Azam Tariq (religious leader)

Azam Tariq  (اعظم طارق 10 July 1962 – 6 October 2003) was a Pakistani politician, terrorist and cleric who was the leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Deobandi Islamist organization, which was officially banned by the government of Pakistan in August 2001 due to sectarian violence and terrorism in Pakistan. The group was notorious for killings of Shia Muslims in Pakistan, it was also involved in Hijacking of Sunni Barelvi mosques in Pakistan.

He was assassinated in 2003. After his death, Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi was selected as the president of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.

Early life and education
Azam Tariq was born in 10 July 1962 into a Punjabi Rajput farmer family to Mohammad Fateh in Chichawatni, their family roots lying in the Kalyan village of the Patiala district, now in Indian Punjab, from where they moved due to the 1947 partition.

He studied at a local madrassa and then enrolled in the Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia in Banuri Town, Karachi.

Like most madrassa students and graduates at that time, he participated in the Soviet-Afghan jihad, and when he returned, while he was the imam of the Masjid-e-Siddiq-e-Akbar in North Karachi he formed the basis of the future SSP.

Career
In August 2001, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf banned seven alleged Islamic organizations, including Sipah-e-Sahaba, and Azam Tariq was arrested and jailed on charges of terrorism.

Azam Tariq was elected three times to the National Assembly of Pakistan in Jhang Sadr, even though his constituency was a predominantly Shi'a region. He contested again in the 2002 elections, while in custody, and was again elected. He was released in November 2002.

Death
Tariq was shot and killed in an attack on 6 October 2003 alongside Islamabad as he left the M-2 Motorway to enter the city. his funeral was led by Abdul Rashid Ghazi inside Lal Masjid.

The assassination was part of a growing wave of violent incidents in Pakistan between the sectarian Deobandi Wahhabi and the Shiah Muslims. Violence peaked in July 2003 with the Quetta mosque attack and the massacre of more than 50 people.

On 11 May 2017, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested a proclaimed offender after 13 years who murdered him.

Books by Tariq

 * Rūdād-i ʻIshq O Vafā, Jhang : Markazī Daftar-i Sipāh-i Ṣaḥābah, 1999-2004, around 1000 pages (in 2 volumes). Author's memoirs.
 * Ahammīyat-i Hadīs̲ Dar Dīn, Kābul : Mayvand ; Peshawar : Kitābkhānah-ʼi Sabā, 2005, 298 p. Importance of Hadith for Islam, in Persian.
 * K̲h̲ut̤bāt-i Jarnail, al-Maʻrūf, K̲h̲ut̤bāt-i Jel, Jhang : Markazī Daftar-i Sipāh-i Ṣaḥābah, 2001. Collection of speeches written in jail (1998-1999) collected by Abū Usāmah Z̤iyāurraḥmān Nāṣir.

Books about Tariq

 * Muḥammad Nadīm Qāsimī, Ḥayāt-i Aʻẓam T̤āriq, Faiṣalābād : Ishāʻatulmaʻārif, 1998, 413 p.
 * Muḥammad Nadīm Muʻāviyah, Pārlīmanṭ Kā Londa : S̲ānī-i Jarnail-i Sipāh-yi Ṣaḥābah ... Ḥaz̤rat Maulānā Muḥammad Aʻẓam T̤āriq Shahīd Ke Mufaṣṣal Hālāt-i Zindagī Aur Pārlīmant Kī Taqārīr, Karāchī : Maktabah-yi K̲h̲ilāfat-i Rāshidah, 2005, 376 p.

See more

 * List of Deobandis