Gujrat is a small city in Punjab province, north of Lahore. Imtiaz Alam, a Lahore-based political journalist for the Islamabad daily The News, characterized conflict in Gujrat as factional, split along the political and family rivalries of two families, one headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, currently the minister for interior and narcotics control in the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) national government, and the other headed by Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, secretary-general of the rival Pakistan People's Party (PPP) (3 June 1998). The split also extends along tribal and sub-tribal "and local crime-Mafia lines," with rivalries often involving violence (ibid.). Alam further stated that Gujrat has become famous for murders committed out of personal enmity, the violence being reinforced by different groups who smuggle along the Indo-Pakistan border, and by the political divide (ibid.).

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's father, Chaudhry Zahur Ilahi, was deputy leader of the opposition in the national assembly from 1972-77 and federal minister for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis from 1978-79 (Govt. of Pakistan n.d.). According to Alam and journalist and human rights activist Zafaryab Ahmed, Chaudhry Zahur Ilahi began his career as a common police constable and rose to prominence through his involvement in smuggling, eventually becoming a protégé of dictator Ayub Khan, president of Pakistan from 1958-69 (Alam 3 June 1998; Ahmed 24 and 27 May 1998). Chaudhry Zahur Ilahi reputedly bought the pen with which PPP founder and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's death warrant was signed in 1978 (Ahmed 24 May 1998). Chaudhry Zahur Ilahi was murdered in September 1981, allegedly by the PPP-backed Alzulfikar, headed by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's son Murtaza Bhutto, who was himself killed by police in Karachi in September 1996¹ (ibid.; Alam 3 June 1998).

Upon completion of his education Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain took over the family business and following his father's death became active in politics, winning his first National Assembly seat in Gujrat in 1985, and has held various portfolios as minister of information and broadcasting, industries, production and the interior (Govt. of Pakistan n.d.). According to his official biographical statement, his family also retains "a number of Industrial concerns in textiles, sugar and flour mills etc." (ibid.), and, according to Alam, considerable land holdings in the Gujrat area (3 June 1998).

Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar's family does not have a strong land base in the Gujrat area, but they do own Service Industries, one of the largest industrial groups in the country, including a factory in Gujrat (ibid.). Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have contested the last several elections in Gujrat, and the campaigns have a history of violence (ibid.). In the February 1997 national elections in Gujrat, for example, one Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain supporter was killed and seven others wounded when, according to press reports, they were attacked by PPP supporters² (AFP 3 Feb. 1997; The News 4 Feb. 1997). As well, in the 20 May 1998 Punjab local elections, nine people, including one candidate, were killed in nearby Gujranwala³ (Dawn 21 May 1998). Other notable incidents of political violence in the area in recent years include the 6 March 1997 assassination attempt against Ghazanfar Ali Gul, a PPP leader, in Gujrat (AFP 6 Mar. 1997; Dawn 8 Mar. 1997) and the May 1997 killing of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's brother-in-law Ashraf Marth, Senior Superintendent (SSP) of Police in Gujranwala⁴ (The Herald June 1997, 59; The Nation 7 May 1997).

According to Alam, the families of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar come from the same Jat ancestry, but have split into sub-tribal groups (3 June 1998). Alam stated that both families hire "outlaws" to settle scores (ibid.). For example, when Ahmed Mukhtar was in power in the early 1990s, some outlaws from the Shujaat Hussain group were killed (ibid.). The Shujaat group blamed Mukhtar, but he denied having any connection (ibid.). In another incident from July 1996, Saud Sahir charged in the Karachi publication Takbeer that then Commerce Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar had sent police commandos into Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's residence in Islamabad, and that an effort was being made to blame Shujaat Hussain's brother, Chaudhry Pravez Ilahi, for several murders (1 Aug. 1996).

Alam stated that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has a great deal of "local muscle" in the Gujrat area, and that during his current tenure as Interior Minister, responsible for law and order, outlaws from Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar's group have been killed in police encounters (3 June 1998). According to Alam, without the government's blessing or the backing of the local administration or police, no outlaw group can survive in a district (ibid.). Alam believes that Shujaat Hussain provides political and administrative backing to outlaws who are on his side, a contention backed by Ahmed (ibid.; Ahmed 24 May 1998). Ahmed notes, however, that political victimization is a "normal" practice in Pakistan—falsely implicating rivals in criminal cases, with accompanying fear and violence—and stresses that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's family is not alone in using these tactics (24 May 1998). Alam stated that to face Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in his own bastion, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar may have been obliged to build his own countervailing force (3 June 1998). However, in Alam's view Ahmed Mukhtar has a much cleaner reputation than Shujaat Hussain: the general impression among Pakistanis is that he does not support criminals (ibid.). But Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and family have a reputation of both coming from a criminal background and supporting criminals (ibid.).

Alam further stated that there is a sectarian divide in Gujrat between Shi'a and Sunni groups, but so far Gujrat has not become a centre of sectarian conflict like other cities in Punjab such as Multan, Jhang and Bahawalpur (ibid.). According to Alam Shi'as do not have any major role to play in Gujrat politics as they do in those other three cities (ibid.). Gujranwala, however, has experienced sectarian violence, including the drive-by shooting of the caretaker of a Shi'a mosque in February 1998 (AFP 24 Feb. 1998), and bus bombings by "terrorists" in January and February 1998 that killed at least five people and injured more than 37 (Dawn 26 Jan. 1998; ibid. 28 Feb. 1998; AFP 25 Jan. 1998; PTV 27 Feb. 1998).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 24 February 1998. "Gunmen Kill Two Shiites Including Caretaker of a Mosque in Pakistan." (NEXIS)

_____. 25 January 1998. "Two Bombs Rock Pakistan's Punjab Province, 21 Injured." (FBIS-TOT-98-025 25 Jan. 1998/WNC)

_____. 6 March 1997. "Bhutto's Political Associate Injured in Pakistan Attack." (NEXIS)

_____. 3 February 1997. "Three Killed in Pakistan Election Violence." (NEXIS)

Ahmed, Zafaryab. Human rights activist and journalist, Islamabad. 24 and 27 May 1998. E-mail correspondence.

Alam, Imtiaz, political journalist for The News, Lahore. 3 June 1998. Telephone interview.

Dawn [Karachi]. 21 May 1998. Mahmood Zaman. "31 Die in Punjab Local Poll Clashes." [Internet] http://dawn.com [Accessed 21 May 1998

]_____. 28 February 1998. "5 Killed in Gujranwala Bus Blast." [Internet] http://dawn.com [Accessed 8 June 1998]

_____. 26 January 1998. "Bomb Blasts Rock Three Punjab Towns." [Internet] http://dawn.com [Accessed 8 June 1998]

_____. 8 March 1997. Nasir Malick. "Death, Life Sentences to be Imposed over Unlicensed Weapons." (FBIS-NES-97-067 8 Mar. 1997/WNC)

Government of Pakistan. n.d. "Bio-data of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control)." [Internet] http://www.pak.gov.pk/govt/minister(profile-pict).htm [Accessed 2 June 1998]

The Herald [Karachi]. June 1997. Sajid Iqbal. "A Year of Living Dangerously."

The Muslim [Islamabad, in English]. 6 February 1997. "Pakistan: PPP Starts Presenting Proof of Vote Rigging." (FBIS-NES-97-026 6 Feb. 1997/WNC)

The Nation [Islamabad, in English]. 7 May 1997. M. Babar. "Pakistan: Gujranwala SSP, Driver Gunned Down 6 May." (FBIS-TOT-97-127 7 May 1997/WNC)

The News [Islamabad, in English]. 4 February 1997. "Pakistan: Ten Dead, Several Wounded in Election-Related Violence." (FBIS-NES-97-024 4 Feb. 1997/WNC)

Pakistan Television Network (PTV). 27 February 1998. "Pakistan: Five Killed, 17 Hurt in Pakistan Bus Blast." (FBIS-TOT-98-058 27 Feb. 1998/WNC)

Takbeer [Karachi, in Urdu]. 1 August 1996. Saud Sahir. "Pakistan: Corruption Seen Strengthening Opposition." (FBIS-NES-96-177 1 Aug. 1996/WNC)

NOTES :

¹ For information on the killing of Murtaza Bhutto, please see the Research Directorate's June 1997 report Pakistan: Update on the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi.

² The PPP also claimed that the vote in Gujrat, which was won by a wide margin by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain over Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, was rigged (The Muslim 6 Feb. 1997)

³ Gujrat is part of Gujranwala division (Ahmed 27 May 1998). In total at least 31 people were killed across the province in the 20 May 1998 Punjab local elections, with nearly 100 injured in Lahore alone (Dawn 21 May 1998).

⁴ For more information on the Ashraf Marth killing, please see the Research Directorate's October 1997 Pakistan: Chronology of Events March 1995 - October 1997.