LAHORE: There have been some developments during the past two weeks that reveal that in the coming election, elements of the Taliban and al Qaeda have been offered seats in the parliament, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said on Wednesday.
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In a statement, the commission said that before the developments, the security agencies with the help of right-wing parties had also allowed 53 sectarian candidates to contest the election without passing through the sword of articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, which debar any candidate known to be involved in cases of sectarian violence, hate campaigns or having been charged with murder and killings through sectarian violence.
It said that the military officials remained busy in Bajaur Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), close to the Afghan border, to make a deal with the agents of al Qaeda for the coming election. During the time of filing the nomination papers, the military commander of Bajaur Agency, Brigadier Ghulam Haider, held a meeting with the local leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), who, in the past, had direct links with militants of al Qaeda. There are two National Assembly seats from Bajaur Agency, which were assured to the JI. In return, the JI and other jihadi organisations will provide logistic support to those who want to join jihad in Afghanistan from the Pakistani side and extend ‘melmastia’, the traditional tribal hospitality, to mujahideen coming back from Afghanistan.
The commission said that other points of agreement are: the JI will not oppose any operation in Bajaur but rather support them; the JI will not oppose but rather help in constructing the road that connects Afghanistan with Pakistan; and the arrangement will remain intact between the two parties until a favourable government in Afghanistan is installed.
“The reasons for such developments are described as the US and allied forces are leaving Afghanistan next year, so the military has geared up its contacts with those political-cum-religious parties who could help in furthering the interests of Pakistan and the military to establish their major share as a stakeholder,” the commission said in the statement.
“The interesting thing is that when the US and allied forces entered Afghanistan, the religious parties in Pakistan were brought into the power in 2002 election by then military dictator, General Musharraf. Now, when these forces are leaving Afghanistan, there are hectic efforts to bring fundamentalists again into the power, particularly in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).”
It worth mentioning here that the May 11 election is the first-ever party-based election in FATA’s history after the political parties’ order was extended to the tribal belt as part of reforms to the Frontiers Crimes Regulations (FCR) in 2011. Haroon Rasheed and Sardar Khan of JI are contesting elections from the constituencies of NA-43 and NA-44, respectively. Haroon Rasheed was also elected in 2002 on the JI ticket when military needed religious parties to help the military government.
The commission said that the JI leader provided shelter to al Qaeda militants at his house who were wanted at the international level. “In 2009, during the military operation, 10 al Qaeda militants from the Arab countries were recovered who were hiding there since many years. His brother and nephew were arrested, but the brother was released and the nephew was still behind the bar. His house has also been destroyed with many other houses in the Loi Sim area of Bajaur. All destroyed houses were not allowed to be reconstructed but Haroon Rasheed’s house has been renovated as a special case.”
The commission said that the JI and its leaders were involved in providing shelter to al Qaeda militants. “The mastermind of 9/11 incident, Khalid Shiekh Mohammad, was arrested from the house of Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a leader of JI from Rawalpindi, in March 2003, but with the help of the Musharraf government, Qadoos was released and no action has been taken against him. The same was with former provincial mister of KP, Sirajul Haq, the president of JI from the province. He handed over one al Qaeda man to his friend’s house in Durgai, the Malakand Agency. After some years, the al Qaeda militant was arrested by the military, but no action has been taken against Haq and his friend. It was in the era of the Musharraf government when Haq was a senior minister of the province.”
The statement read that last January, in Karachi, two al Qaeda operatives were arrested after a shootout in the house of Sabiha Shahid, another leader of the Jamaat’s women’s wing. Dr Khawaja Javed and his brother, who are facing trial on charges of harbouring senior al Qaeda operatives and their families in their sprawling residential compound outside Lahore, are closely related to a senior Jamaat leader. Similarly, in Karachi, JI activists were involved in a shootout, which helped a third Arab to escape. “We have strong evidence of the Jamaat’s involvement with al Qaeda,” said a senior government official. The Jamaat boasts the most active women’s wing of any political party.
They have been in the forefront of the protests against the arrest of al Qaeda leaders. Many political leaders accuse the Jamaat of using its women members as human shields. Security officials maintain that Jamaat activists, who actively participated in the Afghan war against Soviet occupation, developed close contacts with the Arab fighters and the links continued after the war was over.
“This time, the military has again contacted the JI and other religious groups to induct religious candidates in the parliament so that liberal and secular political parties should not come in a majority and cannot change the Islamic colour of the country. In the recent days, the army chief, General Kiyani, had come out with the announcement that the Islamic ideology is the basis of the creation of Pakistan and it cannot be separated from the country. This announcement has been termed by media circles as ‘pre-poll rigging’,” the commission said.
As the general elections are coming closer, the “military is making arrangements for the induction of al Qaeda and sectarian elements for the next parliament, which will be formed after the May 11 election”, the statement read. “A deal is underway with many jihadi groups and they were assured that the military will make their way in to the parliament but in return they have to extend their help in furthering its interests in Afghanistan by providing safety and security to the jihadi elements.”
It is very much evident from the fact that three political parties, the PPP, MQM and ANP, and other political parties from Balochistan, who are liberal and secular, have been threatened by the Taliban, and are not being allowed to run their election campaigns freely.
Their public meetings are being targeted. On the other hand, political parties who are ‘friends of Taliban’ have full freedom to run their election campaigns. The AHRC urged the caretaker government to stop military intervention in general election. It also called upon the international community to observe the general election and use all possible diplomatic channels to stop the rigging in the coming polls.
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