IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author): “Information on Jamaat-i Islami or Jammat Islami, its activities, membership, policies, and connections to military groups, other states, terrorist groups, etc. [IND8693]”, Document #1032640

Information on Jamaat-i Islami or Jammat Islami, its activities, membership, policies, and connections to military groups, other states, terrorist groups, etc. [IND8693]

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka translates "Jamaat-i Islami" as "Islamic Society" and says that it was founded in 1941 by Maulana Sayyid Abdul Ala Maududi (1903-1979) in the East Punjab town of Pathankot (Robinson 1989, 208, 355, 506). Maududi was the author of The Islamic Law and Constitution, which the Encyclopedia describes as "the most comprehensive statement of the possible nature of the Islamic state in modern times" (Ibid., 355). He was concerned about the dominance of Western culture over Muslim intellectuals, and he asserted the superiority of the Muslim way for all mankind (Ibid.). The Jamaat-i Islami increased its following in the early 1960s, and ran as a party in the 1970 national elections in Pakistan, winning 4 seats - 1.3% of the total (Ibid., 207, 210). In the 1977 national elections, the Jamaat-i Islami participated as part of the Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) opposed to Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (Day 1988, 414). For further information on the political activities of the Jamaat-i Islami in Pakistan in the 1970s and early 1980s, please consult Political Parties of the World, available at your local documentation centre.
The Jamaat-i Islami continued its political activities in Pakistan throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. On 21 February 1986, leaders of the Jamaat-i Islami Party called for an Islamic revolution and the creation of an Islamic state (Degenhardt 1988, 263). The Jamaat-i Islami also participated in Pakistan's November 1988 elections. In preparation for these elections, the Jamaat-i Islami joined the Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (I.J.I. - Islamic Democratic Alliance) (Keesing's 1988 1988, 36:347). Nawaz Sharif was the only I.J.I. leader to gain a seat in the National Assembly; however, I.J.I. won power in the 1988 Punjab elections (Ibid., 36:348).
The Jamaat-i Islami was opposed to Benazir Bhutto (Financial Times 6 June 1990). It is reported that Bhutto had to compromise her agenda for improving the situation of women in Pakistan in order to appease the Jamaat-i Islami, who have considerable ability to cause unrest in the streets and to energize the opposition in Parliament (The Washington Post 19 Aug. 1990, C5). According to The Economist (2 Feb. 1991, 32), the organizational talents of the Jamaat-i Islami helped bring the current Pakistani government into power. In the 1990 Pakistani Kashmir elections, the Jamaat-i Islami reportedly backed the Muslim Conference (United Press International, 19 May 1990).
On the question of membership, Le Monde diplomatique (Apr. 1991) recently called the Jamaat-i Islami one of the two principle Muslim movements in the area. Its leader is Senator Oazi (or Quazi, or Qazi) Hussain Ahmad (FBIS-NES-90-080 25 Apr. 1990). Revolutionary and Dissident Movements (Degenhardt 1988, 263) lists Oazi Hussain Ahmad as the Secretary General of Jamaat-i Islami and Mian Tufail Mohammad as its President. Its membership is strong in Indian-controlled Kashmir, particularly in the villages, and among young men who cross the Indo-Pakistani border into Pakistan-controlled Azad Kashmir (Financial Times 6 June 1990). The young men who cross the border belong to a variety of categories such as students, engineers, businessmen, and medical assistants. Many of them live at either of two "refugee camps" around Muzaffarabad, Pakistan - Gujra and Chatta Domil - which only accept young men and which provide better food and conditions than government-sponsored refugee camps (Ibid.). The residents of Gujra and Chatta Domil describe themselves as refugees, but stickers on the walls in the camps say that they are members of the Hezb-i-Mujahideen (or Hezbul Mujahideen), a guerrilla group that comes under the auspices of the Jamaat-i Islami and is strongest in the countryside (Ibid). According to a 26 April 1990 article published by Reuters, an estimated 2,000 men are staying in this manner with the Jamaat-i Islami and other groups. In 1990, the Jamaat-i Islami was outlawed in India (Financial Times 6 June 1990), but it still boasts a strong membership there, including many of the 10,000 students of the Muslim university in Aligarh (Reuters 22 April 1991).
The Jamaat-i-Islami has student wings both in India and in Pakistan. The Jamaat-i-Tulaba in India was, as of 1988, under the leadership of Sheikh Tajamul Islam (Degenhardt 1988, 154). The Jamaat-i-Tulaba announced on 5 August 1980 that it was planning "an Iran-type revolution for the liberation of Kashmir from illegal occupation and enslavement by India". This was followed by the arrest of 24 Muslim leaders in Jammu and Kashmir (Ibid.). An international youth conference convened by the organization for 22 August 1980 was banned by the government, and Sheikh Tajamul Islam was arrested on that day. The group was blamed for disrupting a cricket match between India and the West Indies on 3 October 1983 (Ibid.). In Pakistan, the student wing of the Jamaat-i Islami is the Jamiat-i-Talaba, which in 1988 was under the leadership of Shabbir Ahmed (Degenhardt 1988, 263). On 5 February 1984, all student organizations in Islamabad and in all Pakistani provinces except Baluchistan were banned. Three Jamiat-i-Talaba leaders were sentenced to 15 lashes and one year's imprisonment for protesting this ban (Ibid.).
The Jamaat-i Islami wants Kashmir to become part of Pakistan, unlike the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). The latter, another Muslim movement wants an independent Kashmir (Financial Times 6 June 1990). The philosophy of the Jamaat-i Islami has been described as "Muslim Nationalism" and "Islamic Identity" (Le Monde diplomatique Apr. 1991). The Jamaat-i Islami has been described in the Financial Times as "the best organized of the Islamic fundamentalist movements, well endowed with funds." The strategy of the Hezb-i-Mujahiden has been to shift the conflict with the Indian forces to the rural areas (Financial Times 6 June 1990).
In June 1990, a 15-member delegation led by Oazi Hussein Ahmed went on a tour of seven Islamic countries to gain support for the Jamaat-i Islami cause of getting India out of Kashmir (Inter Press Service 25 June 1990). Ahmed urged the people of Kashmir to have the final say on whether Kashmir should stay with India or join Pakistan; he added that an independent Kashmir is out of the question (Ibid.).
During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf conflict, the Jamaat-i Islami came out early in support of Saddam Hussein; the party's leader, Oazi Hussein Ahmed, visited Iraq in August 1990 (The Economist 2 Feb. 1991, 32). Ahmed stated that "Americans encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait so that they could invade Iraq and destroy it." Jamaat-i Islami's membership swelled during the gulf war (United Press International, 26 January 1991). A major activity of the Jamaat-i Islami is training Kashmiri youths for guerilla war (AsiaWeek 25 May 1990, 27). The young men in the Gujra and Chatta Domil "refugee camps" are reportedly provided with training in automatic weapons, "bomb blasts", and tank weapons (Financial Times 6 June 1990). Jamaat-i Islami also engages in protests. On 24 April 1990, Jamaat-i Islami held a protest demonstration in Islamabad, Pakistan to condemn "Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir" (FBIS-NES-90-080 25 Apr. 1990). Later that day, a delegation including Jamaat's leader, Oazi Hussain Ahmad, presented a memorandum about Kashmir self-determination to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad (Ibid.). On 5 February 1991, Jamaat-i Islami held a rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan to condemn alleged Indian atrocities in Kashmir (Reuters 5 February 1991).
In February 1990, Jamaat-i Islami reportedly opened a "holy war fund" and solicited thousands of dollars from Pakistanis to aid separatist militants in Indian Kashmir (The Washington Post 18 Feb. 1990, A48).
Jamaat-i Islami publishes two dailies which in April 1990 printed what was, according to Indian authorities, "highly objectionable and subversive material with the object of spreading terror amongst the public" (The Daily Telegraph 18 Apr. 1990, 12). This led to a crackdown in which eight Muslim organisations were outlawed, seventy-two alleged rebels were arrested, three printing presses were shut down, and a curfew was imposed in Kashmir (Ibid).
Concerning links between Jamaat-i Islami and other countries, the 25 May 1990 issue of AsiaWeek reported that guerilla groups in Azad Kashmir receive funding from Saudi Arabia and Iran. It was reported in the 6 June 1990 issue of Financial Times that the Jamaat-i Islami has "close links with Saudi Arabia and other Muslim states". Both sources say that Jamaat-i Islami guerillas are trained by Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan (AsiaWeek 25 May 1990, 27; Financial Times 6 June 1990). It was reported in AsiaWeek that Kashmiri youths participated in the Afghan war. The same source reports that much of the training goes on at bases inside Pakistan, although the Pakistani government is officially keeping out of it (AsiaWeek 25 May 1990, 27). As reported in the Financial Times, one young Kashmiri man claimed that he was trained by the Pakistani Intelligence Service, but Pakistan strongly denies
this. According to this source, Pakistan is embarrassed by the Jamaat camps, but is in no position to control Jamaat. The latter has a record of supporting guerilla fighters, especially in Afghanistan. According to the same source, there was a poster at a Jamaat "refugee camp" that made common cause between Moslem struggles in Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Soviet Azerbaijan (Financial Times 6 June 1990). In Afghanistan, the Jamaat-i-Islami Afghanistan operates as a Mujaheddin organization which is part of the Islamic Alliance for the Liberation of Afghanistan (IALA); it is supported by the Pakistani Jamaat-i Islami (Degenhardt, 1988, 2-3). The "Jamaat-e-Islami" is also a political party in Bangladesh (Day 1988, 35,39; Degenhardt 1988, 20).
For a chronological description of the conflict in Kashmir
to the end of 1989, please refer to Information Request PAK3063.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Robinson, Francis, ed. 1989. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Day, Alan J. 1988. Political Parties of the World. 3rd ed.
Chicago: St. James Press.

Le Monde diplomatique. April 1991. "Tuer et mourir pour un temple..."

FBIS-NES-90-080. 25 April 1990. "Jamaat-i-Islami Protests Indian Acts in Kashmir" in Islamabad Domestic Service [in Urdu], 24 Apr. 1990.

Degenhardt, Henry W. 1988. Revolutionary and Dissident Movements. Essex: Longman Group Ltd.

Financial Times. 6 June 1990. Housego, David. "One Man's Refugee is Another Man's Guerrilla."

Reuters. 26 April 1990. Davidson, Malcolm. "Militant Refugees from Kashmir Pose Dilemma for Pakistan."

Reuters. 22 April 1991. Naqvi, Jawed. "Artisans Hold Key to Bomb Terror in Indian Town."

Inter Press Service. 25 June 1990. "South Asia: Pakistani
Cleric Tells India to Learn Afghan Lesson."

The Washington Post. 19 August 1990. Schork, Kurt. "The
Despair of Pakistan's Women: Not Even Benazir Bhutto Could
Stop the Oppression."

The Economist. 2 February 1991. "Pakistan: General Discontent."

United Press International. 19 May 1990. Barnetson, Denholm. "War Fears Stir Pakistani General Elections."

United Press International. 26 January 1991. Iqbal, Anwer. "Muslim Militants Rally Audiences in Pakistan."

AsiaWeek. 25 May 1990. "Azad Kashmir's Angry Young Men."

Reuters. 5 February 1991. "Pakistan Closes Down to Condemn Indian Rule in Kashmir."

The Daily Telegraph. 18 April 1990. Sathu and Robinson.
"India Outlaws Separatist Organisations."

The Washington Post. 18 February 1990. Coll, Steve. "Extremists in Pakistan Seize on Kashmir Issue; Radicals Fuel Longtime Territorial Dispute."

East, Rogers, ed. 1988 Keesing's Record of World Events 1988. Vol. 36. London: Longman Group UK Ltd., 1988.

Information Request PAK3063. 15 December 1989.
ATTACHMENTS