When a diminutive 60-year-old Muslim cleric defiantly formed a religious alliance against the Taleban last month, he became a figurehead for tens of millions of moderate Pakistanis despairing at the state of their country.
Yesterday, however, Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi paid with his life after a suicide bomber struck the Islamic college that he ran in the eastern city of Lahore, and where he had just conducted Friday prayers.
Dr Naeemi was killed in the office where, less than a month ago, he had welcomed The Times and begun to explain why he had decided to speak out against the Taleban.
“The Taleban is a stigma on Islam,” he had said as his 1,000 students began classes free of charge. “That is why we will support our Government and our army and their right to destroy the Taleban. We will save Pakistan.” Unfortunately, Pakistan could not save him from the latest in a spate of suicide bombings that officials say are revenge attacks for the army’s offensive against the Taleban in the northwestern region of Swat.
The bomber appeared to have deliberately focused on Dr Naeemi, a respected figure in Lahore whose father started the Jamia Naeemia madrassa in 1953, by posing as a student.
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“He entered the office in the guise of a disciple,” Sajjad Bhutta Bhutta, a city administrator, said. The blast destroyed the office, which had no security arrangements despite repeated death threats made to Dr Naeemi.
His son, Waqar, described how the explosion rocked the complex, which includes a mosque, library, classrooms, offices and student accommodation. “I was still in the mosque when I heard a big bang,” Waqar said. “We rushed towards the office and there was a smell of explosives in the air. There was blood and several people were crying in pain.” Dr Naeemi died on the way to hospital, Waqar said.
One more person died in that blast, and four more were killed in another car bomb attack around the same time on a mosque in the northwestern town of Nowshera. More than 100 people have now died since May 27 in a series of attacks that included the bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar on Tuesday.
But Dr Naeemi’s death is particularly symbolic as he was integral in generating public support for the army’s operations in the northwest — long seen as “America’s war”.
The alliance he founded — the Sunni Itehad Council — included more than 22 Islamic groups and political parties and had organised several protests against the Taleban.
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The Taleban preach an extreme version of the austere Deobandi school of Sunni Islam, which advocates violence against Barelvi and Shia Muslims. Experts believe that at least half of Pakistan’s 173 million people are Barelvi, and about 20-25 per cent Deobandi. Another 20 per cent are Shia.
“The Taleban are few but because they have turned to jihad they are seen more,” Dr Naeemi told The Times last month. “If there are 100 people in this room and one is waving a gun, then you see the one with the gun.” He explained that Barelvis were outraged when the Taleban destroyed several of their shrines in the northwest, and when Taleban leaders said Pakistan’s constitution and democratic system were un-Islamic.