The Secret behind Lal-Masjid?Why a Massage centre was Not Touched there?Lal Masjid

ISLAMABAD: There is a general misconception that the Lal Masjid clerics who are making the headlines nowadays owe their ‘glory’ to the blessings of intelligence agencies. The facts tell a different story. It would be interesting to know how Maulana Abdullah, the late father of the Ghazi Brothers ‘maneuvered’ to get the Khitabat of Lal Masjid and Jamia Faridia. Equally interesting would be to know why masjid and madrasah were respectively named as Lal Masjid and Jamia Faridia. It was the late Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the country’s first military ruler, who got appointed late Maulana Abdullah as the prayer leader of Lal Masjid, on the advice of his spiritual guide, Pir Sahib of Deval Sharif. Jaafar Brothers, one of the leading industrialist groups of the country who had constructed Jamia Faridia, in order to show reverence to the great Sufi Saint Khawaja Ghulam Farid named the seminary after him. It was handed over to the Maulanas by the then secretary CBR, Syed Hassan Akhtar. The land for Jamia Faridia was allotted during the late Gen Zia’s regime. This was due to the blessing of Pirs that Lal Masjid Maulanas could manage to take over these religious seats. A graduate of Jamia Binnoria, Karachi, late Maulana Abdullah landed in Rawalpindi soon after President Ayub Khan took the decision to shift the capital to Islamabad. He took oath of allegiance to the then Pir of Deval Sharif, Muhammad Abdul Majid. This was a significant move on part of a Deobandi Maulana. The information has been verified by the son of Pir Deval Sharif, Rooh-ul-Husnain Moeen and coordinator of Auqaf Department, Syed Muhammad Ali Wasti who says that many people told his father about the religious school of thought of late Maulana Abdullah, but Pir Sahib gave no importance to the point and considered and treated him like a changed man. Maulana Abdullah served as the prayer leader in the mosque of Pir Sahib and later requested him to exercise his spiritual influence over his disciple, Gen Ayub. Pir Sahib Deval Sharif helped Maulana Abdullah in his appointment as Khateeb of Lal Masjid. The Auqaf Department later took over Lal Masjid, but Maulana’s religious dynasty kept on flourishing unhindered. It was during Zia regime that Jamia Faridia was established. As the story goes, a partner of ‘Jaafar Brothers’ dreamed that he was at the tomb of Khawaja Ghulam Farid and that a river full of water was flowing around. He shared the dream with Syed Akhtar Hassan, the-then secretary CBR, and sought his interpretation of the dream. Akhtar termed the dream as a good omen and advised him to build a seminary and name it after Khawaja Ghulam Farid. Jaafar did accordingly. Akhtar helped him acquire the land from the government of late Gen Zia. Admiral (retd) Muhammad Sharif, whose son-in-law (Sha’aban Shoukat) these days is running a massage center (spa) in Super Market, had then allotted this land. Interestingly, Lal Masjid brigade had raided an alleged prostitution den and then a massage center. However, the massage centre of Sha’aban Shoukat was not touched. Sha’aban was a CBR officer and left the CBR job to start this apparently lucrative business. The CBR secretary handed over the management of the Jamia to Maulana Abdullah and since-then the seminary has been under the command of the family. Why Lal Masjid was so called? Some say that it was named after Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a highly revered saint of Sindh buried in Sehwan Sharif. This may well have been a ploy of the military government of Ayub Khan to please the people of Sindh who were not at all happy with the shifting of the capital from Karachi to Islamabad. It was most probably due to this reason that its walls were painted with red colour.

 

 

ISLAMABAD: Two of the nine persons kidnapped from a Chinese massage centre in F-8/3 late on the night of June 22 by the local Taliban and who were mysteriously released by the police belonged to the MMA, authoritative sources have told The News. Seven of those kidnapped were Chinese and their identity was made public while the identity of the two Pakistanis was not disclosed. The sources said that the two Pakistanis were Matiullah Khan and Raqiaz Khan from Bannu. Matiullah Khan, a nephew of the former member of National Assembly, the late Maulana Naseeb Ali Shah, was contesting elections from the seat of his uncle. Raqiaz Khan was his supporter, they added. The sources said that Matiullah Khan, while recording his statement with the police, said that he was suffering from knee pain and had gone to the massage centre for a massage where he was held. Male and female students (respectively Taliban and Talibat) of Jamia Faridia, Jamia Hafsa and Beaconhouse School System, in a joint operation, kidnapped Chinese women and Pakistani men shortly after midnight Friday from a Chinese massage center at house 14, Street 4, F-8/3, alleging that they were running a brothel. However, the hostages said they were running a massage centre and beauty parlour. The Lal Masjid administration later released nine persons after detaining them for 17 hours. The police, the district administration and Lal Masjid identified the Chinese but kept secret the identity of two Pakistanis. The police, later, freed both the ‘political bigwigs’ keeping their names secret on the direction of the district administration. The sources claimed that the Lal Masjid administration, after knowing about the identity of the kidnapped ‘Pakistanis’ who enjoyed strong political background, facilitated their release. They made it part of the agreement arrived at with the police and the district administration that their identity would be kept a secret. Meanwhile, President of MMA Qazi Hussain Ahmad, when contacted by this correspondent, said that he didn’t know Matiullah Khan. “It would be better to investigate their involvement and publish whatever is the truth,” he advised.