OBITUARY: A LONELY END FOR A MAN WHO INSPIRED A MOVEMENT
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar had barely offered a few words of tribute to Maulana Samiul Haq in the packed hall of Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akhora Khattak when he was cut short by slogans of ‘Naara-i-Takbeer, Allah O Akbar’, ‘Ustad tere khoon se, inquilaab aayega’ [Teacher, your blood will lead to revolution] and ‘Aasia malaoona ko phansi do, phansi do’ [Hang the blasphemor Aasia!]. It was clear that those gathered, predominantly students among them, were unhappy with the government.
This unhappiness in the very institution that had benefited from generous — nearly 600 million rupees in all — funding by the PTI’s provincial government in 2016 and then in 2018 during its present term. The disbursement was justified on the grounds that it would help the students attending the institution to assimilate better in society. It would also pay for a new academic block. There were also suggestions the funding would go a long way towards de-radicalisation of the curriculum and the students.
As the protests started over Aasia Bibi’s acquittal by the Supreme Court on October 31 — in the blasphemy case that has seen the innocent woman spend nearly nine years in solitary confinement — the head of the institution and his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami (JUI-S), Maulana Samiul Haq joined those condemning the decision. In one particular public statement, he roared to the approval of supporters that he had warned Prime Minister Imran Khan, a political ally, that his government ‘would go’ like Nawaz Sharif’s if any flexibility were demonstrated towards Aasia Bibi.
Remembering the hardline cleric who was dubbed ‘Father of the Taliban’ by the Western media
This was unmistakably the hardline cleric who was dubbed ‘Father of the Taliban’ by the Western media after it emerged that the Afghan Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, and some of his key deputies, had graduated from the Darul Uloom Haqqania. While the Maulana denied that any military training was imparted at his institution — that has some 4,000 students enrolled at any point in time — he responded to a question about being called the ‘Father of the Taliban’ with a smile before saying, “Every movement needs a spiritual figure, perhaps they see me as theirs.” On another occasion, he had said that in the Afghan Taliban government there were some 20,000 of his students in different positions.
While he never acknowledged any such ownership of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in 2014, he was among those nominated by the TTP to negotiate with the government in the talks that failed and were followed by a full-fledged military operation in the North Waziristan Agency and a simultaneous mop-up in the remaining pockets of TTP influence in the remaining agencies of the erstwhile Federally-Administrated Tribal Areas. He expressed great sadness that the talks failed to resolve the issue and more blood was shed.
That he was committed to the Islamist cause was evident in one of his interviews where he refused to be drawn into an adverse comment about the so-called Islamic State (IS). His argument was that, with so many countries particularly of the West arrayed against the group, “it must be doing something right.” Also, even though he clarified more than once that nobody was imparted military training at the seminary, he was unequivocal in his endorsement of the ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan, with all the weapons in the armoury of the Taliban. It was no surprise that the Afghan Taliban were glowing in their tributes to him on his passing and hailed his inspirational role in their struggle. For their part, some figures associated with the Kabul government blamed his ideological indoctrination for the thousands of deaths in Afghanistan.
Retired Brigadier Asad Munir, who was commander of the ISI in Peshawar in the crucial period following 9/11, tweeted: “RIP Maulana Samiul Haq. My personal experience: a very pleasant person, with a sense of humour, a good friend, have known him for ages.” Many journalists who came into contact with the maulana echoed the brigadier’s sentiments and described him as a polite, generous and kind host during their visits to his HQ in Akhora Khattak. Maulana Samiul Haq was a prolific author having written several times on religious issues and also on the Afghan Taliban and their ‘war of ideology.’ Some years back, he compiled into seven volumes all the letters written to him by a wide range of people — such as religious scholars, journalists, officials and friends — for counsel or merely to exchange thoughts.
That he was committed to the Islamist cause was evident in one of his interviews where he refused to be drawn into an adverse comment the so-called about Islamic State (IS). His argument was that with so many countries particularly of the West arrayed against the group, “it must be doing something right.”
At the launch ceremony in Lahore, when speaker after speaker had eulogised him, the humble Maulana took his turn at the mic and said he did not think his own letters in response to the contents of the seven volumes were of such quality that they merited (their copies) being kept, or the audience would have had to read through another seven volumes. He may have made the comment in a somewhat lighter vein, but he lamented that, after the advent of mobile phones, people had stopped writing letters and now merely called to inquire after friends.