Post by Islamic Revival on Aug 30, 2005 4:01:11 GMT -5
As the Islamic radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir fumes over the British government's intention to ban it following July 7 bombings in London, it can take some comfort from its offshoot in Pakistan.
Islamabad also outlawed the group in 2003, but here it is attracting a new breed of students and professionals, who are more likely to wear sharp Western suits than the baggy Islamic clothes preferred by other fundamenalists.
"I do my normal job and than take out some time for Tahrir, as I believe they are doing a good job to change the system," says Habibullah Saleem, the manager of a free eyecare centre in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
Like the group's followers in Britain and elsewhere, members in Pakistan have conservative views, but they say they abhor violence and only want an "intellectual revolution" in the Muslim world.
Other followers here include a civil engineer working in a multinational company, an assistant professor in a medical and dental college, and "thousands" of students, the group says.
Founded in the Middle East in the 1950s and then consolidated in central Asia, Hizb ut-Tahrir -- the Party of Islamic Liberation -- is a Sunni movement that says it wants to create a pan-Islamic state through non-violent means.
Source: The Nation 24 Aug 2005
www.nation.com.pk/daily/aug-2005/24/latest.php
Islamabad also outlawed the group in 2003, but here it is attracting a new breed of students and professionals, who are more likely to wear sharp Western suits than the baggy Islamic clothes preferred by other fundamenalists.
"I do my normal job and than take out some time for Tahrir, as I believe they are doing a good job to change the system," says Habibullah Saleem, the manager of a free eyecare centre in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
Like the group's followers in Britain and elsewhere, members in Pakistan have conservative views, but they say they abhor violence and only want an "intellectual revolution" in the Muslim world.
Other followers here include a civil engineer working in a multinational company, an assistant professor in a medical and dental college, and "thousands" of students, the group says.
Founded in the Middle East in the 1950s and then consolidated in central Asia, Hizb ut-Tahrir -- the Party of Islamic Liberation -- is a Sunni movement that says it wants to create a pan-Islamic state through non-violent means.
Source: The Nation 24 Aug 2005
www.nation.com.pk/daily/aug-2005/24/latest.php