Demand for Release of Naveed Butt

Banned organisation: Recovery of Hizbut Tahrir’s spokesperson demanded

Saturday, 19 May 2012 01:38

ISLAMABAD: Wife of Hizbut Tahrir’s spokesperson, who was allegedly picked up by spy agencies a few days back, demanded on Thursday that he be immediately released.

Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday, she said her husband, Naveed Butt, was picked up shortly before Jumma prayers on May 11.

She was accompanied by her lawyer, Muhamamd Hayyat Sindhu, who told media that they had filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court. Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman had directed the intelligence agencies to produce Butt on May 18, he added.

Express Tribune

Source: Hizb ut-Tahrir America

Why Was Brigadier Ali Khan Arrested?

The Brigadier, Hizb ut-Tahrir Pakistan & the regime’s incapacity to engage

Af / Pak — 24 June 2011

The latest leaflet released by Hizb ut-Tahrir Pakistan (HTP), dated June 5^th, 2011, is entitled “Pakistan’s budget is always prepared on IMF’s direction” which criticizes the government’s tax policy for being mainly based upon indirect taxes. The occasion for the release of the leaflet was the government’s decision to implement the RGST (Reformed General Sales Tax) apparently in line with demands by the IMF, in effect causing the general population in Pakistan to carry a further share of the tax burden which was already disproportionately weighed against them. The solution offered in the leaflet is to adopt an alternative Islamic Economic System through an Islamic government or Caliphate, with a brief argument in favor of the various forms of Islamic taxation which focus upon wealth and fixed assets rather than income or consumption based – such as the various forms of land tax – and the return to public ownership of sectors such as energy production.

The leaflet is short – just about 500 words in the English translation – and openly available on the Pakistani website of the group in both Urdu and English. Any journalist or researcher would be able to access them easily with little effort required to understand their content. Yet in the wake of the news that a senior officer in the Pakistani army, Brigadier Ali Khan, had been arrested last month apparently for links to the group, the response of numerous commentators and analysts has been to discuss how the Army can “purge” these elements from within, dismissing any real thought regarding why such officers may be drawn to the movement or engaging in their ideas at any level. Other material on the website includes documents outlining an economic blueprint for any future Islamic State, and a political manifesto for Pakistan, plenty to engage the movement upon in open debate.

However, rather than any attempt at engagement at any level to discuss ideas, it is still often viewed through the prism of how far a threat these individuals are to the interests of the United States and by extension that of its client regime. Therefore, the arrested officer is a suspected “extremist” with suspected links to “militant Islamist movements”. The Brigadier is slurred as an extremist due to the fact that he is critical of Pakistani ties to America, while the movement is slurred as being “militant Islamist” because it calls for an independent political solution based upon Islam rather than the current system of feudal “democracy” or military dictatorship that the regime alternates between while consistently sacrificing the interests of its own people at the alter of American Af-Pak policy whichever it is. By adopting this discourse the media and government thereby exclude any serious consideration of the views of both the Brigadier and the movement.

At the same time there is often an agenda to make a spurious link between HT and al-Qaeda to de-legitimize its political stances by association and further mystify the group. This is a common practice particularly by oppressive regimes who want to crush non-violent dissenting views under the guise of “fighting terrorism”, as seen regularly in places like Uzbekistan and Russia. It also occurred in Mubarak’s Egypt where I was arrested for membership of the group along with several others six months after the events 9/11, with the Egyptian authorities initially trying to claim that we were al-Qaeda operatives.

However, as demonstrated by the materials highlighted, it is clear that HT has a formalized political program far from the lazy caricature encouraged by regime insiders and drawn by journalists seeking insight from “counter-extremism” experts and pundits whose livelihood is dependent upon commentary that serves government narratives. Academics who have undertaken detailed methodological research of the group such as Emmanuel Karagiannis identity its ideology as the pin which restricts it to a methodology based upon intellectual conviction and convincing public opinion, and given that it has eschewed the use of violence to attain its goals since its inception in 1953 despite harsh crackdowns in most countries it operates in there is no justifiable reason to consider it will do otherwise.

It is still not clear whether the Brigadier was arrested for his affiliations, or if it was due to embarrassing the military high brass at a meeting on May 5^th by questioning their complicity with the American raid which ended in the extra-judicial assassination of Osama Bin Laden a few days earlier. Whatever the case, HTP has clearly been a thorn for the Pakistani regime for a while. Since the distribution of a leaflet within military bases on May 7^th which urged the military to “Rid yourselves now of the traitor rulers” due to the accusation of the complicity of elements of the Pakistani regime with American violation of Pakistan sovereignty, there have been numerous instances of abductions of activists along with the raids on their houses by the intelligence agencies. These raids and abductions occurred after several regional HT pages advertised on Facebook were removed from the internet by the American company without explanation soon after the central press office of HT released a statement condemning the manner of the extra-judicial execution of Osama Bin Laden.

Attempts to dismiss the Brigadier as an extremist or treating the movement as a security threat purposely neglect engagement with the issues raised. As one of the Ali Khan’s military colleagues stated “the problem is that his anti-American views and [opinions on] self reliance were getting popular with middle and lower ranking officers”, something not particularly surprising given that the American drone program has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians along with all other manner of abuses carried out. A recent PEW opinion poll found that 73% of Pakistani’s had an unfavorable view of the US, with only 12% in favor. With such widespread dislike of American presence in Pakistan, it is not unusual that movements such as HT who articulate such grievances whilst offering independent political alternatives to the perceived servitude of the current regime would grow in size and influence.

Whilst investigations may result in arrests and the stunting of its progress, such actions neither deal with the underlying policy that is creating the grievances, nor challenges the solutions offered. Dismissing discussion of the Caliphate system proposed by the group and expanded upon in its two volume book detailing its constitution because it doesn’t suit Western interests or that of its Pakistani client is unlikely to prevent an increase in the debate of ideas amongst both the general population and the military, especially with the extra attention and publicity as a result of the coverage of the Brigadier’s arrest.

Simply trying to discredit the political program of HT through association with “extremism” and “terrorism” appears a response borne out of weakness, much like the ban of the party by previous President Pervez Musharraf. There is already contact with multiple elements in the Army, as evidenced by cases last year against other serving officers. Other top-level military personnel such as Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Mirza Aslam Beg are also familiar with HTP and supportive of their program stating that “their people want the implementation of Shariah through a convincing mechanism and their books, some of them I have read, are a research work.”

The question is whether the Pakistani regime has any alternative to offer. At this juncture, it seem not, and the events of the past few days tell us more about the faltering regime’s attempts along with its patron to stifle the obvious growing dissent and disaffection within than anything else.

Reza Pankhurst is a regular contributor to New Civilisation. He is a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics, and also blogs at rezapankhurst.net.

Hizb The Threat

The Hizb ut-Tahrir threat
By Muhammad Amir Rana | From the Newspaper | 11th July, 2011

THE arrest of Brig Ali Khan and four majors last month bring Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) into the spotlight. Though HT did not confirm or deny their links with itself, its spokesman in Pakistan said in a recent interview that the idea of resonates with officers of the armed forces.

HT is an ideological group that falls somewhere between political Islamists and militant Islamists, and may also be classified as a kind of a revolutionary Islamist set-up. HT emphatically asserts that the only way to progress, prosperity and development is the implementation of Islam as an ideology in Pakistan, in fact the whole world.

In Pakistan, it has an anti-constitutional and anti-democratic outlook and agenda, and its narrative on militant and violent movements and groups in the country remains vague. This vagueness is a major hurdle in assessing the real threat the group can pose. Most analysts tend to watch madressahs and popular mass movements for signs of radicalisation. The danger with HT is ever more serious and often overlooked because it is not always visible and does not conform to stereotypes.

HT`s political discourse is based on religio-ideological narratives that are already in abundance in Pakistan and are one of the root causes of the main security threats posed to Pakistan`s state and society. HT can, in fact, give impetus to the theo-political polarisation in Pakistani society where space for any discourse other than the Islamist narrative has almost already disappeared. This is a threat in general, irrespective of which Islamist organisation or group is contributing to it; and HT is also a part of this threat augmentation.

HT claims to be a non-violent movement, but has been linked to a number of terrorist plots in Pakistan, including an attempt to assassinate former president Gen Pervez Musharraf. A report by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, quoting an HT member, claimed that the group did not deny the involvement of HT members in some “violent activities” — such as the plot to assassinate Musharraf and the case of an army captain who faces court martial in Kotli, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on charges of planning a coup on HT`s behalf. khilafat khilafat

Some other factors also suggest that HT may pose potential threats to the security of the Pakistani state and society. Firstly, the frustrated youth associated with HT may get involved in terrorist activities; secondly, HT does not denounce such activities. Thirdly, HT does not discount the possibility of resort to violence via the military, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of establishing the state; it rather obliges it. Naveed Butt, HT spokesman in Pakistan, states that after the establishment of , part of the second phase will be to widen the borders of the state through offensive `jihad` or aggressive warfare. kufr khilafat. khilafat khilafat

At another level, the pursuit of a jihadist agenda cannot be ruled out in the case of HT. It believes that jihad and preaching will be used for “taking humanity out from the darkness of (infidelity) to the light of Islam” after the establishment of Perhaps HT has assumed a timeline for the establishment of their in Pakistan after which it plans to pursue a `jihad` to expand the boundaries of .

However, the question is, if things do not happen according to HT`s expectations, as the dominant discourse in Pakistan suggests, who can guarantee that the organisation, or its members at least, will not adopt the militant or jihadist discourse to achieve their primary objectives, especially when there are already some indications of their involvement in such activities. khilafat

Secondly, HT tries to influence the political leadership, mainly leaders of Islamist parties in Pakistan. It claims, as discussed earlier, that they do not have a clear agenda and that HT can provide them with a viable blueprint for the establishment of , or an `Islamic` revolution, that they are working towards.

Most Islamist organisations are traditionalists in their approach and work under the constitution of Pakistan. HT can lead the Islamists to a viewpoint that is characterised by opposition to the constitution. In other words, HT has the potential to compress the political and democratic space by guiding the Islamist parties and the citizens of Pakistan towards non-democratic and unconstitutional narratives of governance and state-functioning.

Thirdly, HT has been persistently targeting Pakistan Army officials for enlisting and the fact that it has the potential to augment the `Islamic revolution` niche occupied by some senior military officials cannot be ignored.

It is pertinent to mention that in two military coup plots unearthed in Pakistan HT was the prime suspect. A military court in Pakistan-administered Kashmir identified two military officers and two civilians in January 2010 as members of HT and charged them with planning to attack the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan. This facility is generally believed to be used as a base for US drones attacking targets in Pakistan`s tribal areas. The accused were also charged with transferring sensitive information to HT, which had also developed close links with Maj Gen Zaheer Abbasi, the main accused in the foiled military coup in 1995.

Fourthly, HT concentrates considerably on university students and those studying in professional institutions. The infiltration of these groups, especially with an anti-state and anti-constitutional agenda, runs the risk of putting more and more educated Pakistani youth on the path of radicalisation. According to Maajid Nawaz, a former member of HT, the radicalisation of this section of youth could have a poisonous effect on other segments of society, eventually making the core fabric of society prone to extremism because of its Islamist-guided polarisation.

HT certainly has the potential to polarise progress in Pakistan by injecting schismatic dogma into the very classes that Pakistan so desperately needs to progress.

The writer is editor of the quarterly research journal Conflict and Peace Studies.

mamirrana@yahoo.com

Source: http://dawn.com/2011/07/11/the-hizb-ut-tahrir-threat/

Calls On Pakistan’s Armed Forces to End Crusade Against Our Armed Forces

O sincere officers in Pakistan’s armed forces! End the traitor rulers’ crusade against our armed forces

Friday, 23 September 2011 14:20

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

O sincere officers in Pakistan’s armed forces!

End the traitor rulers’ crusade against our armed forces

After the attacks of 11 September 2001, former US President George Bush launched a long crusade in the Islamic Lands. On September 16, 2001, at Camp David, Bush declared, “This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while.” Like crusades before it, this crusade benefits only the kuffar and inflicts great harm upon the Muslims. But unlike other crusades, this crusade turns Muslims against each other, rather than allowing them to act as one hand against their enemies. Moreover, this crusade would fail within days were it not for traitors within the leadership of the Muslims’ themselves.

Seeking to undermine the formidable strength of Pakistan’s armed forces, America and Pakistan’s traitor rulers work hand in hand to create division and discord between the Muslims and their armed forces. The traitors have signed contracts and agreements with America, its intelligence and military, for open access to Pakistan’s armed forces, so that the Americans can gather vital intelligence about sensitive armed forces’ sites, including GHQ (General Headquarters) itself. Then armed with this intelligence, America easily launched attacks against Pakistan’s armed forces, using the name of the Taliban while these attacks were done by American private armies of “Raymond Davis’s” that the traitor rulers allow to operate in Pakistan. The traitors secure a supply line to American forces in Afghanistan, whilst America keeps Afghanistan open to Indian intelligence, RAW, allowing it to create Fitna in Baluchistan, the tribal areas and beyond. The traitors grant America air force facilities within Pakistan, from where America launches drones to attack the Muslims in the tribal areas. Closely supervised by visiting American generals, the traitors launch destructive operations in the tribal areas to render millions as homeless refugees. And preventing Pakistan’s armed forces’ intelligence, ISI, to rally the sincere Muslims against the enemies, the rulers force the ISI to persecute the mujahideen here and there, so that they fall in front of the kuffar.

The result of the American collaboration with Pakistan’s traitor rulers is as George Friedman, the influential American policy advisor, mentioned in his book, “The Next 100 Years.” He wrote, “…the United States responded to the Islamic earthquake – it wanted to prevent a large, powerful Islamic state from emerging… so long as the Muslims are fighting each other, the United States has won its war.” Thus, America and Pakistan’s traitor rulers have ensnared one of the strongest armed forces in the world in a wasteful war of Fitna were thousands of Muslims, civilian and military, have shed their pure blood. They have converted a Muslim institution, the ISI, which through its firmness used to strike fear in the hearts of the Indian intelligence, RAW, and their allies in Britain’s MI6, into a pliable tool for the crusaders.

What worsens the treason against the armed forces is that even now Pakistan’s rulers’ can within days deliver America a crushing defeat in its war against Islam, its Ummah and its state. Within days America’s actual strength would become obvious before the Muslim armed forces, whose Muslim soldiers cherish martyrdom as much as the cowardly kuffar cling to this life, if the rulers withdrew its military support to America’s crusade, closed America’s bases and cut Pakistan’s supply line to America’s forces in Afghanistan. Within hours of the rulers’ giving Hizb ut-Tahrir the Nussrah (Material Support) for establishing the state of Muslims, the Khilafah, Pakistan’s armed forces could start to rally the Muslims of the tribal areas, Baluchistan and beyond in order to unify Kabul, Dhaka, Tashkent and Islamabad, striking a severe blow against the crusaders and the Hindu state.

However, rather than allowing the Muslims to rally under the Islamic Khilafah state against their enemies, the traitors have joined hands with the kuffar, warring against the Muslims, their armed forces, the establishment of their state, the Khilafah, and their party, Hizb ut-Tahrir, to reduce a land blessed with resources, a noble Muslim people and powerful Muslim armed forces into a battlefield, steeped in humiliation and despair. Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ بَدَّلُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّوا قَوْمَهُمْ دَارَ الْبَوَارِ

جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَوْنَهَا وَبِئْسَ الْقَرَار

“Have you not seen those who have changed the Blessings of Allah into disbelief and caused their people to dwell in an abode of destruction. Hell, in which they will burn, is an evil abode, indeed!” [Surah Ibraheem 14:28,29]

So, after such monumental treachery, it is no surprise that General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, was granted an extension as Chief of Army Staff, with approval from the Americans, as the traitor Musharraf before him. America needs continuity in its crusade and knows Kayani has time and again proved his loyalty to the kuffar. In the time of Musharraf, Kayani was in key posts, such as Director General of Military Operations and Director General of ISI, and thus was a key man to extending support to America’s occupation of Afghanistan, the Lal Masjid and Jami’a Hafsa massacre, establishing drone attacks and operations in tribal areas. When the armed forces’ rage grew against his friend Musharraf, Kayani personally brokered a deal with Benazir Bhutto and her party to allow continuity of the American war. When the rage still did not die down, Kayani was granted the seat of Chief of Army Staff, by John Negroponte, the then US Deputy Secretary of State, before Negroponte met Musharraf to remove him.

Unrepentant until today, and not heeding the lesson of his friend Musharraf, who was discarded like a rat when America had no use of him, Kayani ensures continuity of America’s plans. In the aftermath of the Abbotabad attacks, Kayani personally rushed to the defense of the Americans, by seeking to replace the anger of the enemy within the armed forces with fear of that enemy. Until today, like Musharraf before him, Kayani steadily advances American interests, all the while seeking to deceive the armed forces and conceal his steps. Indeed, for the sake of cheap personal worldly gains, he allies with the enemy, even though Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لاَ تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِمْ بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا بِمَا جَاءَكُمْ مِنْ الْحَقِّ

“O you who believe! Take not My enemies and your enemies as friends, showing affection towards them, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth” [Surah al Mumtahina 60:1]

O Muslims of Pakistan!

So long as you have traitor rulers that support and ally with the West, you will not rid yourselves of this crusade against your armed forces. Only the Khilafah, with a Khaleefah who will rule by Islam alone, will raise you and your armed forcers to your rightful position. Rise now like your Muslim brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen to get rid of the tyrants, and then establish Khilafah. Let the Islamic earthquake shake the thrones of the traitors and bury them under the earth. Stand with the brave and aware shebaab of Hizb ut-Tahrir, and call to the sincere officers in the armed forces to grant Hizb ut-Tahrir the Nussrah to establish the Khilafah.

O sincere officers in Pakistan’s armed forces!

Beware of standing with the traitors in their crusade against yourselves and those whom you have sworn to protect. Beware of losing your hereafter for the worldly gains of the traitors within your leadership. Earn the prayers of the entire Ummah and work for the victory of your Ummah and yourselves by providing the Nussrah to Hizb ut-Tahrir for the establishment of a Khilafah, upon the method of Prophethood. Earn the Help of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and do not despair, for you will be victorious by the will of Allah سبحانه وتعالى , overcoming the enemies and liberating the oppressed. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,

وَلاَ تَهِنُوا وَلاَ تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمْ الأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“Do not weaken nor grieve, for you will overcome them if you are (indeed) believers” [Surah Al-Imran 3:139]

Hizb ut-Tahrir

Wilayah Pakistan

10 September 2011 / 12 Shawwal 1432 AH

Wants Uprising in Pakistan

Hizb ut-Tahrir wanted Egypt-like uprising in Pakistan: Report

Islamabad, Jul 25 (PTI)

Banned radical outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) had planned an Egypt-like uprising in Pakistan by roping in like-minded elements in the powerful military, just days before the army detained certain senior officers in May for links with the group, a media report said today.

 

 

Correspondence between Punjab Police, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the federal government in April contained a “clear warning” about the HuT attempting a “deep infiltration” of the military and academia, this year, The Express Tribune newspaper reported today.

A letter from intelligence agencies to law enforcement agencies said HuT was working on a plan for an uprising in Pakistan similar to the ones in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year.

“They wanted an Arab spring in Pakistan,” said an official familiar with the letter.
Wary of the HuT’s burgeoning network and in an apparent early warning about the group’s growing influence, the Crime Investigation Department of police called for “appropriate” steps to control the group that wants to establish a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the elected government, the report said.

“All were forewarned about what was coming,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying by the daily.

The Pakistan Army detained Brig Ali Khan, who was serving as director for rules and regulations at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, in May for alleged links with HuT.

The army has also confirmed it is questioning four majors for their alleged links with the banned group.

The detention of Khan and the four majors came after months of correspondence between various law enforcement and intelligence agencies that hinted at the suspicious activities of HuT activists and their possible collaboration with military personnel, particularly in Punjab, The Express Tribune reported.

The five officers are still in the army’s custody and might face court martial for ‘inciting fellow officers for a mutiny”, the report said.

The letter from intelligence agencies urged law enforcement officials to take “preventive or pre-emptive measures” to avert any untoward incident and to make efforts to “identify and apprehend the miscreants before they succeed in their nefarious designs”. HuT has regularly been distributing pamphlets and leaflets in middle and upper-middle class residential areas of Pakistan’s large cities.

This activity gained momentum after the successful uprising in Tunisia.
In its pamphlets, HuT specifically addressed the armed forces, urging military personnel and the public, especially the youth, to make concerted efforts to get rid of the government, while citing the example of Tunisia.

The pamphlets sought to use growing anti-American sentiments, inciting people against what HuT described as “pro-American” generals who it said had engaged a “Muslim” army in a war with their brothers in the tribal areas at the behest of the US.

Shortly after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, the HuT distributed pamphlets in military cantonments that called on army officers to establish an Islamic caliphate.

Intelligence agencies have warned that HuT is trying to mobilise public opinion in favour of establishing a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the government.
As a first step towards the proposed revolution, the group wants to have an Arab-style uprising that would have the support of the armed forces.

If the HuT cannot get generals to support its plans at the institutional level, it would seek officers who were supportive of its ideology to carry out its mission in an individual capacity, The Express Tribune reported.

After the arrest of serving army officers for their alleged links with HuT, the government detained some office-bearers of the banned group.

HuT has launched a campaign for the release of these detained activists, with posters seen on walls in different parts of Islamabad condemning the arrests

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/178942/hizb-ut-tahrir-wanted-egypt.html#

19 Hizb Members Arrested

19 Hizb-ut-Tahrir men booked under sedition law, jailed

Tuesday, 17 April 2012 23:54

LAHORE – The banned outfit Hizb-ut-Tahrir or HT has suffered a major blow as its 19 top leaders and activists have been sent to jail, days after they were arrested during a joint operation in Model Town area and booked under sedition laws. Sources in the joint investigations team disclosed that some of the arrested leaders of HT have alleged that they were receiving funding from the MI-6. However, a member of the HT denied the claim, terming it baseless and said that the HT men were attending Dars-e-Quran when the law enforcing agencies raided the house.

All 19 accused have been sent to a local jail after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected the petition, seeking their post-arrest bail. Earlier, a Special Judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court had dismissed the post-arrest bail of the petitioners. The LHC also asked the security agencies to submit evidence and details about the HT, an outfit banned by the Ministry of Interior in November 20, 2003 vide notification (SRO-1061 (1) 2003).

The law enforcement and intelligence agencies carried out a joint operation, raiding the HT headquarters situated in (79/C-III) Model Town at about 10:00 pm on March 29 and arrested 19 leaders and activists of the banned outfit. The police have claimed the HT leaders and activists were holding a key meeting at their secret headquarters to intensify operations to conspire and incite rebellion among the Judiciary, government and the Pakistan Army, when security personnel stormed their safe haven. The arrested suspects are highly-trained, well-off, and welleducated, police sources said, adding, “they are professors, serving in leading universities, computer experts, textile engineers and chemical experts with M. Phil and PhD degrees”.

The Model Town police registered a case (FIR No 130/12) on the charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy, subversive /hate material, funding by prescribed organisation, and meeting by prescribed organisation (under sections 120-B, 124-A, 11-W-ATA, 11-H-ATA, and 11-F-ATA). According to section 124-A (Sedition), “Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Federal or Provincial Government established by law shall be punished with imprisonment for life to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”

Security agencies recovered more than 500-kg of “subversive and hatred material, including hundreds of books, thousands of leaflets, CDs, cassettes etc from their possession during the raid,” a source close to the investigations team told this reporter, requesting his name not be mentioned. “It was a grand and extraordinary operation, which took place under the direct supervision of SP Model Town Maroof Safdar Wahla. The law enforcing agencies got irrefutable evidences against the HT,” he added. Investigators further revealed that all addresses printed on the recovered subversive material were found fake. “They always use fake names, fake IDs and bogus documents to incite people especially the youth against the state and government institutions in the name of Islam,” investigators said.

According to the Hizb-ut-Tahrir’s manifesto, it is working for the establishment of Islamic state or Khilafah and is the only global party that works throughout the world. Interestingly, the focus of the banned outfit remains Pakistan, since 2003, when it began targeting Pakistani government, Army and Judiciary in its propaganda campaign. In an open letter, the HT had asked the Generals, Air Marshals, Navy Admirals, and officers of Pakistan’s armed forces “to rise up against the western forces because only through you the Ummah can be liberated.”

More interestingly, after the Lahore High Court rejected the bail plea of the suspects, the HT forwarded an SMS to a great number of people across Pakistan, apart from its members, and criticised the courts stating that the “the independence of the courts has been exposed,” and warned the rulers that the HT would never stop its ‘struggle.’ The outfit using various methods of communications regularly targets the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief of Army Staff, DG ISI and the government in order to spread hatred the people against the state institutions.

“While focusing on the youth, they target judiciary, armed forces and the government in an attempt to create hatred among the public against the state institutions,” a police investigator said. HT members base their philosophy in the name of Islam, the officer added. “By God, they even don’t know the basics of Islam,” he said.The arrested were identified as Faisal Rehman, Ali Nawaz, Muhammad Tanveer, Zain Bin Zubair, Ghulam Ali, Ahsan Namdar, Shahzad Ahmed, Muhammad Danial, Muhammad Shajji, Muhammad Jamal, Adeel Naeem, Sharak Naeem, Muhammad Saleem, Qamar Abbas, Jalal, Shoaib Daud, Muhammad Talha Sameeh and Zeshan. The accused have been sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail. Further investigations are underway.

The Nation

Source: http://hizb-america.org/culture/news-watch/2460-19-hizb-ut-tahrir-men-booked-under-sedition-law-jailed

Hizb Planned Arab Spring

Intelligence warning: Hizb ut-Tahrir planned ‘Arab spring’ in Pakistan

Report

By mastifundaon Jul-27-11 7:28am

From:  khabrain.info

ISLAMABAD: Several weeks before the military detained a group of senior officers for alleged links with the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir earlier this year, the country’s intelligence agencies warned that the banned organisation was planning an Egypt-style uprising in Pakistan by seeking support from ‘like-minded’ elements within the armed forces. In a correspondence among the Punjab police, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the government in April this year, made available to Khabrain.info , there was a clear warning of the outfit attempting a ‘deep infiltration’ of the military and academia.

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/Hizb+ut-Tahrir/articles/KNZgbkg9neG/Intelligence+warning+Hizb+ut+Tahrir+planned

Hizb Activist Missing

Another Hizbut Tahrir activist goes missing

Source: Staff Report

August 11, 2011 on 11:44 PM

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notices to director generals (DG) of the ISI and MI and others in a case against the alleged abduction of Dr Muhammad Waheed. The number of missing activists of Hizbut Tahrir is gradually increasing as five cases seeking recovery of missing activists are already being heard in the IHC.

The court’s single bench of Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman resumed the hearing of a petition filed by Naveed Mukhtar against the kidnapping of his brother Dr Muhammad Waheed from Rahim Yar Khan. Through his lawyer, Mukhtar had contended that he and his brother Dr Waheed were picked up by an agency’s men on August 9. He said that after closing their private clinic he and his brother left for home. However, after covering some distance, they noticed that a vehicle was following them.

Dr Waheed told Mukhtar that the ISI and MI had been threatening to kidnap him. Mukhtar contended that the agency’s men after chasing them for a while, forced them to stop, tied black cloth on his and his brother’s eyes and took them to an unidentified place. Mukhtar further narrated that after keeping him for more than three hours in custody, the agency’s men released him but they did not release his brother.

He contended that his brother was not involved in any illegal activity and demanded his recovery. The chief justice issued notices to respondents for their comments and has fixed the matter for August 15.

 

“Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami”
Arif Nizami (Editor)

Activist Arrested and Tortured

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s activist arrested from Peshawar University and brutally tortured

Thursday, 04 November 2010 23:43

5th November ‘Khilafah Rallies’ are causing sleepless nights to the agent rulers

The huge support for the call of Khilafah has seriously disturbed the slumber of the agent rulers. In there panic, these agent rulers have resorted to arrests of shabaab of Hizb ut-Tahrir and torturing them. Agent rulers arrested activist of Hizb ut-Tahrir Abdul Qadoos, a final year student in Agriculture University Peshawar, and brutally tortured him. Later they registered a case against him and then quietly got one day physical remand as well. He is still behind bars. In Rawalpindi, Government hooligans twice attempted to arrest the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir but bitterly failed because of the bold stance taken by the Ummah in defense of the Hizb members leaving the government agents fuming with anger. Currently two laborers, who were tying the banners, are under police custody in Rawalpindi. Hizb ut-Tahrir has distributed hundreds of thousands of pamphlets in its campaign for Khilafat rallies, thousands of stickers, posters and poll cards have been pasted; thus this message has been already delivered to thousands of people.

O agent rulers! You are well aware that your cheap tactics have failed earlier and you will be sorry this time as well. You can neither frighten the shabaab of Hizb whose hearts are lightened with the candles of Iman nor can you harass the masses who are openly supporting Hizb against your hooligan attitude. Your time is over, the Ummah has awakened, and all your tactics are bound to fail. Remember! Soon you will be made accountable for your crimes.

The Deputy Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan

Press Release No:PR10064
Monday 24th Ziqadh 1431 AH / 11/11/2010

Safe House Raided

Hizb-ut-Tahrir safe house raided

By Munawer Azeem
October 18, 2009

 

ISLAMABAD, Oct 17 Police raided a `safe house` of the proscribed student organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir on Saturday and took into custody over two dozen activists.

Six activists of the group managed to escape despite a siege of the house in sector F-8/3.

Police raided the house after a tip-off that a large number of the banned outfit`s members were huddled in a meeting there to plot acts of subversion in Islamabad. The house is located only a few kilometres from the offices of police high-ups.

A heavy contingent of well-equipped policemen and personnel of anti-terrorist squad took part in the raid.

Police found some objectionable literature, computers and some other stuff in the house and seized over 15 vehicles, including Sedan cars and sport utility vehicles.

According to a senior police officer, the arrested people were booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act and produced in a court of law for further legal action. He said the activists were suspected of helping militants.

He said the meeting was being held in a rented house and police were searching for the owner who would also face a legal action.