The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
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Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) is an outlawed anti-Shi'ite organization in Pakistan and also operates under the following names: Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ). Although it is banned, it continues to use Twitter to report on developments regarding its interests and the activities of its local leaders across Pakistan.
The account, @SSPNEWS1, follows 13 others and is followed by nearly 13,000. As of May 3, it had tweeted 8,588 times. The group is a leading anti-Shi'ite terrorist group in Pakistan and is known for systematically targeting Shi'ite Muslims across Pakistan.
In recent weeks, following the U.S.-led air strikes on Yemen, the group has tweeted and retweeted in support of Saudi Arabia. On April 25, it retweeted some posts from Hafiz Oneeb Farooqi, ASWJ spokesman in Islamabad, who uses the Twitter handle @HafizOneeb. These retweets in Urdu read:
"The defense of Haramain Sharifain [Mecca and Medina] is obligatory upon all Muslims after threats made against Haramain and Saudi Arabia by the Iranian member of parliament, foreign minister, and army chief"; "After the threat from Iran to attack Baitullah [the Kaaba in Mecca], those advising Pakistan to play a mediator's role are the agents of Iran and the enemies of Pakistan and Islam"; "Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif's visit to Saudi Arabia is a clear message for Iran after the Iranian army chief's threat to attack Saudi Arabia."
Some of the April 25 retweets read:
"In the war between Pakistan and India, Iran was with India while Saudi Arabia was with Pakistan; so how can Pakistan paly a mediator's role [between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the Yemen crisis]"; "Iran hasn't given anything other than sectarianism to Pakistan; therefore the defense of Iran [on the Yemen crisis] is basically the defense of the Khomeini Revolution in which the Sahaba [companions of Prophet Muhammad] were called infidels"; "Those debating in the media should prove what Iran has given us so far and how much gratitude Saudi Arabia has shown us? Saudi [Arabia] is our benefactor"; "Even if Saudi Arabia hadn't given us anything... even then the Muslims of Pakistan will rise up alongside Saudi Arabia."
On April 7, @SSPNEWS1 posted several tweets containing short statements by Allama Aurangzeb Farooqi, one of the key leaders of ASWJ and a militant cleric. In these tweets, written in Romanized Urdu, Farooqi warns Iran: "By producing a film on the Prophet Muhammad, Iran has made clear its anti-Islam agenda"; "If Iran broadcasts the film, then there will be a serious reaction in all Muslim countries." On April 2, several of its tweets urged SSP followers to reach Islamabad for a conference in the defense of Haramain Sharifain to express support for Saudi Arabia for its air strikes in Yemen. In a March 31 tweet, it quoted ASWJ chief Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi as saying: "If anyone turned his dirty eye towards Haramain Sharifain, then they will have to bear serious consequences."
Some of its tweets posted during the month of March read:
"Iranian leader Ali Raza Zakani: After Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, it's now the turn of Saudi Arabia to be occupied [by Iran]"; "Foreign Office Secretary's emergency briefing: The territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia is extremely important; there are two Muslim holy place there for which every Pakistani can sacrifice their life"; "If Iran turned its dirty eyes on the Holy Places [Mecca and Medina], then we will eliminate the existence of Shi'ites from the world"; "The Shi'ite groups present in Pakistan and being run with Iranian money are committing treason against the country by calling the Pakistani army 'an army for rent'; action should be taken."
Also, a March 20 tweet demanded that the government ban the Shi'ite terror group Sipah-e-Muhammad.
Source: Twitter.com/SSPNEWS1, accessed May 3, 2015.
