"We are having a revolution here"

Interview with Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Islamist winner of Pakistani election

translated from Der Spiegel Online October 13, 2002

The Islamist League MMA captured almost half the votes in the Pakistani election. In an interview with Der Spiegel Online, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, leader of the Jamiat-ulema-Islami (society of Islamic scholars), discusses the reasons for the election result and his political goals for his country.

Spiegel Online: Mr. Qazi, your Islamist movement managed to record a dramatic victory in the election. Almost half the votes went to you. What are your political goals?

Qazi: Pakistan was founded on Islamic ideology from the beginning. Now we want the Parliament to function according to Islamic law. We want a Shaaria legal foundation for this country, but naturally, human rights should also be respected. Shaaria means protecting human dignity -- not only, as its often misunderstood in the West, the cutting off of hands and the stoning of women.

Spiegel Online: How do you explain your movement's new popularity among the Pakistani people?

Qazi: The outcome of the election amounts to a revolution. Many people are fed up with the corrupt secular ruling parties. In particular, the people in the border regions with Afghanistan are traditionally very religious. Among us Pashtuns the Mullahs have always been our leaders. Naturally, solidarity with our Afghan brothers also played a role.

Spiegel Online: Is the election result therefore also a protest against President Pervez Musharraf's alliance with the US against the Taliban, who were previously supported by Pakistan?

Qazi: Yes. Musharraf entered into the alliance with US President George W Bush out of fear, under extreme pressure from Washington. We protested against it, and for that the regime threw me in jail for four months. Musharraf's pro-American policy was not and is not in Pakistan's national interest. The citizens of Pakistan are now confronting the consequences: Terrorists are taking revenge on Pakistan and rocking the country with attacks.

Spiegel Online: Did you therefore conduct an extreme anti-American campaign?

Qazi: Anti-American resentments in Pakistan are growing stronger by the day. Not without cause. After September 11 the Americans killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan. They disturbed the country's peace. There was no evidence that the Taliban had anything to do with the September 11 attacks. America acted without any regard for international law as both prosecutor and executioner.

Spiegel Online: But weren't the Americans actually defending themselves after an attack on their country?

Qazi: No. The USA is engaged in nothing other than a campaign against Islam, against Muslims in our region. They want to impose their values on us. The examples of Israel and Iraq further demonstrate their hegemonic policies. When we were struggling for our independence from Great Britain in the 1940s, we looked to America as the bastion of freedom. Today the US is acting like the worst colonizer, only with more refined methods. But we won't put up with any American military bases in our country.

Spiegel Online: Are you trying to establish a Taliban regime in Pakistan?

Qazi: No. We have a long democratic tradition. We've always had reservations about the Taliban's policies. We don't go along with their hostility toward television or against women. But of course we supported the Taliban because they were just and honorable men, who brought peace to Afghanistan.

Spiegel Online: American special forces have stepped up their search for former Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in the Pakistani border regions. Is there validity to the charge that members of your movement are sheltering the wanted men?

Qazi: No. I don't believe that. I've never been sure whether the so-called Al-Qaeda has ever even existed. The Americans long supported Osama bin Laden, before he opposed their colonialism.

Interview by Lutz C. Kleveman

translated by Stefan Sharkansky