Word: jamiat
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...from opposition parties, human rights advocates and Islamic scholars, Nawaz Sharif may back down. If he insists on unleashing religious fervor in Pakistan, he could end up one of its first victims, because not all Islamic radicals trust his credentials. Says Maulana Fazl ul Rehman, leader of the militant Jamiat-Ulema-Islami party: "Nawaz Sharif's government is part of the same corrupt system he hopes to overthrow. Only we are the true devotees who will enforce Islam...
Fraternity is an elusive thing among Afghanistan's mujahedin, who have been feuding since even before the 1979 Soviet invasion. Two weeks ago, rivalries erupted in gunfire when members of the Jamiat-i-Islami faction, a fundamentalist group, were ambushed while returning from a five-day strategy session in the northern Farkhar Valley. Gunmen from a local command of the more radical Hezb-i-Islami faction killed 30 Jamiat men, including seven military commanders. Jamiat quickly pointed an accusing finger at Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Hezb's leader, whose power struggle with the Jamiat leadership dates back to the 1970s. Without Hekmatyar...
While Hezb, which has gained a reputation for strong-arm tactics, dismissed the incident as local feuding, some Jamiat members called for immediate revenge -- even if it risked jeopardizing the plans of their military commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, for a late-summer offensive. Most, however, cautioned restraint. The loss of key lieutenants in the ambush was already a major setback to Massoud's efforts to transform his guerrilla force into a more conventional army capable of cracking government defenses...
...Burhanuddin Rabbani, 48, heads the Jamiat-i-Islami (Islamic League), militarily the strongest Afghan party. A former theology professor at Kabul University, Rabbani has fought against Afghan governments since 1970. Rabbani's main weakness: his political strength lies with the Tajik and Uzbek ethnic groups in a country that has traditionally been ruled by Pashtuns...
...have invited their help in building a more broadly based national "Islamic army." Says Rabbani: "We believe that all other parties should join in, and we are working hard toward this end." If unity proves as difficult to achieve in victory as it has been up to now, Jamiat's leaders may look on their army as more than a dagger aimed at Najibullah's heart: the force may prove to be what one Jamiat official calls an "insurance policy" for a postwar future in which peace is far from certain...