Posted on 12/17/2006 4:59:03 PM PST by blam
Taliban's 'ideological mentor' warns Musharaff
By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 3:13pm GMT 17/12/2006
The cleric accused of being the “ideological mentor” of the Taliban has issued a blunt warning to Pakistan’s president that he risks further radicalising his country if he alienates its religious leaders.
Fazlur Rehman
Fazlur Rehman, the maulana, or senior Muslim cleric who leads Pakistan’s powerful alliance of Islamic parties, used a rare interview with The Daily Telegraph to respond to a recent plea issued by General Pervez Musharraf for Pakistanis not to vote for “hypocrites” and “extremists”.
“With his poisonous propaganda against the religious parties, General Musharaff is trying to widen the gap between the religious circles and the liberals in the country,” said the influential cleric.
The military ruler’s call to Pakistanis to support moderates followed demands from the West to bring more secular parties into a broad-based political agreement in elections loosely scheduled for the end of next year.
But the maulana reminded the general that he holds the key to Pakistan’s controversial policy of bringing peace to the Afghan-Pakistan border where American and Nato troops are battling an increasingly virulent insurgency.
Gen Musharraf recently extricated Pakistan’s army from an unpopular and costly military campaign by brokering a peace agreement with pro-Taliban militants in North Waziristan.
“We have been helping create agreements throughout the tribal areas and what do we get in return? Musharraf calls us dangerous,” said Maulana Rehman.
The corpulent cleric, who is one of Pakistan’s most shrewd and able politicians and heads the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) coalition, is central to the ambivalent policy that has frustrated coalition efforts to extinguish the Taliban.
Maulana Rehman’s own party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), runs hundreds of madrassas, or Muslim seminaries, in areas bordering the Afghan-Pakistan border.
A new report by the Brussels-based think-tank, International Crisis Group, alleged that the schools are used as Taliban recruitment centres and identified the maulana as the Taliban’s “ideological mentor”.
Nato commanders, who believe that the Taliban have sanctuaries in Pakistan, have ordered the madrassas to be listed as part of intelligence gathering on the Taliban.
Along with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) the JUI helped form the Taliban in 1994 and catapult it top power in Afghanistan.
While the maulana denied that his seminaries are used by the Taliban as staging posts in their cross-border activities, he admitted that he directs his followers to support Taliban fighters in Afghanistan by providing “humanitarian aid”.
Pakistani jihad groups operating in Kashmir often used to describe their activities as humanitarian in nature.
“We support anyone who is struggling for the implementation of an Islamic government,” he said. He did not specify the type of assistance provided.
His coalition runs the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and is part of a ruling coalition in Balochistan, the other western border province. He is the son of a prominent religious scholar who has links with key Taliban commanders such as Jalaluddin Haqqani.
Maulana Rehman caused a storm last year when he struck back at accusations levelled by Gen Musharraf that his madrassas were sheltering Taliban fighters.
He announced that the Pakistani government continued to “deceive” the US and the West by helping militants to enter Afghanistan. During the interview the maulana accused Gen Musharaff of deceiving his allies in the war against terror.
“Dressed in uniform, the general is championing the cause of democracy but the nations of the world take no serious notice,” he said.
“He has been fooling the Western world.”
In many ways the maulana’s policy towards Afghanistan is not that dissimilar from Gen Musharraf’s own.
Both men have called for the government of President Hamid Karzai to hold talks with the Taliban believing that the US-led military policy there has failed.
“There can only be peace if foreign forces leave Afghanistan and the Afghan government holds talks with the Taliban,” said the maulana. “They are the sons of the soil.”
While Maulana Rehman is powerful, he is a pragmatic - rather than fire-breathing - cleric when it comes to retaining his influence and sustaining his position in Pakistani society.
He decided not to risk Gen Musharraf’s displeasure by objecting too strongly to an “un-Islamic” bill that recently repealed Pakistan’s controversial rape laws.
Can anyone explain to me why MOSSAD or MI5 or whoever can't take this trash out (including Moqtada al-Sadr and the like) using snipers? The Ruskies seem to have no problems taking out anyone they feel like.
Frederick Forsythe's new book "The Afghan" gives a lot of information about Pakistan and how far they have come along to help the west. Don't buy into the threats and pseudo-intimidation of the clerics. They are feeling the pinch.
'Risks further radicalisation'? How can it be any further radicalised? There comes a time when their is a glut of radicalisation, and by golly, me thinks that they're pretty much already at the apex of radicaslization. Gosh, what a threat from Mr. Murderer from the religion of perpetual outrage. http://sacredscoop.com
Funny how anything you do to Muslims radicalizes them. Appease them or kill them, it makes no difference--they just get more radical. Here's a thought--maybe its fear of the radicals that makes them more radical. I wonder how many would throw of the yoke of that awful religion if they knew they would keep their heads? I suspect most. Muslim immigrants from 30+ years ago were loving the vacation from Islam. Then the imams came and they had to toe the line again.
Very correct- As you state it is ONLY the fear of radicals that make them more radical- somethign the democrats advocate that we all do- fear them, but sadly, they have NOT learned their lessons about hte failures of appeasements thinking 'it might just work this time if we're really sincere' Ya right- sure it will.
"Maulana Rehman’s own party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), runs hundreds of madrassas, or Muslim seminaries, in areas bordering the Afghan-Pakistan border."
I wonder if this guy has seen Zawahiri lately? We haven't heard a word from Z-man since the predator drone destroyed the Bajaur madrassah and killed ninety or so muslim maniacs.
Z-man supposedly frequented that madrassah.
I think the CIA got him.
If they are all hiding away then great. If they are planning Al Isra then maybe we'll know and maybe we won't.
Shoot the clerics and order that the country be opened up to Christian missionaries.
I've been wondering if he's going to send us infidels a Christmas message.
For what it is worth the Afghan Talibans are actually Pakistanis from the border regions of the countries and Pashtu tribesmen.
Afghans do not naturally accept them nor consider them to be Afghans, though the Talibans wield considerable power through religious terrorism.
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