New Trend Magazine (snippet 5 From eyewitness account of Pakistan)
Peaceful Islamic Movement Confident of Musharref's Defeat
Munawar Hasan: Learned, Humble, Thoughtful, Fearless
{See below Pentagon's Gen. Myers nibbling at humble pie.}
{Ambassador Abdus Salam Zaeef's betrayal by Musharref is an
international
crime which will endanger relations between countries - Observers say.}
Our representative in Pakistan has just reported three meetings
with
Syed Munawar Hasan, interim Ameer of Jamaate Islami Pakistan. Of these,
one
was a formal meeeting, the second was a one-on-one interview and the
third
resulted from participation in an informal discussion group.
Munawar Hasan is in charge of Jamaate Islami following the arrest
of
Qazi Hussain Ahmed by the Musharref regime. He has risen through the
ranks of
JI and has solid Islamic credentials. Our representative saw him as:
1. Very learned in Islamic knowledge.
2. Very discerning in the knowledge of Pakistani "facts on the ground."
3. He comes across as a practical activist: without illusions but
confident
of the strength and resilence of Jamaate Islami.
4. In his personal life, he seems to be pious, humble, kind and
forthright.
{His wife is a leading activist in the Islamic women's movement in
Pakistan.}
Here are some of the points Munawar Hasan made in his interview and
discussion with New Trend's representative:
THE CONFLICT IN AFGHANISTAN and KASHMIR is the BEGINNING OF A LONG
WAR. What
we have seen are the first episodes, perhaps incidents, not even
battles, of
a long-drawn-out war.
MR. MUSHARREF CANNOT DEFEAT OR CRUSH THE CULTURE and SPIRIT of JIHAD.
The
families and relatives of the martyrs of Kashmir can now be found all
over
the country and have affected the people's attitude towards jihad.
(Mothers
offering their second son for jihad after the martyrdom of the first,
is
quite a common phenomenon. The parents of martyrs do not cry.)
The spirit of jihad has entering many families which were
previously
secularized.
The army too has both secular and Islamic elements in it. Mr.
Musharref
promised the army a number of "goods" from the U.S. but has failed to
deliver.
Public opinion in Pakistan is VERY STRONGLY AGAINST THE U.S.
bombing of
Afghanistan. It rose from 66% opposing the bombing in November to 85%
opposing it in December and January. The U.S. has very few friends here
outside the Musharref camp.
NEW TREND brought the issue of hypocrisy among Pakistani Muslims.
Munawar Hasan's response was that that Pakistani hypocrites are
munafiqeen of
'amal not of aqeedah. Which means that even those Pakistanis who are
lackadaisical in their religious performance and practice do retain the
kernel of Islamic faith which can sprout and develop when nurtured
properly.
On the issue of Pakistani military sealing the borders to stop
al-Qaeda
and Taliban from entering the country, the JI interim Ameer said that
there
is strong resentment among the people owing to these unIslamic acts and
Mr.
Musharref will have to face the consequences of his actions.
{Musharref stopped the bodies of Pakistani martyrs killed in Mazar
Sharif in
U.S. bombing from being brought for burial to their home town in
Karachi.}
On the arrest of Qazi Hussain Ahmed, JUI leader Maulana Fazlur
Rahman,
and others, Munawar Hasan said that these steps are not going to stop
the
movement and are proving counterproductive for the regime. {The JI
leader has
condemned the arrest of Hafiz Saeed, leader of Lashkare Tayba.}
Munawar sahib expressed disappointment over the stance of Iran
during the
U.S. assault, but overall he was CONFIDENT OF THE VICTORY OF THE
ISLAMIC
MOVEMENT IN PAKISTAN and the defeat of the Musharref regime.
New Trend brought this point that the Islamic organizations are
ineffective because they are disunited while the U.S.-backed groups,
though
small, work together very well. Munawar sahib said that unity will
develop as
the segments of the Islamic movement work together and the current
crisis has
brought them closer. Unity will come through the process of the
struggle
rather than through any declarations.
About Karachi, Munawar sahib pointed out that there are TWO
Karachis:
The Karachi of 10 million people who are trying to live as Muslims and
for
whom the mosque is an important focus to their lives.
The other is the Karachi of westernized clubs (the Karachi of
Defense
Housing Society) where people live as if they are living in America.
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The movement Munawar Hasan leads is an unarmed, peaceful
movement. New
Trend asked Munawar sahib what would happen if Musharref or other
generals
tried the Algerian "solution" to the Islamic movement, bringing in
tanks to
crush the people? Munawar sahib did not think such a situation could
emerge
in Pakistan. This New Trend considers it JI's weakness: the inability
to face
the fact that U.S. -backed forces can be utterly ruthless. On the other
hand,
peaceful movements can be transformed by such ruthless acts. In
Kashmir, JI's
indigenous affiliate, Hizbul Mujahidin, is armed and fighting the
Indian
army. (Report ends)
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DURING A PENTAGON BRIEFING on January 8, 2001, General Myers made
the
following statement: "Al-Qaida is still a viable organization."
Earlier, on January 7, Rear Admiral Stufflebeem seemed quite
frustrated
when he pointed out that fighting Al-Qaida is like "chasing shadows."
He also
admitted that there were no signs of Osama (or other Islamic leaders
like
al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar) and the U.S. is simply going to stop
answering
the question that where is UBL (they spell him with a U). Instead the
U.S.
will concentrate on fighting Al-Qaeda units "ALL OVER AFGHANISTAN." (In
December the U.S. said "Al-Qaida is finished." That was the euphoria of
the
Tora Bora bombing high.)
Observers say, the U.S. is nibbling at humble pie. The top brass
are
admitting that their THREE MONTH LONG BOMBING CAMPAIGN HAS FAILED TO
DESTROY
or DEFEATal-Qaeda. In fact Al-Qaeda is regrouping, the U.S. admitted.
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2002-01-09 Wed 21:19ct