— File Photo
KHANEWAL: In Kabirwala, politics and religion become so intertwined. Known for producing cadres and leaders for the hardcore anti-Shia formations like the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (now active as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat) and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, the area has seen emergence of a close alliance between local politicians and extremists since the 1990s.
Raza Hayat Hiraj, for example, appeared to realise the importance of the rising power of Deobandi vote in his constituency (NA-156). His late father Iqbal Hiraj had developed ties with the SSP over time and Raza has used these to twice return to the assembly in the last two elections by defeating his rival Syed Fakhr Imam.
The Deobandi leadership from the area understands the “significance of keeping its vote bank united” to defeat the candidates they don’t approve of. Party affiliation matters little. What matters is the candidate’s relationship with the ASWJ and local Deobandi leadership.
“If more than one [Deobandi] candidate is in the run, it will divide the vote bank. Hence, we try that only one remains in the fray,” says Mufti Hamid Hasan, who teaches Hadith at Kabirwala’s famous Deoband seminary, Darul Uloom Eidgah, the alma mater of SSP founder Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi and his successor Maulana Ziaur Rehman Farooqi.
It was on the basis of this principle that a compromise was struck during the last election and the nomination of ASWJ ticket-holder Iftikhar Haqqani was withdrawn in favour of Hiraj.
“The Darul Uloom doesn’t direct its students and followers to vote for a particular candidate or party. Our job is to guide the people to prudently use their vote and elect honest, clean and religious-minded candidates,” he clarifies. In response to a question, he says the Hiraj family has generously donated money to the seminary.
Now the alliance between the Hiraj family and the ASWJ appears to be under a cloud. It seems the Darul Uloom is still favouring Hiraj for the May polls, but the leadership of the ASWJ has changed its mind because of his refusal to accommodate its nominee for a provincial seat under him.
“We (ASWJ) have faithfully supported Hiraj since 1997 because of his father’s commitment to our cause. Iqbal Hiraj was a signatory to the Namoos-i-Sahaba bill, which was tabled by the slain SSP leader Maulana Azam Tariq. Iqbal Hiraj refused to withdraw his support for the bill despite pressure from the then prime minister and his party’s leader, Benazir Bhutto,” said Maulana Abdul Khaliq, a khateeb at a local mosque fielded by the ASWJ from NA-156.
“Hiraj is willing to have a Shia as his running mate for one provincial seat but is not ready to accommodate one of our men on the other,” he says, and adds, almost as an aside: “Also, he has done nothing for development.”
Hiraj, who didn’t answer phone calls and messages seeking an appointment, is contesting as an independent candidate this time. He returned to the assembly on a PPP ticket in 2002 (he later joined the Patriots group) and on a PML-Q ticket in 2008. His opponent, Syed Fakhr Imam, is trying his luck on the PML-N ticket after losing last two polls on the PML-Q and PPP tickets.
He knows that the division of the 20,000-odd anti-Shia Deobandi vote concentrated in his constituency between Hiraj and Khaliq will boost his chances, but fears that a compromise may well happen any time. Such an eventuality could leave the ‘gentleman politician’ struggling for a victory he so desperately needs to resurrect his political career. As you move deeper into south, such a blatant alliance as seen between the candidates and extremist groups in Kabirwala becomes less visible to ordinary voters in spite of the increasing presence of seminaries and militant sectarian and jihadi outfits.
Still, the footprints of the ASWJ are scattered all over in south Punjab, which is home to thousands of registered and unregistered large and small seminaries. At places, the anti-Shia group camouflages itself under other banners.
Thus if at one place the Deobandi parties are united under the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, at others known committed Deobandi candidates are running as independents.
And where the group does not have its own men, it has allied itself with individual candidates from other parties in exchange for their support in bad times.
At many places Bahawalpur onwards to Rahimyar Khan local residents will tell you that the candidates fielded by the ASWJ are few and unknown and do not stand a chance to return to the assemblies. “There is no denying that the size of the religious voters is significant in this area because of the presence of the seminaries all around.
The support, however, is scattered in small portions over constituencies and not concentrated in one or two areas to make an impact on the outcome of election,” says Farooq Azam Malik, a Bahawalpur National Awami Party candidate from Bahawalpur city seat (NA-185). He also dismisses the talk that politicians fund seminaries to buy their support in the election.
In Khanpur, where a suicide attack on a Muharram procession left 21 dead in January 2011, Malik Mohammad Yaqoob warns against underestimating the “power of Deobandi vote”. The tehsil president of the ASWJ, who represents Malik Ishaq’s group in the organisation, says: “We have substantial strength in different constituencies and our support is crucial for the success of a candidate. Why would the candidates of different political parties come to us seeking our support if we did not have significant support base amongst voters?”
Yaqoob, who openly admits to serious differences between Malik Ishaq and Maulana Ludhianvi, points out that his group had fielded its own candidates, Ghulam Rasool Shah who along with Malik Ishaq is in detention as co-accused on charges of his involvement in Shia killings, from Bahawalnagar, Mohammad Hussain from Rahimyar Khan, Asif Muavia from Shorkot (Jhang’s tehsil bordering Kabirwala) and Rao Habib from Mailsi, to name a few.
“Our candidates are not contesting from the platform of the ASWJ or the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz. Some of them will continue in the race while others will withdraw if adjustment is made with other candidates,” he says.
He explains that his group in the ASWJ has fielded so few candidates because their leader Malik Ishaq is not in favour of contesting elections as it could take away the organisation’s focus from its “mission”. Besides, he adds, “our people do not have money to contest the (expensive) elections”.
The ASWJ leader claims that the Malik Ishaq group had supported the PPP in the last election against the PML-Q because of the latter’s role in the military operation on Lal Masjid. This time around, he says, “we will support individual candidates who are honest and incorruptible, and are committed to work for the uplift of the poor. If a candidate fulfils our criteria we will support him irrespective of his party ticket.”
While individual candidates do not hesitate in making alliances with the extremist groups in their respective constituencies to get an edge over their rivals, some political parties, too, have kept in mind importance of concentration of religious vote in certain constituencies in south Punjab while awarding party tickets. The PML-N, for example, has again fielded the billionaire cleric, Hafiz Abdul Karim, from Dera Ghazi Khan, to pander to Ahle-Hadith voters in the city.
Worse, in a few cases, it becomes real hard to distinguish if a candidate belongs to the party whose ticket he is holding or to the SSP/ASWJ. A case in point is that of Sardar Mohammad Abad Dogar who has been given a PML-N ticket for the National Assembly from Khangarh, Muzaffargarh. Dogar is known for his links with the SSP and had publicly announced head money of Rs20 million on Governor Salmaan Taseer days before he was shot dead by his own security guard in Islamabad.
When confronted after a corner meeting, Dogar denied ever having remained an office-bearer of the SSP, but chose to deflect the question when asked about his past links with the SSP and his announcement of reward on Taseer. “I can lay down my and my children’s lives to protect Namoos-i-Risalat. No fatwa can scare me. Would you not protect Namoos-i-Sahaba?,” he thundered amidst applause. Encouraged, Dogar next declared Nawaz Sharif as the only politician who fulfils the criteria for the title of Khalifa-tul-Muslimeen.
