Proscribed sectarian organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ) has come out to say their piece on the recently released report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), criticising former Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who was responsible for them being banned.
The report of the JIT regarding corruption charges leveled against the Prime Minister and his family have engulfed most of the country in a frenzy ever since it came out. Politicians, lawyers, organisations and elected representatives have all been scrambling to say their piece. The government has been desperately trying to do damage control with the PM calling a session of the federal cabinet and set to seek a vote of confidence from his party’s lawmakers “in this trying time.” Meanwhile, the opposition has been consolidating their position with the PTI and its supporters taking to the offensive and the JI and JUI-F picking sides with the first drifting towards the joint opposition narrative and the second coming out in support of the government.
In this confusing jumble of voices, the addition of the ASWJ is natural, but simultaneously concerning. The ASWJ added their bit to the nationally and internationally occurring dialogue on the JIT’s report in a way that could only be expected from an organisation such as itself. In a tweet sent out early in the afternoon of July 12, the ASWJ said “The satanic and evil Malik (Senator Rehman Malik) that labeled us banned again and again has now been declared a cunning and unreliable liar by the JIT!”
ہر وقت کالعدم کالعدم کی رٹ لگانےوالا شیطان ملک جےآئی ٹی کےمطابق جھوٹا اور شاطرقرار
— ASWJ Official (@ASWJPak) July 12, 2017
The ASWJ’s statement calls out Senator Rehman Malik using his infamous and derogatory pseudonym ‘Shaytan Malik.’ The former minister of interior has been called out in the JIT report for the statements he recorded with the JIT calling him out as ‘unreliable’ and ‘cunning.’ The PPP stalwart has since said the JIT has tarnished his name and will be fighting for defamation.
The ASWJ have a special vendetta against Rehman Malik as it was under his ministry that the group had been banned. This was especially accentuated by the fact that the ASWJ had been built to operate in the main stream after the notorious Sipah e Sahaba were banned and disbanded. And while the group has not explicitly endorsed anyone, the organisation has definitely taken an anti-government stance using the JIT’s report as material for crying foul regarding them being proscribed.
What does become concerning with this development however is that if banned outfits such as the ASWJ are questioning the legitimacy of their bans due to the JIT report. If the very people and governments that implement and then other governments that enforce bans begin to have their legitimacy questioned, outfits like the ASWJ will find an avenue to complain about the validity of their bans. Their brash rhetoric which includes making fun of them being ‘kaladam’ only adds to their profile, which is something that cannot be allowed.
The ASWJ, which is banned for their sectarian activity, and anti-shia rhetoric has been active both in the country’s politics and equally on social media despite being blacklisted. Just recently they had been sought out by the PML-N Senior Vice President in Sindh and candidate for the PS-114 by-elections Ali Akbar Gujjar to help him run his campaign. In December 2016, Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi won the by-election polls for the provincial assembly seat from the Jhang PP-78 constituency backed by the ASWJ.
The group is known for its ability to mobilise large numbers of on the ground force. This invaluable election time attribute has meant that their status as a banned outfit has not had much of an effect on them being heavily involved in local and constituency politics.
Moreover they also have a vivid social media presence which includes various facebook accounts and twitter handles both for their central accounts as well as accounts used for their regional offices and activities. Using these, the ASWJ regularly gives statements and commentary on political and social scenarios as well as promotes its leadership. Their activities are so unchecked that they go so far as to flaunt the current location of their heads with no fear of repercussion.
For such a group that is blacklisted and has been known to conduct and symapthise with terrorist activities to threaten and challenge a senator and interior minister under whose tenure they were banned is a monumental issue that must in no terms be allowed.
