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Defending militancy: Why they kill civilians, attack the state
KARACHI:
An audio recording explaining why militants attack the state, military and civilians and engage in kidnappings and bank robberies has recently surfaced online.
The conversation is described as being between Harkat-e-Islami Uzbekistans Mufti Abuzar Hifzullah and an unnamed religious scholar reportedly employed by the Army. A website states that the conversation took place via a wireless set in Shaktoi, South Waziristan.
Hifzullah could refer to Mufti Abuzar Khanjari, who BBC has reported as being part of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvis Qari Zafar group.
The two discuss issues such as the destruction of mosques, legality of killing civilians and accepting US aid.
Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major-General Athar Abbas said he was unaware of any such recording. As far as the presence of religious scholars or clerics with military units is concerned, Abbas said, I dont know how you would define a cleric, but the military has chaplains who are part of each unit. They are non-combatants, so they remain part of the base camp. They give sermons, but these are authorised, vetted and provided by the army. The chaplains are supervised by the commanding officer and do not do anything that is not in line with what he says.
The audio cannot be independently verified, since the individuals do not name themselves and there is no time frame available for when the audio was recorded.
The recording begins with a discussion of the 2007 military operation at Lal Masjid, after which there was a surge in suicide attacks. The military scholar questions the existence of arms in Lal Masjid and asks why militants now attack mosques.
Hifzullah justifies this by saying that killing munafiq [hypocrites] in mosques is legitimate, as is killing religious scholars or anyone else who does not agree with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistans stance.
The conversation is an interesting insight into how militants and the army use religion to justify their work. Religious texts are cited by the men, albeit with very different interpretations.
The men debate accepting US aid. Hifzullah says it is a sin to take aid from infidels [referring to the US] to kill Muslims, which the military scholar challenges with the assertion that militants took American aid to fight in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which Hifzullah accepts. However, his justification is that it is permissible to take aid from non-believers if it does not harm Islam and Shariat.
The scholar challenges Hifzullah, saying that the military works for its lawful salary and does not take money from anyone.
According to Hifzullah, robbing banks is legal and their right because it is maal-e-ghanimat [spoils of war]. Hifzullah says they attack banks which have government accounts. Emptying Pakistani banks is jihad the money has been earned by selling our fighters, [likely referring to people handed over to US custody after 9/11]. He also defends kidnapping people for ransom; but says they do not kidnap minors.
The scholar asks how many Pakistanis have been killed compared to Americans. Hifzullahs reply is that killing Pakistani officers is the same as killing Americans, as they consider them as one.
The scholar repeatedly brings up attacks on civilians, such as those in Lahores Moon Market and the December 2007 attack in Kamra on a Pakistan Aeronautical Complex bus that was transporting the children of air force employees. He asks why militants attack women and children, when doing so is forbidden in Islam.
Hifzullah says these children were older and their deaths were a consequence of the militants campaign against the armed forces. It is a military school; children also die when you are killing adults.
Hifzullah thanks God for the 2005 earthquake which killed thousands of military personnel.
Defending militancy: Why they kill civilians, attack the state – The Express Tribune