‘Discreet’ ban: Religious right reject reports of ASWJ ban

Chief says none of their offices sealed yet.


Rabia Mehmood March 11, 2012

LAHORE:


Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) has hit back at reports of a government ban saying it was slapped at the behest of the United States.


“Attempts at banning ASWJ are on the directives of the US,” Chairperson Maulana Ahmad Ali Ludhianvi told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

The government has not sealed any of ASWJ offices, thus far, Ludhianvi said.

“We have learnt about the ban in a BBC report. We haven’t received any official intimation,” he added.

Earlier, the BBC Urdu reported that the government has discreetly banned the ASWJ, citing a notification issued by the Interior Ministry two weeks ago.

The ASWJ was suspected to have been involved in terrorism related activities of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, the defunct terror group, in the notification.

Meanwhile, a local paper added that the recently issued notification also includes the names Shia Talba Tanzeem, People’s Amn Committee and Tanzeem Naujawanan-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Gilgit.

ASWJ ‘school of thought’

“In the last few months, we have been peacefully rallying support for the country’s defence with Difa-e-Pakistan (DPC) rallies. Which of our activity warrants a ban,” asked Ludhianvi.

“Ahl-e-Sunnat is a school of thought and not an organisation, so we consider this as a ban on the followers of Ahle-e-Sunnat,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Information Secretary Anwar Niazi said that his party would condemn any attempt to ban ASWJ. JI is also a component party of DPC.

“Each time a ban is slapped on a religious organisation, it is either on the instructions of the United States or given by pro-US elements in the government,” Niazi told The Express Tribune. “ASWJ are all patriotic Pakistanis,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2012.

COMMENTS (3)

Mogambo | 12 years ago | Reply

What muslims? the one sect of the muslims stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the US and Israel.

A S | 12 years ago | Reply

The right and true ways of Muslims is to come together to join hands with each other in the localities where they live in order to create the Authority of Lord Almighty by creating a caring and responsible society of the people, by the people, for the people. When there were just a few hundred Muslims they had no trouble in coming together to organise their co-operative collective community to create the Authority of no man but of Lord Almighty. When they did so they won and won and then never looked back. They won hearts and minds of tribes after tribes, nations after nations as friends and allies. Why and how? They organised a just system of the people, by the people, for the people by organising their co-operative collective community. What are we today? Losers. Why? We are not true Muslims as were those trail blazers. They never erected those artificial barriers as we do of this Jamaaut, that Jamaaut. All these Jamaauts are there just because they rally not round Lord Almighty. They rally round their human allahs they create themselves. Those true Muslims were united, just because they all rallied round one Lord Almighty and no man.

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