Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
| Sipah-e-Sahaba | |
|---|---|
| سپاہِ صحابہ | |
Original flag in use from 1985 to 2003 Current flag in use since 2005 | |
| Other name | Millat-e-Islamiyya (MI) and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jama'at (ASWJ) |
| Founders | Haq Nawaz Jhangvi X Isar ul Haq Qasmi X Zia ur Rehman Farooqi X Azam Tariq X |
Political leader | Muawiya Azam |
Sarparast | Ahmed Ludhianvi Ali Sher Hyderi X |
| Split from | Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam |
| Split to | Lashkar-e-Jhangvi |
| Active regions | Pakistan |
| Ideology | |
| Status | Active (Banned in Pakistan from 2002 until 2018) |
| Size | 3,000 (2026) |
The Sipah-e-Sahaba (SeS or SSP), now known as the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jama'at (ASWJ), is a Sunni Deobandi Islamist socio-political organization in Pakistan. Founded by Pakistani Islamic scholar Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in 1985 after breaking away from Sunni Deobandi party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, it is based in Jhang, Punjab, but has offices in all of Pakistan's provinces and territories.
The group was founded as an Islamist militia. It later transitioned into a political party before being banned and designated as a terrorist organization by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2002. After being unbanned and rebranded as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, the group was again banned in 2012.
Before 2018 Pakistani general election, the Pakistani government lifted a ban on the organization and removed the terrorist designation for affiliated officials. It has significant support in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as in Southern/coastal Sindh in Karachi. The organization was also banned by the United Kingdom, where there is a significant Pakistani diaspora population, in 2001. The group has held seats in the Government in Punjab and Pakistan National Assembly.
The organization's current political front is the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party, under which they contested in the 2018 general election, 2020 Gilgit–Baltistan Assembly election and the 2024 general election.