Tuesday, June 12, 2007

INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER OF THE TALIBAN - MAULANA SAMI UL-HAQ

Maulana Sami ul-Haq is the director and chancellor of one of Pakistan's famous madrassas, Darul uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak in North West Frontier Province. He has served in this post since the death of his father, Maulana Abdul ul-Haq, the founder of the madrassa, in 1988. Darul uloom Haqqania is where many of the top Taliban leaders, including its fugitive chief, Mullah Omar, attended. It is widely believed that the madrassa was the launching pad for the Taliban movement in the early 1990s, which is why Sami ul-Haq is also called the "Father of the Taliban". Besides running his madrassa, Maulana Sami has a long political history as a religious politician. He was among the founders of Pakistan's Muttahida Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition of six Islamic religious parties.

Imtiaz Ali: During the Russian invasion [1980s], the students from your madrassa were traveling to Afghanistan to fight, after which most of them were eventually inducted as governors and administrators in the Taliban government. Is the same thing continuing today? Are you still sending people to Afghanistan for jihad?
Maulana Sami ul-Haq: No, there were not only Taliban who took part in jihad. This is an incorrect assumption, which needs correction. After the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, people from all walks of life went to Afghanistan for jihad. Students from colleges and universities went more than madrassa students.

The complete excerpts of this interview please clik here to read more....

1 comment:

Hyderabad News said...

Good story, hatts of to the writer.