A Pashtu-language newspaper is reporting that the head of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), a Pakistani political party closely associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood, has threatened to block the key route for supplies to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. According to the report:
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has threatened to block the main Peshawar-Torkham road, the key route through which supplies for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan are sent. Addressing a public rally in Peshawar attended by an estimated 10,000 people, the Jamaat-e-Islami leader asked the Pakistani government to stop the supplies to the U.S. and NATO troops if the U.S. does not immediately cease missile attacks on Pakistani soil. He added: “NATO forces fire missiles on the same areas through which goods are being supplied to them. Our people can’t tolerate this anymore.” During the rally, thousands of protesters shouted slogans against the government and vowed to shut down the supply route for the allied troops. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader added that people in Afghanistan and Iraq are fighting for their freedom and they will oust American forces soon from these countries. Islamabad should stop following the American policies, he added.
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. JEI leaders have also recently threatened to launch a “mass movement” against U.S. anti-terrorist drone attacks sometime in the near future.
(Source for MEMRI report: Wrazpanra Khabroona, Pakistan. December 19, 2008;)