KARACHI - In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks
on the United States, Washington forced Pakistan to make a major policy
reversal and break its alliance with its natural allies, Islamic forces.
Pakistan provided logistical support for the US forces that invaded Afghanistan
to oust the Taliban and hunt for al-Qaeda, and Islamabad assisted in the
apprehension of al-Qaeda members.
Yet Pakistan, the only Muslim country in the world to have come into being on
the basis of Islamic ideology, managed to maintain
its alliance with the Islamic parties, militants and the jihadi establishment
and orchestrated a war theater in which Islamic forces were largely under its
control.
The Pakistani military establishment nurtured an anti-Western opposition
religious alliance of six parties - the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal - which was in
fact friendly to the government of president General Pervez Musharraf. This
allowed Musharraf to have the constitution amended to give him maximum powers.
Peace agreements were also signed with militants and the leaders of the jihadi
organizations, many of whom were convinced to sit back in comfortable villas
until their next orders came.
Everything was under control and by 2007 the situation was heading towards the
alienation of al-Qaeda elements.
A dialogue process was initiated in Kabul through a grand jirga (council)
after which jirgagais (small jirgas ) were to have started a
dialogue process leading to an "honorable" exit for coalition troops from
Afghanistan.
However, ultra-radical forces, which were slowly nurturing a new generation of
the Taliban, grew in strength, which led to Pakistan's security forces cracking
down on the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad in July 2007.
Following this operation, the radicals gained more and more ground in the
tribal areas, to the point that today Pakistan has virtually lost control of
North-West Frontier Province. And the Islamists, the once natural allies, have
become sworn enemies.
However, in the largest province of Punjab and in urban centers such as
Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore, the situation is still under control.
The largest jihadi network in Punjab, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was
infiltrated by army officers after their retirement which led to an immoral
relationship between the LET and the military establishment.
The premier Islamic party, the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI), was set up by its
ideologue Syed Abul Ala Maududi in such a way that it could not deviate from
the democratic path and it had to work within the confines of the laws of the
land.
However, as the war theater in the Pakistani tribal areas and Afghanistan
heated up under the influence of ultra-radical ideologues, many veteran LET
commanders left the organization and joined forces with al-Qaeda. A very small
number of JI members also joined forces with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
That small group then started an effective campaign within the rank and file of
the JI against the status-quo policies of the party, which in essence stress
loyalty towards Pakistan and its security forces.
Unprecedented pressure was mounted on the JI leadership to be vocal in favor of
al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and this could have a vital influence on the
selection of a new party president next month.
This is happening at a time that Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez
Kiani is visiting Washington on an extraordinary trip that could lead either to
Kiani being sidelined or his empowerment and a major political change in the
country.
The reason for the uncertain outcome is that the American establishment is
confused over who is actually pulling the strings. In this context, the JI's
elections are being closely monitored by all quarters as they could turn this
powerful pro-establishment party in the other direction, eventually leading it
down the path of radical Islam.
Jamaat-e-Islami at the crossroads The Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan is the
country's only party to hold genuine elections for its president, every four
years. All other parties, whether religious or secular, are the personal
fiefdoms of family politics.
The chief of the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) Fazlur Rahman is the son of the
previous party chief, Mufti Mehmood. The JUI's another faction is led by
Maulana Samiul Haq, who is the son of the previous chief of the faction,
Maulana Abdul Haq.
The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group is led by the Sharif family (brothers
and now sons and sons-in-law). The Pakistan People's Party was led by Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto, then his wife Nusrat Bhutto, then his daughter Benazir Bhutto and
it is now co-chaired by Benazir's son Bilawal and her widower Asif Zardari.
The Awami National Party (ANP) has been led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's family
members - his son Wali Khan, then his wife Naseem Wali Khan and now his
grandson, Asfandyar Wali Khan.
The incumbent president of the JI, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, has indicated that due
to his age - 71 - and deteriorating health, he will not stand for re-election.
Three candidates have now been nominated - no one is allowed to nomninate
themselves.
The three are all former student leaders: the party's secretary general Syed
Munawar Hasan, central vice president Liaquat Baloch and the president of
North-West Frontier province Sirajul Haq.
Despite its current pro-establishment stance, the JI has a history of
confrontation with the state. Its founder, Syed Abul Ala Maududi, was arrested
only a year after Pakistan came into being, in 1948, for demanding Islamization
in Pakistan.
In 1953 he was arrested again for writing an article which declared Qadyanis as
non-Muslims. (Qadyanis - a movement that harbors some controversial Muslim
beliefs - were declared non-Muslims in 1973 by the Pakistani parliament.)
Maududi was sentenced to death, but due to nation-wide protests and
extraordinary pressure from Saudi Arabia he was released.
The JI was banned by then-president General Ayub Khan in the early 1960s and
its entire leadership was arrested. The party filed a case against the ban and
eventually had it reversed. However, being the main opposition leader, Maududi
was kept behind bars.
The JI was the main engine behind the movement of combined opposition parties
in late 1960 which laid the foundation for Ayub Khan's departure from the
power. But the movement was later hijacked by a young Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and
his newly founded Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and its slogan of socialist
revolution.
In 1969, Maududi stepped down as party president and Mian Tufail Mohammad was
elected. This was the beginning of the JI's alliance with the Pakistani
military establishment.
In 1970 elections, the Awami League emerged as the majority party, drawing all
its support from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The second-largest party, by a
long way, was the PPP, scoring well in West Pakistan (now Pakistan).
Neither the PPP nor the military establishment was in favor of transferring
power to the Awami League, which was demanding complete provincial autonomy.
This resulted in an insurgency in East Pakistan, where the Bengali population
was hostile towards the state of Pakistan.
The province's administration, comprising Bengalis, rebelled and openly
supported the insurgents. The Pakistan army was desperate for local support and
hit on the JI, which which believed in the state of Pakistan.
The military armed the JI's student wing (which had won student union elections
at Dhaka University and Rajshahi University) and pitched it against the
insurgents. Pakistan lost the war and Bangladesh was born in 1971, but the JI
was by now reckoned as the most trusted ally of the military establishment.
In 1977, the JI's dedicated workers changed the dynamics of street agitation
and crippled Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government, which had just swept elections.
The military intervened and General Zia ul-Haq imposed martial law.
The new cabinet comprised JI leaders such as Professor Ghaffour Ahmad (minister
of Railways), Professor Khurshid Ahmad (minister for the Planning Commission)
and former student leader of the JI, Javed Hashmi (minister for Youth Affairs).
The latter is now the central leader of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group.
The then-leader of the PPP, Kausar Niazi, has documented that
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