This jihad is all about Sunni vs Sunni

NEWS ANALYSIS

 

ISLAMABAD: Yet another deadly suicide bombing in Pakistan, targeting a public gathering of Sunni Tehrik and wiping out its entire leadership on April 12, appears to be the outcome of a growing intra-sectarian tussle between two major sunni groups — the pro-Taliban Deobandis and the anti-Taliban Baralvis.

 

Strangely enough, the biggest-ever sectarian tragedy in the Pakistani history took place when a grand Barelvi congregation was celebrating the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad. The Sunni Tehrik is considered to be the only Barelvi outfit that departed from the sect’s predominantly moderate posture and eventually became militant like most Deobandi and Ahle Hadith groups. The surviving leadership of the Sunni Tehrik first pointed the finger of suspicion at Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) as the two parties are at daggers drawn against each other in Karachi.

 

However, Altaf Hussain, MQM chief has denied his party’s hand in the tragedy, saying it had adversely damaged the MQM-dominated government in Sindh. Speaking to a private television channel from London, Altaf said it was a case of suicide-bombing by one particular extremist organisation which has expertise in suicide bombing. Though he didn’t name the organisation involved in the blast, he gave a broad hint in this regard when he referred to the February 2006 suicide bombing at a Shiite procession in Hangu on Yaum-e-Ashur, the holiest day in the Shia calendar.

 

The implication is that some hard line Sunni sectarian outfit was responsible for the butchery. The intelligence agencies investigating the butchery have strong suspicions that the blast was carried out by the pro-Taliban Sipah-e-Sahaba’s militant wing — Lashkar-e-Jhangvi because the Sunni Tehrik is opposed to the Taliban school of thought, still being nurtured by the two outfits whose leaders still idealise Osama bin Laden. The SSP and the LeJ leaders are Deobandis while those of the Sunni Tehrik are Beralvis.

 

According to intelligence findings, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been found involved in most of the major terrorist operations carried out in Pakistan since the September 11 episode. Launched in 1996 as a militant sectarian Sunni group, the Lashkar today is the most violent terrorist group operating within Pakistan with the help of a suicide-attack squad. As with most of the militant groups, almost the entire LeJ leadership is made up of people who have fought in Afghanistan and most of its cadre strength has been drawn from numerous Deobandi religious schools in Pakistan.

 

Those investigating the deadly bombing are certain that the suicide-bomber had just one aim — to wipe out the Sunni Tehrik and he was successful in his aim as the chief of the Tehrik, Abbas Qadri, deputy chief Akram Qadri and spokesman Iftikhar Bhatti were neatly eliminated. Along with them died others belonging to the moderate Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, like Haji Hanif Billo and Hafiz Mohd Taqi. The investigators point out that some Shias were also attending the congregation, which points to a developing Barelvi-Shia religious coalition, which had been a cause of concern to the SSP and the LeJ leaders.

 

The Sunni Tehrik was set up in 1990 to counter the growing Deobandi and Ahle Hadith dominance in Karachi, by Maulana Salim Qadri, a member of Dawat-e-Islami (Green Turbans) who was himself shot down in 2001 at Chandni Chowk in Karachi. The attackers had been identified as members of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, as one of them was killed on the spot. Salim Qadri left the party to Abbas Qadri under whom the organisation continued to flourish because of the ample funds it could access from the rich business community of Karachi, especially the Memons, looking for protection from jehadi-sectarian organisations who are constantly demanding money for their cause.