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Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, Maulana Zia-ur-Rehman Farooqi, Maulana Eesar-ul-Haq Qasmi and Maulana Azam Tariq established the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), initially known as the Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba in September 1985 in an environment of increasing sectarian hostility in Pakistani Punjab. The origins of this outfit lie in the feudal set-up of Pakistani Punjab and politico-religious developments in the Seventies and Eighties. Political and economic power in Pakistani Punjab was a privilege of large landowners, mostly Shias, a minority as compared to the Sunni sect. Urban Punjab in contrast, was a non-feudalised middle-class society and largely from the Sunni sect. The SSP is reported to be an offshoot of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a leading politico-religious extremist Sunni Deobandi party. It was also reportedly set up on behest of the then Zia-ul Haq regime as part of the efforts to build an Islamic counter to pro-democracy forces ranged against the military regime of the Eighties.

The socio-economic rationale for SSP's origin is explained largely from the economic profile of Jhang, the home base of SSP. Located in a region that divides Central from Southern Pakistani Punjab, Jhang still has a significantly high proportion of large land holdings, leaving feudalism relatively undisturbed. Most large landlords, who are Shias, dominate both society and politics in the region. But, over the years, the area has developed as an important mandi (market town) gradually increasing the power of traders, shopkeepers and transport operators in the region. Seeking a political voice and role, this class, largely from the Sunni community, has been challenging the traditional feudal hold. The most serious political challenge to the control of feudal interests has been articulated in the form of violent sectarianism, with the formation of the SSP. This has meant, however, that the contest for access to resources and status and the competition for domination over the state apparatus are not framed in terms of class divisions, or modernisation imperatives, but confrontationist sectarian identities.

As in most areas affected by violence, a major contradiction has risen. While a sizeable proportion of traders and shopkeepers continue to fund the SSP in Jhang, most do not believe in the violence associated with the party, rather it is now a matter of buying security. Nevertheless, there is a decline in their support for the SSP over recent years as a result of the economic consequences of sectarian strife.

 

The SSP wants Pakistan to be declared a Sunni state. Maulana Zia-ul-Qasmi, a leading SSP leader said in an interview in January 1998, "the government gives too much importance to the Shias. They are everywhere, on television, radio, in newspapers and in senior positions. This causes heartburn." While fervently believing in hostility towards the Shias, the SSP also aims at restoring the Khilafat system. It also aims to protect the Sunnis and their Shariat (law). The SSP has declared that Shiites are non-Muslims. The SSP came into existence as a reaction to the Iranian Revolution and increasing Shia militancy in Pakistan. There is another school of thought, which says that the SSP phenomenon began from Jhang as a reaction to the socio-economic repression of the masses by Shia feudal structure in the area.

Giving his reaction to the warning given to the party by President Pervez Musharraf on August 14, 2001, SSP leader Maulana Mujibur Rehman Inqilabi said that it had nothing to do with terrorism and considered it a danger to the security of the country and people, believing in the negotiated resolution of all issues. He also said that the resolution of the Shia-Sunni issue did not lie in bans, bloodshed, hanging or cruel punishments but in negotiations. Maulana Inqilabi also pointed out that Pervez Musharraf must constitute a tribunal under his supervision comprising the Interior Minister, all provincial Home Secretaries, Chief Justices of the Supreme and High Courts, leading Ulema (religious scholars) and journalists to hear proposals from the Tehreek-e-Jaferia-Pakistan (TJP) and the SSP for the resolution of their differences. He said the tribunal should formulate a code of ethics in the light of the proposals by both the parties, give it a legal cover and then get it followed by all the concerned.

Earlier, on January 16, 2001, the SSP and its Shia rival organisation, the Tehreek-e-Jaferia Pakistan (TJP) reportedly assured the Punjab provincial government of co-operation in the elimination of terrorism from the country. Similarly, on February 3, 2001, the Punjab leadership of the SSP and another Shia outfit, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) announced its willingness to overcome differences and to withdraw cases filed against each other.

The SSP also actively opposes the US-Pakistan alliance formed in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on US targets. The alliance was targeted against the erstwhile Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a major supporter of Sunni extremists and terrorist outfits in Pakistan. The outfit joined the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Jamaat-e-Ulema-e Pakistan (JUP), Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, and Fazlur Rahman faction of JuI and Jamaat-e-Ahle Hadith in forming the Afghan Jehad Council and claiming the US action was not a war against Taliban but against Islam, and therefore, it was essential for the Muslims to declare Jehad against the US and its allies.
 
 

In 1996, protesting against what they termed as the moderating nature of the organisations, the more radical and extremist elements of the SSP walked out of the outfit to form the Lashkar-e Jhangvi, a sectarian terrorist outfit that was proscribed by President Pervez Musharraf on August 14, 2001. In contrast, the SSP has always retained an explicit political profile, contesting elections and having been a constituent of a Punjab coalition government. Despite, SSP denials, the LeJ is widely considered to be the armed wing of the Sipah-e-Sahaba.

Many SSP cadres have received arms training from the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), and the erstwhile Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Militants belonging to the SSP and are also reported to have obtained training from the Pakistani intelligence agencies.

The SSP is also reported to be closely linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit active in Jammu and Kashmir. Maulana Masood Azhar, JeM chief, speaking at a Jehad conference in October 2000 said, "now we go hand-in-hand, and Sipah-e-Sahaba stands shoulder to shoulder with Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jehad."

The SSP draws support, inspiration and assistance from various political parties in Pakistan, primarily the Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI) and the Jamaat-Ulema-e-Islam (JuI). The JuI is associated with running a large number of madrassas (religious seminaries) all over Pakistan from where recruits for the HuM, SSP and Taliban are provided.

The SSP receives significant funding from Saudi Arabia through wealthy private sources in Pakistan. Funds are also acquired from various sources, including Zakat and donations from various Sunni extremist groups. Other sources include donations through local Sunni organisations and trusts, madrassas and study circles, contributions by political groups and funding by underground trade agencies.

Most of the foreign funded Sunni madrassas in Pakistan are reportedly controlled by the SSP.

The SSP has also been linked to Ramzi Ahmed Yousuf, an accused in the New York World Trade Centre bombing of February 1993, who was later captured by the US in February 1995.

The SSP is reported to have approximately 3,000 - 6,000 trained activists who indulge in various kinds of violent sectarian activities, which are primarily directed against the Shias. Most SSP cadres hail from Punjab. Towns like Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Jhang, Multan and Muzaffargarh are the SSP strongholds. The dynamic leadership of Haq Nawaz Jhangvi is reported to have popularised an anti-Shia campaign in their backyard, southern and western areas of Punjab.

The SSP has influence in all the four provinces of Pakistan and is considered to be the most powerful extremist group in the country. It has also succeeded in creating a political vote bank in the Punjab and North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The SSP has reportedly 500 offices and branches in all 34 districts of Punjab. It is also reported to have approximately 1,00,000 registered workers in Pakistan and 17 branches in foreign countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Canada and England.
 
 

Maulana Azam Tariq is the current head of the outfit. Allama Ali Sher Ghazni is the Patron-in-Chief of the outfit. Maulana Zia-ul-Qasmi serves as the Chairman, Supreme Council. Other important SSP leaders are Qazi Mohammed Ahmed Rashidi, Mohammed Yousuf Mujahid, Tariq Madni, Muhammad Tayyab Qasim and Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi.

Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, one of the founder members of SSP was assassinated on February 23, 1990, reportedly by Shia terrorists. He was considered to have been the most prominent SSP leader, belonged to the Deobandi sect and was very popular in Jhang for his speeches. He was originally affiliated with the Jamaat-Ulema-e-Islam and was a designated leader in Punjab. Maulana Jhangvi aimed to make Pakistan a Sunni state. He contested and lost the election for a national assembly seat in 1990. Haq Nawaz’s avowed mission was to declare Shias as Kafir (infidel) and in this pursuit, he publicly instructed his followers to destroy peace in Pakistan, if it became necessary to get Shias declared as Kafir.

Kaka Balli, kin of a former member of the National Assembly from Jhang, Amanullah Khan Sial, was convicted to lifetime imprisonment for the assassination of Maulana Jhangvi. After the assassination, Maulana Zia-ur Rehman Farooqi took over the leadership of the outfit. He was later killed in a bomb explosion in the Lahore Sessions Court on January 19, 1997. Maulana Azam Tariq succeeded Maulana Zia-ur Rehman Farooqi.
 
 

SSP extremists like other terrorists have two major styles of operation. The first involves targeted killings of prominent opponent organisation activists. In the second, terrorists fire on worshippers in mosques operated by opposing sects.

By 1992, the SSP was reported to have gained access to sophisticated arms as also the ability to use these weapons even against law enforcement agencies. In June 1992, its activists used a rocket launcher in an attack which killed five police personnel. In Punjab, 1994 was one of the worst years in terms of sectarian violence when such incidents claimed 73 lives and more than 300 people were injured. Many of these killings were the result of indiscriminate firing on people saying their prayers. The SSP along with several other Sunni and Shia organisations were suspected to have participated in this violence.

In 1996, the outfit joined peace efforts initiated by the Milli Yakjeheti Council* though violence continued unabated. The second half of the year was notable for the fact that while the number of incidents decreased, average casualties in these incidents increased. In one such instance where SSP was suspected as the perpetrator, ten persons were killed in indiscriminate firing at a mourning procession in Mailsi in Vehari district in July 1996.

News reports have indicated that the SSP and other Sunni outfits hold Iran as the sponsor of Shia extremist outfits in Pakistan. Hence when any major Sunni leader is assassinated, Iranians in Pakistan are targeted for retribution. For instance, the Iranian Counsel General in Lahore, Sadeq Ganji, was killed in December 1990 in what was reported to be a retribution for the February 1990 killing of the SSP co-founder Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Similarly, in January 1997, the Iranian Cultural Centre in Lahore was attacked and set on fire, while in Multan seven persons were killed including the Iranian diplomat Muhammad Ali Rahimi. Earlier, in the month, a bomb blast at the Sessions Court in Lahore left 30 persons dead, including the then SSP chief Zia-ur-Rehman Farooqi along with 22 policemen and a journalist. News reports said that the retribution continued in September 1997 when five personnel of the Iranian armed forces who were in Pakistan for training were killed by suspected Sunni terrorists.

As with other sectarian outfits in Pakistan, the SSP has chosen to lie low after the military coup of November 1999. This lends credence to the hypothesis that SSP like other sectarian and ethnic groups, indulge in violence only when a passive state guarantees an environment of neutrality and even tacit support to this violence. With a hard-line stance being taken by the military regime against internal violence within Pakistan, these organisations have chosen to keep a low profile.

Besides, terrorist acts, the SSP also organises agitational programmes. Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) Chairman Maulana Azam Tariq said in Sahiwal, on August 20, 2001, that the outfit would launch a ‘court arrest’ movement if the government failed to release all the detained SSP workers by August 31, 2001. According to him, 10 SSP activists would court arrest in the four provincial capitals daily until all the activists are released. The activists were arrested as part of the campaign to check sectarian outfits. The SSP also observed a countrywide protest on August 24, 2001, against police raids on SSP and terrorist outfits’ offices, arrests of religious activists and desecration of mosques and religious institutions. Earlier, on August 7, 2001, SSP Karachi Vice-President, Maulana Muhammad Ameen accused police of registering false cases of terrorism against its cadres. He observed that the police were resorting to extra-judicial attempts in order to force confessional statements from arrested SSP cadre.

As part of its opposition to the US-Pakistan alliance against the erstwhile Taliban regime, the SSP joined other members of the Afghan Jehad Council on September 20, 2001 in announcing a Jehad against the US forces if they used Pakistani soil to carry out military attacks on the Taliban regime. The SSP leadership while criticising the Pakistani government’s decision of extending support to the US-led air attacks on the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan also indicated that they would fight alongside the Taliban militia.
 

Activities and Incidents

2001

December 30 – Five SSP cadres arrested during raids by law enforcing authorities on the outfit’s Karachi office.

December 4 – SSP Karachi’s Finance Secretary, Engineer Ilyas Zubair, voluntarily surrendered before the Chief of Crime Investigations Agency (CIA), who later detained him under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO).

October 28 – A police personnel and 17 members of the Christian community including five children were killed and nine others injured when six unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on a church in Model Town, Bahawalpur. The SSP is suspected to be responsible for the massacre.

October 19 – Pakistan authorities, in response to anti-US protests, barred SSP chief Azam Tariq from entering Sindh province where major rallies and protest demonstrations against US air strikes in Afghanistan were taking place. The ban was applicable for 30 days.

October 16 –SSP leader Maulana Fazl-i-Ahad said in Peshawar that the outfit had decided to send its cadres for waging Jehad against the US. He indicated that a group of 80 SSP cadres were ready to leave for Afghanistan.

October 15 – An SSP leader, Maulana Allah Wasaya Siddiqi, said that US air strikes on the erstwhile Taliban regime in Afghanistan "proved that America was the biggest terrorist of the world."

October 12 –SSP’s Senior Vice-President Khalifa Abdul Qayyum speaking in Dera Ismail Khan said that the US government had "proved itself to be a terrorist state." Commenting on the air strikes against the erstwhile Taliban regime in Afghanistan, he claimed that Osama bin Laden was only being used as an excuse and the US was attempting to establish camps in the region.

October 11 –At a protest rally in Peshawar, SSP provincial chief Maulana Fazal Ahad said that the US should withdraw from Afghanistan, failing which it would "taste fatal upset just like former Soviet Union during Afghan Jihad." He also asked the cadres to enlist their names with the SSP high command for waging Jehad against ‘infidel forces’ and reiterated that the outfit would fight with the Taliban side by side after getting an approval from SSP central chief Azam Tariq.

October 9 – SSP leader Syed Paryal Shah said in Khairpur, that US action in Afghanistan was not a war against Taliban but against Islam, and therefore, it was essential for the Muslims to declare Jehad against the US and its allies.

September 29 – A news report said that 38 SSP activists were arrested during the preceding nine months in Dera Ismail Khan.

September 16 – The SSP at a meeting in Peshawar, said Muslims of Pakistan would not tolerate any assistance by the Federal government to the USA in its possible attacks on the erstwhile Taliban regime. While declaring the US as the ‘biggest criminal in the world’, SSP leaders alleged that the terrorist acts in New York and Washington DC were a conspiracy to defame Islam.

September 15 – SSP Sindh chapter Vice President Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem arrested from Karachi in connection with two cases in which five persons, including four brothers, were killed in 1995.

August 14 – LeJ proscribed by President Pervez Musharraf

July 1 – Two unidentified gunmen at the Basti Tareenabad in Dera Ismail Khan killed a SSP activist.

June 23 – Two police personnel and an activist of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) were injured in Gilgit following an exchange of fire between security forces and activists of the SSP and the Tanzeem Ahle Sunnat.

May 21 – Various Sunni sectarian outfits alleged that the country’s intelligence agencies were responsible for the killing of Maulana Saleem Qadri, the Sunni Tehreek chief on May 18, 2001. According to these outfits, the agencies were utilising the SSP to trigger sectarian violence among the Shia, Sunni, Deoband and Barelwi sects.

May 21 – Four persons were killed in separate incidents of sectarian clashes in Dera Ismail Khan. In the first incident, an activist of the SSP, who was released from the local prison a few days earlier, was killed. Official sources indicated the involvement of Shia groups in the incident. Sources also said that the violence erupted consequent to the arrest of a Shia leader, Syed Hassan Ali Shah Kazmi, on a charge of allegedly delivering anti-state speeches. In apparent retaliation, certain SSP activists killed a Shia youth and injured two others. Police sources added that two more persons were killed in the clashes on the same day.

April 30 – A Karachi Anti-terrorism Court holds two SSP activists guilty of killing a police personnel and his son on February 22, 2001 and sentences them to death.

April 3 – Eight SSP activists arrested from Korangi in Karachi following clashes between two sectarian outfits.

April – An anti-terrorism court sentenced two SSP activists to death for killing a former Deputy Superintendent of Police and his young son on February 22, 2001.

March 12 – Nine persons including the a local SSP chief were killed and 11 others injured as three unidentified terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on a congregation at the Hayat-e-Islam mosque in Lahore. According to official sources, the attack was carried out in the most sensitive locality of Lahore where agencies like Garrison Security Force, Military Police and others are located. Sources also said that the attack was carried out despite tight security measures adopted in view of the presence of Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf in the city. The mosque is administered by the SSP. Official sources indicated that the attack could be in retaliation for the March 4 sectarian violence at Sheikhupura. An SSP spokesperson, Qazi Bahaur Rehman, alleged that the TJP was responsible for the massacre.

March 4 – 13 persons, including two police personnel, were killed and four others injured in a series of four attacks by a group of six terrorists in Sheikhpura Four of the terrorists were arrested. Official sources said that the killings are alleged to be an outcome of SSP activist Haq Nawaz Jhangvi’s execution. SSP Sheikhpura chief, Zahid Mahmood Qasmi however, denied the outfit’s involvement in the attacks.

March 2 – Two SSP activists arrested from the Orangi Extension area in Karachi for their alleged involvement in the killing of a TJP activist.

March 1 – 13 persons were killed in sectarian violence at Hangu in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Official sources maintained that this followed an incident in which an unidentified person opened indiscriminate fire killing three persons and injuring another. Other sources however held that the killings were an aftermath of the execution of SSP activist Haq Nawaz Jhangvi.

February 28 –SSP activist Haq Nawaz Jhangvi was executed in Mianwali Jail, Lahore after being held guilty for the December 1990 assassination of the Iranian Consul General, Agha Sadiq Ganji. Police had arrested hundreds of SSP activists for fear of violent protests after Jhangvi's execution and possible clashes between rival sectarian groups from the majority Sunni and the minority Shi'ite sects. However, one person was killed and six others injured in an encounter between the protesting SSP activists and police at Mohallah Piplianwala in Jhang on the same day of the execution. Later at the funeral of Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, SSP leader Sheikh Hakim Ali, while warning of countrywide protests, said, "The government is responsible for killing our brother. It is done to please Iran."

February 22 – A former Deputy Superintendent of Police and his son killed. Later in April 2001 an anti-terrorism court sentenced two SSP activists to death for the killings.

February 15 – , SSP General-Secretary Abdur Rauf Baloch arrested in the Gomal area of Dera Ismail Khan for his alleged involvement in the killing of five persons in Fateh village, on April 26, 1999.

2000

November 18 – A Karachi anti-terrorism court sentenced an SSP activist to a seven-year term for possessing illegal arms and creating terror.

November 5 – Two SSP activists were killed and another injured when unidentified terrorists fired at them in Mirpurkhas. The SSP blamed the TJP for the killing.

October 22 – Two SSP activists killed and eight others injured when two unidentified persons attacked their van in Karachi. The next day, two activists of the TJP were arrested for their suspected involvement in the killings.

Previous incidents
1996 – A section comprising radical and extremist elements of the SSP walked out of the outfit to form the LeJ

1994 – 73 persons killed and more than 300 injured in Punjab’s worst year of violence. The SSP along with several other Sunni and Shia organisations were suspected to have participated in this violence.

June 1992 – SSP activists for the first time, use a rocket launcher in an attack which killed five police personnel.

December 1990 – Iran's Counsel General in Lahore, Sadeq Ganji killed.

February 1990 –SSP co-founder and chief, Maulana Jhangvi killed

1988 – A leader of the Shia outfit, Tehrik-Nifaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafaria (TNFJ) Arif Hussain Al-Hussaini killed.

1987 – Prominent Sunni leader Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Yazdani assassinated.

1986 – Prominent leader of the Sunni Ahl-e-Hadith, Allama Ehsan Elahi Zaheer assassinated.

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