On October
1,1997, Mrs.Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, notified to the US Congress a
list of 30 international terrorist organisations which the US Government had decided to
bring under the purview of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 1996, which
makes it an offence for any citizen or resident of the US to provide funds or other
assistance to such organisations. The Act also empowers the US Administration to
deny visas to members of such organisations and prohibits their representatives from
operating from US territory.
The Harkat-ul-Ansar
(HUA) of Pakistan, one of the organisations so notified, was started in central Punjab in
Pakistan in the early 1980s by certain religious elements under the name the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) with headquarters at Raiwind in Punjab, where it holds its
annual conferences. After the US notification, the HUA has reverted back to its
original name of HUM and, hence, it will hereafter be referred to as HUM.
Initially, its
objective was stated to be to organise humanitarian relief for the Afghan refugees in the
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan.
It is a Sunni
organisation, closer to the Deoband school of thought and to Wahabism. Like the
Markaz Dawa Al Irshad, it holds the sufi tradition of tolerance of other religions and the
importance of the teacher (guru)-taught (sishya) relationship as the corrupting influence
of Hinduism on Islam. Like the Markaz and the Taliban, it also holds that the
woman’s position is at home and denounces pluralist, parliamentary democracy and
equal rights for women as the corrupting influence of the West on Islamic societies.
It draws its
volunteers from the Tabligi Jamaat (TJ), which ostensibly carries on missionary and
charitable work amongst Muslims, not only in Pakistan, but also in other countries.
Amongst prominent personalities of Pakistan who had been closely associated with the TJ
are Mohammad Rafique Tarar, presently President of Pakistan, and Lt.Gen. (retd) Javed
Nasir, who was the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) during Nawaz
Sharif’s first tenure as Prime Minister and who is presently intelligence adviser to
Sharif.
Even while in
service, Lt.Gen.Nasir was closely associated with the TJ and he had to be removed by the
Government as DG, ISI, in 1993 when the Clinton Administration placed Pakistan on the
so-called watch-list of suspected state sponsors of international terrorism. As a
condition for removing Pakistan’s name from the list, the US demanded the removal
from the ISI of Lt.Gen.Nasir and a number of other officers who had reportedly been
identified by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as assisting terrorist groups in
India, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
A few months after
its formation, the HUM decided to send volunteers into Afghanistan for assisting the
Afghan Mujahideen groups. Initially, the recruitment was done in Pakistan and
Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK). The HUM was estimated to have recruited about 5,000
volunteers and sent them into Afghanistan. The money came from Pakistan, Egypt and
Saudi Arabia (Osama bin Laden was an important contributor), the arms and ammunition from
the CIA through the ISI and the training was given by the Pakistan army.
Subsequently, the
HUM recruited volunteers from the Muslim communities in other countries too. About 6,000
volunteers were thus recruited from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Jammu
& Kashmir of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Philippines. The CIA, which was
aware of this recruitment, closed its eyes to it since the HUM’s activities served
the US purpose of bringing about the defeat of Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
The initial batch
of HUM volunteers was trained in the use of arms and ammunition and explosives in training
camps in the Paktia province of Afghanistan run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, the leader of the
Hezb Islami (Khalis) Afghan Mujahideen group. Haqqani has since joined the Taliban.
Subsequently, the
HUM set up its own training camps in Afghan territory just across Miran Shah in the
NWFP. Some of the best fighters of the Afghan war came from the HUM training
camps. Impressed by their motivation and prowess, the CIA issued Stinger missiles to
them and trained them in their use for bringing down Soviet planes and helicopters.
After the collapse
of the Najibullah Government in April 1992, the CIA wanted the HUM and other Mujahideen
groups to return the unused Stinger missiles for which it offered handsome payments. It
also asked the ISI to pressurise these groups to return the unused missiles. They refused
and Lt.Gen.Nasir allegedly did not co-operate with the CIA in getting them back.
This was one of the
reasons for the CIA’s anger against him and against the HUM.
It demanded and obtained in 1993 the removal of Lt.Gen.Nasir
and in August, 1998, when the Cruise missiles attacked the suspected infrastructure of bin
Laden in Afghanistan, the HUM training camps came in for focussed attack, apparently to
teach the HUM leaders a lesson for double-crossing the CIA by not returning the unused
Stinger missiles. The HUM was the largest recipient of these missiles before 1992.
After the Afghan
Mujahideen captured power in Kabul in April 1992, the HUM converted itself into an
international network of fighters for defending the rights of the Muslims all over the
world. The name of the organisation was changed as HUA in 1993 and the
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, another organisation of Afghan vintage, merged with it.
As already mentioned above, after the US notification of October 1,1997, the HUA has
reverted to its original name of HUM.
From 1992, the HUM
spread its activities to Jammu & Kashmir of India, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Bosnia,
Chechnya, Tajikistan, Myanmar and the Philippines. In an interview to the
“News”, a daily newspaper of Islamabad, on February 13,1995, an unidentified HUM
activist, who had claimed to have fought against the Indian army in Kashmir, said: “
We try to go wherever our Muslim brothers are terrorised, without any monetary
consideration. Our colleagues went and fought against the oppressors in Bosnia,
Chechnya, Tajikistan, Burma, the Philippines and, of course, India. Although
Pakistani members of the Harkat are not participating directly in anti-government armed
resistance in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan, many of the fighters in those countries
had remained our colleagues during the Afghan war and we know one another very well.
We are doing whatever we can to help them install Islamic governments in those
states.”
The daily further
quoted the HUM office-bearer as stating as follows: “ Separate cells look after the
training, operations and funds within the organisation. A typical Harkat sympathiser
first contacts one of its offices and offers his services for jehad anywhere in the
world. The sympathiser, after the necessary in-house security clearance, is then
sent for a ten-day training programme. Later, he is sent to the relevant Harkat
commander, who arranges weapons and selects routes to transport the Mujahid to the area of
operation to work under a field commander. Each worker volunteers his services for
40 to 120 days.
“ The Mujahid
is told in advance that in case of martyrdom, his body would not be brought back to
Pakistan and he would be buried at the place of the operation. The Harkat takes full care
of the families of the martyrs. Our brave warriors are buried in Kashmir, Tajikistan,
Bosnia, Burma and the Philippines. Muslims in those countries would never forget
these courageous boys from Pakistan. We always tell those intending to join us that
we are devoted to Islamic jehad and, by joining us, you have chosen a path that may take
you to death.”
HUM
office-bearers also claimed that amongst the foreign volunteers trained by them were 16
Afro-American Muslims from the US. They also claimed that since the demolition
of the Babri Masjid in India in December 1992, the HUM had been receiving funds from some
members of the Indian Muslim community in the UK.
The
“News” identified Fazlur Rahman Khalil as the head of the HUM. However,
the US State Department’s Counter-Terrorism Division identifies the leader of the HUM
as Maulana Sadaatullah Khan. It is believed that while Rahman Khalil heads the HUM
for the whole of Pakistan, Sadaatullah Khan heads its POK unit.
The
“News” further reported on March 27,1995, as follows: “ Official
investigation has revealed that dozens of Saudis committed to jehad all over the world
have been visiting the military training camps inside Afghanistan. Sources estimated
that at least 2,000 persons, mostly Pakistanis and Arabs of different nationalities, are
currently engaged in military training in those camps for jehad in Kashmir and elsewhere
in the world.”
It added:
“These sources estimated that since the expulsion of the Soviet troops from
Afghanistan, at least 10,000 Pakistanis belonging to Islamic parties such as the Jamaat
Islami, the HUA, the Markaz Dawa Al Irshad and the Jamiat Ulema Islam have acquired
training in making bombs, hurling grenades, firing from light and heavy weapons and in
laying mines… The Harkat and all other militant organisations committed to
Islamic jehad all over the world have acknowledged sending their guerillas to Tajikistan,
Bosnia, Chechnya, the Philippines, Burma and Kashmir.”
The paper
concluded: “The Jamaat Islami, the Harkat and other organisations have never been
challenged by the Government in their campaign to recruit committed Muslims to commit
jehad anywhere in the world. These organisations are also permitted to collect jehad funds
anywhere in the country.”
In an investigative
report on the activities of the Abu Sayaff (meaning Sword-bearer) group, which has
been fighting for the independence of the Muslim-inhabited areas of the southern
Philippines, the “Far Eastern Economic Review” of Hong Kong stated as follows on
March 9,1995: “The Tabligi Jamaat movement in the Philippines has registered a
phenomenal growth. Philippine military intelligence sources claim it has as many as
300,000 members in the Muslim areas of Mindanao. A military intelligence document on
Islamic fundamentalism further claims that Ramzi Ahmed Yousef was helped by Abu
Sayaff’s network to move in and out of the Philippines. Military intelligence
sources say that the Abu Sayaff group has bought high-powered arms and that
Pakistani veterans of the war in Afghanistan are helping to train its fighters.
Sayaff’s lieutenants are composed mainly of Filipino Muslim volunteers, who joined
the international Islamic brigade which fought the Soviets in Afghanistan, the military
intelligence document asserts.” (Note: Ramzi Yousef was extradited from
Pakistan to the US in March 1995 on charges of complicity in the World Trade Centre
bombing and has since been convicted)
Earlier (February
23,1995), the same journal had reported as follows: “ Since 1985, groups of the
Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the armed wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), have gained combat experience in Afghanistan. The MILF has tried to
shun publicity as it quietly built up its forces, but some national media attention came
its way last year with reports that it had smuggled in a large shipment of high-powered
weapons. The Government’s National Intelligence Co-ordinating Agency reported
that the weapons included hundreds of Russian-made rocket-propelled RPG-2 grenades.
Also brought in were six 75mm anti-aircraft guns, American-made B-40 anti-tank
rockets and 81mm mortars."
The report of the
US State Department on “Patterns of Global Terrorism” during 1994, submitted to
the US Congress in April,1995, for the first time took note of the activities of the
HUM (HUA) in the following words: “The HUA raised its visibility (during 1994) by
kidnapping two British citizens (in India) in June. This group has recently carried out a
number of operations against Indian groups and civilian targets in Kashmir. The HUA
captured Lt.Col. Bhupinder Singh in January and demanded that Indian forces turn over an
HUA commander in return for Singh’s release. When the Indian authorities
refused, the militants killed Singh. In mid-May, HUA militants conducted two attacks
in Doda district in which they stopped buses, forced the passengers off , then singled out
individuals for execution—the last victim was a 14-year-old Muslim boy.”
The report added:
“The HUA has several thousand armed members located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and in
the southern Kashmir valley and Doda regions of India. The HUA uses light and heavy
machine guns, assault rifles, mortars, explosives and rockets. Membership is
open to all who support the HUA’s objectives and are willing to take the
group’s 40-day training course. It has a core militant group of about 300,
mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris, but includes Afghans and Arab veterans of the
Afghan war. The HUA is based in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, but its members have
participated in insurgent and terrorist operations in Kashmir, Burma, Tajikistan and
Bosnia. The HUA’s Burma branch, located in the Arakans, trains local Muslims in
weapons handling and guerilla warfare. In Tajikistan, HUA members have served with
and trained Tajik resistance elements. The first group of HUA militants entered
Bosnia in 1992. The source and amount of HUA’s military funding are
unknown, but are believed to come from sympathetic Arab countries and wealthy Pakistanis
and Kashmiris.”
The State
Department’s reports for 1995 and 1996 continued to bring on record the terrorist
activities of the HUA. In addition, they also took note of the HUA’s links with
the so-called Al Faran, which captured some Western tourists in July,1995, beheaded
one of them and has been silent on the fate of the others since then. One of them
managed to escape.
The report of the
State Department for 1995 released in May,1996, said: “ The HUA has been linked to
the Kashmir militant group Al Faran that has held four Western hostages in Kashmir since
July,1995. There is no evidence that the HUA ordered the kidnapping.”
The State
Department’s report for 1997 released in April,1998, said that there continued to be
credible reports of official Pakistani support for the Kashmiri extremist groups such as
the HUM.
It added: “
Muslims from around the world, including a large number of Egyptians, Algerians,
Palestinians and Saudis continued to use Afghanistan as a training ground. The
Taliban as well as many other combatants in the Afghan civil war facilitated the training
and the indoctrination facilities for the non-Afghans in the territories they
controlled. Several Afghan factions also provided logistic support, free passage and
sometimes passports to the members of the various terrorist organisations.”
It further said:
“These individuals, in turn, were involved in fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Chechnya, Tajikistan, Kashmir, the Philippines and parts of the Middle
East.”
It is necessary to
digress a little here and draw attention to the difficulties faced by Indian
counter-terrorism agencies in the past in dealing with terrorism in the Punjab, Kashmir,
Nagaland and the rest of India due to the attitude of the Western countries.
Some Sikh groups,
funded by some members of the Sikh diaspora, took to terrorism in 1981, with the training
and arms assistance given by the ISI. Till, 1985, no Western Government would take
notice of their acts of terrorism and treat them as terrorist organisations.
But, after some
Sikh extremist elements in Canada blew up the Kanishka aircraft of Air India off the Irish
coast in June,1985, killing a large number of Canadian nationals, the Governments of the
UK and Canada started treating them as terrorist groups. In the same month, the US
authorities uncovered evidence of plans by some Sikh extremists to indulge in acts of
terrorism against Indian visitors in US territory. This induced a change in the US
attitude too towards accepting India’s contention that these were terrorist groups.
Even thereafter,
the continental European countries were disinclined to treat them as terrorist groups, but
their attitude too changed only after some Sikh extremists kidnapped a Romanian diplomat,
Liviu Radu, in New Delhi in October,1991. One of the arrested suspects stated during
the interrogation that their initial target was a French diplomat, but since the security
outside the French chancery was tight, they kidnapped a Romanian.
When the world
press did not take much notice of the kidnapping, a Sikh extremist in the US told his
counterpart in Pakistan, who was co-ordinating the operation, over phone that the world
was indifferent because nobody was bothered about the life of a Romanian. He added
that they should have instead kidnapped an American or a West European. Thereafter,
the continental European countries too started taking action against these terrorist
elements in their territory.
Similarly, Kashmiri
terrorist groups, the Markaz and the HUM had been killing hundreds of innocent Kashmiris
and other Indians since 1989, but the US and other Western governments would not treat
them as terrorist groups till one of the Kashmiri extremist groups attacked some Israeli
tourists in the Valley in 1992 and the HUM kidnapped two British nationals in 1994.
In the perception
of the US and other Western governments, these were not terrorists so long as they kept
killing only Indian nationals, mainly Hindus, but they became terrorist groups the moment
they started killing Western nationals and Jewish persons.
Terrorism has
continued to thrive partly because of this lack of objective standards in assessing and
dealing with it. This lack of objectivity came to the fore once again last year when
President Clinton ordered the bombing of terrorist camps in Afghanistan in reprisal for
the explosions outside the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, but he cautioned
India against emulating the US example in dealing with the anti-India training camps in
Pakistani territory.
In the US
perception, if the US did it, it was in exercise of its right of active
defence against terrorism, but if India did it, it would be a threat to regional peace and
stability.
If Clinton
discharged his responsibility to protect American lives through proactive measures, it was
legitimate and in accordance with the UN Charter, but if L.K.Advani, India’s Home
Minister, spoke of his responsibility to protect Indian lives from terrorism through
proactive measures, it was jingoistic and contrary to the UN Charter. That is American
logic.
Reverting to the
HUM, on September 8,1995, the Pakistani Customs stopped a car carrying a consignment of
heavy arms and ammunition near Kohat in the NWFP and arrested its driver and Saifullah
Akhtar , an office-bearer of the POK branch of the HUM. On interrogation, they
reportedly told the Customs authorities that the weapons had been procured by Brig.
Mustansar Billa of the Pakistan army at Darra Adamkhel for supply to the Kashmiri
extremist groups.
The Pakistan army
then took over the investigation and arrested a group of 40 army officers and 10 civilians
headed by Maj.Gen.Zaheer-ul-Islam Abbasi, who was previously posted as Military Attache in
the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. He was expelled by the Government of
India in 1989 for indulging in espionage.
The Pakistani
authorities alleged that this group had planned to kill senior military officers and
Mrs.Benazir Bhutto, the then Prime Minister, seize power and proclaim an Islamic
state. They were secretly tried by a military court and sentenced to various terms
of imprisonment.
M.H.Askari, a
well-known columnist, wrote in the “Dawn” of Karachi of October 18,1995, as
follows: “ It is said that the plotters had close links with the Hizbul Mujahideen
and the HUA, which are known for their involvement in international terrorism. It is
also said that the arrested officers wanted Pakistan to become militarily involved in the
Kashmir freedom struggle.”
The
“Nation” of October 20,1995, reported that Maj.Gen.Abbasi had close contacts
with the HUM. The “Khabrain” alleged that two of the arrested officers
belonged to a secret agency (implying the ISI) and that one of them was the staff officer
of Lt.Gen.Nasir when he was the DG,ISI.
The
“Nation” of November 15,1995, reported as follows: “ Almost all the
arrested officers are followers of the Tabligi Jamaat based in Raiwind.”
The
“Herald”, the monthly journal of the “Dawn” group of publications, in
its January 1996 issue, identified Saifullah Akhtar, who was travelling in the vehicle
with the arms and ammunition, as the patron of the HUM. It added that, mysteriously,
the Pakistani army authorities decided not to prosecute him.
Fortunately,
the interception of the vehicle by the Customs alerted the authorities to the plot to
seize power and they were able to pre-empt it. But, one cannot be certain that the
authorities had identified all the sympathisers of the HUM in the military.
The Markaz and its
Lashkar-e-Toiba, the HUM and the TJ are the non-mainstream extremist organisations which
do not believe in elections and a parliamentary democracy. They advocate a caliphate and
the transfer of nuclear and missile technologies by Pakistan to other Muslim countries
and their eventual use against India to “liberate” the Muslims of India.
These irrational
organisations were pampered by the late Gen.Zia-ul-Haq and they still have many
sympathisers at various levels of the Pakistan military. To realise this, one has to
only note the number of Pakistani military officers who, after retirement, gravitate
towards these organisations instead of to the traditional democracy-advocating political
parties.
If these
organisations succeed one day in seizing power, the world would be faced with the spectre
of international terrorist organisations, with links to the likes of bin Laden, having
their finger on Pakistan’s nuclear trigger.
On February
17,1998, Abdul Aziz Kamilov, the Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, for the first time
accused the Markaz, the HUM and the TJ of fomenting Islamic extremism and violence in
Uzbekistan. He revealed that 400 persons from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were
undergoing training in arms and ammunition in the training centres of these organisations
located in the Karachi, Islamabad, Mardan and Peshawar areas. He added that the
matter had been taken up with the Pakistani authorities, who, however, subsequently denied
the presence of any such training camps in Pakistani territory.
The Uzbek
authorities have so far refrained from blaming the Pakistani authorities for the
activities of these organisations. They have been saying that either the Pakistani
authorities are not aware of these activities, or, if they are aware, they are unable to
control them.
The Markaz and its
Lashkar and the HUM have become members of the International Islamic Front for Jihad
against the US And Israel whose formation was announced by bin Laden in May last
year. The meeting at which the decision to form this Front was taken was attended,
amongst others, by the following:
(a).Sheikh Taseer Abdullah also known as Abu Hafs Al-Misri
also suspected to be identical with Mohammed Atef, whom the
FBI describes as the military commander of bin Laden and for whose capture it has
reportedly announced a reward of US $ 5 million. He acts as the chief body
guard cum personal secretary cum chief adviser of bin Laden. It is reported that he came
to Afghanistan in 1983 from Egypt where he was a
police officer. He joined the Afghan jehad much before Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, bin
Laden and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric
presently undergoing imprisonment in the US for his role in the World Trade Centre bombing
of 1993. He accompanied bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and then
Sudan, where he assisted him in running the training camps. When the Sudanese
authorities asked bin Laden to leave in 1996, Sheikh Taseer accompanied him to Afghanistan.
(b).Dr.Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of the Jamatul Jihad of Egypt, who
acts as the interpreter and press spokesman of bin
Laden. His grand father, Abdul Wahab, used to be the
Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan.
(c).Mohammad and Abu Asim, sons of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. They
are both associated with the Al-Gama Al-Islamiyyah of Egypt.
(d). Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the Amir of the Markaz and its Lashkar.
(e). Fazlur Rahman Khalil, the Amir of the HUM.
Addressing a press
conference at Islamabad on August 22,1998, after the US bombing of the HUM training camps
in Afghanistan, Fazlur Rahman Khalil denied that bin Laden was indulging in terrorism and
accused the US of killing 50 innocent civilians, including 15 Arabs.
He said that the
camps bombed by the US in Afghan territory had actually been set up by the CIA during the
Afghan war and claimed that these were being used by the HUM for giving education to the
Afghans. He denied that any training in terrorism was going on in these camps.
He alleged that the
Nawaz Sharif Government was privy to the bombing and said that 40 Cruise missiles had
struck three HUM camps in Afghan territory.
He then warned:
“ The USA has proved itself to be the world’s biggest terrorist by carrying out
the attacks on Afghanistan and the Sudan and I want to convey to the US leadership that we
will take revenge for the attack.”
The US attacked the
following HUM camps:
(a). The Salman
Fasi camp situated in Jawah, two kms inside Afghan territory from the Pakistani border post of Saidgai. This camp was initially
started in the 1980s by the Hizbul Mujahideen of Kashmir with the help of the
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) of Pakistan. Angered over the JI’s support to Gulbuddin
Heckmatyar, the Taliban expelled the Hizbul Mujahideen from the
Afghan territory and handed over the camp to the HUM, which re-named it as the Hazrat Amir
Mawia camp. When the HUA changed its name as HUM
after the US notification branding the HUA as an international
terrorist organisation, some members of the HUA, having differences with the HUM Amir, set
up a splinter group called the Jamaitul Mujahideen under Mufti Bashir. They have their own training camp in the same area.
(b).The Khalid bin
Waleed camp in the Zhavar area near the Pakistan border: Seven
HUM members, including Abu Huraira, an instructor, were killed.
(c).The Liza camp
at Tanai in the Khost area, 40 kms to the West of the Mawia camp. This was run by
another HUM splinter group called the Harkat Jehad Islami under one Qari Saiful Islam
Akhtar.
(d). Another camp
close to the Darwanta hydel power station near Jalalabad. This camp originally belonged to Heckmatyar’s Hizbe Islami. The
Taliban
captured it in September 1996, and handed it over to the HUM.
Addressing the
Karachi Press Club on August 23,1998, Azizur Rahman Danish, the head of the Sindh branch
of the HUM, warned: “The US air strikes have drawn a clear dividing line between the
Muslim Ummah and non-believers and this is the beginning of a crusade. The USA will be
paid back in the same coin.”
Addressing a press
conference at Peshawar on August 25, 1998, Fazlur Rahman Khalil said that nine HUM members
died in the US attack on its camps in the Khost area, of whom five were killed on the spot
and the remaining succumbed to their injuries in Pakistani hospitals. In
addition, two Tajiks and four Arabs, two of them physically handicapped, were also
killed. According to him, the Cruise missiles destroyed four mosques, partially
damaged another and burnt 200 copies of the Holy Quran kept in the camps.
He added: “The
USA calls Osama a terrorist and President Clinton is claiming that all terrorist training
camps had been destroyed in the air strikes. Let me tell the Americans that not even
one per cent of the so-called terrorist camps run by Osama have been destroyed.”
In another warning
to the US on September 1,1998, Fazlur Rahman Khalil said: “The USA has struck us with
Tomahawk Cruise missiles at only two places, but we will hit back at them everywhere in
the world, wherever we find them. We have started a holy war against the US and they
will hardly find a tree to take shelter beneath it.”
Khalid Ahmed, a
well-known Pakistani analyst, wrote as follows in the issue of the “Friday
Times”, a Pakistani weekly, for the week from August 28 to September 3,1998:
“The national consensus on Kashmir often blinds Pakistan to the isolationist
compulsions that arise from it. Internal politics has compelled the removal of
Heckmatyar’s Hizbe Islami from the Afghan jehad and his ally Qazi Hussain
Ahamad’s Hizbul Mujahideen from the Kashmir jehad. The vacuum created by
their ouster has been filled exclusively with Deobandi and Wahabi Mujahideen.
“The Deobandi
HUA and the Wahabi Lashkar-e-Toiba are the main outfits fighting in Kashmir, but their
guerilla training is acquired in Afghanistan. ..That the jehad in Kashmir is dependent on
the Afghan jehad is hidden from no one. That it gives a locus standi to India
in Afghanistan is not clear to most Pakistanis. The Pakistani compulsion to wage the
Kashmiri jehad with the help of Deobandi-Wahabi warriors has allowed anew religious
stringency to prevail in Pakistani society.”
He added: “In
1996, the Lahore High Court openly favoured the Wahabi jurisprudence as some of the judges
were found to be of Ahle Hadith persuasion. Prime Ministers and Presidents
have been attending Deobandi congregations to demonstrate their new faith. Violent
sectarianism is the offshoot of this social change.”
In an editorial in
the issue for the week from August 14 to 20, 1998, the same journal warned: “
Pakistan is gradually falling under the puritanical faith of Deobandi-Wahabi forces that
are allied to the Taliban. In the past two years, for example, Pakistani judges are
increasingly falling prey to Islamic extremism….The Pakistani state will become
hostage to the Taliban Deobandi brand of Islam by continuing to give succour to the Jamiat
Ulema Islam, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the HUM.”
In an article in
the same issue, Ejaz Haider, another Pakistani analyst, said: “A recent report
brought out the linkage between Deobandi sectarian organisations in Pakistan and the
HUA which has links both with the Taliban and the JUI.” It said that Imams
belonging to these organisations have been saying in their addresses to their
congregations that after consolidating its hold in Afghanistan, the Taliban would not only
“liberate” Kashmir, but also rid Pakistan of Shias and Brelvi Sunnis.
The HUM has
strongly opposed the process for the normalisation of Indo-Pakistani relations. In a
statement before the recent visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to
Lahore for talks with Nawaz Sharif, Fazlur Rahman Khalil warned: “More bodies of
Indian officials would be sent in coffins from Kashmir on the days Vajpayee visits
Lahore.” He also said that Islam’s enemity with India was ideological and not
just territorial. He alleged that it was the US which had pressurised
the two Prime Ministers to meet.
The Markaz and its
Lashkar and the HUM are determined to wreck the normalisation process by stepping up their
terrorist activities against India.
B.Raman
20-3-99
(The writer is Additional Secretary (Retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical
Studies, Chennai. E-mail:
corde@vsnl.com )
