The majority of the Brelvis are descendants of converts from Hinduism and belong to poor rural classes. Since they cannot afford to go on Haj to Saudi Arabia, their tradition allows them instead to visit the graves of their pirs and saints. These flexible and tolerant traditions had spread in the past from the sub-continent to Afghanistan , the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Dagestan and Chechnya and to other countries where Muslims from the sub-continent have migrated..

The Wahabi-Deobandis of Pakistan, who are in a numerical minority, are the descendants of the original migrants from Central Asia, Afghanistan and the Gulf. They look upon themselves as the high-born (the "Ashraf") and look down on the Brelvis as the low-born (the "Alaf"). Power has largely remained in the hands of the Wahabi-Deobandis, but till 1971 there was no organised, state-sponsored attempt to force the Wahabi religious traditions on the Brelvis.

The alienation of the people of pre-1971 East Pakistan was mainly due to the refusal of the Deobandi high-born of West Pakistan to accept the Bengali Muslims, largely the descendants of converts from Hinduism, as their equals.

The war of 1971 and the separation of Bangladesh and the subsequent appearance of signs of alienation amongst the Mohajirs of Karachi and other urban areas of Sindh, who are descendants of converts from Hinduism from northern India, created fears of another split of Pakistan.

This led to the emergence in the 1980s of a number of Muslim extremist organisations wedded to the policy of ridding Islam in Pakistan of what they looked upon as the corrupting influences of Hinduism and making the Muslims of Pakistan strictly adhere to the Deobandi-Wahabi traditions.

This revivalist movement for the enforcement of Wahabism received encouragement from the late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, himself a devout Deobandi. He preferred Wahabi-Deobandis for recruitment to the Government services and the armed forces, assisted their madrassas (religious schools) and allowed these madrassas to recruit ex-servicemen for imparting military training to their students. The students of these madrassas played an active role in the war against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan and are the backbone of the Taliban today.

Saudi Arabia, the cradle and citadel of Wahabism, was the main financial backer of the Wahabi-Deobandi organisations of Pakistan. It financed their activities in Pakistan to purify Islam and their participation in the war in Afghanistan. Not only the Saudi intelligence services, but also individual Saudi sheikhs like Osama bin Laden and his father, the owner of a rich construction company, which has the responsibility for the repairs and maintenance of the holy shrines in Saudi Arabia, contributed generously to the funds of these organisations.

Initially a purely Pakistani revivalist movement, with its emphasis more on religious preaching to make the people better Muslims and on proselytisation to convert the non-Muslims to Islam, it became a movement for the export of Wahabism and jehad.

It extended its activities to other countries where, in its perception, there had been similar corruption of Islamic faith and traditions such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Southern Philippines, China, the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Chechnya, Dagestan, France, the UK, Belgium, the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, Eritrea, Mauritania and Australia.

Its initial objective of ridding Islam of the corrupting influences of Hinduism expanded to cover ridding Islam of the corrupting influences of Christianity, Judaism, communism, the secularism of Turkey and the traditions of the Shia faith. Saudi Arabia and its sheikhs as well as rich Muslim businessmen of Egypt and other Arab countries have been liberally funding the overseas activities of these organisations.

The Saudi support for these organisations is motivated partly by religious and partly by strategic calculations. The religious reason is to expand the influence of Wahabism. The strategic calculation is to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran in the newly-emerged/emerging Islamic countries.

The increase in the activities of Deobandi-Wahabi groups and their tremendous political clout in Pakistan despite their being in a numerical minority have recently led to an attempt by the Brelvis to organise themselves in order to stop the advance of Wahabism with the help of Saudi money.

The Brelvis' Ahle Sunnat organised a rally at Islamabad on April 14,1999, to protest against the alleged demolition of the mausoleum of the Holy Prophet Mohammed's mother, Hazrat Amina, in Saudi Arabia. The initiative for the rally was taken by Aalmi Tanzim Sunnat, a relatively little known Brelvi organisation based in Gujrat. It was co-sponsored by the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, the Dawaat Islami, the Sunni Tehreek and the students of Brelvi madrassas .

The "News" (April 25) of Pakistan reported as follows on the rally, which was played down by other Pakistani papers and which has not received the attention it deserves in other countries: " The Brelvis cannot be accused of being agents of other countries because their belief system is rooted in the sub-continent and is different from that of most Islamic countries with religious agenda. However, the disadvantage they are faced with is that they do not have as many madrassas (effectively training grounds for militants) as the Ahle Hadith (Wahabis) or the Deobandis. Neither do they have armed outfits.

"In what was perhaps an unprecedented move in Pakistan, speakers at the public rally accused the Saudi Government of being non-Muslim. They went a step further. The participants vowed to kill Saudi citizens everywhere in the world to avenge the demolition of the mausoleum of Prophet Mohammed's mother, if their demands were not met. At least, one speaker described the Saudis as worse than the Jews.