Mr
Altaf Hussain, MQM Founder and Leader, has said that the
righteous ulemas (religious scholars) must issue a fatwaa,
according to the jurisprudence (sharia, principles of Qisas &
Diyat) as to who would be held responsible for the murder of
innocent Taliban and innocent Afghanis in the name of Jihad?
Either on the Taliban or those who created Taliban, preached them
of jihad, trained them, armed them and sent them to Afghanistan
and deserted them after the announcement of US attacks following
September 11, 2001. Mr Hussain was addressing a gathering
of ulemas, belonging to different schools of thoughts, maslak
and fiqahs, at the Iftaar at Khursheed Begum
Memorial Hall in Azizabad, Karachi on Monday. Members of
MQM Coordination Committee and former members of Provincial and
National Assemblies also attended the Iftaar.
Speaking on
the situation in Afghanistan, Mr Hussain said that as a result of
the war against terrorism, numerous innocent Afghan youth,
elderly, women and children are being murdered, who are neither
Taliban nor the ones who created the Taliban. Whereas those who
created Taliban, preached them of jihad, trained them, armed them
and sent them to Afghanistan to end Rabbani’s Government,
have now deserted the Taliban after the announcement of US
attacks following 11 September 2001. Mr Hussain said that
the righteous ulemas (religious scholars) must issue a fatwaa,
according to the sharia, principles of Qisas & Diyat, that
who would be held responsible for the murder of innocent Taliban
and innocent Afghanis in the name of Jihad or as a result of the
US and Allied bombing? Either on the Taliban or those who created
Taliban, armed them in the name of jihad, funded them, trained
them, sent them to Afghanistan and deserted them in the time of
need.Mr Hussain asked what kind of role was it that three days before 11 September, it was being declared that the Taliban Government is independent and autonomous, we recognise them and the world should also recognise them, however, the Taliban is deserted and abandoned within a day after 11 September, when the US announced to act against the Taliban. Similarly in 1971, the Pakistani Army deserted hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis in Bangladesh, who sided with the Army to save Pakistan. After 30 years, millions of stranded Pakistanis are miserably living in the Red Cross Camps. The borders of their own country has been closed for them. He asked, who is responsible for the sufferings of these stranded Pakistanis, their sisters and daughters? Similarly, during the Pakistan Movement, the Muslims of Minority Provinces were hoodwinked in the name of two-nation theory. They were misguided that Pakistan would be the nation for all the Muslims of the Subcontinent. However, after the creation of Pakistan, the borders were closed for the Muslims of the Minority Provinces and they were left on their own in India. Who would be held responsible for bloodshed of millions of Muslim youth, elderly, women and innocent children during the struggle for the creation of Pakistan?
Mr Hussain
said that today, the US officials are stating that if Osama Bin
Laden or Mullah Omer are given refuge in the tribal areas of
Pakistan then those areas would also be bombarded. Mr
Hussain asked that who would be held responsible if innocent
civilians would die as a result of this bombardment upon tribal
areas? Mr Hussain said that where are those who were daily
protesting against United States, carrying out processions armed
with kalashinkovs and were announcing to wage jihad along with
the Taliban? He said that Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazl-Ur-
Rehman, Maulana Sami –Ul- Haque, Maulana Noorani and other
so-called religious and jihadi leaders, who were claiming to
support Taliban. They should have gone along with their convoy to
Afghanistan and laid down their lives alongside the fighters of
the Taliban to prove the truthfulness of their claims. He
said that for the past 54 years, to serve their own interest and
rule, the Pakistani Establishment, imprudent civil and military
rulers have formulated defective policies and as a result,
Pakistan is now in a position, where it has no friends in the
South Asia Region.Referring to Benazir’s India visit, Mr Hussain said that uproar was raised when he expressed his wish to write a letter to the Muslims of India and inform them of the plight of Mohajirs and innocent Sindhi people in Pakistan. He said that in the past when he had said that he would visit India and meet with the Muslims of India, venomous columns were written against him, he was branded as an Indian agent, however, what would the people say on the Indian visit of Benazir? Mr Altaf Hussain said, “when Army Generals, High Officials, political and religious leaders, intellectuals and even Benazir could visit India then why could he not go there? I have also been invited to visit India and from the Sajjada Nasheen of Hazrat Khwaja Nizam Uddin AulyaRH to visit the Dargah in Delhi” and also by the Gaddi Nashhen of Khawaja Sahab of Ajmer Sharif. Addressing all the ulemas, Mr Hussain sought for their permission to visit India to visit the Dargah of Hazrat Nizam Uddin Aulya and the Darbar of Khawaja Sahab at Ajmer Sharif, other revered personalities and to meet the Muslims of India. The ulemas unanimously replied that he should visit India.
Mr Altaf Hussain said that MQM is the only political party of the country, which is practically struggling for sectarian harmony amongst different schools of thoughts, maslak and fiqahs. Everyone respect each other and embrace each other. He said that we believe that no one is allowed to coerce their fiqah or maslak upon others. Everyone should stay on their fiqah, maslak and belief; and must not provoke others fiqah, maslak and belief. Mr Hussain said that the one who believes in the Oneness of Almighty Allah and the Prophethood of Mohammad (PBUH); and worship Allah Almighty, keeps away from dishonesty, fraud, mischief, provocation – the Allah Almighty accepts his worship. Those who confront people against each other in the name of fiqah or maslak, they are neither the friends of Islam nor of the fiqah or maslak. He said that until yesterday, he was the only one and now the entire world is stating that in Pakistan it is not the ulemas who are responsible for spreading sectarian tension, in fact it is the Establishment of the country, which orchestrated sectarian massacres and attacked the mosques and imambargahs killing innocent people.
He further
said that the Establishment through their agents targeted the
Shia people, particularly the Shia ulemas and intellectuals. He
said that he has always condemned the barbaric killings of
innocent people despite the fact that he was dubbed as Shia
agent, accused me of taking money from the Iranian Embassy, some
said that Altaf Hussain is himself a “shia” and his
real name is Altaf Hussain Jaffri. He said, “if
promoting sectarian harmony amongst Muslims is termed as “shia”
then I am proud of being a shia.” He said, “If I
say that do not murder of Hindus without any reason and for this
I am labelled as Agent of Hindus. If I say that in your
city or country, it is wrong and immoral to damage the worship
places of the Christians, Parsees and people of other religion;
and if I were labelled as the Agent of Jews and Christians, even
then I would consider these allegations as an honour. Similarly,
if we speak of Muslims and I say to Shia and Sunnis to respect
each other, do not damage each others mosques or imambargahs; and
I would not mind if I am labelled as the Agent of any fiqah or
maslak.” Mr Hussain said that on the Day of Judgment,
everyone has to answer to Allah Almighty. The Allah
Almighty on the Day of Judgment would decide whether I am wrong
or those who accuse me are wrong. He said that the Allah
Almighty is not only the God of Muslims but also the God of
Universe. He loves all His creations, feeds them either they be
Muslims, non-Muslims or an animal.Mr Hussain said that if it is legitimate to label each other as ‘infidel’ on the basis of fiqah or maslak then the portrait of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah must also be removed because he was not of the same fiqah or maslak as of the Taliban. In fact, he was a Khoja Asna-e-Ashri Shia. Allama Iqbal RH had written eulogies paying tributes to Hindu God the “Ram” and “Guru Nanak”, then why “Rahmat-u-Allah-o-Alayeh” is written after his name.
Mr Hussain said that we should establish a Forum comprising of scholars of all sects and jurisprudence to proliferate religious tolerance and harmony amongst the people of all sects and schools of thoughts to ensure that no one is termed wrong on the basis of dissent. Only God is empowered to send a dead either in haven or hell and no “Scholar “Mullah” is empowered to issue certificates for heaven and hell. He expressed his thanks to all the religious scholars present in the Seminar for co-operating with the MQM for promotion of religious tolerance.