The Defence of Pakistan

- By SahibaTrivedi March, 2012 By all indications, the recently formed Difa-e-Pakistan (Defence of Pakistan) Council likely has some friends in high places. The success of the Difa-e-Pakistan Councils (DPC) rallies across Pakistan, and brazen announcements of forthcoming rallies and attendees, many of whom belong to defunct or banned organizations, lend credence to the theory that the DPC has the backing of powerful forces in Pakistan. The Difa-e-Pakistan Council is a collection of over 40 religious groups, political parties and banned militant organizations. It has a 10-point agenda and one of its main rallying points has been to pressurize the civilian government to not restore NATO supply routes. Other goals include breaking off US-Pakistan ties, forcing the government to revoke the Most Favoured Nation status granted to India and to back the Taliban. The rise of DPC has generated concerns, both within Pakistan and abroad, that it may soon be strong enough to enter Pakistans political arena; if it does, what would it mean for the future of democracy in Pakistan and the future of Pakistan itself. There are also concerns, especially outside of Pakistan, that in the eventuality of the DPC coming to power, what would become of Pakistans nuclear weapons. In reality, the most pertinent and imminent threat regarding the Difa-e-Pakistan Council is actually the influence it currently wields and future implications for the society within Pakistan. Since the DPC has come into existence, it has been carrying out huge rallies all across Pakistan in Lahore, in Karachi, in Rawalpindi, in Quetta and in Islamabad. These would have required, apart from millions in finances, the administrations support. For a collection of 40-odd religious organizations and banned outfits with different philosophies and ideologies, to come together on one forum, and to collect the financing required from its supporters, as the DPC claims, seems improbable. Chances are that the DPC has received funds from some patron that believes in using the power of a platform like DPC in Pakistan. The Difa-e-Pakistan Councils rallies have consistently had a huge turnout of people, which also means that the administration has been cooperating with the Council - in terms of providing venues, security arrangements and even sealing off roads leading to the venue. Despite the UNSC ban on the primary member organizations of DPC, no action has been taken against any of the banned organizations, its leaders or its activists that form the DPC. The government has not moved against DPCs leaders, even though DPC has been announcing its next venue days in advance. Instead, the government has chosen to blame the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)-led Punjab government for letting Punjab-based groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (a primary

member of the DPC and a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba) get out of hand. The only time there was a certain modicum of the government trying to rein in these groups was when 3 DPC leaders, Jamaat-ud-Dawas Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaats (previously known as Sipah-eSahaba Pakistan) Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi and DrKhadimHussainDhillon, were barred from taking part in the DPC rally in Islamabad. Despite a ban on their entry, the three managed to enter Islamabad, although they did not take part in the rally. Many believe that the emergence of the DPC has been backed by Pakistans powerful security establishment and that the mullah-military nexus, used frequently by the powerful intelligence agencies in the past, was being deliberately revived. Founders of DPC include an ex-ISI Director General, a Member of the National Assembly and members of UN-declared terrorist outfits, some of which have had tacit or overt support from the establishment in the past. The DPC came into being when Pakistan had stopped NATO supply routes in the aftermath of the attack on the Salala check-post in the Mohmand Agency. During that period, relations between the civilian government and the military had deteriorated due to the Memogate scandal. Rumours abounded about the possibility of the military disposing of the civilian government to take over the country, which the military was quick to deny. The military had gauged the mood of the nation and realized that another coup would not go down well anywhere, internally as well as externally. The rise of DPC has been viewed as one of the mediums through which the security establishment has tried to rein in the civilian government. The security establishment has been also been backing the rise of Imran Khan to counter the power of the two main national parties the ruling, Pakistan Peoples Party and the opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). There is evidence to suggest that the DPC is acting as the establishments mouthpiece. For the civilian government, the DPC has been used by the establishment to remind them to tone down their eagerness for improving ties with India and also to reassert their authority over the civilian government. The DPC is also necessary as a bargaining point when it comes to relations with the US to show them the mood of the nation. And for the citizens of the country, the DPC is being used to whip up anti-US and antiIndia rhetoric under the guise of defence of the nation. The anti-American sentiment is particularly high in Pakistan at present; even school children from Rawalpindi attended the DPC rally in Islamabad purely because they thought the rally was being held to destroy the US. The DPC has, on several occasions, declared that it doesnt have political ambitions. Out of the DPCs two main political parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the JamiatUlema-e-Islam (Fazl), only the JamiatUlema-e-Islam (Fazl) is currently represented in the National Assembly. Historically, religious parties in Pakistan have not performed well in democratic elections; the next general elections may not be such a deviation from past. Hence, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council does not pose an impending threat for democracy in Pakistan at present. Looking at the kind of influence that the Difa-e-Pakistan Council wields at the moment, it is easy to say that in the future, if the DPC keeps getting support from powerful institutions, its influence on the society is likely to increase manifold. The actual threat, then, lies in the future. And it is mainly inwardly-

directed. The economy of Pakistan today is unable to provide its bulging youth population with opportunities to better their standard of life; rampant inflation, corruption, unemployment and electricity load-shedding have left the common public frustrated. In such an environment, the rise of a front that promises the defence of Pakistans ideological and geographical boundaries may prove to be a recruitment campaign for many of its member banned militant outfits. The future, then, could be a whole generation of disgruntled youth, fed on extremist and fundamentalist ideas of hyper-nationalism. Besides, since the DPC rallies have also been used as a forum for anti-minority activities, it could also mean a catalyst to the culture of sectarianism and fundamentalism. By the next decade, all this could be a threat for democracy in Pakistan as well as a threat for other countries in the region. Difa-e-Pakistan Part 1/2: Jihadis itch for resurgence

LAHORE:

In December, Kashmiri hardliners, sectarianism-fanning extremists and Taliban-sympathisers were seen holding hands together on stage in Lahore under a banner decorated with images of arms, ammunition and a call for Jihad.

Since then, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (Defence of Pakistan Council) movement has gained momentum across Pakistan and their leaders seem unperturbed by serious accusations against them. Even if we were banned, we cannot just sit around and see this country go up in flames, says Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi, chief of banned religious group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which now operates under a changed name, Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ).

His group is not alone in urging Pakistanis to rise up. Under the auspices of MaulanaSamiulHaq, chairman of Difa-e-Pakistan, over 40 different religious leaders, including those from ASWJ and JamatudDawa (JuD), held a meeting on October 12 last year in Lahore.

After this, Difa-e-Pakistan issued a statement saying that the President House is a hostage to the Americans, and appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to force Parliament to abide by article 245 of the Constitution, which states that the countrys military be called in to defend Pakistan.

Party leaders say their agenda is to free Pakistan from American and Indian aggression by putting pressure on the current government. The group also released a 10-point agenda. One of the points is a warning sent to all anti-Islamic, secular, liberal hypocrites inside Pakistan. They also announced complete support for those fighting in Occupied Kashmir as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Difa-e-Pakistan may be a new name, but its roots lie in the movement started by its current chairman in the wake of attacks on Afghanistan by Western forces.

At that time our brothers needed our support against the American crusade, so we took a stand for them, says MaulanaSamiulHaq, the 75-year-old former member of the National Assembly. The group he made at the time was known as the Pak-Afghan Council (PAC) but later, this group joined politics by merging into an Islamic alliance known as MutahiddaMajlis-e-Amal, which formed the government in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa under the Musharraf regime.

SamiulHaq currently heads a religious political party, JamiatUlema-Islam-S (JUI-S), and also runs a madrassa in AkoraKhattak, a religious seminary that was frequented by the Afghan Taliban before 2001, a claim he denies.

Besides him, other prominent members include Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, both of whom have come under local and international scrutiny due to their perceived connections with terrorist activities.

JamatwudDawa, currently on the United Nations list of banned organisations, is accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that killed at least 166 people. Its chief, Hafiz Saeed, changed the organisations name from JamatudDawa to Falaah-e-Insaaniyat, but after he was set free by courts due to lack of evidence, his organisation now operates under the JuD banner openly throughout Pakistan.

The group dates back to the early eighties and its spokesperson, YahyaMujahid, was widely quoted in the press as the spokesperson for Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 1990s, which is a globally banned jihadi organisation.

Then there is Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which, says an intelligence officer who does not wish to be named, was SSPs militant wing before it broke away. Its head, Malik Ishaq, when released from prison

last year, was received by the head of ASWJ, Ahmed Ludhianvi, who stated at that time that Ishaq will continue his struggle peacefully.

But the intelligence official does not believe this. Different smaller groups linked with LeJ are still involved in sectarian violence across Pakistan, he says. Ishaq who spent more than a decade in jail, after being accused of involvement in more than 70 killings, was present at the last gathering of Difa-ePakistan in Multan. SamiulHaq, though, acknowledges the implications of standing in the same row with those accused of international and local terrorism. I will keep a check on them and make sure they dont do anything wrong, he states.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2012.

One cannot be faulted for assuming that the Difa-e-Pakistan Council may perhaps comprise of officials of the defence ministry, four-star generals and decorated admirals who wish to ponder over the defence needs of the country and make major strategic decisions.

To find out that it is actually a motley crew of fourty-odd religious parties, banned terrorist outfits like the JamaatudDawa (JuD), a few other political has-beens like Sheikh Rasheed and IjazulHaq, and former spymaster HameedGul, among others, can be shocking. To figure out what it stands for can be even more astounding. Lets try and figure that out by asking a few questions.

So what does the Council stands for? According to Hafiz Saeed of the JuD, it is a coalition with the aim to defend Pakistan. What do they actually do apart from claiming to defend the country? Not much besides holding rallies in different cities and threatening the government of dire consequences if their demands are not.

What are those dire consequences? Chaos, anarchy and suicide bombings. But dont we have them anarchy, chaos and suicide bombings already? Yes, but they have promised to scale up the operations if their demands are not met.

And what are those demands? For starters, they want parliament to not restore the Nato supply lines. But those supply lines have always been open and were blocked only some weeks back why this sudden realisation that it undermines the sovereignty of the country? Better late than never, isnt it?

What else do they want? Surely they cannot spend millions of rupees on all those public gatherings to demand that the government does not restore the Nato supply lines? The ultimate goal is to sever all diplomatic, cultural, political and economic ties with the United States of America. Errr, can our country survive this ultimate isolation? Most probably not, but the Council would surely like the government to try that. Is it just America that they want to cut ties with, or has any other country faced a similar wrath? They hate India just as much and are angry with the government for awarding it Most Favoured Nation status.

But by regularising trade with India, the government will not only discourage cross-border smuggling of goods, it will also gain from taxes and duties levied on the increased imports revenue which can then be used for public welfare. Surely that cannot be bad? The Difa-e-Pakistan Council is not concerned with the public good; according to its chairman, the councils sole agenda is to ensure the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan.

What legitimacy do they have, if any, to demand all that? Between the 40 parties and organisations that make up the Council, only the JUI-F is represented in parliament and it too has a handful of seats. One can surely ascertain the Councils legitimacy by seeing its underwhelming electoral performance. The Council, of course, would like to think otherwise. According to Maulana Sami-ulHaq, its chairman, their gatherings are a clear message to US and a referendum for the government of Pakistan to immediately review its relations with America and other western allies.

Does any of this make sense? No, not really but then our politics has never been about logic, finding solutions and peace and harmony. It has always been about rhetoric, confusion, demagoguery and posturing and the Difa-e-Pakistan Council is doing one hell of a job as far as this is concerned.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2012. LAHORE: The newly-formed Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) comprising mainly banned militant outfits and certain religious groups has been holding rallies in many major Pakistani cities. It has a ten-point agenda that it has publicised at its public meeting. It has been warning liberals and even the media, saying that if need be, force will be used to spread its Islamic ideology in the country.

It is interesting to note that women, who make up half the countrys population, are completely missing from these rallies. And the reason for that is that those who are part of the DPC would not consider

women as equal members of society. Quite clearly, the views of those who make up the DPC are similar to those of the Taliban. The Pakistan envisioned by its founder the Quaid-i-Azam is certainly not what the DPC described at a rally recently held in Karachi, right across from the Quaids mausoleum. The irony is that Bangladesh, which used to be part of Pakistan till it seceded, is a secular republic while Pakistan is still suffering from extremism and militancy.

Who has entrusted the DPC with the responsibility of defending the country, when we already have one of the worlds largest standing armies? We have already paid a very heavy price till now for being considered by much of the world as a country that provides safe havens to terrorists and which patronises non-state actors in committing acts of terrorism.

The DPC has threatened that it will not allow parliament to give India the status of Most-FavouredNation? But who has given the Council this mandate, especially given the fact that parliament collectively represents the will of the people?

The DPC has also asked its followers to break the legs of any whore who goes to India and sings or acts in films. It is clear from the Councils agenda that it will want to enforce its perception of Islamic ideology in Pakistan through the use of force. It is time that the government and the other state institution took notice of the DPCs activities.

S T Hussain

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2012.