or relevance.

For instance, I have discussed in my previous column that Maududi was against democracy and considered it un-Islamic. He was also opposed to the idea of electing women as the head of state or member of constituent assembly.

“Giving any responsible post to women in a state is not allowed because it will be like disobeying God and Prophet (PBUH),” he writes in Islami Dastoor Ki Bunyadein, Page 8, Monthly Tarjamanul Quran, September 1952. (Quoted from Maududi Haqaiq)

He further wrote: “In the presence of clear instructions about women in Quran, there is no space for women to become counsellors, parliamentarians or get involved in social activities of any kind.” (Tafheemul Quran, Surah Al-Ahzab, Page 90)

Contrary to his earlier stance, which he said were the clear orders from Quran, he supported Fatima Jinnah in 1965 presidential elections against the ‘secular’ Ayub Khan. However, he said, “There is nothing wrong in the election of Fatima Jinnah except for the fact that she is a woman.” (Weekly Shahab, October 11, 1964)

Brigadier A R Siddiqui, who was Director General of ISPR from 1967-1973, wrote, “Ayub Khan’s subsequent meeting with religious parties — mainly the Jamaat-i-Islami under Maulana ‘Abul ‘Ala Maududi — marked the beginning of the military-mullah nexus.” (MMA and the NSC, Dawn, June 30, 2004)

It is evident that Maududi was ready to let go of his principles when he saw benefit in supporting Fatima Jinnah against Khan, who didn’t go well with Maududi’s Jamat-e-Islami. After 1965’s war, when ‘secular’ Ayub met him, they formed a nexus.

After Ayub, JI formed an alliance with Yahya Khan as well. “The Jamaat was to go even to the extent of certifying Yahya’s draft constitution as Islamic. The draft was authored by Justice A R Cornelius, Yahya’s law minister,” writes Brigadier A R Siddiqui.

Nadeem F Paracha also highlighted this alliance in a Dawn article, ‘The Pakistan Ideology: History of a grand concoction’.

“General Yahya was a notorious drinker and womaniser but smart enough to use Maududi’s status as a prolific Islamic scholar to blunt the leftists’ push against the military regime,” he writes. (Dawn, August 29, 2013)

Zia’s was the best era of Jamat-e-Islami as it flourished under his Islamisation process. Ushering full support to the dictator, the Jamaat took part in Afghan jihad.

Fast forwarding to ‘99, Jamat-e-Islami opposed Nawaz government bitterly for ‘betraying’ the jihad against India in Kargil. After Musharraf took over, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, then JI chief stood shoulder by shoulder with Musharraf to support him.

The same Jamat-e-Islami, which had once accused Nawaz of betraying jihad, forged an alliance with him in 2012 before general elections.

Following Pathankot attacks, Hizbul Mujahideen, which is the militant front of Jamat-e-Islami in Kashmir, recently threatened Pakistan of backlash in case of any action against them. United Jihad Council, of which Hizb is the lead member, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Siraj was seen attending the Hizbul Mujahideen rally against Modi’s arrival in Pakistan last year in Lahore.

Former JI Chief Munawar Hassan termed known terrorists Hakeemullah Mehsud and Osama Bin Laden as martyrs. Another terrorist, Must Gul, who belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen was arrested from Jamat-e-Islami office back in 1996. (Dawn, January 4, 1996) Gul reemerged in 2014 as a TTP militant responsible for Pak Hotel in the Kucha Risaldar area of Peshawar’s old city.

Earlier in March 2013, Al-Qaeda’s number three, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was captured from the house of a Jamat-e-Islami women wing’s member in Rawalpindi. (The Scorpion’s Tale, Zahid Hussain, Page 61)

Despite the decades old activities of Jamat-e-Islami, which resulted in damaging the country irreparably, ex JI Chief Munawar Hassan had the audacity to say, “All those claiming to be liberals in a country made for the supremacy of the Quran and Sunnah should register themselves as minorities.” (The News, March 06, 2013)

The public should question Jamat-e-Islami’s motives because throughout the history, from giving controversial statements to contradicting them, from partnering with dictator after dictator to helping terrorists, from calling known terrorists as shaheed to celebrating Qadri as a hero – Jamat-e-Islami has challenged the writ of the state and constitution of Pakistan.

Similarly, Qadri’s death will soon be forgotten by Jamat-e-Islami as the hype around him dies out. With buzz gone, Jamaat will start searching for the next hero to help them stay relevant in the political arena – the relevance however is fizzling out.