Spirit of Spartacus
5th April 2007, 22:41
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/03/top3.htm
ISLAMABAD, April 2: Two religious seminaries, Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa, are adamant to enforce Shariat in Islamabad (the capital) and across the country and said they will announce their movement in the Lal Masjid on Friday.
They warned the government of serious consequences if it tried to create hurdles in implementing the Islamic law.
We will start our Islamic revolution in Islamabad on Friday by launching a crackdown on CDs, DVDs and other secular activities in the G-6 sector. The exercise will be extended to the NWFP and other areas at later stages. We have full support of madressahs in various cities, Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa in-charge Maulana Abdul Aziz told Dawn on Monday.
Ten thousand students of the two seminaries are ready to sacrifice their lives for Shariat and we are determined to enforce the Islamic law in Islamabad in order to make it example for people, said Maulana Aziz, elder brother of Ghazi Abdul Rashid.
He claimed that thousands of people and government officials in Islamabad had lauded the recent raid on a brothel which, he said, was the first successful step of the movement.I have received a letter from a policewoman alleging that she was exploited by a senior police officer, he said. The woman has already informed President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the Islamabad Inspector General of Police about sexual harassment of policewomen by senior officials, he added.
Answering a question, Maulana Aziz said they would not stop enforcing Shariat even if the government withdrew its decision to demolish mosques in the federal capital. There were only six Taliban who enforced the Islamic law in Afghanistan and we are 10,000. Then, how cant we enforce Shariah at least in Islamabad.
Asked what the funding source of the two seminaries and the Lal Masjid was, Maulana Aziz said: Whenever we are short of essential items we close our eyes and demand the goods from Allah. Within a few minutes, we find the desired things in our kitchens.
He said he was supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and South and North Waziristan and conceded that students of his seminary had joined the Taliban but on their own.
No doubt, our students are joining jihadis because we are teaching them jihad but we have not pressurised them to fight, rather they are doing it by their own, he said.
Meanwhile, a man, whose daughter is a student of Jamia Hafsa, told Dawn that he did not want her daughter to take part in enforcing Shariat by force.
I have brought my child from Charsadda here to learn about Islam and not to fight.
It's caused a storm of speculation, if nothing more. My first reaction is to view this as a joke.
The problem is, these guys are few in number, but determined. They're prepared to die.
I'm told by a friend that they have already been going around in the capital Islamabad noting down the license-numbers of cars which are driven by women.
This appears to be an interesting new challenge for the military regime here.
ISLAMABAD, April 2: Two religious seminaries, Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa, are adamant to enforce Shariat in Islamabad (the capital) and across the country and said they will announce their movement in the Lal Masjid on Friday.
They warned the government of serious consequences if it tried to create hurdles in implementing the Islamic law.
We will start our Islamic revolution in Islamabad on Friday by launching a crackdown on CDs, DVDs and other secular activities in the G-6 sector. The exercise will be extended to the NWFP and other areas at later stages. We have full support of madressahs in various cities, Jamia Faridia and Jamia Hafsa in-charge Maulana Abdul Aziz told Dawn on Monday.
Ten thousand students of the two seminaries are ready to sacrifice their lives for Shariat and we are determined to enforce the Islamic law in Islamabad in order to make it example for people, said Maulana Aziz, elder brother of Ghazi Abdul Rashid.
He claimed that thousands of people and government officials in Islamabad had lauded the recent raid on a brothel which, he said, was the first successful step of the movement.I have received a letter from a policewoman alleging that she was exploited by a senior police officer, he said. The woman has already informed President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the Islamabad Inspector General of Police about sexual harassment of policewomen by senior officials, he added.
Answering a question, Maulana Aziz said they would not stop enforcing Shariat even if the government withdrew its decision to demolish mosques in the federal capital. There were only six Taliban who enforced the Islamic law in Afghanistan and we are 10,000. Then, how cant we enforce Shariah at least in Islamabad.
Asked what the funding source of the two seminaries and the Lal Masjid was, Maulana Aziz said: Whenever we are short of essential items we close our eyes and demand the goods from Allah. Within a few minutes, we find the desired things in our kitchens.
He said he was supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan and South and North Waziristan and conceded that students of his seminary had joined the Taliban but on their own.
No doubt, our students are joining jihadis because we are teaching them jihad but we have not pressurised them to fight, rather they are doing it by their own, he said.
Meanwhile, a man, whose daughter is a student of Jamia Hafsa, told Dawn that he did not want her daughter to take part in enforcing Shariat by force.
I have brought my child from Charsadda here to learn about Islam and not to fight.
It's caused a storm of speculation, if nothing more. My first reaction is to view this as a joke.
The problem is, these guys are few in number, but determined. They're prepared to die.
I'm told by a friend that they have already been going around in the capital Islamabad noting down the license-numbers of cars which are driven by women.
This appears to be an interesting new challenge for the military regime here.