The rise of Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in the stronghold of big shia landlords in Punjab changed the sectarian scene in Pakistan. There is evidence that General Zia was warned of Jhangvi’s anti-shia and anti-Iran movement, but he ignored the warning and allowed it to blossom into a full- ledged religious party called Anjuman-e- Sipah-e-Sahaba of Pakistan (ASSP). In small towns, the old shia-sunni debate restarted with the fury that had become
dampened in the past. The tracts which carried this debate were scurrilous in the extreme and helped the clerics to whip up
passions. Meanwhile, in 1986, General Zia allowed a ‘purge’ of
Turi shias in the divided city of Parachinar (capital of Kurram Agency on the border with Afghanistan) at the hands of the sunni Afghan mujahideen in
conjunction with the local sunni population.
Pakistan versus the Turis of Parachinar: Parachinar was the launching-pad of the Mujahideen
attacks into Afghanistan and the Turis were not cooperative. Tehrike-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqha-e-Jaafaria had come into being during the
dispute over zakat in 1980. When the Parachinar massacre
occurred, it was led by a Turi leader, Allama Arif-ul-Hussaini. Allama Hussaini was murdered in Peshawar in August 1988, for which the Turis held General Zia
responsible. That was also the year of General Zia’s death
(within a fortnight of Hussaini’s murder) in an air-crash in Bahawalpur, and for a time there was rumour of shia involvement in his assassination although no solid evidence supporting this speculation was ever uncovered.
The NWFP governor General Fazle Haq, whom the Turis accused of complicity in the murder of Allama Hussaini, was ambushed and killed in 1991. (Mehram Ali, who blew up
the Sipah leader Maulana Zia-ur- Rehman Farooqi at the sessions court in Lahore, was trained in
Parachinar).
In 1989, the Afghan mujahideen government-in-exile came into being in Peshawar after the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan. At the behest of Saudi Arabia, the exiled shia mujahideen of Iran were not included in this government. The Saudis, according to author Barnett R.Rubin in The Search for Peace in Afghanistan (page 103) paid over 23 million dollars a week during the 519-member session of the Mujahideen ’shura’ as bribe for it. In 1990, Maulana Jhangvi was murdered at the climax of his anti-Iran and anti- shia campaign of extreme insult and denigration. The same year, as if in retaliation, an activist of Sipah-e-Sahaba shot the Iranian consul Sadiq Ganji dead in Lahore. The tit-for-tat killings were thus started.
Maulana Isar-
ul-Qasimi, chief of the Sipah, was gunned down in 1991. Since then, the state of Pakistan has had to answer for the killing
of more Iranians in Pakistan. Another consular officer was gunned down in Multan and a number of Iranian air force trainees were ambushed in Rawalpindi on inside information received by the killers, thus
making the army not uninvolved in the sectarian mayhem.
Published in The Friday Times,
2007
Now that army is clearing the mess, if their top leader is killed by govt machinery, retaliation will focus the same.
dampened in the past. The tracts which carried this debate were scurrilous in the extreme and helped the clerics to whip up
passions. Meanwhile, in 1986, General Zia allowed a ‘purge’ of
Turi shias in the divided city of Parachinar (capital of Kurram Agency on the border with Afghanistan) at the hands of the sunni Afghan mujahideen in
conjunction with the local sunni population.
Pakistan versus the Turis of Parachinar: Parachinar was the launching-pad of the Mujahideen
attacks into Afghanistan and the Turis were not cooperative. Tehrike-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqha-e-Jaafaria had come into being during the
dispute over zakat in 1980. When the Parachinar massacre
occurred, it was led by a Turi leader, Allama Arif-ul-Hussaini. Allama Hussaini was murdered in Peshawar in August 1988, for which the Turis held General Zia
responsible. That was also the year of General Zia’s death
(within a fortnight of Hussaini’s murder) in an air-crash in Bahawalpur, and for a time there was rumour of shia involvement in his assassination although no solid evidence supporting this speculation was ever uncovered.
The NWFP governor General Fazle Haq, whom the Turis accused of complicity in the murder of Allama Hussaini, was ambushed and killed in 1991. (Mehram Ali, who blew up
the Sipah leader Maulana Zia-ur- Rehman Farooqi at the sessions court in Lahore, was trained in
Parachinar).
In 1989, the Afghan mujahideen government-in-exile came into being in Peshawar after the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan. At the behest of Saudi Arabia, the exiled shia mujahideen of Iran were not included in this government. The Saudis, according to author Barnett R.Rubin in The Search for Peace in Afghanistan (page 103) paid over 23 million dollars a week during the 519-member session of the Mujahideen ’shura’ as bribe for it. In 1990, Maulana Jhangvi was murdered at the climax of his anti-Iran and anti- shia campaign of extreme insult and denigration. The same year, as if in retaliation, an activist of Sipah-e-Sahaba shot the Iranian consul Sadiq Ganji dead in Lahore. The tit-for-tat killings were thus started.
Maulana Isar-
ul-Qasimi, chief of the Sipah, was gunned down in 1991. Since then, the state of Pakistan has had to answer for the killing
of more Iranians in Pakistan. Another consular officer was gunned down in Multan and a number of Iranian air force trainees were ambushed in Rawalpindi on inside information received by the killers, thus
making the army not uninvolved in the sectarian mayhem.
Published in The Friday Times,
2007
Now that army is clearing the mess, if their top leader is killed by govt machinery, retaliation will focus the same.
