MEMRI has translated a Pakistani media report detailing comments by the Deputy Leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) Pakistan in which he said the country is “on the verge of a revolution. According to the MEMRI translation:
Maulana Sirajul Haq, Deputy Emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has said that the waves of change in the Arab world are entering Pakistan and that the country is on the verge of revolution, according to an Urdu-language daily. He said that the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest religious-political party, would convey its revolutionary message to millions of people in the country in 2011, according to a report in the Urdu-language daily Roznama Jang. He said that no one can stop the popular urge for positive change which is developing among the people of Pakistan. However, he added that the Jamaat-e-Islami would introduce peaceful changes in the country with the support of people through ballot. In a reference to Raymond Davis, the U.S. official arrested over murder charges in Pakistan, he said that provocative and espionage activities by foreigners in Pakistan are an eye-opener for the Pakistan rulers.
Source: Roznama Jang, Pakistan, February 4, 2011
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.