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Responses to Information Requests (RIRs) cite publicly accessible information available at the time of publication and within time constraints. A list of references and additional sources consulted are included in each RIR. Sources cited are considered the most current information available as of the date of the RIR.            

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18 November 2004

PAK43125.E

Pakistan: Reports of forced recruitment of Sunni Muslims in Karachi by Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), who are ordered to locate and kill Shi'as; whether there have been any repercussions to forcibly recruited Sunnis and/or their families who refused or opposed doing as the SSP had ordered (January 2003 - November 2004)
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa

The Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) has been linked with sectarian violence in Pakistan and, on 12 January 2002, the group was banned by the government (Dawn 12 Jan. 2002). The group later re-surfaced and began operating under a new name, Millat-e Islami-ye Pakistan (MIP) (IRIN 17 Nov. 2003). In November 2003, the government banned the MIP (ibid.).

Reports of forced recruitment of Sunni Muslims in Karachi, or anywhere else in Pakistan, by the SSP could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, according to the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), the Jamaat-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a political party in Pakistan with which the SSP has links, "is associated with running a large number of madrassas( religious seminaries) all over Pakistan," which provide recruits for the SSP, among other groups (n.d.). ICT points out that most of the organization's cadres are from Pakistan's Punjab province (n.d.).

The ICT notes that most of those madrassas in Pakistan that are financed by foreign funds are "reportedly controlled by the SSP" (n.d.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Dawn [Karachi]. 12 January 2002. "Text of President Musharraf's Address to the Nation." <http://www.dawn.com/2002/01/12/speech020112.htm> [Accessed 16 Nov. 2004]

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). 17 Nov. 2003. "Pakistan: Islamic Activists Rounded Up, Leader Arrested." <http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37916&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN> [Accessed 16 Nov. 2004]

International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). n.d. "Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan: Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet." <http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=57> [Accessed 8 Nov. 2004]

Additional Sources Consulted

Dialog.

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International (AI), BBC, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003, European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI), Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Freedom in the World 2004, Human Rights Watch (HRW), International Religious Freedom Report 2004, National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), PakTribune, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003, South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), World News Connection (WNC)

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