The Religious Godfather of the Punjabi Taliban: Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi
The Religious Godfather of the Punjabi Taliban: Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi
Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, the elder brother of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) infamy is probably the most notable Islamic ideologue in Pakistan’s rapidly radicalizing society (The Nation [Lahore], July 3, 2007). [1] With a following of thousands of diehard Islamists who believe in the cause of al-Qaeda and Taliban, Abdul Aziz and his late brother Abdul Rasheed Ghazi were the first ones who actually tried to establish a micro-Taliban state within Pakistan through militant means. This attempt was thwarted by a devastating military crackdown yet it set a precedent and emboldened other fellow travelers who tried to mimic the Ghazis’ methods on a larger scale in Swat and Buner districts later on (Dawn, July 26, 2007). Situated in Islamabad’s G-6 sector known as Aapara, Aziz’s Lal Masjid has become a hub for the syndicate of militants collectively known as Punjabi Taliban. His graduates, working closely with al-Qaeda in Pakistan, are responsible for masterminding and implementing some of the deadliest attacks on Pakistan’s security apparatus.
Abdul Aziz Ghazi’s primary achievement has been declaring “jihad against [the] Pakistani government” on behalf of Pakistan’s jihadist community. The syndicate of Punjabi Taliban is actually a loose group of independent militant outfits that Aziz has been able to draw together to achieve a common goal of bringing down the secularized government in Pakistan that radicals and hardline conservatives alike deem un-Islamic. Successfully shifting the center of gravity of insurgency from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to settled cities and districts, Abdul Aziz has used a unique approach of socioeconomic reform to win the hearts of impoverished Pakistanis, which distinguishes him from jihadi stereotypes in Pakistan.
Released triumphantly last year on bail from Adia Jail after more than two years detention, Abdul Aziz Ghazi continues to threaten the state of Pakistan with suicide attacks and his brand of violent Islamism (The News International [Karachi], April 16, 2009; Dawn, April 17, 2009). With the aid of a sophisticated web forum, which connects him with his followers and the wider global jihadi community, he communicates with his supporters through recorded messages and provocative jihadi anthems. With strong links to Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mullah Muhammed Omar, Aziz’s Lal Masjid complex functions as al-Qaeda’s regional public relations center in Pakistan. Important publications and messages from al-Qaeda Central are immediately translated into Urdu and made available to likeminded individuals. The transition of Taliban supporters into a mainstream radical force of change in Pakistan’s settled areas was initiated when Abdul Aziz, after the Lal Masjid 4, called for “Shari’a ya shahada” (Islamic law or martyrdom). Many small militant outfits, previously operating independently, rallied around him and answered his call. Today, he has become the godfather of the so-called Punjabi Taliban and is treated with enormous reverence within jihadi circles.
Background
Abdul Aziz is an ethnic Baloch hailing from the Sadwani clan of the Mazari tribe in the town of Rojhan in southern Punjab Province, near its junction with the Balochistan and Sindh provinces in central Pakistan (BBC Urdu, July 11, 2007). Pakistan’s then-military ruler, General Zia-ul-Haq, was very close to Ghazi’s father, Maulana Qari Abdullah, because of the latter’s support for jihad in Afghanistan. Abdullah, described as the Lal Masjid’s founder, was appointed khateeb (“he who delivers sermon in Friday prayers”) in the government-supported Lal Masjid in Islamabad during the reign of Muhammed Ayub Khan. After graduating from the Deobandi-style Jamia Uloom ul Islamia seminary in Karachi’s Binori Town area, Aziz returned to the Lal Masjid in the 1980s where he and his father worked closely with the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and oversaw recruitment and training of Afghan mujahideen. After the assassination of his father on the mosque’s grounds in 1998, Aziz was officially appointed khateeb until 2005 when Musharraf ousted him. Aziz loudly deplored Musharraf’s decision to become America’s ally in the War on Terror and became even more vocal when Pakistan began fighting its own citizens in a bid to reverse the expanding Talibanization of the FATA. Musharraf dismissed Aziz for issuing a specific fatwa saying that, “none of the army officers who were killed during the fight in the tribal areas was [sic] a martyr and do not deserve a Muslim funeral and burial in Muslim cemeteries.” His dismissal led to violence and triggered a chain of events that ended with the battle of the Lal Masjid and catalyzed the insurgency the world is witnessing in Pakistan today.
Methods
Frustrated by the ambivalence of Pakistanis over Musharraf’s acquiescence to American pressure, Aziz tried a more domestic approach to mobilize people and called for massive social reforms as well as the replacing of Pakistan’s parliamentary system with a strict Shari’a code. In his “Proposed Blueprint of Islamic System” that he distributed throughout the country, Aziz took a reformist stance and called for a collective effort to overhaul the existing system by providing people easy access to justice, something that is hard to come by in Pakistan, bringing an end to corruption and lawlessness. [2]
In a display of his vision for Pakistan’s future, he set up a rogue Shari’a court inside the Lal Masjid and began hearing cases. Advocating vigilantism to repair a “rotten” society, Abdul Aziz and his brother Abdul Rasheed Ghazi sent teams of armed students to issue warnings to neighbors, local shop owners, and law enforcement personnel to either abide by their version of Shari’a law or brace for adverse consequences (Daily Times [Lahore], July 1, 2007). Kidnappings of defiant neighbors brought attention to the Lal Masjid within a few days and the Ghazi brothers gained respect among Islamic hardliners. When a group of militant female students from the adjoining Jamia Hafsa seminary kidnapped seven Chinese expatriate workers from a nearby massage parlor on charges of “promoting obscenity” in the city, the situation greatly escalated. Musharraf, under pressure from Beijing, Pakistan’s old Cold War ally, cracked down on the mosque in July of 2007 (Xinhua, June 26, 2007).
Abdul Aziz, under instructions from his “friends” attempted to escape the mosque by disguising himself as a burka-clad woman, but was embarrassingly captured and paraded on Pakistani television. In contrast, his outspoken brother Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, the public face of the mosque to the international media, was ordered by these same “friends” to keep fighting. Ghazi was finally shot and killed in the complex’s basement. After the battle was over, officials discovered messages sent by al-Zawahiri when sifting though the rubble. Whether or not Abdul Aziz and his brother were operating under direct instructions from al-Zawahiri remains an open question. In any case, al-Qaeda’s concern over the siege provides more than enough insight into its interest in Lal Masjid (The Sunday Times, July 15, 2007). [3]
Aftermath
Although the siege’s end brought temporary relief to the streets of Islamabad, it undoubtedly emboldened Islamists across the region. The military’s perceived brutality angered radicals and jihadists and earned Aziz enormous public sympathy and enshrined his legitimacy. Al-Qaeda seized the opportunity to mobilize like-minded religious centers of power to wage jihad against an “un-Islamic” military government in Pakistan. In a rare address directed to the Pakistani people and their clerics, al-Zawahiri called for “qital fi sabilillah” (a fight or struggle on the path of God) against Pakistan’s security forces for perceived aggression in the Lal Masjid debacle and maltreatment of Abdul Aziz Ghazi. [4]
Several new militant outfits sprung up in Punjab, the country’s most populous and wealthiest province, to avenge the killings of the Lal Masjid martyrs. The Ghazi Force was formed by Abdul Aziz’s students and is responsible for some of the deadliest suicide attacks in Pakistan. With its training camp in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province’s Hangu district, the Ghazi Force, in coordination with anti-Shia terror groups Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, has been instrumental in forging an alliance of militants in Pakistan’s settled areas. [5] Proof of Aziz’s patronage to the Ghazi Force surfaced last year when the outfit’s top leader Fidaullah was captured outside his house in Islamabad (The News International [Karachi], June 1, 2009).
Conclusion
Aziz—proud of having sacrificed for his cause—is one of the most celebrated figures in the Pakistani jihadi community and continues to command respect of top al-Qaeda leadership. The Lal Masjid incident has undoubtedly transformed the nature of insurgency in Pakistan from being externally focused on Kashmir, India and Afghanistan to waging an internal jihad against the state. Surrounded by his loyal followers, he seems very confident about the prospect of bringing Shari’a law to Pakistan very soon. Abdul Aziz, reflecting on the magnitude and reach of the Lal Masjid siege, stated that his disciples would not have achieved this massive success even “if we struggled for 1000 years” (Toronto Star, February 16).
Notes
1. According to a Pew Global Attitudes survey entitled “Pakistani Public Opinion” released in August 2009, a growing percentage of Pakistanis favor strict implementation of Shari’a and corporal punishments. A survey, which claimed to cover 90 percent of Pakistan’s adult population, revealed that 83 percent support stoning people who commit adultery; 80 percent favor punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery; and 78 percent support the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion.
2. Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, “Islami nizam ka mujawwiza khaka (Urdu)” (Proposed blueprint of Islamic system), Lal Masjid website (https://www.jamiah-hafsa.com/)
3. Video message from Ayman Al Zawahiri released by al-Qaeda’s as-Sahab media wing in English titled “The Aggression against Lal Masjid,” (AP, July 11, 2007)
4. Ibid.
5. On April 15, the Northwest Frontier Province was officially renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province in a long awaited move affirmed by the Pakistani senate (Dawn, April 15).
