Caroline Nelly PERROT

ISLAMABAD: Despite public humiliation and periods of house arrest, the former leader of Pakistan’s notorious Red Mosque is inspiring a new generation of extremists with his old rhetoric — highlighting Islamabad’s ambivalent attempts to bring religious hardliners to heel.

Ten years after the military raid on his mosque made international headlines and shocked his country, Maulana Abdul Aziz remains influential, overseeing a network of seminaries as he calls for a “caliphate” to be established in Pakistan.

Aziz faced two dozen indictments, including incitement to hatred, murder and kidnapping. But Aziz was released on bail in 2009.

“He was acquitted in all these cases, and the government has chosen not to file appeals,” said lawyer and civil rights activist Jibran Nasir.

“There is no willingness for prosecution against him.”

Despite brief stints under house arrest, Aziz now appears to be galvanising the next generation with his fiery preaching — apparently without fear of repercussions.

“The curious thing is that the army has gone after the TTP but not Aziz,” said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a leading anti-extremist activist. “There’s sympathy for his cause that’s greater than the fear of being attacked again.” Aziz is known to boast of his relations with well known jihadists like Osama Bin Laden and has spoken sympathetically about the Islamic State group. He has also condoned high-profile extremist attacks.

“The impunity enjoyed by Abdul Aziz and other radical clerics raises fear of the capital returning to a 2007-like situation,” said political commentator Zahid Hussain.

In 2014, a video of students from his madrassa voicing their support for IS did not earn him any condemnation. “There should be a caliphate in the world including in Pakistan,” said Aziz in a televised interview around that time. Aziz “is tolerated... because it would be like touching a hornet’s nest”, explains former general Talat Masood. Given the sensitivity of the population to religious questions, intervening “would risk attracting sympathies”.

Authorities, however, appear to be keeping him on a tight leash for now.

Aziz is no longer welcome at the Red Mosque, which theoretically belongs to the state, and he has been placed on anti-terrorist list. A rally planned by his supporters to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Red Mosque siege was banned by the courts.

In recent months, the authorities have blocked roads surrounding the mosque to prevent Aziz from holding rallies and have taken measures to stop him from preaching on Friday, even remotely by phone. The Red Mosque’s new imam Maulana Aamir Sadeeq, an affable 30-year-old, said it was time to “forget the past” and “the extreme positions” of a decade ago. “We must put a distance between terrorism and us,” said Sadeeq — who happens to be Aziz’s nephew.—AFP