Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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JI should be banned. Its a terrorist org just like TTP.

Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs: ISPR - thenews.com.pk

ISLAMABAD: A spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday strongly condemned the irresponsible and misleading remarks by the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Ameer Syed Munawar Hassan in a TV programme, declaring dead terrorists as Shuhada (martyrs), while insulting the Shahadat (martyrdom) of thousands of innocent Pakistanis and soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces.

In a statement, he said Syed Munawar Hassan tried to invent a logic based on his political convenience. “Strong condemnation of his views from an overwhelming majority leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that all of us are very clear on what the state of Pakistan is and who its enemies are,” the spokesman said.

“Sacrifices of our Shuhada and their families need no endorsement from Syed Munawar Hassan and such misguided and self-serving statements deserve no comments,” he said and added, “However, coming from the Ameer of the Jamaat-i-Islami, a party founded by Maulana Maududi, who is respected and revered for his services to Islam, is both painful and unfortunate.” “The people of Pakistan, whose loved ones laid down their lives while fighting the terrorists, and families of Shuhada of armed forces demand an unconditional apology from Syed Munawar Hassan for hurting their feelings,” he said.

“The Jamaat-i-Islami should clearly state its party position on the subject”, the spokesman said. — APPNews Desk adds: Talking to Geo News, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman lauded Munawar Hasan’s statement, stating that it reflected the teachings of Maulana Maududi. The spokesman, however, said JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s statement did not deserve any comment. It may be mentioned that in the Geo News programme ‘Jirga’, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief had questioned the martyrdom of Pakistani soldiers. He had asked the programme host if an American fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan was not a martyr, how could those helping the Americans be called martyrs.

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Re: Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

It wasn’t an insult to shaheeds when the respected PA left its dead during the kargil war. neither was it an insult when it backtracked its kashmir proxy war with around 100,000 dead. and neither was it an insult to the east pakistani groups Al-shams and Al-badr who, to this day, keep sacrificing for wat they sow in 71 by aligning with the respected army.

No disrespect to the esteemed PA, they are our saviours :). i m just making a point.

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Re: Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

Seriously? What happened to the freedom of speech? A democracy protects such basic tenets regardless of what is said unless it is a criminal offense. I don't agree with what was said. But banning them is like saying the US should ban the Tea party. You can't ban groups for just saying what they think no matter how much you disagree with it.

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Re: Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

^ Freedom of speech.... Is JI going to hide behind that? Blasphemy law should be the first to get repealed if freedom of speech is protected under democracy.

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Yes it should. Any other diversions from the crux of the matter?

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No diversions. Just confirming selective applicability of Islamic and Penal laws. :D

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Re: Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

Guys what's the fuss about it ..... u reap what u sow .... Just a honest and objective analysis into the recent past of this Young Nation will explain what's still to come

So instead of being surprised every other day rather get ready to face more and worse

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https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/1003950_761865790506687_1258356602_n.jpg

nawaiwaqt

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Re: Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

Ali, what do you think army is going to do next after loosing 'complete' support of two(deobandi and wahabi) martial powers they used to enjoy?

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^ the army can hold back, most people being killed are ordinary people in any case.

In the long run the divorce of army and these people would be good for the country. Maybe the army would stop relying on militants as strategic assets.

The mood of the public is also changing (albeit slowly) with regards to terrorism, hence the surprise Imran Khan expressed yesterday at the mild public reaction to the killing of Hakeem ullah Mehsud (although many people considered that to be the attack on negotiations, but then again he was a terrorist and not a martyr). All those who would ally themselves with terrorists would find out about their support 2-3 years down the track. Jamaat e Islami has already lost a lot of support as evident from the previous elections.

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Then army should stop countering the statements given by these people otherwise it would be a mess, i guess.
as a result the image of army that common pepole have in their mind would also change.

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Is the mullah-military nexus crumbling? - DAWN.COM

The latest statement from the military blasting chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami Munawar Hasan for undermining the sacrifices made by the soldiers fighting terrorists has shocked many in the capital. The JI traditionally, has been the mouthpiece for the military during the 1980s Afghan jihad and fighting in Kashmir. It’s also established that the army had used the Jamaat’s street power to put democratic governments under pressure through controlled or sometimes out of control protests. It is also believed that there is a huge following of JI in the armed forces. Even the arrests of Al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, from the residences of JI activists has not affected the military-JI relations in the past.

So, is it a signalling of sorts that the military is trying to portray itself as a national army now as compared to its earlier image of an ideological force whose notion of jihad is similar to Jamaat-i-Islami?

But what prompted this strong reaction by the military needs to be examined. Even pragmatic military rulers like Pervez Musharraf had to seek help from the JI to prolong his tenure. Then why is it that the Jamaat and the military are finding themselves at the crossroads today?

The issue of missing persons that began in 2006 started the rift between the traditional partners when JI followers that included lawyers approached the courts for the release of what they claimed were innocent civilians who were arrested by military intelligence agencies on the allegations of supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The courts took up the cases and started questioning the role of the military behind these forced disappearances. JI-backed lawyers were pressurised by the military to drop these cases and to stop pursuing the matter. But the cases continued, despite the fact that they did not reach their logical conclusions.

The issue of drone strikes has been the main issue which alienated the powerful establishment from hardcore religious parties. The Jamaat has always been protesting US-backed drone strikes, claiming that the strikes kill civilians. But covertly, the military had a verbal standing with the US over the drone strikes. During 2004-2008, drones struck on Pakistan’s request. This was even testified by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani who claimed in his new book that the former Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a drone strike requested by the Pakistan army.

The last time the Jamaat acted in support of the military was on the Raymond Davis issue, when the military is believed to have used the religious activists to hype up the matter so as to trigger nation-wide protests. But many believe that in the end the army itself showed the US how to get their man in Pakistan custody by using an Islamic law of Qisas and Diyat. And so it happened that the Jamaat was left red-faced.

Just like the Pakistan military transformed into a national army in the past few years rather than the ‘Pak fauj’ as it still is fondly called in Pakistan for decades now, the Jamaat continued to lose its political ground as people in general started to question the Jamaat’s policy and its refusal to transform into a political force rather than a hardcore religious outfit.

Come Munawar Hasan, the incumbent chief who is known for his rigid views and little political insight as compared to his predecessor Qazi Hussain Ahmed. The Jamaat continued to find it hard to connect with the people. The elections in 2008 and 2013 proved that the people of Pakistan are not thinking the same way as the Jamaat leadership. But the new Jamaat leadership did not alter its way and things eventually came to a head.

The killing of Pakistani Taliban Hakeemullah Mehsud in a US drone strike alienated the Jamaat and even other political parties including the PML(N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf from the response from the people in general which approved the killing of the TTP chief if not the drone strike by the US.

On the other hand, the military which was believed to have been already fuming at the peace overtures by the incumbent government to the Taliban despite the killing of their Major General Sanaullah Niazi, the recent statements of political leaders were not taken well. The JI chief Munawar Hasan stepped up the rhetoric by first declaring Hakeemullah Mehsud a martyr and later questioned whether the soldiers fighting against the Taliban were martyrs. This prompted the military to issue a stinging response not only condemning the JI chief’s statement as misleading and irresponsible but also accused him of insulting the sacrifices of Pakistani soldiers.

Although it is too premature to say that the military is signaling the end of its long standing policy of using religious parties to silence logic and vibrant political thought process in the country, but, at least, the realisation in the military to support mainstream political parties instead of hardcore religious parties is beginning to sink in.

Whether it remains the case when the change of guard in the army takes place later this month or else, is yet to be seen. All indications are that the military is in the process of reviewing its support for such parties but only after they came back to haunt the military after decades of clandestine support.

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A dangerous discourse: JI leader?s remarks - DAWN.COM

**HARDLY any political party chief in Pakistan has been so unanimously and unreservedly condemned as the Jamaat-i-Islami emir who has bestowed the title of ‘martyr’ on the late TTP head Hakeemullah Mehsud. The latter, who was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month, led a band of conscienceless killers who have terrorised the country for years and killed thousands of Pakistanis, most of them civilians. Schools, hospitals, peace jirgas, mosques, funeral processions and bazaars have all been targeted by the Taliban. To then call Mehsud a shaheed, vesting in him all the qualities of what Muslims consider as the ultimate sacrifice in the way of faith, is to dishonour those who fell victim to acts of terrorism carried out by the TTP and its associates. **Counted amongst them must be the soldiers killed by the Taliban, but whose death in the line of duty has meant little to the JI chief. His rejection of the shaheed status for these soldiers has caused ISPR to condemn his views and demand an apology. The JI might have rightly termed this response as interference in political affairs, but in its own choice of heroes in a war that has devastated the country in more than physical terms, it has clearly shown which side it stands on.

Having said that, the military establishment needs to revisit its own history of active propagation of religion. For most of Pakistan’s existence,** the army has controlled the national political, security and religious discourse. It has, in fact, erected the entire structure of ‘jihad’ (most notably during the Afghan war) in its aim to defend religious ideology as opposed to focusing on what a military’s traditional role is: defending state borders. Years of looking at adversaries and politics from the lens of religion has left the security establishment mired in an ideological muddle: the men trained to raise the standard in the name of Islam are now confronting an enemy that is waving an even bigger flag as it seeks to establish a theocratic state.**

The time has come to separate the intertwined strands of religion and the state. This ‘martyr’ episode has caused most political parties to condemn the JI’s views — though, sadly, only after ISPR’s denunciation. They must now see the truth for what it is and understand that it is not Islam that is endangered in a country where the majority are practising Muslims; it is the very existence of Pakistan itself.

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What I don't understand is how these JI leaders can send sons of poor people out for 'jihad' while their own sons study in US and UK?

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Re: Army: Munawar Hassan insulted soldiers, martyrs

One positive thing from this affair is that some political parties have finally taken off their masks, now the ball is in the court of the public. Reject all those siding with the murderers of Pakistanis in the next election.

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The irony is these JI hypocrites send their children to USA and UK for higher studies

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The recent controversies created by the debate on ‘martyrs’ (shaheeds) is reflective of a deeper existential struggle within the religio-political parties of Pakistan – one that is deeply disturbing and potentially dangerous.

The two statements that have stood out in recent days have been given by Maulana Fazlur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Syed Munawar Hassan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Both are the chiefs of their parties which are considered mainstream religio-political groups.

Mainstream?

The JI and JUI-F are considered ‘mainstream’ because, though religious in nature, they incorporate certain political correctness and realities into their agenda – however minimally that may be. This ensures that they remain close enough to the centre of the political spectrum, which is where politically viable options are located when it comes to electoral contests, and right enough to appeal to a particular base. It is a delicate balancing act.

Also, though they have never been the largest parties of the country at any point in time, mainstream religio-political parties were basically the only group representation of the religious right in national institutions such as parliament, where they acted as a sort of political filter for extremist ideology. Groups espousing radical ideology (on both the left and the right) are usually on the fringes and only serve as external pressure groups outside the mainstream. Like them or not, this was a key function in a country where religious sentiment runs higher than most – and that too on whim.

There is no doubt that mainstream religio-political parties have long held ties with the extreme right or left, call on them for support for their political campaigns and protests, and, in many cases, even have members that hold such extreme views. But, historically, that is the extent of such collaboration. There are exceptions, of course, such as the involvement of some mainstream political parties in the sad history of East Pakistan and the provision of sanctuary to al Qaeda leaders post 9/11. But these are usually exceptions, not the norm.

As for their politics, since entering the mainstream in Pakistan, the JI has, from time to time, come up with controversial statements – but often they foray into the extreme fringe, solely for the purpose of shoring up its credentials as the ideological leader of the political right. Maulana Maududi’s version of social justice politics based on Islam is saluted but his sceptical view of the formation of Pakistan is avoided. In fact, over time, the JI’s ideological politics became an important part of the religio-nationalism adopted by Pakistan’s main institutions, such as the all-powerful army’s ‘Jihad Fi Sabhilillah’, to provide a binding force to the country in the form of religion during and after the tragedy of East Pakistan. That is just practical politics.

Qazi’s politics

Under their previous chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, JI’s religious conservatism moved more towards practical politics than it had ever been. Ahmed became chief of the party at an important time: when the anti-Soviet jihad was drawing to a close. The JI, besides a handful of other political parties, was a key link between the concept of jihad, martyrdom and mainstream politics in Pakistan – a link that was fostered to good effect by Ahmed during his over two decades as chief of the JI and the security establishment. The link was also important to turn the political narrative when the time came. Under him, JI’s conservatism was a barrier between political religion and violent extremism.

**Most recently, in the heat of battle between Pakistan’s security state and the Pakistan-based extremists, Ahmed had gone as far as to say that while the Afghan Taliban’s resistance against US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan is true jihad, that of the Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan is un-Islamic. That’s quote-unquote. Ahmed was subsequently targeted by the Pakistani Taliban led by Hakimullah Mehsud in a suicide bombing (which he managed to survive).
**
Radicalisation of the right?

But the trend has changed; what was once an occasional opportunist foray into the extreme right by religio-political parties now seems to have become an ideological habitation.

**This change manifests itself most blatantly in the case of the JI, who recently lost two old masters of this game in Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Prof Ghafoor Ahmed. The chief of the very same JI whose last leader termed the TTP’s struggle against the Pakistani forces ‘un-Islamic’, now says the TTP militants are martyrs and the Pakistani security forces are not. This is not the first blatantly tactless statement he has given: There are others on rape and associated social ills that reflect a reversion towards extreme obscurantist ideology.
**
**His statement on martyrdom came a few days after JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that even a dog killed by the US is a martyr. He is also among those religio-political leaders that are considered politically mainstream – those who issue the occasional fatwa, and endorse the occasional outlandish statement, but whose raison d’etre has mainly been to remain the link between the ‘ideals’ of religious nationalism and the practicality of Pakistan’s politics and international relations.
**
While Rehman’s statement on the martyrdom of canines is more comical than Hassan’s demoting of Pakistan’s armed forces, both statements equally reflect a reach for the extreme right –particularly manifested in increasingly anti-Americanism in the face of drones and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This reach is a product of the times. Firstly, the far right has, over the last few years, moved further right than it has ever been, fuelled by more and more g*****ose conspiracy theories and increasing violence in Muslim countries (this argument can be further extended to society writ large). The extreme right in Pakistan has also started, perhaps for the first time, to indulge in mainstream politics – as is the case with the extremist Sipah-e-Sahaba’s political form of Ahle Sunnat-wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) that contested and won many votes in South Punjab and nearly won a seat in Karachi. Other extremist leaders are also beginning to get involved directly in electoral politics now more than ever.

**On one hand, these mainstream religious parties have to reach out to remain in touch with that move to the right. On the other hand, and this is more important, the traditional role of these parties as the link between religious nationalism and practical politics has been challenged and occupied by a new party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) – a newer and shinier party led by a charismatic national icon; a party that is more attuned and relevant to the times (and even they are being pulled right).
**
In both cases, mainstream religio-political parties are being pushed and pulled to the right, and the outrageous comments on martyrdom are simply a desperate effort to remain relevant. The delicate balancing act is no more.

**Parties struggling in terms of electoral politics usually resort to extreme measures. But this overreach by the religio-political parties, and their fellow rightwingers, comes at a time that the country is on shaky ground internally, regionally and internationally. It is now a survival act that threatens to fuel Pakistan’s greatest malaise: extremism, intolerance and hatred.
**
This trend could also translate into the deepening of Pakistan’s religio-political right, further polarising the country and further radicalising the small, but not ignorable, support base of the religio-political parties. Even if a majority of their support stops supporting them, it brings radical narrative into the mainstream and the mainstream towards radical narratives. It sets the bar higher, or, as the case may be, lower. Above all, it means that the balancing act, that traditional filter between Pakistan’s extreme fringe and the mainstream, is no longer working – threatening to asphyxiate the country in an environment of toxic hate and violence.

**Will Pakistanis who lose their lives as a result be worthy of being called Shaheed, Mr Hassan?
**
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2013.

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The Jihadi face of the Jamaat: Is the alliance with the establishment over now? - thenews.com.pk

ISLAMABAD: The track record of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan shows that the party, which had been an ally of the successive military dictators including Gen Ayub Khan, Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf, has a soft corner for the al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership, mainly because of their ideological affinity with them.

The founder of the Jamaat, Maulana Maududi, had designed his party to be the vanguard of Islamic revolution that inspired Brotherhood’s chief ideologue, Syed Qutb. And al-Qaeda mostly draws ideological inspiration from Syed Qutb whose last book, ‘Milestones on the Road (1965)’, argues that the Holy Quran presented a blueprint for the establishment of a true Islamic State.

Therefore, the JI Ameer Munawar Hasan’s statements giving the certificate of martyrdom to a terrorist (Hakeemullah Mehsud) and deriding the Pakistani soldiers who have rendered their lives in the war against terrorists, must not be shocking for those who are well aware of the Jamaat’s track record.

Not long ago, Hakeemullah had named Munawar Hassan along with Nawaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman as guarantors for holding peace talks with the PPP government, saying they want them to give a guarantee that the army would not violate the peace agreement.

In an unprecedented reaction to the offensive remarks made by the JI ameer, the army spokesman had asked the party to clarify its position on a statement which was largely condemned and hailed only by TTP spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid. “These were irresponsible and misleading remarks, declaring dead terrorists as Shaheed while insulting the Shahadat of thousands of innocent Pakistanis and soldiers of the armed forces. The people whose loved ones have laid down their lives while fighting terrorists and families of martyrs demand an unconditional apology from Munawar Hasan for hurting their feelings”, said the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement issued.

But quite surprisingly, instead of regretting his statement, Munawar Hasan defended it and said he would stick to his position on both Hakeemullah and the Pakistani soldiers. The Shura meeting of the JI which was held at Mansoora a day after the ISPR statement was released also defended Munawar Hasan, saying the Pakistan Army should not indulge in politics by issuing political statements.

Interestingly, a cursory glance at Pakistan’s chequered political history illustrates that every time a military dictator toppled an elected government and imposed martial law in the country, the Jamaat had been quick to become an ally of the dictator. Therefore, the Jamaat Shura’s criticising army’s indulgence in politics sounded quite funny.

**In fact, the ISPR spokesman’s statement against Syed Munawar Hasan and the counter statement coming from the JI Shura have abundantly made it clear that the decades long Mullah Military Alliance [with particular reference to Jamaat] is coming to a fag end, amidst reports of the Jamaat’s alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban connections.
**
**In the past, the Jamaat-e-Islami had always worked in tandem with the military and intelligence establishment - be it the jehad-e-Kashmir or Jehad-e-Afghanistan or domestic politics such as the formation of the Nawaz-led Islami Jamhoori Ittehad to topple Benazir Bhutto’s government.
**
**However, the Pakistani security agencies had been keeping a close watch on the activities of the Jamaat and its top leadership since the March 2003 arrest of al-Qaeda’s chief operational commander and the 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad from the Rawalpindi residence of a local Jamaat-e-Islami leader Farzana Qudoos. It was on March 1, 2003 that an FBI-guided raiding party broke into the modest brick house in the Westridge area of the garrison town of Rawalpindi at around 2.30 a.m. and arrested Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, a Kuwaiti national who had played a crucial part in orchestrating the 9/11 attacks. Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, the owner of the house who was sheltering Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, was also arrested during the raid.
**
**The Jamaat was subsequently placed under close watch by the security agencies. Almost four months after Khalid Sheikh was arrested, the then interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayat had asserted while speaking in the National Assembly on August 13, 2004 that the JI had been supporting the al-Qaeda. Two days later on August 16, 2004, Faisal addressed a press conference and listed a number of incidences in which members of the JI had been tied to the al-Qaeda, and called on its leadership to explain these links.
**
**While quoting intelligence findings, Faisal Saleh Hayat confirmed links of the JI activists with al-Qaeda members saying the houses of the JI people were used as hideouts and shelters for the al-Qaeda terrorists. Quoting instances, he reminded that a lady namely Malooka Khatoon w/o Abdul Raheem, an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami was arrested from Clifton, Karachi on October 4, 2002. “She revealed her links with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. On December 18, 2002, Khawaja brothers, who were associated with the Jamaat and who were nabbed from Manawan near Lahore, admitted sheltering an al-Qaeda leader, Yasser Al-Jazeri. On January 4, 2003, an Australian Terrance Jack Thomas was arrested from the Karachi airport for his alleged links with the al-Qaeda network.
**
**He admitted using the house of a former Pakistani hockey star and goalkeeper, Shahid Ali Khan as his hideout. Shahid’s wife is a Jamaat activist. On March 1, 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was nabbed from the Rawalpindi residence of Farzana Qudoos, a local Jamaat leader”.
**
**In view of these hard facts, said the interior minister, the Jamaat leadership should explain whether the arrests of the al-Qaeda leaders from the houses of its workers and leaders were a coincidence?
**
**While reacting to Faisal’s allegations, the Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmed had denied that his party had any links with the al-Qaeda or other militant organisations. “We do not believe in terrorism. The government is trying to pressurise us at the behest of the US, which is the biggest of all terrorists and is responsible for killing thousands of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan”, the national press quoted Qazi Hussain as saying.
**
However, the security agencies are suspicious [even today] about the Jamaat-e-Islami’s alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban links. In fact, Attaur Rehman, an alleged leader of the Jundullah group which was responsible for the June 2004 attack on the motorcade of the Karachi Corps Commander Lt Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, was once the nazim of the JI’s student wing - Islami Jamiat Tuleba (IJT) - in the Department of International Relations of Karachi University. The interrogation report of the two Pakistani doctor brothers, cardiac surgeon Dr. Akmal Waheed and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arshad Waheed, motivated the authorities to at least charge sheet the strongest political voice of Islamists in Pakistan and the real mother of many of the international Islamic movements.

**The doctors, who are ideologically inspired by the Jamaat-e-Islami, were arrested from Karachi in connection with the attack on Corps Commander Karachi that left 10 security personnel dead. According to investigators, the doctor brothers were active members of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), which is a JI affiliate. Those who interrogated the doctors had in their possession a videotaped confession by the two brothers, admitting that they used to raise funds for militants besides treating Arab fighters in the South Waziristan agency. However, both the doctor brothers were set free by the courts because of lack of evidence.

However, their al-Qaeda connection was confirmed when Dr. Arshad Waheed was killed in a US drone attack in South Waziristan on March 16, 2008. And his death was announced on a 40-minute videotape produced by Al-Sahab, the propaganda organ of al-Qaeda. On the tape, Waheed was eulogized by Abu Mustafa Yazid, the chief operational commander of al-Qaeda who had claimed responsibility for Benazir Bhutto’s killing in Dec 2007.**

**And last but not the least, the security agencies’ concerns about the possible links of Jamaat-e-Islami with al-Qaeda have been heightened with the recent arrest of a six-member team of al-Qaeda’s suicide bombers along with their local handler from the Punjab University.
**
**Those detained were operating in friendly territory, which made their blending into the background all the easier. They allegedly had the support of Islami Jamiat Tuleba - the student wing of the Jamaat which has refuted having any link with the arrested ones.
**
But the law enforcement agencies insist that the arrested militants are al-Qaeda operative who were being provided shelter by the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

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JI the worst thing ever happened to Pakistan

And Munawar Hassan do someone even care about what this 80 year old man says