SUMMARY

The Ansaar ul Islam was an armed organisation with a religious and tribal basis in the Bara region, Khyber agency, in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. There has been some suggestions that the Ansaar ul Islam had been formed by followers of Pir Saif-ur Rahman, a leader of the Beralvi sect. These claims were refuted by the AI leadership who have stated that the group was based on believers of the Deobandi tradition from the Pashtun Afridi tribes in the area.

According to statements from Maulana Qazi Mahboob-ul Haq, the founder of the AI, the group was formed in June 2006 as a response of the activities of Lashkar-e Islam in Bara region. Following the kidnapping of a local Deobandi scholar for a month, the AI was formed with the stated goal of taking control over the area around Tirah Bagh and “bring peace to the region.” The aims of the movement focus primarily on the promotion of Islamic education and the establishment of religious schools and mosques, but also to rebel against “oppressors.”

The AI was founded and led by Maulana Qazi Mahboob-ul Haq with the help of an appointed general secretary Qari Izzatullah Ham Khial. Other leading positions in the organisation were taken up primarily by imams heading the different mosques connected to the movement.

Ansaar ul Islam has been active in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.