Author: Dr. Walid Phares
Publication: Fox News
Date: July 12, 2006
URL: http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23337
Is this the beginning of the Jihadi war on
India? Yes and no. Yes it is a jihadist war on India, but no, the trains'
bombings weren't the beginning of that war. Unlike the U.S., Spain, and the
UK, the Indians have been subjected to small explosions of the holy war for
years. Yesterday's bombings of Mumbai's trains (previously Bombay) are not
the first strikes on Indian mainland. In October 2005, terror bombings killed
more than 60 people in the Indian capital of Delhi. Mumbai itself was the
target of terror attacks that massacred 55 persons and injured 180 in August
2003. And in December 2001, jihadist groups launched raids on India's parliament
killed a number of people, as well. The targeting of the most populous democracy
on earth has been taking place for years, even before 9/11 at the hands of
followers of a Salafi-Tablighi ideology, with common roots with al-Qaeda's
terrorist doctrine. The July 11 blasts in Mumbai aiming at innocent civilians
are the last in a string of crimes directed against the Indian population
by militants following orders and engaged in an irreversible path of violence.
But who did it and why?
Indian experts and security sources believe
that an Indian jihadist, Daoud Ibrahim, is probably behind the organization
of the terror attacks in Mumbai, as he is accused of having a history of similar
actions. Ibrahim is an Indian Muslim who followed Islamist ideology and committed
himself to waging jihad against the Hindus and the state of India. He is believed
to have declared Bay'a (commitment) to Osama Bin Laden in the past. Ibrahim
has jihadist networks inside India and is connected with the Kashmir Islamist
organizations on both sides of the border with Pakistan.
The main "movement" that starts
in Pakistan and stretches into the Indian province of Kashmir is Laskar-e-Taiba,
which was founded in the late 1980s by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. Laskar-e-Taiba
is said to mean "The soldiers of the Pure." It could also mean linguistically
"the Good soldiers" or the "best soldiers," in reference
to them as the vanguards of the Mujahideen in the region. In reality, the
"Laskars" are another form of Kashmiri Taliban whose aim is to establish
an Emirate in the Indian province of Kashmir before joining forces with the
Islamists of Pakistan and the Taliban of Afghanistan to create a massive and
powerful "Jihadi Principality" in south Asia stretching from Iran
to China.
The Laskar Taiba is under the ideological
auspices of a Wahhabi-style foundation in Pakistan, the Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad,
also created in the late 1980s. Some reports conclude that the "Dawa"
is the mother ship, while the "Laskar" is the army, or one of its
armed branches. In the jungle of south Asia's Islamic fundamentalism, networks
are intertwined but well connected. The Salafi-Tablighi jihadists of Pakistan
and their counterparts in India have two enemies: one strategic and the other
an interim enemy. The Indian state is seen as the foe obstructing the separation
of Kashmir and the establishment of an Emirate. As in the case of Chechnya,
the Islamists hijacked the "ethnic cause" and transformed it into
a jihadist onslaught. The "Laskar" and their supporters inside Kashmir
and the rest of India have in reality moved the center of their struggle from
classical separation from India to the establishment of a Taliban regime in
northern India, whose real objective would be to radicalize India's 100-million-strong
Muslim community. Reports indicate that this penetration is now embodied by
the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), accused by Indian sources of
being an associate of the Laskar. Hence, the "Talibanization" of
Kashmir's issue has become the dominant threat to India and by ripple effect
also to President Musharref Pakistan. For the second internal enemy to the
aggregation of all jihadists from Waziristan to Kashmir is none other but
the president of Pakistan. They believe he is "not helping them enough
against India," as they claim on their websites and, obviously, on al-Jazeera.
But above the clouds of the Pakistani-Indian
magma, Osama Bin Laden has issued his mortal fatwas against the south Asian
"infidel." In at least their last four messages - audio or video
- aired on al-Jazeera or posted on al Sahhab website, Osama bin laden and
Zawahiri blasted the Hindus as an abhorred enemy. Lashing out against one
billion Hindus in the subcontinent, not distinguishing between governments
and individuals, the chief Jihadists ordered their henchmen to shed the blood
of the Indian masses on ideological grounds.
Here again, after the U.S., Spain, Britain,
Russia, and other target nations of terrorism, India will have to declare
the identity of the criminals, not only in term of their names and the names
of their organizations, but the name of their ideology and its content. The
more jihadists widen their bloody fault lines against the international community,
the more they will isolate themselves among "infidels" and Muslims
alike.
But what can and should India do to counter
the jihadist war on its cities? Any observer can predict that the Mumbai trains
won't be the last ones to be attacked in the future. The penetration of the
second largest country in the world is deep and wide, and above all backed
from across the border by Pakistan's powerful fundamentalists. According to
reports, almost every shop in the main bazaar of every town - large or small
- in Pakistan had a Lashkar collection box to raise funds for the "struggle
in Kashmir." The group was indeed banned by the government in 2002; nevertheless,
it still operates across the country, inside Kashmir, and has now spread its
tentacles deep inside India. The latter can deal with the branches within
India's many provinces, but the roots of that tree are deeply planted and
fertilized inside Pakistan.
Hence, Pakistani President Musharref has to
push from the West and the Indian government from the East to contain and
isolate the Jihadi terror network. But can the Pakistani president rise to
the mission?
Immediately after the attacks, General Musharref
and his Foreign Minister denounced the "heinous act." This was the
right thing to do to cool Indian-Pakistani relations. But would the commander-in-chief
of the Pakistani Army cross the line and move against the Laskar-e-Taiba inside
his own country? It is a very tall order in view of the solid entrenchment
of the jihadists in the second largest Muslim country in the world. To the
east, on the border of Afghanistan, Taliban-Pashtuns tribes control Waziristan,
where Osama bin Laden is believed to hide. To the West, along the border with
India, stretch the Laskar. In the center and within the big cities, roam the
Islamist parties of the country, intimidating the once influential secular
parties. In the middle, stands Musharref with his army. The question is about
the Islamist influence inside the Army and the intelligence service. A few
months ago, a former higher-up in the armed forces advised on a website, "Musharref
better withdraw the troops from Waziristan if he doesn't want to see the intifada
exploding.
Al-Qaeda, the Dawa leadership, the Laskar,
and their allies inside India understand this deadly geography. They are playing
chicken with both Pakistan and India, manipulating both against the other.
The strike inside India was a strategic order coming from the top jihadist
command in the hopes of putting pressure on Delhi to retaliate against Pakistan
itself, and on Islamabad to strike back against India's retaliation. It is
clear bin Laden wants a greater war between these two nuclear powers on the
Asian subcontinent. And he believes he can provoke that war by striking in
India's cities.
This is why I believe more strikes will come.
And finally, to bring it home, where is the
American connection? Is there one? American diplomats, of course, must monitor
tensions between the nuclear powers of India and Pakistan, as they already
are. But U.S. Homeland Security must be aware of these strikes on Mumbai,
for Laskar Taibe is not alien to our shores. Just three years ago, a jihad
group known as the "Virginia Paintball cell" was training to "extend
support to Laskar e Taiba." Indeed, 60 miles from downtown Washington,
a number of American-born believers in jihad and followers of al-Qaeda's ideology
were training in urban combat. Among them was one Ismael Royer of CAIR, now
sitting in jail as part of a jihadist conspiracy against the infidels.
If a cell of Laskar-e-Taiba was preparing
for terror a short distance from the U.S. capital, no one can guarantee that
the masters of the jihad won't someday order the derailing of American trains,
as well.
Dr Walid Phares is the author of the newly
released book Future Jihad. He is also a senior fellow with the Foundation
for the Defense of Democracies in Washington DC.
