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ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the ex-prayer leader of the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, has come out in the open to endorse the recent declaration of support for the Islamic State (IS) led by Commander Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi [by female students of the Jamia Hafsa] and their call to avenge the death of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
In a video released last week on social media websites, a group of the burqa (veil) clad girls students of Jamia Hafsa were shown expressing their support to the Islamic State and its ameer, Abu Bakar Baghdadi, besides urging him and his fighters to avenge the death of Sheikh Osama bin Laden as well as the martyrs of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.
In a statement reported by the Islam Times, an online jehadi newspaper, Maulana Abdul Aziz has said the students of Jamia Hafsa had prepared the video with his consent and it was not at all a crime. “In fact, the Jamia Hafsa students wanted to take out a rally in support of the Islamic State while carrying out banners and placards. But I had stopped them from doing do. The poor girl students did so after losing hope in the country’s political elite which remained silent when they had to suffer in the wake of the action against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa”.
Maulana Abdul Aziz then warns: “I have come to know through reliable sources that the agencies are contemplating to carry out a search operation [in Jamia Hafsa] to trace out the girls who had prepared the video in support of the Islamic State. I am warning the authorities to desist from committing another misadventure under the garb of the video which is harmless and only expresses support for Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi and his Islamic State. There is nothing objectionable in the video which was prepared with my consent and the authorities will have to face the consequences if an operation is carried out against the students of the Jamia Hafsa”.
Jamia Hafsa, which is adjacent to the Lal Masjid, is run b Umme Hassan (the principal) who is also the spouse of Maulana Abdul Aziz, the elder brother of Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, who was killed in the July 2007 military operation. In the two minutes video by Jamia Hafsa students, one of the several burqa clad ladies is reading an Arabic statement, saying: “We thank Allah Almighty for bestowing upon us the good things of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
We praise Allah for granting us the Ameer of the Believers, Mullah Mohammad Omar and the Caliph of the Muslims, Sheikh Abu Bakar Al Hussain Al Quraishi Al Baghdadi. This is a message from the students of the Jamia Hafsa Islamabad which is addressed, in particular, to our brothers, the militants of the Islamic State, and to all other militants in general”.
“Oh brothers, you have protected our honour and we pray for you every night here in the land of Pakistan. Some people speak ill of you and contribute to the power of the United States and its allies. But do not be sad about this. On the contrary, revel in this because Allah has distinguished between the believers and the hypocrites.
Oh brothers, we implore you to strike them upon their necks and strike at their every fingertip so that the infidels will not be able to even look at the land of the Muslims. Cut off the hands that they extend toward our modest sisters and tear apart the bodies of those who want to establish the law of Satan in the land of Allah”.
“You must avenge the death of Osama bin Laden and the other martyrs. Do not stop now. Take revenge for the students of Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid. May Allah destroy America and those helping it. We finally congratulate Sheikh Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi and the militants in the Islamic State on the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate in most areas of Iraq and Syria.
We implore all our mujhideen brothers to join hands with each other and unite ranks. Do not pay attention to the propaganda of the infidels and the hypocrites. Oh Allah Almighty, establish the Islamic Caliphate in Pakistan and elsewhere”.
Earlier, on December 8, 2014, while talking to this correspondent, Umme Hassan, the principal of Jamia Hafsa, had justified the video released by her students, stating: “The girls were justified in declaring support for the Islamic State because no one came to their rescue when they were attacked and humiliated like enemies.
The female students were not only bewildered but also grief stricken because their near and dear ones were brutally killed. Their video is a consequence of that frustration as they seek a saviour, who can assure them of being protected and not being thrashed and humiliated as has been done to them in the past”.
But she pointed out that the video explicitly makes it clear that while they support the Caliphate of Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi, they also consider Mullah Omar as their Ameerul Momineen.”
However, the declaration of support for Baghdadi by those running the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa is simply shocking for both the Afghan and the Pakistani Taliban because Maulana Mohammad Abdullah, who was the first prayer leader of the Lal Masjid and the father of Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, had decade-old ties with Pakistani and the Afghan Taliban who owe their allegiance to Mullah Omar.
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