Author: Wilson John
Publication: The Pioneer - Internet
Edition
Date: September 4, 2001
What is happening between two Islamic
sects in Pakistan has quite a few lessons for the people of Kashmir and
for all those who hope for peace and stability in the region from President,
aka General Pervez Musharraf.
One doesn't have to go far in Pakistan
to realise the bloodletting that exists between Sunnis and Shias. Karachi
is the hotbed of sectarian terrorism that is ripping apart the society
in Pakistan and Musharraf, for all his bluster, is a partisan observer,
making grandiose announcements and quietly looking the other way when anti-Shia
groups run amok through the streets of Karachi and elsewhere.
Take the case of Maulana Azam Tariq.
He is the leader of Sipah Sahaba, a rabid anti-Shia group responsible for
a spate of killings of doctors, lawyers and other professionals in Karachi
and nearby areas. More than 450 people have died in sectarian violence
in Karachi alone since Musharraf seized power in October 1999. Musharraf
had, however, jailed Tariq after he threatened to overthrow the martial
dictator and impose the rule of shariat on the country. Tariq has close
links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that is led by a terrorist named Riaz Basra
and Jaish-e-Muhammad led by Masood Azhar, the terrorist leader who was
released by India in the Kandahar hijack case. It is important to be remember
that the entire hijacking was planned and executed under the express orders
of Musharraf. It was Musharraf who forced the Indian authorities to release
Masood in exchange for the freedom of Indians trapped in the hijacked IC-814
Indian Airlines flight. The link between various sectarian groups is a
person by the name of Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, the founder of Sipah Sahaba.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is dedicated to the Maulana. Masood wanted to name his
organisation Lashkar-e-Muhammad but backtracked once Pakistani intelligence
agencies, which have a controlling lever on these organisations, asked
him to dissociate himself from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. In return, Maulana Masood
got a training ground near Balakot for training his terrorist groups for
Kashmir. This is one of General Musharraf's devious links that need to
be made exposed.
Another aspect of General Musharraf
that needs to be exposed is propensity to go back on his promises soon
after they are made. Take for instance his Independence Day speech. General
Musharraf promised his people an end to sectarian violence. He announced
an immediate ban on some of the sectarian terrorist organisations but left
out Sipah and Jhangvi and released Tariq. General Musharraf is no strong
man; it is only an image that he tries to portray in front of Pakistan
TV or gullible television channels. He is at best a bully, capitulating
under pressure when someone like Tariq comes along and challenges his authority.
Tariq, according to media reports, is no less powerful than the General
when it comes to running his writ. A French scholar, who stayed with Tariq
at his house in Jhang, wrote how Maulana's day began with directions to
the city administration. Maulana's writ ran with equal ease from the jail
also. In fact, one prominent newspaper, The Friday Times, in its opinion
pages described Tariq as "the most powerful man from Karachi to Gilgit.
Indeed, there are some cities where his writ runs stronger than that of
the State".
Another widely circulated newspaper,
The News, had this say about Tariq and his sectarian organisations: "These
sectarian organisations, with enormous money in their pockets, spend it
without any limits to free terrorists or to bail them out, and more importantly,
to ingress into the administration. Recently, money was spent to free a
terrorist from the custody of the CIA, who, three days later assassinated
the chief of the Sunni Tehreek, Saleen Qadiri." There is another instance
involving Maulana Masood that shows the clout Tariq enjoys. Maulana Masood
Azhar's entry was banned in Sindh following the provincial government's
decision to crackdown on terrorist and sectarian organisations. Maulana
was stopped at the Karachi airport and asked to go back. Maulana requested
the police authorities to let him make a phone call which they agreed to.
On Maulana's one phone call, the ban on him was lifted and he was allowed
entry to Sindh where he met the province's Home Secretary and travelled
throughout the province unshackled, despite the restrictions on his movement.
There are reports about another
disturbing aspect of the sectarian violence that has gripped a sizeable
section of Pakistani society. The so-called "freedom fighters" of General
Musharraf are no better than criminals. The local administration officials
either remain terrorised by these elements or decide to side with them
openly. A telling example is that of Karachi Commission Shaifqur Rehman.
He was forced to pay Rs 200,000 as compensation to the relatives of the
prime suspect of Saleem Qadiri's murder, Arashad Polka. Polka had died
during the shoot-out and was declared as a victim of terrorism.
These incidents are only a sample
of General Musharraf's Pakistan. It is nevertheless important, for Indians,
especially Kashmiris, to know about them to make a distinction between
General Musharraf the public persona and the real military dictator who
is exploiting religious and sectarian feelings to keep a society divided
so that he can return to power through the farce of a democratic elections,
scheduled for next year. General Musharraf's game plan is becoming more
clear as he prepares for the general elections. He knows he is sitting
on a economically ruined State. He knows he has lost Kashmir. There would
be no Agra Summit ever; no Kargil could ever be repeated to prove a point.
There are only two ways he can control the minds of Pakistani people. Divide
them along sectarian lines which he is letting Tariq and Masood do with
horrific efficiency. Sindh is on the boil over other issues. Baluchistan
is burning on the issue of rights to their land and resources. Karachi
is a city of hate between two sects. As long as there is divide, internal
feud, killing and mayhem within the country, General Musharraf can avow
himself as the strong man to set things right. He has already begun blaming
the sectarian violence on political parties in his country and the Indian
establishment. He has no love for Kashmir or Kashmiris as Hurriyat would
want the naïve people of the Valley to believe. For him, Kashmir is
another Suba, a province like Sindh where he has placed one of his crony
Generals as President to plunder the wealth as he is doing in Baluchistan,
thus keeping the locals deprived and impoverished, as seen in the Northern
Areas and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
It is therefore important to understand
the link that exists between those who are perpetrating hatred among Muslims
in Karachi and those aiding and abetting terrorism in Kashmir. For instance,
Maulana Azhar Masood's Jaiah-e-Mohammad is both a sectarian outfit, propagating
vitriolic anti-Shia messages, and a terrorist outfit in Kashmir. Maulana
Tariq's Sipah is busy doing ethnic cleansing in Karachi and other Shia-dominated
areas in Pakistan, while letting Jaish train its men for Kashmir. The Hurriyat
and its geriatric leadership are pawns in this larger game of destablisation
being orchestrated by General Musharraf with the help of Maulanas who have
everything on their mind except God and Religion.
