A few observations Firstly, like the enmity between Javaid Ghamdi & extreme right-wing mullah groups (a la Sipaha & LeJ), there is much animosity between TuQ & these same groups. That is why there have been protective barriers around Minhaj-ul-Quran HQ since the last 10 years in the first place, & thats why he has a civil militia manning these barriers. We live very close to Minhaj-ul-Quran HQ. Secondly, extreme right-wing mullah groups openly threatened & hounded Javaid Ghamdi , & finally chased him out of Pak; he lives in Malaysia now. A similar strategy is now being followed by NS, Rana Sanaullah & Co - keep TuQ out of Pakistan by openly threatening him & using extreme force against him & his family members. As you know, it has long been known that Sanaullah has deep roots in extremist mullah groups in South Punjab; another reason why NS was reluctant to back Army operations. Thirdly, NSs political fear of people like Javaid Ghamdi & TuQ stems from two causes; they are so widely respected (moreso than JI & JUI-F mullahs) that they cannot be bought by NS, and their political interpretation of the Islamic state is so clearly articulated that is appeals to very large cross-sections of Pakistani people. Fourthly, TuQ may be a potentially dangerous right-wing demagogue (many already refer to him as pir-ji). I doubt this as he has several saving graces. He has a highly inclusive Islamic theology based entirely on the Quran, Hadees & Sunnah; this came out strongly during our discussions with him on the blasphemy law. The man is a tremendously skilful & effective organiser; in 2012 we saw him organise the logistics of moving about 30,000 men, women & children (food, sleeping bags, medical aid, wheelchairs) from Lahore to Islamabad to participate in a huge rally against corruption. Though he is not well (heart), he is relatively fearless - and this seems to galvanise his followers. I doubt whether TuQ will ever be a fourth force (after PML-N, PPP & PTI) but he will certainly be a potent counter-weight to the corruption & malpractices of PML-N & PPP. That is why I think we will soon see PML-N & PPP using the JI & JUI-F mullahs to discredit TuQ. Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 05:07:49 +0000
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