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Lashkar
& Jaish: Killing Machines
Romeet
Watt
The
extended arms of the dreaded Al-Qaida in Pakistan and south of
Pakistan (PoK and J&K) are the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JeM). Both these ultra fundamentalist groups are known to have
close ties with the former Taliban regime and their downfall is a
tremendous setback for both the outfits. A senior Indian analyst
says, “the Al-Qaeda is increasingly likely to strengthen the
terrorist cadres in Pakistan and PoK by coalescing with parts of
existing sub-groups and individuals. From now on it would be Al-Qaeda
that we will be fighting against, regardless of the name bestowed on
the outfits.”
Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JeM): Background
Reports
suggest that in Punjab (Pakistan) alone the number of Madrassas
exceeds 2,500 and an equal number in the rest of the country.
Writes a senior columnist, “of these, about 200 are controlled by
the Ahl-e-Hadith sect and about 100 by the Shias. The
remaining are equally divided between the Barelvi and Deobandi
sects.”
Analysts
point out that the grand Deobandi alliance is probably the biggest
force in Pakistan after the state’s armed forces. Based in
Karachi, the Banuri Complex houses leaders that sit in the Shuras of
the Deobandi Jehadi Militias. JeM and HuM (earlier HuA) are its
militant wings.
It
is reported that in 1979-80, selected 100 of the then existing
madrasas, almost all Deobandi were selected for the Afghan war, and
introduced military training by serving and retired officers of the
Pakistan Army attached to them. Says a noted columinist, “the most
important and the most active of these madrasas chosen by them were
the Jamiya Uloom-e-Islami in the Binori mosque, Karachi.” Amongst
the active initial members of this Army of Islam was the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (a
reported three quarters of Harakat ul-Mujahedin (HUM) members
defected to the new organization, JeM)
Most
of the JEM's cadre and material resources have been drawn from the
militant groups Harakat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI) and the Harakat
ul-Mujahedin (HUM). The JEM has close ties to Afghan Arabs and the
Taliban. Osama Bin Ladin is suspected of giving funding to the JEM.
Militias’
belonging to the Deobandi School of though have become powerful
because the ISI was running the Taliban policy.
Maulana
Masood Azhar, a former ultra fundamentalist Harakat ul-Ansar (HUA)
leader now heads this organization after his differences with his
mentor Maulana
Fazlur-Rehman Khalil.
Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT): Background
The
LeT is the armed wing of the Pakistan-based religious organization,
Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI)--a Sunni missionary organization
formed in 1989. One of the three largest and best-trained groups
fighting in Kashmir against India, it is not connected to a
political party.
Dawatul
Irshad is a rich organization because of its hold on the civil
society in small districts where it can actually dictate to the
local administration. Its leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of the Gujjar
community is a retired Islamiyat teacher of Unversity of Engineering
and Technology in Lahore. His headquarters, a city within a city, in
Muridke was built from the Arab money. He
has resigned under pressure in the post December 13 scenario and has
been replaced by a foot soldier from Poonch, Abdul
Wahid Kashmiri.
The
power of the Laskar also derives from its Salafi origin. Its contact
with the Wahhabi camps in Kunur in Afghanistan has never been
disowned although Muridke mutes its connection with the Arab
warriors in Afghanistan. Its links with Osama Bin Laden have also
been craftily hidden although news appearing in the national press
has linked the two.
LeT
& JeM: The Operations
Independent
Analysts now confirm what India has been saying, that over 70
percent of the terrorists in J&K are foreign mercenaries, mostly
managed by the JeM and the LeT.
Both
the organization have been active in the Valley, Poonch, Rajauri and
Doda districts. LeT in coordination with Hizbul Mujahadeed has been
instrumental in the large-scale killings of the minorities in south
Kashmir (Wandhama and later Chattisingpora) and in the Doda region.
Most of their cadre’s are veterans of the Afghan war and are used
to treacherous terrains. They are known to seek shelter in the
higher ridges of the Pir Panchal range. The LeT has been active in
the Jammu region for most of its cadre is Punjabi, which makes it
easier for them to mix with the local population, who are
linguistically allied to Punjabi.
These
groups have also been responsible for inflicting heavy causalities
on the Indian security forces. The fidayeen missions carried our by
these groups have sent down shivers down the spine of the local
administration.
JeM
(then Harkat) was instrumental in hijacking the Indian plane from
Katmandu to Kandhar to free its ideologue from the Indian Prison.
Its other spectacular attacks include the October 1 attack on the
J&K state legislative assembly and the December 13 attack on the
Indian parliament in coordination with the JeM.
Gazi
baba, the Chief commander of the operations of JeM in Kashmir is
said to be from Bhawalpur in Pakistan and has been operating in the
valley since the past eight years. He is the brain behind the attack
on the J&K legislative assembly and the Indian parliament.
The
Post December 13 Scenario:
The
events that have unfolded in the post December 13 scenario has put
considerable amount of pressure not only on these groups for
instigating violence in India but also on their mentors, the ISI.
Doubts
still persist on the nature of action the administration in Pakistan
has taken. Islamabad insists that the action against the LeT &
JeM is for fomenting trouble within Pakistan. A reporter in his
story of January 1 says; “a spokesman for the State bank of
Pakistan said that he wasn’t sure if any Jaish accounts were
actually frozen. But the Jaish says that it never had any bank
accounts in its own name. Sources say that the contributions were
made in the name of Mufti Rafeeq Ahmad, the group’s office
administrator”.
New
Delhi has been all along insisting that token arrests are mere
cosmetic gestures aimed at placating the world community. Remarks a
leading Indian columnist; “those applauding the cosmetic changes
in the LeT and attributing this to the pressure exerted by the
Pakistani authorities are missing the wood for the trees. These are
at the best ‘brownie points’ being gained by the Pakistan as
indicative of their determination to crack down on
terrorism”.
The
actual center of gravity of Pakistani terrorist situation and
command control rests with the ISI-army combine. So shift in the
policy of Islamabad to crack down these Jehadi outfits doesnot seem
to be forth coming. There are reports that Pakistan is restructuring
the Jehad Machine: relabeling some parts to placate the fussy
Americans; others are being re-assembled in PoK. The whole process
is aimed at enhancing the ‘plausibility of denial’ needed for
the next terrorist strike says political editor of a leading Indian
daily.
Writes
Rehan Ansari, “the Lashkars may be the
only Pakistani element that is unaffected by the Indian attitudes
and policies. Javed Nasir; ex-chief of the ISI, is on record for
saying that Lashkars may be coordinated by the ISI but they have a
mind of their own”.
Pakistan
based mercenary militant groups like the Harkat, JeM & LeT have
declared that they would target terrorist violence beyond J&K to
different parts of India.
K
Subrahmanyam has nicely articulated the complicated situation
prevalent in Pakistan with regard to the turbulent nature of the
State. He says, “there is no way Pakistan can be dejehadised
unless it accepts not to use the two-nation theory in its
international relations. The two-nation theory is same as the clash
of the civilizations thesis and is an analogue of the nazi
Herrenvolk thesis. The Pakistani claim to Kashmir is similar
Hitler’s claim to all German Territories, Austria, Sudetanlant and
Danzing.”
In
his remarks on the financial aspects of terrorism, President Bush on
December 21 said, “LeT is an extremist group based in Kashmir. LeT
is a stateless sponsor of terrorism, and it hopes to destroy
relations between Pakistan & India and to undermine Pakistan’s
President Parvez Musharraf. To achieve its purpose, LeT has
committed acts of terrorism inside both Indian and
Pakistan.”
In
India there were objections to Bush’s remarks on LeT being a
terrorist organization “based in Kashmir” – which was dropped
subsequently.
President
Bush’s statement on December 21 was laudable for branding the
Lashkar a global (as opposed to a mere regional) terrorist threat,
something to the liking of New Delhi.
Past
few days have seen a visible tilt in the attitude of West towards
India and they seem to coming in terms with the Indian
interpretation of terrorism. “In spite of the differences in the
assessment between the West and India, there is bound to be common
ground between the two sides that the first step Pakistan has to
take is its recognition of its deep malady and expression of a
determination to secure itself”, writes a leading Indian analyst.
In
the given scenario it is imperative for New Delhi to fortify its
position on J&K, an advantage that the State must en-cash upon
to bring the fight against terrorism aided and abetted by Pakistan
to a logical conclusion. “What we must seek from Pakistani
leadership is an acceptance to “back-off – give up the dream of
annexing Kashmir and agree to live in peace with us” says a
leading political scientist on Kashmir affairs.
New
Delhi has handed over a list of twenty terrorists and criminal who
are believed to be in Pakistan but as is expected the response from
Islamabad despite Western pressure is not very forthcoming. Leading
experts say that the first reality-check would be whether we can
secure the backing of the International Community to ensure strict
conformity by Pakistan with U N resolution 1373 passed on 28
September 2001, and get that country to hand over Masood Azhar (and
others) for their role in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane
IC-814 from Kathmandu to Kandhar in December 1999”.
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