Author: Saurabh Shukla
Publication: India Today
Date: August 28, 2006
Introduction: ...Pakistan which, after the
uk arrests, is being regarded as the fount of terror. while india has been
saying this for years, the rest of the world is now listening.
Britain may have had some valid reasons to
thank Pakistan for its role in foiling the terror plot but in official circles
in India, it was yet another example of General Pervez Musharraf's devious
double-game, of promoting and abetting terror while convincing the West he
was actually combating it. As with the London plot, where all those arrested
had some Pakistan link, so has been the case with a majority of terrorist
incidents in the world-be it 9/11, the earlier London bombings or the attacks
in Delhi and Mumbai. In fact, investigations into the foiled plot in London
point to the involvement of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which has
close links with Al-Qaida. Moreover, the money trail leads back to Jamaat-ud-Dawa,
the parent group of LeT. Analysts say despite Musharraf's claims of cleaning
Pakistan of fundamentalism, there are 244 religious organisations in that
country of which 104 profess jehad and survive on government patronage.
Sources say that organisations like Jamaat
have adopted the cover of a charitable organisation deliberately. Its leader
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who was put under house arrest after British pressure,
was endorsed as a charitable leader by Islamabad. "We can't just lock
anyone without any evidence...Jamaat is a charitable organisation and Hafiz
is a charitable leader," Aziz Ahmed Khan, Pakistan's high commissioner
to India, told india today recently in an interview. It was just a day before
Islamabad put Hafiz under house arrest.
Jamaat is now investing millions of rupees
in building assets and investing in diverse fields. The organisation plans
to establish its centres, madarsas and mosques in all the districts of Pakistan
and start Shariah courts as well. According to Pakistan sources, Jamaat has
known properties worth Rs 6 crore in Pakistan and has a target of Rs 12 crore
more during the next five years. It has already amassed millions of dollars
in foreign funding.
Other banned groups too are masquerading as
charitable organisations. While Jaish-e-Mohammed is now working under the
name Al-Rehmat Trust, Harkatul Jehad-e-Islami is known as Al-Ershad Trust
and Harkatul Mujahideen as Al-Ansar Trust. In addition, sources say that the
Karachi-based Al-Rashid Trust and Tehrikul Mujahideen's Al-Akhtar Trust have
been diverting money meant for charity to fund terror. While these trusts
have opened madarsas all across Pakistan to increase their area of influence,
they are also establishing health centres and dispensaries. Jamaat recently
opened a hospital in Muza-ffarabad where senior Pakistani ministers were present.
For India, which had decided to give some
time to Musharraf to make credible moves on the terror issue, the strategy
has not worked. It is now faced with a renewed ISI strategy of fomenting terror
against India. The ISI works under the direct control of Musharraf and it
is his writ which runs over the terror tap. The expulsion of Indian diplomat
Deepak Kaul, cleared by Musharraf himself, also demonstrated that ISI is again
running the show. Indian sources say the terror groups have been told to revive
what is called Phase One in militancy in Jammu & Kashmir. That means to
create a wave of fresh attacks and where strikes are carried out by local
recruits and sleeper cells which are difficult to detect. The focus now is
on recruiting professionals who are used as couriers or carry out the attack
beyond Kashmir. Besides high-profile targets, striking financial nerve centres
like Mumbai is on the agenda.
Another element of the new strategy is to
recruit Indians in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. Diplomatic sources say
that in some cases, the ISI handlers have recruited Indian workers who have
been laid off or have been staying illegally in the Gulf. They are sent for
training to camps in Bangladesh and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. "The ISI
is now working on a strategy to ensure that its tracks are covered and there
is no Pakistan connection to these terror attacks," a senior intelligence
official told India Today. In the recent past, there have been several incidents
of terrorists being nabbed on the India-Bangladesh border, who have confirmed
the fact that the ISI is using camps in Bangladesh and Nepal to launch them
into India.
New Delhi's patience has also run out, as
was evident from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech.
"It is obvious that unless Pakistan takes concrete steps to implement
the solemn assurances it has given to prevent cross-border terrorism against
India from any territory within its control, public opinion in India, which
has supported the peace process, will be undermined," he declared. Talking
tough is one thing, convincing the West of Pakistan's duplicity is another.
