Hizb Ul Terir reveals foreign funding

The investigation of arrested members of Hizb Ul Terir took a dramatic turn when law enforcement agencies were informed that the organization was receiving funds from United Kingdom-based outfits. The organization was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar and appeals court judge (Qadi) from the Palestinian village of Ijzim. Since then, Hizb ut-Tahrir has spread to more than 40 countries and the Pakistan outfit is allegedly providing support to all these countries. Hizb ut-Tahrir is very active in the west, particularly in the United Kingdom, and is also active in several Arab and Central Asian countries, despite being banned by some governments. The group also has a growing presence in North America, known as Hizb ul-TahrirAmerica, or HTA.

According to law enforcement agencies, members are Hizb ul Tehrir targets well-educated young people mostly information technology experts, electronics engineers, communication experts, doctors, lawyers, and even members of armed forces. Last year a full Brigdier of Pakistan Army Brigdier Ali Khan was court martialed. The court martial’s proceedings against Ali started last year in December. During the six-month long proceedings, five military officers recorded their testimonies from the prosecutor’s side.

The officers said that the defendant, Ali, provoked them for mutiny against the civil leadership. According to the military rules of business, this entire procedure could take from a few weeks time to several months. Hizbut Tahrir or Hizb-ul-Tahrir, which is banned in Pakistan, as well as several other Muslim countries but this organization is not on the banned list of the United Kingdom and United States. The outfit makes no secret of its desire to penetrate the armies of Muslim countries, particularly Pakistan, and foment an “Islamic coup” to establish a global “caliphate.”

Even after this event’s underground activities of Hizb-ul-Tehrir were not stopped in Pakistan, and according to sources, a secret meeting of it was held in the capital city of Islamabad on March 15 and police raided the place on a tip off and arrested 19 members, and recovered huge subversive material including laptops, leaflets, booklets and audio cds that had a message for the Global Jihad to establish Caliphate all over the world.

In a raid in Lahore after the raid of Islamabad was also successful, another 19 members were arrested, including Prof. Qamar Abbas, who was leading the cult in Lahore. According to well-placed sources, the arrested individuals at Islamabad and Lahore cooperated well during their investigations and pointed out further places and people where the organization was running its activities. According to them, they generally received funding from abroad and then payments were distributed among individuals in various cities. Sources claimed that arrested members informed law enforcement agencies that they were receiving payments in krone (Danish currency), dollars, and pounds (UK currency), and the last transaction made to one Naseem at Lahore was 30,000 (thirty thousand) Krones for conducting activities in Lahore only.

Arrested individuals also confirmed their links and support from UK-based Muslim organizations, because this organization is not banned in the United Kingdom despite requests placed by the Pakistani government to ban the same.

Hizb ul-Tahrir commenced its campaign in Pakistanin 2002. The cult claims to establish Khilafat on the role model of Caliph Hazat Umar within Muslim countries. This cult does not believe in international boundaries, and its philosophy is that the whole world is for Muslims, and Muslims should rule and change governments of all Muslim and non-Muslim countries and establish Sultanat of Islamia like Taliban established during the pre-2001 strike in Afghanistan. It works like a cult and not everybody can join unless someone is referred by a bona fide member.

Hizb ul-Tahrir means in English, “Party of Liberation,” and is an international Salafi/Sunni pan-Islamic political organization. They are commonly associated with the goal of all Muslim countries unifying as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph head of state elected by Muslims.