A regional leader of the Pakistani Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), an political party closely tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood, has indicated that the JEI will be launching a “mass movement” against U.S. anti-terrorist drone attacks sometime in the near future. According to the report:
Maulana Sirajul Haq, a former provincial minister and the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, has described the presence of NATO forces in Afghanistan as dangerous for Pakistan and Iran. The pro-Taliban leader urged Pakistan and Iran to join hands against ‘’the danger.’’ It is shameful for the present Pakistani government that 22 U.S. drone attacks have taken place despite a resolution by the Pakistani parliament to stop them, he added. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader warned that his party will launch a mass movement against the U.S. drone attacks in coming months.
The JEI was founded in 1941 and is Pakistan’s oldest religious party. The party had it’s origins in the thoughts of Maulana Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi (1903-79), the most important Islamist intellectual in the history of Southeast Asia. Maududi was also a major influence on the global Muslim Brotherhood with whom the JEI has long enjoyed close relations. In the United States, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is generally considered to represent the JEI. Previous posts have discussed various anti-American, anti-Indian, anti-Israeli, and anti-Semitic comments made by JEI leaders. Another recent post discussed a 3-day Islamic conference held in late October in Lahore that brought together leaders of the JEI with leaders in the global Muslim Brotherhood,
(Source for MEMRI report: Wrazpanra Wahdat, Pakistan, December 17, 2008)