Azam Tariq | |
Office: | Chief, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan |
Term Start: | 1997 |
Term End: | 2003 |
Predecessor: | Zia ur Rehman Farooqi |
Successor: | Ali Sher Hyderi |
Office1: | Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan |
Term Start1: | 18 November 2002 |
Term End1: | 6 October 2003 |
Constituency1: | NA-115 (Jhang-II) |
Term Start2: | 16 October 1993 |
Term End2: | 5 November 1996 |
Constituency2: | NA-68 (Jhang-III) |
Term Start3: | 1991 |
Term End3: | 18 July 1993 |
Constituency3: | NA-68 (Jhang-III) |
Birth Date: | 1962 7, df=y |
Birth Place: | Chichawatni, West Pakistan, Pakistan |
Death Place: | Islamabad, Pakistan |
Children: | Moavia Azam Tariq |
Party: | Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan |
Alma Mater: | Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia |
Death Cause: | Assassination by gunshots |
Occupation: | Politician, cleric |
Azam Tariq (Urdu: اعظم طارق 10 July 1962 – 6 October 2003) was a Pakistani politician,And islamic scholar 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.
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.[1]
He studied at a local madrassa and then enrolled in the Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia in Banuri Town, Karachi.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4]
Tariq was shot and killed in an attack on 6 October 2003 alongside Islamabad[5] as he left the M-2 Motorway to enter the city.[6] his funeral was led by Abdul Rashid Ghazi inside Lal Masjid.[7]
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.[8]
On 11 May 2017, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested a proclaimed offender after 13 years who murdered him.[9]