Militant Sunni activists rally in Pakistani capital
PAKISTAN: Thousands of activists from an outlawed Sunni Muslim
militant group rallied in Pakistan's capital, calling for the
establishment of an Islamic theocracy in the country and across the
world.
Activists of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) openly distributed
pamphlets preaching jihad, or holy war, and hatred against minority
Shi'ites in Islamabad as their leaders delivered fiery speeches to a
crowd of around 5,000 late on Thursday.
They also sold video compact discs of beheadings of American soldiers
in Iraq, militant activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the rally,
which they said was convened to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet
Mohammad this month.
One of the organisers thanked the Islamabad administration for
allowing the rally, which was held under floodlights in a bus depot,
with hundreds of riot police watching on.
The group is known to have close links with Jaish-e-Mohammad, a key
militant group fighting in Indian-ruled Kashmir and an organisation that
has forged links with al Qaeda.
The rally was also addressed by Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, a former
general who was sacked and arrested in 1995 for trying to topple the
government of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the military's
top brass with an aim to enforce a Taliban-like rule in the country.
"The concept of nation state is an obstacle in the way of
establishment of Khilafat (puritanical Islamic rule)," he said.
"We will start establishment of Khilafat in Pakistan and then will do
so across the world," he vowed.
Last July, President Pervez Musharraf ordered a major crackdown
against clerics and organisations inciting sectarian violence, having
already banned SSP, or "Army of the Companions of the Prophet Mohammad"
in 2002.
Some of the crowd briefly chanted anti-Shi'ite slogans, until they
were told to refrain by their leaders.
They also swore allegiance to their late leader, Maulana Azam Tariq,
a fiery pro-Taliban cleric who was assassinated in Islamabad in 2003,
and founder of their militant organisation, Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, who was
killed in 1980s.
ISLAMABAD, Friday Reuters |