The religio-political parties of Pakistan are in a state of flux. The rise of jihadi organisations, threatening the dominance of traditional political players on the religious narratives and their space of operation, has necessitated an unlikely alliance between different Deobandi groups. A recent rise in incidents of sectarian killings has Sunni groups just as worried as Shia ones. In addition, the ecology of the electoral mainstream is changing as the Jamaat looks to rebrand itself as a legitimate political player. The vacuum they leave may be filled by a recent entrant to the political scene, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek of Dr Tahirul Qadri. In this special report, Dawn looks at the faultlines and the trends that may well shape the future face of Pakistan’s religious right.

ISLAMABAD: In an extraordinary show of unity, the leaders of mainstream ‘Deobandi’ groups recently came together and agreed to form a single platform.

Interestingly, those who were willing to hold hands and forget their differences included not just arch rivals Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Fazlur Rehman but also Deobandi groups who are not active in politics.

More surprisingly, these leaders were brought together by proscribed group Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), formerly Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, which organised the meeting.

Maulana Samiul Haq

“We organised the gathering, because we consider it our responsibility to bring together the ulema to counter the threats facing the country now,” said Uneeb Farooqui, spokesman ASWJ Islamabad.

However, bringing together all the Deobandi leaders was not a simple task and hence the ‘official’ invite was from the Majlis Ahrar-i-Islam Pakistan.

This lesser known group is led by a veteran Deobandi cleric, Maulana Hafiz Ataul Momin Shah Bukhari.

The latter has traditionally stayed away from politics.

Perhaps the lack of controversy associated with Bukhari was one factor Maulana Fazlur Rehman was willing to sit at the same table with arch rival Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi, leader of ASWJ.

“The meeting could only be arranged due to the presence of Maulana Hafiz Ataul Momin Shah Bukhari,” claimed a cleric from central Punjab.

The son of Hafiz Ataullah Shah Bukhari (who was a member of Jamiat Ulema Hind and a founding member of All India Majlis Ahrar-i-Islam), Maulana Hafiz Ataul Momin Shah Bukhari is a respectable figure among the Deobandi clerics.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman

The meeting passed eight resolutions. Most of them related to implementing Sharia laws and countering the influence of western culture in country.

But the last one, significantly, called for ending sectarianism and preventing a Shia-Sunni clash.

This last point has caught the attention of many especially as it is no secret that this was in reference to the increased incidences of sectarian killings in Islamabad.

“There is greater pressure on Deobandi groups as there are increasing cases of retaliatory killings,” said Amir Rana, who runs Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think tank.

This is especially true of ASWJ, as a large number of its cadre including senior clerics have been killed in the past one year in Rawalpindi, Islamabad as well as in Lahore and Karachi too.

Even Uneeb Farooqui, spokesman ASWJ Islamabad, acknowledged that the number of target killings has increased in the country – it goes without saying that the organisation is only concerned with Sunni clerics’ target killings, though Shia clerics have been victims too.

Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi

The killings are seen to be linked to the clashes that occurred in Muharram 2013 in Rawalpindi, after which a curfew was imposed in the city.

The Deobandis’ sense of being besieged is not limited to the targeted killings.

There is also the perception of a threat from other quarters. For instance, many JUI-F office-bearers, including Maulana Fazlur Rehman have been targeted in suicide attacks.

The most recent such attack came on Saturday morning, when the head of its Sindh chapter, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, was shot dead. His death came weeks after Fazlur Rehman himself escaped a suicide attack in Quetta.

In protest, the party had called for a countrywide strike on Sunday.

“Deobandi leaders are facing threats not just from others but also from ‘within’ the setup,” Rana added.

“The younger generation from the madressahs is beginning to challenge their leadership and there are fears that things may spiral out of control.”

Possibly, this might explain why no jihadi organisation was invited to the meeting.

However, this is not a threat the party is willing to talk about openly and neither is it willing to voice its suspicions.

In a media interaction, Fazlur Rehman refused to answer questions about who had targeted him or Soomro. Arguing that it was the government’s responsibility to find the perpetrators, he added that, “All previous inquiries have remained incomplete”.

This is in sharp contrast to the previous moots organised by Deobandi groups, where JUI-S’ Samiul Haq has shared the stage with organisations such as Ansarul Ummah led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil. This is the umbrella organisation for many small but banned jihadi groups such as Jaish-i-Muhammad, Harkatul Mujaheedin and Harkatul Ansar.

The platform at which these organisations came together was the Defence of Pakistan campaign which organised a countrywide campaign against the re-opening of Nato routes through Pakistan.

However, the show of unity is perhaps still a pipedream. This is evident from the fact that the prominent liberal minded Deobandi cleric Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, an arch rival of ASWJ, was not invited in the moot.

Ashrafi, who heads the Pakistan Ulema Council didn’t think he missed out much. “PUC’s agenda is to promote peace and harmony in the country, not only within various sects but also among the different, religious communities,” he said adding that “We are above these sect-based or ethnic lines”.

But few are pinning any hope on the alliance achieving anything concrete, despite the perception of the threat that has brought them together.

“It seems that the gathering was a short-term effort to mitigate the current fear that extremist cadre are joining the takfiri groups; threats from these takfiri groups and those from the long standing opponents of other sects has brought them together,” said security analyst Zahid Hussain. “It is less likely that these parties will form an alliance in the long run.”

— Special Report by Kalbe Ali

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2014