KARACHI, Dec 2: A large number of people in a North Karachi Sector 11-A mosque on Monday evening offered funeral prayers in absentia for a young NED graduate and former activist of the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami, killed in a US drone attack last week in North Waziristan. Many people said he was not the first person from the city to be killed in such attacks in the tribal areas.

Although the leaders and workers denied that deceased Abdul Rahman Shujaat had any association with the JI, they recognised his family’s strong connections with the party and their “contribution to their political struggle to establish a true Islamic democracy in Pakistan, Islamic values and betterment of the country”.

Confirming his death as a result of the last week’s US drone attack, they also preferred to stay silent on what actually attracted Mr Shujaat to choose Miramshah as his final destination after passing out from the NED University of Engineering and Technology in 2008.

“He was not at all associated with the party,” said Munam Zafar, chief of the JI central district — the office better known as Ameer Zila Wasti in the party’s circle.

“His family has long been associated with the Jamaat. They are diehard workers and have history of party loyalty but that doesn’t mean that what Abdul Rahman was doing was anything which the party endorses.”

He reiterated the “party policy” that defined “political and democratic struggle for true Islamic state” which could only be achieved through convincing people of Pakistan and “not by any force or armed movement”.

He also denied any link between the prayers in absentia for Mr Shujaat at Jama Masjid Al-Huda and JI regular activities, saying that it was solely a family-arranged event.

Abdul Rahman Shujaat was one of the few “suspected militants” killed in the drone attack on Nov 29 in Miramshah district of North Waziristan as the tribal area has witnessed a recent surge in US assaults after the government announced talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan that also hit its chief Hakimullah Mehsud last month.

Abdul Rahman was a younger brother of Abdullah Shujaat, also an NED graduate and once a key IJT member in Karachi.

Despite his and his family’s active involvement in JI activities and long association with the party, the leaders insisted that they had nothing to do with individuals’ own decisions.

However, many see it as a dilemma being faced by the JI — enjoying one of the strongest and disciplined organisational structures across Pakistan.

“Actually the organisations and forces who have been supporting the Taliban or who have a soft corner for the Taliban are facing a dilemma,” said Dr Jafar Ahmad of the Pakistan Study Centre at the University of Karachi. “This is a big crisis, I must say, and a big contradiction for these organisations whether they own it or not. They have to resolve it.”

His analysis suggested that the approach with which the JI and other ‘right-wing parties’ were moving forward would take them nowhere. They must come clean before it was too late, he added.

“For the sake of their workers and people belonging to public opinion they should have clear-cut policies. They should move fast and come out of this ambiguity in their own interest.”