Latest news with #JamiaHafsa
Hindustan Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
‘Pakistan bombs its own people': Islamabad's Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz Ghazi on ‘war' with India
In a fiery sermon at Islamabad's Lal Masjid, Abdul Aziz Ghazi, a controversial cleric, launched a scathing attack on the Pakistani government, claiming that a war with India would not be an Islamic war. In a video clip, which is being widely shared on social media, he is purportedly heard painting a stark picture of Pakistan's internal turmoil, describing its government as oppressive. Ghazi accused the state of inflicting systemic violence and injustice upon its citizens, pointing to the deepening crisis within the country. While addressing the congregation during Friday prayers at Lal Masjid, Aziz Ghazi asked, 'If a war breaks out between Pakistan and India, how many of you will support Pakistan? Raise your hands.' Noting the dead silence and lack of response from the crowd, he commented, 'Very few hands are visible. That means a good level of awareness has developed. The issue is that the war between Pakistan and India is not an Islamic war.' He continued, '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?' Referring to incidents in Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he questioned, 'Have such atrocities occurred in India as they have in Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? Have their fighter jets bombed their own 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.' As the video went viral on social media, many are saying that Ghazi, once seen as a poster boy of the establishment, is now openly opposing the PM Shehbaz Sharif-led government in Pakistan. Established in 1965, Lal Masjid was built shortly after Pakistan's capital was moved from Karachi to the newly constructed Islamabad. Named for its distinctive red walls and interiors, the mosque quickly became a centre for radicalising people against India. This involvement also brought the mosque's chief cleric closer to Pakistan's intelligence and security apparatus. In 2006, the leadership of Lal Masjid, headed by brothers Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid, began openly challenging the Pakistani government. The mosque, along with the adjacent Jamia Hafsa madrassa, became a stronghold for many advocating the imposition of Sharia law across Pakistan. The clerics at Lal Masjid not only sought to establish an alternative governance system based on their interpretation of Islamic law but also called for the overthrow of the Pakistani government, deeming it corrupt and un-Islamic. Throughout the year, tensions between the mosque's militants and the government continued to rise. The Lal Masjid leadership engaged in provocative actions, including calls for jihad against the state. As the situation escalated, the Pakistani government, led by then-President Pervez Musharraf, increasingly viewed the mosque as a direct challenge to state authority and security. This ultimately led to a military operation in July 2007, known as Operation Sunrise, aimed at quelling the growing threat emanating from the mosque.
AFP
11-03-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Video shows Pakistan police breaking up Karachi protest, not beating Jamia Hafsa students
"This injustice is being done to the students of Jamia Hafsa, Lal Masjid," reads the Urdu-language caption to a Facebook video shared on February 27, 2025. Viewed over 146,000 times, the video shows police officers shoving, beating and hauling hijab-wearing women into a police van. Image Screenshot of the false post, taken on March 7, 2025 Similar videos were shared hundreds of times elsewhere on . The posts surfaced as female students from the Jamia Hafsa seminary, connected to the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, staged protest sit-ins in the Pakistan capital that blocked traffic following the arrest of their principal Ume Hassan on February 19 (archived link). , was arrested for an armed attack on police and government staff (archived link). As tensions simmered following Hassan's arrest, more than 150 police officers enforced a blockade on the roads around the Red Mosque -- the scene of a bloody week-long siege in July 2007 that left more than 100 dead as the military sought to pacify the mosque and arrest its leaders (archived here and here). The footage circulating online, however, does not show police beating and arresting Jamia Hafsa students. Mujahid colony protest The police officers in the falsely shared footage are wearing vests labelled "Sindh Police", and their uniforms correspond to those seen in an AFP photograph taken in November 2022. A combination of keyword and reverse image searches led to the same footage posted by Pakistani politicians Mohsin Dawar and Qasim Khan Suri and a report from local outlet Soch published in (archived here, here and . "The brutality with which the police in Karachi attacked women protesting against the demolition of their homes in Mujahid Colony is shameful," reads Dawar's X post, which was published on November 21, 2022. The neighbourhood in Karachi is more than 1,130 kilometres (700 miles) from Islamabad. Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the footage posted by politicians on X in November 2022 (right) The demolition of homes were part of an anti-encroachment drive led by the Karachi Development Authority, were illegally occupying state land (archived here and here). Local media reported at the time that the homes of more than 400 families had been demolished, and residents said they were subjected to police brutality (archived link). "Pakistani authorities frequently use colonial-era laws and policies to forcibly evict low-income residents, shop owners, and street vendors to enable public and private development projects," read a May 2024 report by Human Rights Watch (archived link). It urged authorities to reform its land laws and ensure no one is made homeless due to eviction, and to make sure there are adequate compensation and resettlement options.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Video shows Pakistan police breaking up Karachi protest, not beating Jamia Hafsa students
"This injustice is being done to the students of Jamia Hafsa, Lal Masjid," reads the Urdu-language caption to a Facebook video shared on February 27, 2025. Viewed over 146,000 times, the video shows police officers shoving, beating and hauling hijab-wearing women into a police van. Similar videos were shared hundreds of times elsewhere on Facebook. The posts surfaced as female students from the Jamia Hafsa seminary, connected to the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, staged protest sit-ins in the Pakistan capital that blocked traffic following the arrest of their principal Ume Hassan on February 19 (archived link). Hassan, the wife of the Red Mosque's radical cleric Abdul Aziz, was arrested for an armed attack on police and government staff (archived link). As tensions simmered following Hassan's arrest, more than 150 police officers enforced a blockade on the roads around the Red Mosque -- the scene of a bloody week-long siege in July 2007 that left more than 100 dead as the military sought to pacify the mosque and arrest its leaders (archived here and here). The footage circulating online, however, does not show police beating and arresting Jamia Hafsa students. The police officers in the falsely shared footage are wearing vests labelled "Sindh Police", and their uniforms correspond to those seen in an AFP photograph taken in November 2022. A combination of keyword and reverse image searches led to the same footage posted by Pakistani politicians Mohsin Dawar and Qasim Khan Suri and a report from local outlet Soch published in November 2022 (archived here, here and here). "The brutality with which the police in Karachi attacked women protesting against the demolition of their homes in Mujahid Colony is shameful," reads Dawar's X post, which was published on November 21, 2022. The neighbourhood in Karachi is more than 1,130 kilometres (700 miles) from Islamabad. The demolition of homes were part of an anti-encroachment drive led by the Karachi Development Authority, who claimed the structures were illegally occupying state land (archived here and here). Local media reported at the time that the homes of more than 400 families had been demolished, and residents said they were subjected to police brutality (archived link). "Pakistani authorities frequently use colonial-era laws and policies to forcibly evict low-income residents, shop owners, and street vendors to enable public and private development projects," read a May 2024 report by Human Rights Watch (archived link). It urged authorities to reform its land laws and ensure no one is made homeless due to eviction, and to make sure there are adequate compensation and resettlement options.
