Sipah-e-Sahaba
سپاہِ صحابہ
FoundersHaq Nawaz Jhangvi #
Isar ul Haq Qasmi X
Zia ur Rehman Farooqi #
Azam Tariq X
Political leaderMuhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi
PresidentAwrangzib Faruqi
Split fromJamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)
Split toLashkar-e-Jhangvi
MotivesIslamic Understanding of Companions Respect.
Active regionsPakistan
IdeologyDeobandi fundamentalism
Sunni Islamism
Islamic fundamentalism
Takfirism[1][2]
Anti-Shi'ism
StatusActive
Part ofPakistan Rah-e-Haq Party
ColorsBlack, White, Red, green
    

The Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP),[lower-alpha 1] also known as the Millat-e-Islamiyya (MI),[lower-alpha 2] is a Sunni Islamist organisation in Pakistan. Founded by Pakistani cleric Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1989 after breaking away from Sunni Deobandi party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), it was based in Jhang, Punjab, but had offices in all of Pakistan's provinces and territories.[3][4] It operated as a federal and provincial political party until it was banned and outlawed as a terrorist organization by Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf in 2002 Though it has been banned by the Pakistani government on numerous occasions, the SSP has continued to operate under a different name throughout the country;[5][6] it has significant underground support in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The organization was also banned by the United Kingdom, where there is a significant Pakistani diaspora population, in 2001.[7]

On 26 June 2018, before that year’s election, the Pakistani government lifted a 2012 ban on the SSP and removed the terrorist designation for certain SSP officials.[8][9][10]

The organization's current political front is the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party, under which they contested the 2018 general election and the 2020 Gilgit–Baltistan Assembly election.[11]

1985-1988
1985
1988-1996
1988
1996
1996

History

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan was formed in 1985 by Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, Zia ur Rehman Farooqi, Isar-ul-Haq Qasmi and Azam Tariq in 1985 originally as Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba in Jhang, Pakistan.[6][12][13][1] The original purpose was to fight Shi'ite landlords dominance in Jhang and surrounding areas in a majority Sunni population.[12] Later, they became violent and started to attack Shi'ite Muslims.[12] From 1980s, they are involved in various terrorist activities and murder of thousands of Shi'ites. They are operating all over Pakistan and are politically active having large vote bank in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).[12] They are widely organized and have more than five hundred offices throughout country.[12][1]

In 1996, many left the group and formed another organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).[12]

In 2002, Pervez Musharraf government declared the group as terrorist organization and was banned.[12] However, later, they renamed it and launched it under the name of Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan.[12][1] They were again banned in 2003.[12] After the death of Azam Tariq, Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi was selected as the president. Later, in 2003, they changed their name to Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat.[1] (At least as of 2014 it was still using ASWJ.)[14][15]

A leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba was a minister in the coalition Government in Punjab in 1993 and the group has held seats in the Pakistan National Assembly.[4][6]

When Jhangvi was assassinated in 1990 by presumed Shi'a militants, Zia ur Rehman Farooqi assumed leadership of the group. Zia ur Rehman Farooqi died in a bomb explosion on 19 January 1997 at the Lahore Session Court.[6] After his death, Azam Tariq led the group until October 2003, when he was also killed in an attack widely attributed to the militant Shi'a organization Sipah-e-Muhammad, along with four others.[4][6]

Its leader (sarparast-aala), Ali Sher Haideri, was killed in an ambush in 2009.[16] Then Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi was selected as sarparast-e-aala with Aurangzaib Farooqi as the president of the organization.[17][18]

Leadership

(From 1985 to 2012)

  • Haq Nawaz Jhangvi (September 1985 to February 22, 1990): Killed[1]
  • Isar Qasmi (February 1990 to January 1991): Killed[1]
  • Zia ul-Rehman Farooqi (1991 to January 18, 1997): Killed[1]
  • Muhammad Azam Tariq (January 1997 to October 6, 2003): Killed[1]
  • Ali Sher Hyderi (October 2003 to August 17, 2009): Killed[1]
  • Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi (August 2009 to Present : (as of 2012) [1]

Activities

Target killings and militancy

According to Stanford University "Mapping Militant Organizations writing as of February 2012, the "primary methods" of SSP

are targeted killings of prominent Shias – including political activists, doctors, businessmen and intellectuals .[19] In addition to targeting Shias, the SSP has also been implicated in attacks on members of the Ahmadi sect and followers of the Barelvi school of Sunni Islam. The SSP's actions have spurred a cycle of violence and assassinations and several of its leaders have been killed – including Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1990, Isar ul-Qasmi in 1991, Zia ul-Rehman Farooqi in 1997, and Azam Tariq in 2003.[1]

Organizational infrastructure

The organization has 500 offices and branches in all provinces of Pakistan including Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. It also has approximately 300,000 registered workers in Pakistan and 17 branches in countries including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Canada and the United Kingdom.[4]

Publications

Its regular publications include the monthlies Khilafat-e-Rashida, Aab-e-Hayat and Genius.[20]

Affiliations

  • In 1996 elements within the Sipah-e-Sahaba who did not believe the organisation violent enough left to form the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.[6]
  • In October 2000, Masood Azhar, founder of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, was quoted as saying that "Sipah-e-Sahaba stands shoulder to shoulder with Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jihad."[6] A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable described it as "another Sipah-e-Sahaba breakaway Deobandi organisation."[21]
  • A diplomatic cable, originally dated 23 October 2009 and later leaked to the media, from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad indicated that Qari Hussain, a leading militant of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, had roots in the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba and that many of the Taliban's foot soldiers are from Sipah-e-Sahaba ranks.[21]
  • According to Animesh Roul, Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jamat is a front group for SSP, and is also banned in Pakistan.[22]

Notelist

  1. ↑ Urdu: سپاہِ صحابہ, lit. 'Army of the Prophet's Companions'
  2. ↑ Urdu: ملت اسلامیہ, lit. 'Nation of Islam'

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "MAPPING MILITANT ORGANIZATIONS. Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan". Stanford University. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  2. ↑ Murphy, Eamon (2013). The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan: Historical and Social Roots of Extremism. Routledge. pp. 129, 131. ISBN 9780415565264.
  3. ↑ B. Raman, "Musharraf's Ban: An Analysis", South Asia Analysis Group, Paper no. 395, 18 January 2002
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Pakistan: The Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), including its activities and status (January 2003 – July 2005)". Refworld. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 26 July 2005. PAK100060.E. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Hasan, Syed Shoaib (9 March 2012). "Pakistan bans Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaat Islamist group". BBC News. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan". SATP. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Police probe Scottish mosque figures' links to banned sectarian group". BBC News Online. 31 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Govt lifts ban on ASWJ, unfreezes assets of its chief Ahmed Ludhianvi". The Express Tribune. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "Pakistan removes ASWJ leader Ahmed Ludhianvi from terrorist watchlist". Samaa TV. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  10. ↑ "Pakistan removes radical Sunni leader Maulana Ludhianvi from terrorist watchlist ahead of election". Hindustan Times. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  11. ↑ "Ominous signs: the rise of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party". Ominous signs: the rise of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party. The News International. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) - Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  13. ↑ Sohail Mahmood (1995). Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan, Egypt and Iran. Vanguard. p. 434. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  14. ↑ Rafiq, Arif (November 2014). "Pakistan's Resurgent Sectarian War" (PDF). United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  15. ↑ Group, International Crisis (2022). A New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan. International Crisis Group. pp. Page 8–Page 14. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  16. ↑ "Leader of banned Pakistan militant group shot dead". Reuters. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  17. ↑ "ASWJ local leader killed in Rawalpindi, central leader attacked in Karachi".
  18. ↑ Kalbe Ali; Munawer Azeem (29 March 2017). "Ludhianvi hopeful of ASWJ's 'unbanning'". DAWN. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  19. ↑ Hassan Abbas, Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2005), p. 167; Amir Mir, The True Face of Jehadis (Lahore: Mashal Books, 2004), pp. 171-2.
  20. ↑ Muhammad Amir Rana, "Jihadi Print Media in Pakistan: An Overview" in Conflict and Peace Studies, vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct-Dec 2008), p. 4
  21. 1 2 "2009: Southern Punjab extremism battle between haves and have-nots". DAWN. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  22. ↑ Roul, Animesh (26 June 2015). "Growing Islamic State Influence in Pakistan Fuels Sectarian Violence". Terrorism Monitor. 13 (13). Retrieved 30 June 2015.
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