Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan

{{more citations needed|date=February 2018}}{{Infobox political party

| name = Sipah-e-Muhammad

| native_name = سپاہ محمد صلی الله علیہ وآلہ وسلم

| logo =

| leader = Allama Syed Mureed Abbas Yazdani{{Assassinated}}

| founders = Allama Syed Mureed Abbas Yazdani{{cite book|author1=Nikki R Keddie|author2=Rudolph P Matthee|title=Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CdzFJIE7f5oC&pg=PA338|year=2002|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98206-9|pages=338–}}
Maulana Syed Ghulam Raza Naqvi
Moulana Munawwar Abbas Alvi

| slogan = "Far from us is Oppression ." ({{langx|ar|هيهات منا الذلة}})

| flag = Flag of the Sipah-i Muhammad.svg

| ideology = Protection of Shia Muslim community from Takfiris{{cite web |title=MAPPING MILITANT ORGANIZATIONS. Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/147#:~:text=Name%20Changes%201%201985%3A%20Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba.%20The%20group%27s%20original,Wal%20Jamaat.%20New%20name%20after%20MIP%20was%20banned. |access-date=10 August 2023 |website=Stanford University}}

| split = Tehreek-e-Jafaria

| foundation = 1994 (officially)

| religion = Shia Islam

| colorcode = #FFFF00

| seats1_title = Parliament of Pakistan

| seats1 = {{Composition bar|0|342|hex= #000000}}

| colors = Black and Yellow
{{color box|black}}{{color box|yellow}}

| national = Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan (allegedly){{cite book|author=Ravinder Kaur|title=Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEMwF7pAm-cC&pg=PA154|date=5 November 2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3431-8|pages=154–}}

| headquarters = Thokar Niaz Beg, Lahore, Pakistan

| country = Pakistan

| successor = Liwa Zainebiyoun{{cite web |last1=Omar |first1=Ahmed |title=The interesting timing of Pakistan's Zainebiyoun designation amid Iran-Israel standoff |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240425-the-interesting-timing-of-pakistans-zainebiyoun-designation-amid-iran-israel-standoff/ |publisher=Middle East Monitor |access-date=2024-04-25}}{{cite book|last=Robillard|first=Michael|chapter=Syria|editor1=Paul Burke|editor2=Doaa' Elnakhala|editor3=Seumas Miller|title=Global Jihadist Terrorism: Terrorist Groups, Zones of Armed Conflict and National Counter-Terrorism Strategies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FsMpEAAAQBAJ|date=2021|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |location=Northampton |pages=167–187|isbn=978-1-80037-129-3}}

}}

Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (S.M.P) ({{langx|ur|سپاہ محمد پاکستان}}; {{langx|ar|سباه محمد الباكستانيه}}; English: Soldiers of Muhammad) was a Shia organisation and political party in Pakistan which turned into an assassination/militant organization it has claimed credit for a series of target Killings of the leaders of Anti-Shia groups Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/05/26/%E2%80%98200-iranian-trained-sipah-e-muhammad-activists-hunting-down-aswj-workers%E2%80%99/|title='200 Iranian-trained Sipah-e-Muhammad activists hunting down ASWJ workers'|website=www.pakistantoday.com.pk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-26}}{{cite web |url=https://www.middle-east-online.com/en/pakistan’s-sunni-shia-rift |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215053356/https://middle-east-online.com/en/pakistan%E2%80%99s-sunni-shia-rift |archive-date=2019-12-15 |title=Pakistan's Sunni-Shia Rift {{!}} MEO}} It was founded by Pakistani Shia cleric Allama Syed Mureed Abbas Yazdani in 1993 to counter the anti-Shia violence in Pakistan and Its headquartered in Thokar Niaz Beg, Lahore.{{cite book|author=Ravinder Kaur|title=Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEMwF7pAm-cC&pg=PA154|date=5 November 2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3431-8|pages=154–}}

History

Maulana Syed Mureed Abbas Yazdani with his colleagues separated from Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan and formed the Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan in 1993 or 1994 in order to protect Shia Muslim community of Pakistan and to counter sectarian violence against the Pakistani Shia Muslims orchestrated by Takfiri deobandi groups such as Sipah-e-Sahaba or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi It is involved in assassination of sectarian clerics, activist's and other figures that are responsible for the anti-Shia violence in Pakistan.Jamestown Foundation [http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=323 Sipah-e-Sahaba: Fomenting Sectarian Violence in Pakistan]. Jamestown Foundation{{Cite web|url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/05/26/%E2%80%98200-iranian-trained-sipah-e-muhammad-activists-hunting-down-aswj-workers%E2%80%99/|title='200 Iranian-trained Sipah-e-Muhammad activists hunting down ASWJ workers'|website=www.pakistantoday.com.pk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-26}} It is believed to be the armed wing of Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan. Its leader was Ghulam Raza Naqvi who was imprisoned in 1996 and released in 2014.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} Since his death in 2016, it is unclear who leads the group.

Yazdani's nephew Malik Muhammad Wasi Ul Baqar was attempting to take control of Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan.

Activities

= Aim =

Sipah-e-Muhammad's primary aim was to target the sectarian leadership of the banned Deobandi terrorist organizations Sipah-e-Sahaba or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in retaliatory actions for targeting Shia Muslim community.{{cite web|title=Ahlulbayt News Agency|url=http://en.abna24.com/index.php/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/03/08/739602/story.html|accessdate=3 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603064532/http://en.abna24.com/index.php/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/03/08/739602/story.html|archive-date=3 June 2016|url-status=dead}} However, with the subsequent rise in the violence against Shia Muslims, it was claimed to be reforming.{{clarify|date=February 2018}}Daily Times.com [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-4-2004_pg7_28 Vengeance, frictions reviving LJ and Sipah-e-Muhammad]. April 7th, 2004

The movement has strong presence in the Shia communities in Pakistan, and in the majority Shia town of Lahore, Thokar Niaz Beg , the party ran a "virtual state within a state" mainly in the 1990s it was a stronghold of it.{{cite book|author=Ravinder Kaur|title=Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEMwF7pAm-cC&pg=PA154|date=5 November 2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3431-8|pages=154–}}

= Target killings and militancy =

According to Stanford University "Mapping Militant Organizations writing the "primary methods" of Sipah-e-Muhammad are targeted killings of prominent Anti-Shia figures – the notable targets of such killings of Sipah-e-Muhammad are Zia ur Rehman Farooqi, Azam Tariq, Riaz Basra and Ali Sher Hyderi. The top leaders of Sipah-e-Sahaba or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were targeted by the Sipah-e-Muhammad for their beliefs and activities against the Shia Muslim community of Pakistan.{{cite web |title=MAPPING MILITANT ORGANIZATIONS. Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/147#:~:text=Name%20Changes%201%201985%3A%20Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba.%20The%20group%27s%20original,Wal%20Jamaat.%20New%20name%20after%20MIP%20was%20banned. |access-date=10 August 2023 |website=Stanford University}}

Affiliations

Sipah-e-Muhammad is alleged to have ties with Iran{{Cite web|url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/05/26/%E2%80%98200-iranian-trained-sipah-e-muhammad-activists-hunting-down-aswj-workers%E2%80%99/|title='200 Iranian-trained Sipah-e-Muhammad activists hunting down ASWJ workers'|website=www.pakistantoday.com.pk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-26}} and to an extent, the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba is also seen as attempt by the Saudi Arabia to assert Anti-Shia influence in Pakistan to prevent the influence of Khomeinist Iranian Revolution in the country.Jamestown Foundation [http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=323 Sipah-e-Sahaba: Fomenting Sectarian Violence in Pakistan]. Jamestown FoundationAlex Vatanka, Influence of iranian revolution in Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy Islamist Influence, I.B.Tauris (1989), pp. 148 & 155{{Cite web|url=https://magazine.zenith.me/en/politics/pakistan-iran-and-saudi-arabia|title="Why Pakistan holds a key in the Iranian-Saudi confrontation"|last=Wigger|first=Leo|date=2019-09-26|website=magazine.zenith.me|language=en|access-date=2019-10-01}}

Designation

The Government of Pakistan designated Sipah-e-Muhammad a terrorist organization in 2002;{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} it is classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law, {{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} and its finances are blocked worldwide by the US government.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}}