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[DAWN] Despite hundreds of attacks and the deaths of thousands of Paks, there is still a great deal of confusion about the number, nature and end goals of the bully boy organizations operating in Pakistain. For some, they remain figments of a fevered imagination. To others they are proxies of foreign powers.
This belief has not come out of the blue. It is part of an obscurantist narrative the state itself created and propagated. The problem with this narrative is that while it may have delegitimised some jihadi groups within public ranks, it is counter productive in the long run for a number of reasons. First of all, it fails to address the very ideology that promotes militancy and hence the state's failure to present an effective counter-ideology. Secondly, the jihadi groups simply have to prove that the state-promoted narrative is a "baseless lie" to win recruits, as indicated by scores of interviews of jihadis. The fact is that these groups are very much in existence and the ones who carry out attacks against Pakistain's civilians and armed forces have a clear and stated objective: to dominate and overthrow the Pak state.
Unfortunately, the state has also promoted a concept of "good" and "bad" bully boys. This narrative itself has been problematic. There are often strong links between the "good" and "bad" jihadis that also take the form of material, logistical, manpower and other support.
As Pakistain debates engaging the Islamist forces of Evil in the tribal areas and beyond, it is imperative that the policy-makers as well as the public understand the bully boy groups and their interrelations.
Al Qaeda (AQ)
Arguably the most dangerous out of all the jihadi groups, AQ is not just a conventional group but the fountainhead of a violent ideology.
Headquartered in North Wazoo, it functions less as a coherent organization than as a world-wide infection. If a country is failing al-Qaeda will metastasize there.
The organisation was founded at the end of the '80s by Osama bin Laden while he was in Afghanistan/Pakistan waging war against the Soviets. According to Al Qaeda literature, the organisation's ultimate goal is to establish a hardline global caliphate. It seeks to fight America and her "apostate" allies in the Muslim world.
AQ isn't fighting for anybody's "rights," unless it's the "right" of holy men to declare people apostate and have them killed.
While the organisation maintains a relatively low profile in Pakistan, it is behind much of the coordination between different jihadi groups in a bid to "channelise" and "streamline" the effort.
The "relatively low profile" in Pak is about as subtle as a whack in the shin with a 16-pound hammer. As an organization, it has ties with major Pak political parties, which'd be the Jamaat-e-Islami and both major branches of the JUI. Various ISI sahibs are ardent friends and admirers, such as Aslam Beg. Think of it as the Arab equivalent of the Insidious Doctor Fu Manchu's organization, which it appears to have been modeled upon.
In contrast with many other jihadi groups, the overwhelming majority of their cadres in Pakistan are university graduates hailing from well-off urban families.
Al Qaeda regards Pakistan as a "Daar-ul-Kufr wal harb" (abode of disbelief and war). It classifies the rulers as "apostates" against whom it is obligatory to rebel and fight.
Qaeda is tightly intertwined with the takfir wal hijra ideology, in which pretty much anyone who disagrees with you on any subject, to include what's for dinner, is an apostate and it's fine to kill them and their families.
Al-Qaeda considers Shias as disbelievers "in the garb of Islam". As such, the militant organisation considers it permissible to shed the blood of Shia Muslims and confiscate their wealth. However on strategic grounds, the Al Qaeda chief has advised the operatives not to engage minority groups anywhere in a confrontation unless "absolutely required" such as in Syria and Iraq.
The organisation rejects the concept of nation-states. It seeks to expand the theatre of war, topple governments in Muslim countries and form a global caliphate.
cf. the novels of Sax Rohmer. Change "Chinese" to "Arab" and you've pretty much got it.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
Formally launched in 2007, the TTP is effectively Al Qaeda's local franchise in Pakistain. Among anti-state jihadi groups here, TTP maintains the strongest footprint with operatives all over the country.
TTP does on a Pak level what Qaeda does on a world-wide level: it coordinates the activities of a dozen or so kindred groups. The Pak Talibs are kinda sorta distinct from the Afghan Talibs, but only to the extent that Pak Talibs are in the habit of going to Afghanistan to kill infidels. Mullah Omar's organization is headquarters in Quetta, despite repeated Pak denials, and doesn't seem to carry out attacks within Pakistain. Various branches of the TTP profess allegiance to Mullah Omar, which doesn't stop them from leaving a trail of carnage in Pak.
Its stated objective is to turn Pakistan into an "Islamic state" as envisaged by Al-Qaeda. The group regards the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Umar, as its supreme leader. Though not always openly declared, the TTP maintains strong relations with the Afghan Taliban, with both groups providing each other strategic backyards in their respective countries.
As with Al-Qaeda, the TTP regards Pakistan as a "Daar-ul-Kufr wal harb" (abode of disbelief and war) and considers its rulers apostates.
Therefore they must be killed. Pak rulers, on the other hand, consider the TTP a "strategic resource," slated to take over Afghanistan and provide "strategic depth." They can also be sent against India with rather implausible deniability, though implausibility has never stopped Pak from denying something.
While the TTP also considers Shia Muslims to be apostates, there is currently a debate within the organisation on whether a front should be opened against them -- there is a difference of opinion over the strategic merits and demerits of indiscriminately targeting Shia Muslims. Some TTP commanders are arguing that other sects should not be targeted indiscriminately and only "certain elements" should be targeted. However, this debate does not affect their open cooperation with the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.
the fact that they're not killing Shias doesn't mean they're not going to, only that they have't started. They'll likely start with the Ismailis. And after them they're going to get the Brelvis. The Ahmadis, already having been declared non-Moslem, are already targets.
The TTP is also increasingly looking at global operations. It has provided training to a number of radicals based in the West including Faisal Shehzad, who attempted to bomb Times Square in New York. Around 200 of its fighters have reportedly shifted to Syria.
TTP run the training camps that the Pak govt sez don't exist in "their" country. Another case of implausible deniability.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
Lashkar-e-Khorasan
Al Qaeda allied group with a single point agenda to track down and eliminate "spies" in North Wazoo.
This is AQ's local counterintelligence arm. "Khorasan" is Afghanistan.
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
The IMU was founded by Tahir Yuldashev and Jumma Kasimov (both Uzbeks) in 1991. The two had earlier fought in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion of the country. The initial objective of the organisation was to topple Islam Karimov's regime in Uzbekistan and to establish an "Islamic state" in the country. They also fought alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. Kasimov died in the fighting while Yuldashev, along with his fighters, managed to escape into Pakistan's tribal areas during the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. IMU maintains strong contacts with Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban as well as the TTP. Within jihadi circles, its cadres enjoy the reputation of being ultra radical and diehard fighters. Its views on the Pakistani state are the same as that of AQ and TTP. IMU commanders say their focus should be on fighting Pakistan's armed forces.
I view IMU as a part of AQ proper, rather than as an adjunct of TTP. TTP gives them "shelter," which means they get to play tough guy around the locals and marry into the local Pashtun structure. But they act, I believe, more like an imperial guard than as a regiment of Talibs. (Maybe things have changed over the course of the past ten or twelve years.) I believe they also include pretty much all the non-Arab foreigners under their banner: Chechens and Kazakhs and Turkmen and such riff-raff. I've never seen a reference to, for instance, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement being seen in the area, though there are Turkmen in Afghanistan.
IMU members claim that Mullah Umar had promised its founding leader, Jummah Kasimov, that the Afghan Taliban would support the IMU in consolidating their position in Central Asian states once the Taliban are strong enough. For now, its focus remains on strengthening the group as it prepares for the war in Central Asia.
Ansar al-Aseer
A North Waziristan based group primarily concerned with the "welfare" of locked-up jihadis. Its tasks include intelligence gathering about Pakistani jails and planning jailbreaks to release militants. It is closely allied to TTP and draws many of its fighters from TTP and IMU. Its basic agenda is to free all militants locked up in jails across the country.
Jundallah
Al Qaeda affiliated group that started off from South Waziristan. It gained most notoriety for its assassination attempt on the then Corps Commander Karachi Lt Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat. The outfit has also targeted Shia Muslims and foreign tourists. Not to be confused with Iran-based Jundullah.
Ghazi Group
A group formed after the Lal Masjid operation in Islamabad. It is named after Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, the former Lal Masjid cleric who was also killed in the operation. Most of its members are relatives and friends of the people killed in the 2007 operation. This group has practically merged with the TTP. Some of its members and sympathisers in and around Islamabad are known to provide intelligence and a footprint in the capital. Members of the group consider it a priority to target former president Pervez Musharraf.
I believe this was formed from the participants in the Lal Masjid operation, the one that the legal decision said was really the govt's fault. Rather than imposing shariah on everybody in sight they've simply become the local branch of TTP. But they started out as wannabe TTP.
The remaining six
Splinters, subdivisions, and shadow groups:
Ansar al-Mujahideen
A small organization affiliated with the TTP. Its primary focus is targeting armed forces personnel and politicians. Among others, the group is responsible for the killing of the former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Law Minister Israr Gandapur. As with AQ and TTP, Ansar al-Mujahideen aims to turn Pakistain into an "Islamic State" and use the state to launch "jihad" against other belligerent states.
I believe these guys used to be contendahs, but now they're just so 1999 and everybody devout moved on to join the TTP. I believe that applies to most of the rest of the splinters, as well, with the exception of LeT, which is an arm of ISI.
The other bully boys:
Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned , always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
Formed in the early 90s in Afghanistan, the group has been primarily operating in Indian-held Kashmire. It seeks to "liberate" the people of Kashmire from "Indian oppression" and establish an Islamic state" in the region.
It sees India, the United States and Israel as eternal enemies of Islam and boasts about defeating them through armed struggle. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
, the head of Jamat-ud-Dawa denies that his charity is simply a cover for the banned bully boy outfit. However the lower cadre not only acknowledges their connection with LeT but proudly boast about their operations in India.
In line with their particular brand of Salafism, the organization is strongly opposed to rebellion against the Pak state. They say that while the ruling elite are living in a state of sin, rebelling against them is not permissible. Largely avoiding questions about other Mohammedan sects, the LeT says there should be unity within the Ummah and the priority should be to target the "real enemy" -- the US, India and Israel, as they say.
Members of the group say they are bracing themselves for the Ghazwa-e-Hind -- a grand war in which Mohammedans will regain control of India, they claim.
Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM)
Jaish-e-Muhammad was formed in 2000 by Maulana Masood Azhar. Shortly after its inception, it effectively swallowed a previously existing but now largely defunct Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). Its primary goal is to "liberate" Kashmire from Indian rule and it has carried out various attacks on Indian interests including the 2001 attack on Indian parliament. The group was banned by then President Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
and rebranded itself as Khuddam-ul-Islam. It continues to engage in open fundraising outside many Pak mosques on Fridays.
Tehrik Ghalba-e-Islam
The group emerged as an offshoot of Jaish-e-Muhammad after serious differences emerged between various commanders. TGI is led by Commander Abdul Jabbar and operates primarily in Afghanistan. Publicly, the organization opposes rebellion against the Pak state. It stresses on its cadre to focus on Afghanistan.
Jaish al-Adal
The group has recently emerged in parts of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
bordering Iran. It has targeted Shia Mohammedans and claims to be countering Iranian interference in Pakistain. The group also seeks to extend the theatre of war into Iran.
Shia militancy:
Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistain
The group was formed in the 90s in response to the anti-Shia violence perpetuated by Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain
...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts...
(SSP). It maintains a very low profile and seeks to primarily target leaders of anti-Shia bully boy organizations such as SSP and LJ. Its leader Syed Ghulam Raza Naqvi has been in prison since the mid-90s. Pak intelligence agencies claim the group is backed by Iran in a bid to extend its influence in the region.
We've been watching the Pak press for twelve years now. I can't recall having seen Sipah-e-Mohammad involved in anything. They're included on lists like this to imply there's some sort of Shia insurgency as well. If everybody does it then it's not just Ahle-Hadith and Deobandi and those sorts of upstanding folk.
What's not included on the list:
There are a couple organizations that aren't included on the list, possibly because they're simply regarded as being a part of AQ with no differentiation anymore.
The Haqqani Network
Is a family- or tribal-based organization, originally led by Jalaluddin Haqqani. Jalaluddin's getting on in years, and leadership has fallen to Sirajuddin, his eldest son. Jalaluddin actually recruited OBL and Abdullah Azzam. The Haqqani family comes from southeastern Afghanistan and belongs to the Mezi Clan of the Zadran Pashtun tribe. Jalaluddin was probably the most successful Pashtun leader in the anti-Soviet war, despite Hekmatyar's claims to preeminence. I believe the Haqqanis and the Arabs running AQ should be pretty thoroughly intermarried by now. They're active on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur
Gul Bahadur coordinates with AQ but he's on the outs with the TTP, running his own operation. I think the differences are tribal. He's affiliated with Fazl's branch of the JUI. |
[Dawn] A MULTI-PARTY conference called by the Awami National Party recently endorsed talks with "law-abiding" Pak Taliban. The topic was picked up by the media. From what I could tell, the mood seemed to be amenable to giving the idea a shot.
cycle of violence
The mistrust among component parties of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) is the biggest hurdle in the way of the restoration of the religio-political alliance.