Azam Tariq (religious leader)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Pakistani English Template:Infobox politician Azam TariqTemplate:Efn (Template:Circa – 6 October 2003) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar and politician. A prominent figure in religious politics, he led the Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) and was a co-founder of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council. He also served as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.<ref name=":0" />

Tariq became the head of Sipah-e-Sahaba upon the death of Ziya ur-Rahman Faruqi in a February 1997 attack.<ref name="newslinemagazine.com" />

On 06 October 2003, Tariq was assassinated by unknown assailants as he left the M-2 Motorway to enter the Islamabad.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

Early life and education

Azam Tariq was born on 10 July 1962 into a Punjabi Rajput farmer family to Mohammad Fateh in Chichawatni, their family roots lying in the Kalyan village of the Patiala district, now in Indian Punjab, from where they moved due to the 1947 partition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He studied at a local madrassa and then enrolled in the Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia in Banuri Town, Karachi.<ref name="newslinemagazine.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Like most madrassa students and graduates at that time, he participated in the Soviet-Afghan jihad, and when he returned, while he was the imam of the Masjid-e-Siddiq-e-Akbar in North Karachi he formed the basis of the future SSP.<ref name="newslinemagazine.com2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

First Arrest and Assassination attempt

Tariq was arrested and jailed on 20 November 1995 alongside Zia-ur-Rehman Farooqi by the Government of Pakistan for anti-Shia activities and in February 1997 during the appearance of both of them due to poor security measures an explosion took place in Lahore sessions court in which the Tariq was seriously injured meanwhile Farooqi was killed in this explosion, Sipah-e-Sahaba accused Sipah-e-Muhammad for the explosion and blamed it for assassination of Farooqi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Following the killing of Farooqi the organization appointed Tariq as the new chief.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Second Arrest

In August 2001, Tariq was again arrested and jailed on the charges of terrorism and was released in November 2002.<ref name="newslinemagazine.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Political career

Tariq was elected three times to the National Assembly of Pakistan in Jhang, even though his constituency was a predominantly Shi'a region.<ref name=":2" />

He contested again in the 2002 elections while in custody and was again elected. He was released in November 2002.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Views

Azam Tariq was accused of disseminating religious animosity, Tariq was also listed on Pakistan's terrorism watch for his involvement in the Sectarian violence in Pakistan against Shia Muslim community and non-Deobandi Sunnis like Sufi Barelvi sect of Sunni Islam. He once said "If Islam is to be established in Pakistan then Shi'a must be declared infidels,".<ref name=":3" />

His aim was to transform Pakistan into a Sunni Deobandi Islamic state governed by strict Sharia Law through an political struggle where Shias and non-Deobandi Sunnis must be declared as the heretical and infidels or just considered to be hypocrites or munafaqeen like Ahemadis.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Assassination

Tariq was shot and assassinated in an attack on 6 October 2003 alongside Islamabad by Sipah-e-Muhammad militants.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as he was driving along the Srinagar Highway.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> his funeral was led by Abdul Rashid Ghazi inside Lal Masjid.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The assassination was part of a growing wave of violent incidents in Pakistan between the sectarian Sunni Deobandi Muslims and the Shiah Retaliations. Violence peaked in July 2003 with the Quetta mosque attack and the massacre of more than 50 people.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 11 May 2017, 13 years after Tariq's assassination, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested a suspect in his murder.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bibliography

Books by Tariq

• Rūdād-i ʻIshq O Vafā, Jhang : Markazī Daftar-i Sipāh-i Ṣaḥābah, 1999-2004, around 1000 pages (in 2 volumes). Author's memoirs.
• Ahammīyat-i Hadīs̲ Dar Dīn, Kābul : Mayvand; Peshawar : Kitābkhānah-ʼi Sabā, 2005, 298 p. Importance of Hadith for Islam, in Persian.
• K̲h̲ut̤bāt-i Jarnail, al-Maʻrūf, K̲h̲ut̤bāt-i Jel, Jhang : Markazī Daftar-i Sipāh-i Ṣaḥābah, 2001. Collection of speeches written in jail (1998-1999) collected by Abū Usāmah Z̤iyāurraḥmān Nāṣir.

Books about Tariq

• Muḥammad Nadīm Qāsimī, Ḥayāt-i Aʻẓam T̤āriq, Faiṣalābād : Ishāʻatulmaʻārif, 1998, 413 p.
• Muḥammad Nadīm Muʻāviyah, Pārlīmanṭ Kā Londa : S̲ānī-i Jarnail-i Sipāh-yi Ṣaḥābah ... Ḥaz̤rat Maulānā Muḥammad Aʻẓam T̤āriq Shahīd Ke Mufaṣṣal Hālāt-i Zindagī Aur Pārlīmant Kī Taqārīr, Karāchī : Maktabah-yi K̲h̲ilāfat-i Rāshidah, 2005, 376 p.

See more

• List of Deobandis

External links

• Shia News: a partisan account of Azam Tariq's release in 2001, with a background of the history of Sunni-Shia violence in Pakistan
• Pakistan Daily Times 7 October 2004
• Shia News report of Azam Tariq's assassination
• An Eye for an Eye? Azam Tariq's assassination news by Newsline (Pakistan)