back to politics....The beginning of Political Islam in Kurdistan:

Before the uprising in 1991, a new Kurdish party was established which was named “Islamic Movement of Kurdistan MIK” or “Bzutnawa”. Some of these people were Islamic fundamentalists. There were speculations that these people were backed by Saudi Arabia and mainly by Iran.

In the Kurdistani general elections in 1992, “Bzutnawa” managed to get some votes but not enough to participate in the Kurdistan Parliament.
With the support of Iran, Iraq and other neighbouring countries who were supporting political Islam in Kurdistan, these people started to get arms (very heavy arms not just AK47s i.e. SPG9 and 106mm, 120mm mortars). They started building mosques, Islamic schools etc.
They started paying people to be their members. If a woman started to wear Hijab (scarf) she was being paid 600 I.D. a month (a teacher was getting 400 I.D a month.) School children were also being paid the same amount of 600 I.D. if they went to their Islamic schools (after normal school hours) to learn Quran and Islamic lessons. The Islamic parties had huge amounts of money and financial support. They were increasing day by day.

According to this report, the leader of one the Islamic parties which were claiming they were collecting funds for Kurdistan from rich Saudis, had links with Saddam Hussein.
In 1993, PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) fearing the establishment of an Islamic de-facto in Kurdistan attacked the “Kurdistan Islamic Movement” bases in all Kurdistan. Within 2 days, PUK managed to capture their spiritual leader. But one of the main enemies of modern life in Kurdistan, Mala Krekar, a Kurdish Islamic fundamentalist who was trained by Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, was directing the war from his refuge house in Norway.
Iran intervened diplomatically in the PUK and IMK war and forced PUK to leave IMK alone and free the MIK prisoners and leaders. Several other clashes between PUK and MIK happened over the next few years but none of them led to a conclusion.
It was in 1994, when IMK controlled the border strip with Iran including the Kurdish town of Halabja. Perhaps PUK exchanged these areas to arms support from Iran to aid them in their war against rival KDP. No one knows but Iranian support was one of the crucial supports for political Islam in Kurdistan.

to be continued…..Next : The establishment of Ansar Al-Islam