Abdul Rashid Ghazi

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Abdul Rashid Ghazi (* 1964 in Rojhan Mazari , Punjab ; † July 10, 2007 in Islamabad , Pakistan ) was an Islamic clergyman and radical Islamist. He directed the Lal Masjid Madrasa of the Red Mosque in Islamabad.

Origin and work

While Ghazi still had a very western lifestyle in his youth and studied politics at the liberal Quaid-e-Azam University, the murder of his father in 1998 resulted in Maulana Abdullah , the founder of the Koran School of the Red Mosque and confidante of the former President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq , to a deep turning point in his life, which subsequently radicalized him more and more. According to Maulana Abdullah's request, he and his brother Abdul Aziz took over the management of the mosque in the same year. Ghazi held the religious honorary title of Maulana (master).

Despite his increasing fundamentalization, he initially continued to work in the Pakistani Ministry of Education. Since the expulsion of the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2001, he was finally the central figure of the militant religious opposition against the invasion of the United States in Afghanistan and spoke at demonstrations in Islamabad.

It was not until 2004 that there were more serious problems between the Pakistani state and itself in connection with military operations against Taliban militias in the Pakistani area. At that time, he also issued a fatwa stating that all fallen Taliban should be considered martyrs . Shortly thereafter, the Pakistani government announced that Ghazi had been involved in an attack against the president's house. He then went underground. The Minister for Religious Affairs later revised this suspicion and announced that Ghazi's complicity could not be proven and that the perpetrators from the circle of Uzbek fundamentalists who had contact with the Red Mosque had been arrested.

Circumstances of death

Ghazi was killed when the Red Mosque was stormed by Pakistani security forces on July 10, 2007. This was preceded by days of fighting with radical Islamists who had holed up with uninvolved civilians in the spacious complex of the mosque.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi is said to have been shot dead by supporters while attempting to surrender, but a spokesman for the Pakistani Interior Ministry denied this shortly thereafter. He stated: “He was spotted in the basement and asked to come out. He came with four or five militants who fired at the security forces. ”The security forces are said to have shot Ghazi and his followers during the subsequent exchange of fire.

An assassination attempt had already been carried out on Ghazi, but it was averted. Since then he has always carried a rapid-fire rifle with him.

swell

  1. ↑ Chiade O'Shea: Bloody End in the Red Mosque , Der Spiegel , July 10, 2007

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personal data
SURNAME Ghazi, Abdul Rashid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Islamic clergyman and radical Islamist
DATE OF BIRTH 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Rojhan Mazari , Punjab
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 2007
Place of death Islamabad , Pakistan