Author: Wilson John
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 12, 2003
More than Afghanistan and Iraq,
it is Pakistan which reflects the failure of the American foreign policy.
Or is it naïve on my part to say so since the possibility of Pakistan
being sheltered and supported as a nation that spawns terror groups willingly
by Washington could in fact be the reality? Why would Washington, or for
that matter others, ignore two recent events in Pakistan which clearly
point at the regrouping of terror groups under the benevolent protection
of General Pervez Musharraf?
First there was an international
convention of the Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) organised at Punjab University
between October 18-20, attended by-according to the regional press- "hundred
thousand participants from 15 countries." The IJT is the student wing of
the Jamaat-e-Islam (JeI ) which has always boasted of supporting terrorism
in Kashmir and elsewhere in the world. The JeI is headed by Qazi Hussain
Ahmed, one of the top influential leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal,
the religious-political party which has been asking the General to shed
his uniform or revoke the Legal Framework Order, an illegal constitutional
clause inserted by the General to protect himself from scrutiny and civilian
authority while allowing himself to be the final arbiter of democracy in
Pakistan. The Qazi wields immense clout and operates in the grey area between
terror and civil society. Hence the significance of this convention which
was organised with great thought at a time when the global opinion about
terrorism is being overshadowed by an imperialistic US foreign policy.
No less significant was the logistical support provided by the Hizb-ul
Mujahideen headed by Syed Salahuddin, who has been running a terror campaign
in Kashmir for years and has incidentally, never been incarcerated. The
convention revealed the politico-terror alignments in Pakistan.
The convention, therefore, was not
an ordinary event. It was attended by, among others, several Muslim leaders
including former Turkish Interior Minister Asashtelak and Secretary General
of Sadat Party Ustaaz ur Khan Rahel Turk, British member of Parliament
Lord Nazir Ahmed, Aasim Alvi from Sri Lanka, Abdul Noor from Bosnia and
Mohammad Salimuddin from Bangladesh. The tone and tenor of the speeches
made by various speakers revealed the objective of this massive exercise
which was conducted with the help of several hundred Hizb-ul Mujahideen
activists. The Qazi's address reflected the seething anger in the countryside
against the US, as well as the General Musharraf by proxy. He said the
Americans and Israelis were the biggest terrorists and oppressors and they
would not be allowed to overrun Islam. The JeI chief in Pakistan Occupied
Kashmir (PoK) Sardar Ejaz Afzal Khan said they would continue to struggle
for Takmeel-e-Pakistan (completion of Pakistan). Lt General Hamid Gul (Retd)
said the US was anti-Islam and it was up to groups like the Taliban to
counter American designs.
It was not a meeting of renegade
groups operating on the fringe. It was, in many ways, a reflection of the
changing political dynamics in Pakistan where terror groups, in the absence
of legitimate political opposition, would form part of the political structure.
The last general election was a clear indicator of this. The next move
could very well see the Qazi or Maulana Fazlur Rehman becoming a democratically
elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. To expand on what a well-known Pakistan
commentator Pervez Hoodboy said about the Pakistani army that while other
nations have an army, the Pakistani army, has a nation. Replace army with
terror groups and you could have an unpredictable situation in Pakistan.
The second convention was organised
by Jamaat-ud Daawa between October 15-17 at Markoz Yarmok, Patoki. The
three-day convention was attended by Jamaat supreme Hafiz Syed, Hamid Gul,
Maulana Masood Azhar (the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief who has been keeping a
low profile for some time), Lashkar-e-Toiba militants and relatives of
the terrorists killed. In its resolution, the convention called for the
continuation of jihad to liberate Kashmir, asked the Musharraf regime to
lift the ban on terrorist groups operating in the State and put an end
to the delegations visiting India. It said the General should stop US agencies
from arresting seminary students in the name of operations against the
Al Qaeda. The three days saw various leaders speaking out against the US,
Israel and India, calling for renewed jihad (read terrorist attacks) in
Kashmir.
There are quite a few threads that
connect these two separate conventions. First is the open felicitation
of terrorists and relatives of terrorists killed by security forces in
India. This was an open defiance of the General's proclaimed campaign against
terror. It also indicated the rapid regrouping and strengthening of terror
groups. The reappearance of Maulana Masood Azhar is a clear indicator.
The Maulana has been underground for quite sometime after the General-following
Washington's orders-had banned the Jaish and frozen its assets. The Jaish
had also split into two in the meantime, one under the leadership of Abdul
Jabbar. Incidentally, both the Jaish splinter groups call themselves Khuddam
ul-Islam, a pointer to the possibility that the split could have been for
strategic reasons. Azhar's presence at a Lashkar convention shows that
both groups have now joined hands.
Another similarity is the coming
together of terrorist groups with Kashmir as the sole agenda. While the
General has ordered a crackdown on sectarian groups like Sipha-e-Saheba
and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which have proven links with Al Qaeda, he has left
Jaish, Lashkar and Hizb to run their operations.
The coming together of Jaish and
Lashkar could mean a renewed spurt in terrorist activities in Kashmir and
elsewhere in India. The General is also aware that the Americans are only
interested in Al Qaeda and not mofussil groups which operate in Kashmir.
With the revival of Hizb, the General is making sure that Kashmir is kept
on the boil. Hizb is the only group which draws support in Kashmir. The
Lashkar and Jaish have sizeable presence outside Kashmir and have been
gathering support and strength over the past few months.
The general climate of communal
tension being created in Gujarat and north Indian towns by myopic political
parties for electoral gains has provided enough ground for the General's
proxy army to exploit the situation. The communal situation in Gujarat
is being cited as a reason to make recruitments and garner money for terrorist
groups. Although there has been a lull in terrorist attacks in the past
few weeks, a storm is brewing. If one were to put together sporadic media
reports (newspapers are preoccupied with Mayawatis and Uma Bharatis) about
the activities of certain religious institutions and groups, it would become
clear that there had been a concerted attempt to rebuild the network which
had suffered a crippling damage following the worldwide crackdown on terrorist
fundings post-9/11. With the US Treasury and similar entities in other
parts of the world squeezing countries like Saudi Arabia-traditional donors
to religious groups supporting and sheltering terror groups- there had
been clear downslide in the financial capability of many of these groups
to reorganise.
However, with the Americans allowing
the Afghan-Pakistan drug network to revive and flourish, money has been
flowing into these groups in recent times. These resources are money which
is being increasingly used to buy weapons and explosives by terrorist groups
that are now supporting the second coming of the Taliban as an alternative
to the US occupation of Islamic countries.
