Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir held a meeting with clerics at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on Thursday. According to a press release issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) – the military’s media wing – Gen Munir stated during the meeting that Pakistan is a country for all its citizens, regardless of their religious, provincial, tribal, linguistic, ethnic, sectarian, or any other differences.
While speaking to the attendees of the meeting, he reportedly emphasized that there is no room for intolerance or extreme actions by any group towards anyone, especially minorities and marginalized members of society.
But among those who were invited to the GHQ for this meeting with the army chief was Ahmad Ludhianvi, an extremist cleric who heads the anti-Shia outfit Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), which is a sister organization of the banned outfit Sipah Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). Ludhianvi is on record inciting violence against Pakistan’s Shia Muslim community on several occasions.
Ludhianvi has been placed on the 4th Schedule of Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) many times. Individuals are placed on the fourth schedule over their association with banned outfits and their movement is restricted to avoid a potential threat to public order.
The extremist cleric has a long history of issuing hateful remarks against the Shia community. In 2015, Ludhianvi appeared on a talk show on Geo News where he said that he does not consider Shias Muslim.
ASWJ, the outfit he currently heads, is a new name for the notorious militant organization SSP, which has been involved in targeted killings of the Shia community in Pakistan. Ludhianvi was also an ally of Malik Ishaq, the former head of the globally designated terror group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), whose stated mission is to rid Pakistan of Shias.
