Munawwar Hasan is the Ameer of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), the senior most position in the party. He was democratically-elected for the position via intra-party polls in 2009.
Biography
Born in 1941 in New Delhi, Munawwar Hasan moved to Pakistan with his family around Partition. He holds two Masters degrees, both from the University of Karachi – one in Sociology and the other in Islamic Studies.
Now a devout believer in the ideas of Maulana Maudoodi, the man who founded Jamaat-i-Islami, Hasan’s interest in politics had surprisingly different origins. The most senior leader of JI was originally a member of the University of Karachi’s National Students Federation, a student body with strong Marxist leanings.
Interestingly, Hasan’s beliefs changed radically when NSF leaders asked him to approach a member of the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), JI’s student wing, to bring him over to their side. Instead, it was Hasan who was converted and the rest, as they say, is history.
Political career
Many consider the ameer to be an ideological hardliner. While a member of the IJT, Hasan was its Nazim-e-Ala (president) for three years. Subsequently, he nourished his beliefs at an academy run by Jamaat and has been strongly associated with the inner workings of the party from the get-go, with very little experience in parliamentary politics itself. He finally transitioned from IJT to JI in 1967.
While Hasan has served in several senior positions within the party, including the post of the Karachi ameer, and in the central shura and the executive council, he has only had a brief stint serving in the National Assembly in 1977 before martial law was imposed by Ziaul Haq. His party ties are even reflected in his marriage – he is married to Ayesha Munawwar, the secretary general of JI’s women’s wing. His short tenure as an MNA, however, was marked by his securing the highest number of votes by any single contestant in that election.
In 2009, after serving in various senior positions, Hasan was voted in by his party as its top leader. The well-known and well-respected scholar won the intra-party poll by a landslide, beating two other contestants: Liaquat Baloch and Sirajul Haq, also senior JI members.
During his tenure as JI Ameer, Hasan’s party has not been part of the National Assembly since it boycotted the 2008 election. And while Jamaat had been a formidable force as part of the Muttahida Majlis-I-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties, it decided to stay detached when MMA’s revival was announced in 2012. An important reason behind JI’s decision to not join MMA was the deeply antagonistic relationship between Hasan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F).
Hasan has also actively participated in the formation and rallies of Difa-i-Pakistan Council (DPC), a right-wing conglomerate of religious parties and organisations. He gives weekly Friday sermons at the Jamia Masjid Mansoora in Lahore. The party’s headquarters is also situated in the area.
Political stance
The JI is a staunchly anti-American party and Hasan has never had any qualms in declaring this publicly. In 2002, as the party’s general secretary, Hasan said “Americans are the killers, the butchers, the murderers”. After proving victorious in the 2002 election as part of MMA, he explained that a huge part of the alliance’s election agenda was opposition to Pakistan’s participation in the so-called war on terror. Later as ameer, Hasan blamed the organisation then known as Blackwater for all terror attacks in Pakistan, adding that they were aided by Rehman Malik, the interior minister in the PPP-led coalition government.
The ameer also says JI is pro-democracy, but is not in favour of the political system’s ‘western’ model. He blamed what he called the government’s ‘pro-US policies’ for the Quetta tragedy in February 2013. He is also a staunch believer of reforming Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir to the effect that Kashmir may become the cornerstone of any dialogue with India – even if that means putting bilateral trade and bus services on hold.
Hasan is also strongly in favour of talks with the Taliban, and believes that only 20 per cent of the Taliban are to blame for the lawlessness and militancy plaguing Pakistan’s northwestern areas.
He has also spoken out strongly on other issues like the imprisonment of Aafia Siddiqui, drone attacks in Pakistan, and the resumption of Nato supply routes. In line with JI’s ideology, the party chief publicly supports the idea of a peaceful Islamic revolution in Pakistan. Recently, Hasan announced that his party would contest the national election in alliance with Tehrik-i-Tahaffuz-i-Pakistan of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.
— Research and text by Heba Islam