Pakistani media is reporting on a meeting organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan that has described the U.S.’s new Afghan policy as “a declaration of war against the tribesmen in Pakistan’s tribal region.” According to a MEMRI translation of a report in the Urdu language Roznam Express:
A jirga (meeting) organized by Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan has described the U.S.’s new Afghan policy as a declaration of war against the tribesmen in Pakistan’s tribal region, according to an Urdu-language daily. The jirga was organized in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The Jirga, presided over by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan, passed a resolution against the U.S., India and Israel. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express, the resolution noted: “In order to accomplish their objectives [in South Asia], the U.S., India and Israel are hatching a conspiracy to start ethnic and national unrest in Pakistan.” “Their agenda is to deprive Muslims of their identity and culture; disintegrate this country [Pakistan] and to prove the Pakistani nuclear assets of Pakistan to be insecure,” adding that the people of the tribal areas are well aware of these conspiracies and the Jamaat-e-Islami stands by them to foil these plots. “The U.S.’s relationship with the tribesmen is that of a master with its slave and is in no way acceptable to the tribesmen,” the resolution said, urging the Pakistani government to adopt a policy ‘‘free of U.S. slavery and that immediately stops’’ military operations against the Taliban.
Recent posts have discussed statements by Mr. Hasan in which he blamed terrorism on “U.S. tyranny” and where he accused the West of being the “real terrorists”, complaining that Western societies will not allow Muslims to practice Islam in their daily lives, labeling practices such as jihad as terrorism.
The JEI was founded in 1941 and is Pakistan’s oldest religious party. The party had its origins in the thought 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. ICNA has a particularly close relationship with the Muslim American Society (MAS), a part of the U.S. Brotherhood, and the two organizations have been holding joint conferences in recent years. In addition, many past and present leaders of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), also part of the U.S. Brotherhood, have backgrounds that are strongly associated with JEI. One notable example is India-born Muzammil Siddiqi, a past ISNA president and leader of the Fiqh Council of North America. A previous post has discussed a recent speaking invitation by ISNA to another JEI leader.
Source: Roznama Express, Pakistan, January 15, 2010