Pakistan's Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz Ghazi slams own country, says 'war' with India ‘not Islamic'
Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi of Lal Masjid, a cleric has remarked that there is 'more oppression' in Pakistan than in India, adding that Pakistan's 'fight is a fight of nationality, not of Islam'. The cleric slammed his own country as tensions surge between India and Pakistan post a terror attack in Kashmir's Phalgam that killed 26 people.
Muhammad Abdul Aziz Ghazi is a Pakistani Deobandi scholar and Islamist dissident, serving as Imam and Khatib of Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
A video of the cleric's sermon has gone viral on social media. The two minute clip shows, Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi criticising the Shehbaz Sharif government in Pakistan, calling it a "cruel, useless system". Ghazi accused the state of inflicting systemic violence and injustice upon its citizens.
In the viral video, Ghazi poses a question to his audience: who would they support in the event of a war-India or Pakistan? His query is met with a prolonged silence.
"There are very few [hands]. This means many are enlightened now. The matter is, war between Pakistan and India is not an Islamic war." Ghazi says.
'Today, the system in Pakistan is a system of disbelief (kufr), a tyrannical system, worse than that of India. There isn't as much oppression in India as there is in Pakistan. Has there been a horrific incident like Lal Masjid in India?' Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi continues.
Notably, Ghazi's description of Pakistan as an oppressive state is a striking departure, particularly given his association with Lal Masjid, a site historically linked to radical rhetoric.
Referring to the siege of Lal Masjid in 2007, Abdul Aziz Ghazi remarked, "Did the Lal Masjid tragedy happen in India? Does India bomb its own citizens? Are people disappearing in India like they are in Pakistan?"
The cleric further highlighted the atrocities committed in Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, accusing the Pakistani government of bombing its own people.
Ghazi stated, 'What happened in Waziristan and across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – these are atrocities... The state bombed its own citizens. Have such atrocities occurred in India? Have their fighter jets bombed their people the way ours have? Are so many people reported missing in India? Here, people are exhausted from staging protests in search of their loved ones. Here, clerics are missing, journalists are missing, Tehreek-e-Insaf members are missing.'
Ghazi's rhetoric seemingly reflects deepening disillusionment within Pakistan, highlighting fractures in public support for the establishment's policies.
Established in Islamabad in 1965, Lal Masjid became a hub for radical Islamist ideology under the leadership of brothers Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who openly challenged the state and called for the imposition of Sharia law.
Tensions escalated over several years, culminating in July 2007 when the Pakistani military launched Operation Sunrise to storm the mosque and its adjoining madrassa following violent incidents, including hostage-taking.
The siege resulted in significant casualties and damage, marking a decisive effort by then-President Pervez Musharraf's government to curb growing Islamist militancy.
Since then, Lal Masjid has symbolised Pakistan's ongoing struggle with extremism and state authority.
Its leadership, particularly Abdul Aziz Ghazi, continues to criticise the Pakistan government, accusing it of oppression and violence against its own citizens.
The legacy of Lal Masjid is complex, representing both the rise of radicalism and the state's fraught attempts to contain it.
First Published: 6 May 2025, 04:26 PM IST
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