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huge size, TJ remains largely unknown outside the Muslim community, even to many
scholars of Islam.
This is no coincidence. The Jamaat officials avoid media and government notice.
They usually limit their preaching and missionary activities to within the Muslim
community — its main aim is to bring spiritual awakening to the Muslims of the
world.
Though the Tableeghi Jamaat presses its
non-sectarian character, it is a fact that it
propagates the Deobandi version of Islam.
The Jamaat’s lack of a formal structure
makes its growth hard to quantify. But in
recent years, millions of adherents have
congregated annually at the three-day TJ
congregations in Raiwind, believed to be
the second largest gathering of Muslims
after Haj in Saudi Arabia.
Since Pakistani law treats the Tableeghi
Jamaat as a humanitarian group and not as
a religio-political party, there is no ban on
government servants, members of the
armed forces and the nuclear and missile
scientific community joining the party as
members.
1991, the movement made inroads into
Central Asia. Till 2007, it was estimated
that 10,000 TJ members were in
Kyrgyzstan alone.
Tableeghi presence has already been
reported by the international media in 600
of Britain’s 1,350 mosques.
Following the July 2005 London suicide
bombings, international media reported
that Shehzad Tanweer, one of the human
bombs — a British national of Pakistani
origin, used to attend Tableeghi Jamaat
meetings at a number of London mosques.
Two months before the London terror
attacks, a research report prepared by
Daniel Friedman of the Centre for Policing
Drone attacks: June was the deadliest month
TAHIR ALI
American drones have carried out 53
strikes this year that have killed 468
people in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
August 10, a drone targeted a militant
hideout in Miranshah, North
Waziristan, that resulted in the killing
of at least 21 militants representing the
Haqqani netwrok.
According to a recent Conflict
Monitoring Center report, during the
first seven months of 2011 American
drones carried out 51 strikes that resulted in the killing of 443 people in
Pakistan’s tribal areas. Add to that the
two drone strikes that killed 25 people
this month till August 11.
A supporter of the Pakistani religious and political party Jamaat-e-Islami flashes during a rally against drone attacks in Karachi, June 4
ATHAR HUSSAIN/REUTERS
In January, some 49 people were
killed in 11 drone strikes. In February,
four drone attacks killed 21 people. In
March, 89 people were killed in 12
attacks. In April, 32 causalities were
reported in two strikes. In May, nine
drone strikes killed 62 people. In June,
117 people were killed in 12 attacks. In
July, six drone attacks killed 73 people
in North and South Waziristan.
According to the CMC’s report, during
July, unmanned Predator drones fired
29 missiles, destroying five houses and
four vehicles. Five out of six attacks were
carried out in North Waziristan Agency.
July 11 and 12 were two deadliest days,
when 63 people were killed in four
drone attacks. Out of these four attacks,
three were carried out July 12.
