BARA: Pir Saifur Rehman, a spiritual leader once based in Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency who had died of heart attack the other day at the age of 85, was laid to rest in the presence of thousands of his followers from Afghanistan and Pakistan in Lakodher near Lahore.
His son Qari Muhammad Saeed alias Haideri was named his successor. Pir Saifur Rehman, hailing from Archi village in the Kunduz province of Afghanistan and affiliated with the Naqshbandi school of thought, migrated to Pir Sabaak in the Nowshera district in 1975, and then shifted to Mandikas area of Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency where the number of his followers increased manifold.
He was opposed by another non-local religious scholar in Bara, Mufti Munir Shakir, over religious issues. The latter was the pioneer of an illegal FM radio in Bara in October 2005. Mufti Munir Shakir, hailing from the Panjpir school of thought, turned the local population against Pir Saifur Rehman through his propaganda on the radio by accusing him of writing books contrary to the teachings of Islam. Pir Saifur Rehman also set up an illegal FM radio to counter Mufti Munir Shakir’s propaganda. It led to tension in the area as they openly started issuing threats to each other.
Mufti Munir Shakir turned his drive into an armed movement to oust the Pir from the area. His followers also started killing and kidnapping the Pir’s supporters. On January 31, 2006, a grand Jirga of the Afridi tribe held in Jamrud demanded of the government to expel both the religious leaders from Bara, arguing that the clerics were outsiders and were disturbing law and order in Khyber Agency.
In light of the Jirga decision, the political administration ordered both the clerics to leave the area forthwith or else face strict action. On February 2, 2006, Pir Saifur Rehman left the area and moved to Pabbi Tehsil in the Nowshera district. As majority of his followers were from the Punjab, he shifted to Lakodher in Lahore in March 2006.
Enjoying popular support in Bara, Mufti Munir Shakir resisted the order of the government for a while. As the government pressure on him mounted, he was also forced by his close friends and supporters, including Mangal Bagh, to leave the area to avoid a clash with the government in March 2006.
Following his expulsion from Bara, the movement launched by Mufti Munir Shakir turned into an armed organisation, the Lashkar-e-Islam, now led by Mangal Bagh. The government failed to tackle the situation arising out of the feud between the two groups in the early stages.
The situation led to the formation of the rival group, Ansarul Islam, and several hundred people have so far been killed and injured in clashes between the two groups over religious issues.
