ISLAMABAD:
Fearing a law and order situation, the city administration on Wednesday decided to restrict senior leaders of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) from entering Islamabad. They were to lead a rally planned for Thursday to observe the death anniversary of former SSP chief Maulana Azam Tariq.
SSP now operates freely under the name of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jama’at (ASWJ).
Officials in the administration said the Islamabad chief commissioner banned the entry of Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi and Malik Ishaq. Ishaq is already under house arrest in Jhang, his hometown.
The SSP activists were also barred from holding a rally that would converge at D-Chowk in front of the Parliament House. However, they were allowed to hold a gathering at Aabpara Community Centre, in the heart of the city.
“Earlier, they had asked for permission to take the rally to D-Chowk, but the administration denied them,” said an official of the Islamabad administration. They were “requested” to cancel the rally and to restrict their gathering to the community centre, added the official.
Strict security arrangements have been planned for the gathering, with more than three hundred police officials including riot police to be deployed at the venue for the gathering.
Police said they anticipate that hundreds of people will come for the prayer and arrangements were made accordingly.
Maulana Abdur Razzaq Haideri, local ASWJ leader and the administrator of G-9 Markaz mosque, is likely to lead the prayers at the community centre. He is one of several senior leadership of the organisation that were informed that they would not be allowed to go beyond the community centre.
“They assured us that they will cooperate with the administration and the police and remain in the designated area,” said an administration official.
Banners and posters were displayed around the city inviting people to attend the rally and the special prayers that are being held to “remember” Maulana Azam Tariq, who was gunned down near toll plaza in Islamabad in 2003.
Following the assassination of the former SSP leader, his supporters went on a rampage in the city and burned down a cinema hall in Melody Market, killing two people inside.
SSP was banned for being a terrorist outfit in 2002. The organisation, which has a sectarian, anti-Shia ideology, is also believed to be linked with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. According to the late Minority Affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, SSP was behind the Gojra riots, while Wikileaks cables identified a number of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan members as having their origins in the SSP.
Although suspicions of the organisations links with terrorism and sectarianism were suspected much before the ban, Azam Tariq was elected MNA from Jhang on no less than three occasions, the last being in 2002.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ