Istehkam-i-Pakistan Sunni Conference: Sunni Ittehad rallies support for elections

Plans for similar conference in Karachi in May, long march to Islamabad in September.

LAHORE:

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) outlined its election manifesto as its Istehkam-i-Pakistan Sunni Conference, billed as a religious event, turned out to be more like a political rally at Minar-i-Pakistan on Sunday.

The speakers at the event condemned terrorist attacks, particularly on shrines, rampant inflation and the presence of American spies in the country, and urged the participants to follow the “true Islam”, but all ended their speeches with a plea for votes for “Sunni candidates” in the next elections.

Some 10,000 people attended the rally. The city government had tried to shift the venue on Saturday night to the nearby Ateeq Stadium, but later relented and allowed the SIC to stage their event at Minar-i-Pakistan. Only one gate at the venue was open where the audience had to walk through security scanners. A large police contingent guarded the venue while SIC volunteers also gave security duty. No women or children were allowed to enter the premises.

Activists of the Sunni Tehrik and Anjuman Talaba-i-Islam scuffled when the former stopped the activists of the latter from getting on the stage. They exchanged kicks and punches and also beat each other with sticks but calmed down when their leaders intervened.

Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chairman Sahibzada Fazle Karim announced at the conference that the group would field candidates in the elections from as many constituencies as possible. He sought promises from the participants not to vote for any non-Sunni candidate.

He said that the SIC would hold a similar conference in Karachi on May 6, and a march from Karachi to Islamabad would begin on September 11. He said the SIC would fight for Islamic rule. He demanded the government form new provinces in south Punjab and the Hazara region. He said when in power, the SIC would ensure equal rights for minorities and women.

SIC vice chairman Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri said although the leadership of the SIC had weaknesses, they would have to be accepted. He alleged that the US and Saudi Arabia were funding the terrorist organisations in Pakistan and were largely responsible for the lack of peace in the country.

He said Sunnis must seek to create a culture of education in their mosques and should cleanse shrines of addicts to revive their status. He said many Sunnis wasted their money on naat sessions and sending people on Umra, when the money would be better spent on charity for the poor or on spreading Islam by educating the illiterate.

Jamaat Ahle Sunnat chief Pir Syed Riaz Hussain Shah accused western countries of conspiring against Muslim countries. He said they were weakening Pakistan politically, morally and culturally. He too said that terrorism in Pakistan was being funded by the US and Saudi governments.

Sunni Tehrik head Sarwat Ijaz Qadri said in the next elections the participants should only vote for those with the slogan, “Ya Rasool Allah.” He said Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was taking suo motu notice against Sunni scholars, when he should be taking suo motu notice of the release of Raymond Davis.

Dr Raghib Naeemi condemned the government for trying to dissolve the Higher Education Commission. He advised the participants to “vote for Islamic revolution” in the next elections. He said they should fight to oust the “traitors” sitting in the assemblies.

Barrister Usman Khizer, Pir Muhammad Safdar Shah Gilani, Saeed Zafar Khichi, Hafiz Kashif Raza, Fazeel Ayaz Qasmi, Dr Ashraf Asif Jalali, Pir Ziaul Mustafa Haqqani and Allama Muhammad Mushtaq Jalali also addressed the crowd.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th,  2011.