The original purpose was to fight Shi'itelandlords dominance in Jhang and surrounding areas in a majority Sunni population.[16] Later, they became violent and started to attack Shi'ite Muslims.[16] From 1980s, they are involved in various militant activities, during which they had killed hundreds of Shias throughout Pakistan. They are operating all over Pakistan and are politically active having large vote bank in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).[16] They are widely organized and have more than five hundred offices throughout country.[16][6] A leader of the organization was a minister in the coalition Government in Punjab in 1993 and the group has held seats in the Pakistan National Assembly.[8][14]
The organization's leadership has been subject to a series of assassinations. Founder Haq Nawaz Jhangvi was killed by Shi'a militants in 1990; his successor, Isar ul-Haq Qasmi, was assassinated a year later in 1991. The next leader, Zia ur Rehman Farooqi, was killed in a bomb explosion at the Lahore Session Court on 19 January 1997,[14] after which leadership passed to Azam Tariq.[18]
The group's decision to cease militant activities and pursue a political path in 1996 under Ziya ur-Rahman and Azam Tariq led to internal dissent. A significant faction of hardline members, opposing this shift, splintered from the group to establish the more radical Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.[16]
In 2002, Pervez Musharraf government declared the group as terrorist organization and banned it.[16] However, later, they renamed it and relaunched it under the name of Millat-e-Islamiyya Pakistan.[16][6] They were again banned in 2003.[16]
Azam Tariq was also assassinated along with four others on 6 October 2003 in an attack widely attributed to the Shi'a militant organization Sipah-e-Muhammad.[1][8][14] After his assassination, Ali Sher Hyderi was selected as the president and Khalifa Abdul Qayyum was appointed as sarparast-e-aala (Patron).[19] they also changed their name to Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat.[6] At least as of 2014 it was still using ASWJ.[5][20]
Variant of the flag used between 2002 and 2005, when the party was banned and operated under the name Millat-e-Islamiyya.
The group operates throughout Pakistan and maintains political activity across several regions. It holds a particularly strong political base in Jhang, led by its primary political leader, Moavia Azam, and in Karachi, where its leadership was initially held by Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem and Salim Khatri before being passed to Aurangzaib Farooqi. The organization also commands a significant vote bank in the provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[16][25][26] They are widely organized and have more than five hundred offices throughout country.[16][6] The founder's son, Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi, was also a member of the Punjab Assembly, serving from January 2017 until May 2018.[27]
Etymology
The organization was founded as Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP).[d] It has undergone several name changes, particularly in response to legal bans. Following a state ban in 2002, it operated as Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan until 2005, after which it reorganized under its current name, Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat(ASWJ).[2][8][28]
Ideology and goals
The SSP is driven by a rigid interpretation of Deobandi Islam that considers Shias and non-Deobandi Sunnis heretical. "If Islam is to be established in Pakistan," SSP leader Azam Tariq once said, "then Shias must be declared infidels".[6]
According to Stanford University's "Mapping Militant Organizations" as of February 2012, the "primary methods" of Sipah-e-Sahaba
are targeted killings of prominent Shias – including political activists, doctors, businessmen and intellectuals.[30] In addition to targeting Shias, the SSP has also been implicated in attacks on members of the Ahmadi sect and followers of the Barelvi school of Sunni Islam. The SSP's actions have spurred a cycle of violence and assassinations and several of its leaders have been killed – including Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1990, Isar ul-Qasmi in 1991, Zia ul-Rehman Farooqi in 1997, and Azam Tariq in 2003.[6]
Sipah-e-Sahaba was commonly connected to attacks including massacres, targeted killings, and inspiring lone wolf terrorist attacks against Shias, Ahmadis, and even rival Barelvi Sunnis.[6]
A diplomatic cable, originally dated 23 October 2009 and later leaked to the media, from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad indicated that Qari Hussain, a leading militant of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, had roots in the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba and that many of the Taliban's foot soldiers are from Sipah-e-Sahaba ranks.[34]
According to Animesh Roul, Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jamat (ASWJ) is a front group for Sipah-e-Sahab and was also banned in Pakistan for this until 2018.[28]
↑ Hassan Abbas, Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2005), p. 167; Amir Mir, The True Face of Jehadis (Lahore: Mashal Books, 2004), pp. 171-2.
↑ Riedel, Bruce (2010). The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future (2nd Reviseded.). Brookings Institution. pp.66–67. ISBN978-0-8157-0451-5.
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