CIAO DATE: 09/04

In the Spotlight: Sipah–I–Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)

Ali Chaudhry

Center for Defense Information

July 2004

The Sipah–I–Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) — Army of the Friends of the Prophet — is a Sunni sectarian group responsible for carrying out terrorist activities against Shias in Pakistan. It has also operated as a political party, and its leaders have won elections to Pakistan’s National Assembly. The SSP is the country’s most powerful sectarian militant organization, and was responsible for attacks on Shia worshippers in May 2004, in which at least 50 people were killed. The organization was one of five proscribed by President Pervez Musharraf on Jan. 12, 2002. Since then, the SSP had changed its name to Millat–e–Islamia Pakistan, but was banned again in September 2003.

The SSP was established in September 1985 by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, Maulana Zia–ur–Rehman Farooqi, Maulana Eesar–ul–Haq Qasmi, and Maulana Azam Tariq. Initially called the Anjuman Sipah–I–Sahaba, the group was formed as a response to rising Shia militancy and sectarian violence in Pakistani Punjab. The Punjab is the backbone of Pakistan’s agricultural industry, and most of the landlords there are Shias. Historically, these feudal leaders dominated both society as well as politics in the region, even though the majority of Punjabis belong to the Sunni sect.

In the 1970s, the Punjab developed rapidly into an urban society, and with it came the rise of shopkeepers, traders and businessmen. This new merchant middle–class composed largely of Sunnis and began to challenge the traditional hold of Shia landlords, especially in farming cities such as Jhang in Central Punjab. A Shiite extremist group, Tehrik–e–Jaferia–Pakistan (TJP) — Movement of Followers of Jaferia — was founded in Jhang in 1979. Its aim was to protect the rights of the Shiite community in Pakistan, and its creation coincided with the enforcement of controversial Islamic laws by the then military ruler of Pakistan, Gen. Mohammad Zia–ul–Haq. The Islamic revolution in predominantly Shia Iran around the same time gave an added boost to the organization. Subsequently, the SSP also arose in Jhang, where it was formed to counter fears of growing Shia militancy in the region.

The SSP believes that Shias possess too much power and influence in Pakistan, and want the country to be declared a Sunni state. It aims to restore the Khilafat (Caliphate) system, while protecting Sunnis and their Shariat (Islamic laws). SSP members declare that Shias are non–Muslims and must be violently converted or suppressed — a notion that received Zia’s unbounded support in the late 1980s. The southern city of Karachi and towns in southern and western Punjab such as Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Jhang, Multan and Muzaffargarh are SSP strongholds. The organization boasts 500 offices and branches in all 34 districts of Punjab. It also has approximately 100,000 registered workers in Pakistan and 17 branches in foreign countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Canada and the United Kingdom.

SSP members typically carry out their operations in two ways. The first involves targeted killings of prominent Shias, especially activists of opposing organizations. The second involves the slaying of ordinary Shias, mostly through firing on worshippers in mosques. On occasion, Iranians in Pakistan are also targeted as the SSP believes that their opponents are actively supported by Iran’s government. In the early 1990s, the group decided to become politically active, and contested elections as a standing party in 1992. Maulana Azim Tariq became a minister in the coalition government, and was again elected in 2002.

Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, one of the founders of SSP, was assassinated on Feb. 23, 1990 by Shia terrorists. He had lost elections for the National Assembly in 1990, but was extremely popular in Jhang. After his death, Maulana Zia–ur–Rehman Farooqi took over as leader but was killed in a bomb explosion on Jan.19, 1997. He was succeeded by Maulana Azim Tariq, an SSP chief and a member of the National Assembly. Tariq was assassinated by three unidentified gunmen in Islamabad on Oct.6, 2003. He had been a frequent visitor to Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule, and was an ardent supporter of banning music, television and cinema in all of Pakistan. In December 1999, he had pledged to send 500,000 jihadis to Indian–occupied Kashmir to carry out terrorist actions. Current SSP leaders include Qazi Muhammad Ahmed Rashidi, Mohammad Yousuf Mujahid, Tariq Madni, Muhammad Tayyab Qasim and Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi.

Protesting against what they termed as the moderate nature of the organization, the more radical and extremist elements of the SSP formed the Lashkar–I–Jhangvi (LIJ) in 1996. Unlike the LIJ, the SSP has always retained an explicit political profile, often denying its terrorist activities, contesting elections and sitting as part of the Punjab’s coalition government. The LIJ is widely considered to be the armed wing of the Sipah–e–Sahaba, while many SSP operatives receive arms training from the Harkat–ul–Mujahideen (HuM) and the erstwhile Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The SSP is also reported to have close links to the Jaish–e–Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan–based terrorist organization active in Jammu and Kashmir. The former group also draws support, inspiration and assistance from various political parties in Pakistan, primarily the Jamaat–e–Islami (JeI) and the Jamaat–Ulema–e–Islam (JuI), and reportedly receives significant funding from various sources, including charity and donations from Sunni extremist groups in Saudi Arabia. Other sources of financial assistance include donations through local Sunni organizations and trusts, madrassas (Islamic seminaries), study circles, and contributions by political groups. Most of the foreign–funded Sunni madrassas in Pakistan are reportedly controlled by the SSP. The organization has also been linked to Ramzi Ahmed Yousuf, captured by the American authorities in February 1995, and later convicted of the February 1993 New York World Trade Center bombing.

On Jan. 16, 2001, the SSP and TJP assured the Punjab government of cooperation in the elimination of terrorism from the region. Similarly, on Feb. 3, 2001, the SSP and another Shia group, the Sipah–I–Muhammad Pakistan (SMP), announced a willingness to overcome differences. However, the SSP continues to actively oppose the U.S.–Pakistan alliance in the so–called ‘War on Terrorism,’ and, together with the JeI, the JuI, and the Jamaat–e–Ulema–e Pakistan (JUP), formed the Afghan Jihad Council. The council has declared jihad against the United States and its allies and is widely suspected of being responsible for two bomb explosions at the Haidery Mosque and the Imambargah Ali Raza, both in Karachi. These terrorist acts invited retribution from opposing Shia factions resulting in a bloody May in the region.

Sources:

Ahmed, Feroz, “Pakistan: Ethnic Fragmentation or National Integration?” Pakistan Development Review, 35(4), Winter 1996, pp. 631–45

Kumar, Satish, “Militant Islam: The Nemesis of Pakistan,” Aakrosh, 3(6), January 2000, pp. 17–38

Mehrotra, O.N., “Madarassa in Pakistan: The Chief Promoter of Islamic Militancy and Terrorism,” Strategic Analysis, 23(11), February 2000, pp. 1879–94

“Sipah–e–Sahaba Pakistan, Terrorist Group of Pakistan,” South Asia Terrorism Portal, June 21, 2004.

“Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet,” International Policy Institute for Counter–Terrorism, April 27 2002.

“Pakistan’s Militant Islamic Groups,” British Broadcasting Corporation, Oct. 7 2003.