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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

India-Pakistan
Lashkar-e-Taiba Commander Abdul Wahid Kashmiri Surfaces for First Time in a Decade
2010-04-01
On March 23, 2010, Pakistan-based jihadist organizations organized a conference in the town of Kotli in Pakistani Kashmir. The conference was addressed by, among others, two prominent jihadist commanders - Syed Salahuddin and Abdul Wahid Kashmiri. Salahuddin is the Supreme Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, one of the militant organizations fighting against Indian security forces in the Jammu & Kashmir state, and also heads the Muttahida Jihad Council, a network of nearly two dozen Pakistan-based militant organizations.

The Kotli meeting, which was billed as the "Defence of Pakistan Conference" and held on the Pakistan Day of March 23, was attended by hundreds of people and addressed by leaders of various jihadist organizations. Among the militant leaders who addressed the public meeting were Shaikh Jamilur Rehman of the militant organization Tehreekul Mujahideen, Bakht Zameen of Al-Badar Mujahideen, Maulana Farooq Kashmiri of Harkatul Mujahideen, Masood Sarfraz of Hizb-e-Islami (Jammu & Kashmir), General Abdullah of Jamiatul Mujahideen, Mufti Mohammad Asghar of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Mohammad Usman of Muslim Janbaz Force, Chaudhry Kamran of Al-Jihad Force, Ghulam Mohammad Safi, Mahmood Ahmed Saghar and Rana Iftikhar Ahmed, and others.

It should be noted that Pakistani Kashmir, formally called Azad (free) Jammu & Kashmir, is an area heavily fortified by the Pakistani military. Most of the mainstream Pakistani newspapers did not publish reports about the conference, as they normally refrain from doing so due to fears of the displeasure of the military-led establishment in Pakistan. The conference took place while Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a;ong with a number of Pakistani officials, were in the U.S. for the March 24 Pakistan-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.
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India-Pakistan
Militant leaders meet in Pak, vow to continue `Jehad` in J-K
2008-04-07
Islamabad, April 06: After lying low for some time, leaders of several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday met in Rawalpindi city near here and vowed to continue their "Jehad" in the valley.
A terrorist meeting in Rawalpindi garrison- the headquarters of the Pakistani Military
The meeting, organised by the Pakistan-based al-Badr Mujahideen at a mosque in the garrison city, was addressed by United Jehad Council and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, al-Badr chief Bakht Zameen Khan and leaders of the Lashker-e-Taiba, Hizbi Islami-Kashmir and other Jehadi groups.

"The continuation of the Jehad in Kashmir is linked with the survival of Pakistan," Salahuddin told the 500-strong gathering.

Observers said this was one of the largest gatherings addressed by militant leaders near Islamabad in the past few years. The meeting came just days after PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, whose party is in the ruling coalition, said no terrorist training camps were operating in Pakistan.

Salahuddin said the Jehadi groups would be ready for dialogue with India only if "agrees to quit Kashmir and recognise the fundamental rights of Kashmiris". He told the gathering that they will continue operating in Jammu and Kashmir as long as even a single Indian soldier is deployed in the state. "We in this gathering want to convey a message to Kashmiri Muslims that they are not alone. We are with them. We will not accept Indian hegemony till the last drop our blood," he said as the crowd shouted slogans like "our way of life Jehad Jehad" and "Allah is Great".

He claimed that the "Jehad" in Kashmir is passing through a "sensitive period" because its traditional supporters had turned their back on it and the base of the movement was now in "Azad Kashmir"
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India-Pakistan
BB back with 'foreign agenda', says Al Badr commander
2007-10-19
TAIMARGARA: Al Badr Mujahideen Commander Bakht Zameen has said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto has returned to Pakistan with a foreign agenda of eliminating mujahideen and closing down madrassas.

The PPP leader would implement the foreign agenda to end the concept of jihad and hand over Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to the ‘same foreign country’, said Zameen at an Al-Badr Mujahideen Eid party. He said the mujahideen will continue their jihad to drive the allied forces out of Afghanistan.

The government has failed to protect the country and is siding with the allied forces in their war against the mujahideen, he added. Zameen said that the government is branding mujahideen as terrorists, arresting them and putting them in torture cells. The Al Badr commander condemned the bombing in Waziristan, saying it had killed a large number of civilians. He said the government did this to please the US, adding that it was also destroying madrassas at America’s behest.
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India-Pakistan
Has Hizb-ul Mujahideen split (again)?
2003-07-18
THE LARGEST KASHMIRI MILITANT OUTFIT, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), once again finds itself in the eye of the storm as reports of another split in its ranks have become widespread in the wake of intra-organisational clashes that left one of its leaders dead. However, party sources dismiss the reports as “intelligence leaks”.
If they're "intelligence leaks" does that mean they're wrong?
Talking to TFT in Muzzaffarabad, an HM leader added that “renegade party workers”, who rallied around Majid Dar two years ago as reports of his “surrender” to Indian government became rife, had met a dead end. Over 200 Kashmiri militants tried to raise their own faction called Hizbe Islami (HI) after Majid Dar was murdered in March this year.
By Syed Salahuddin, we might add...
Dar had seized the opportunity to establish contacts with New Delhi as soon as India announced the ceasefire in July 2000. His act annoyed party loyalists who believe he took the step without Sallahuddin’s consent. For the last six months, Dar’s followers have been trying to seize HM offices in Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. This has sparked clashes among party workers, some of whom have also used automatic assault rifles that were previously used in skirmishes with Indian forces.
"Yar! Gimme dat office building!"
"Mine! Y'cant' have it!"
"Take THAT!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, take DAT! An' DAT!"
Their bid to create a separate faction suffered a serious blow, however, when Majid Dar was murdered. Most of these workers have now joined Commander Masood Sarfarz — better known as the Lion of Peer Panjal. Sarfraz, it may be recalled, managed the HM wing in Azad Kashmir before creating Hizbe Islami in 2000 after he fell out with the Jamaat-e-Islami of Azad Kashmir.
Didn't like being controlled by Qazi's front organization, I guess. Pound for pound (and there are a lotta pounds there) Qazi's probably got more ego than any two other Paks...
At the time the Jamaat cadres faced a standoff with Sarfraz’ men in the town of Kotli and fire was exchanged between the two sides for days.
"Yar! We be havin' a political discussion! Bring up more ammo!"
A spokesman for Masood’s party – Sikandar Rajaurvi – told TFT from Kotli that 467 loyalists of Majid Dar had already joined hands with them. The numbers, according to other Kashmiri sources, are not as high as the HI claims. “It cannot be more than 250,” says a Kashmiri, familiar with the militant scene. He also disputes claims about split in the HM. “There have been four splits since 1990,” he says. “All of them aimed at removing Syed Sallahuddin. However, he has survived until now and fully controls the party.”
Since he doesn't hesitate to have his rivals bumped off...
The Jamiat ul- Mujahideen of General Abdullah, Muslim Mujahideen of Ahsan Dar, Hizbe Islami of Masood and Al-Badr of Bakht Zameen managed to break away from the HM. But the intricacy of the situation surrounding Kashmiri militants’ operations from the Pakistani soil simply prevented the emergence of another splinter group. Sources say those in existence since early 1990s are already facing the crunch. Their funds have shrunk in the face of mounting international pressure on Pakistan to dismantle these groups. Analysts claim, however, that the merger of Dar-remnants into the Hizbe Islami of Commander Masood is the culmination of power struggle within the HM that has gone on since the summer of 2000.
I'm not counting on hard times to wind down the jihadis. The money could start flowing again at any time. The fact that they're not out of business indicates there's still a trickle coming out of the pipe...
This is not a new phenomenon. Other groups like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have faced splits, the worst being the emergence of Jaish-e Mohammad after Masoud Azhar decided to part ways with Commander [Fazlur Rehman] Khalil of Harkat. Masoud not only split but went on to capture the Harkat assets in the Punjab and even got Harkat cadres to join his party. The split resulted in major disputes and even fire-fights at the time. And as one former intelligence official concedes, one of the tricks in the book is to not allow any one group to become too strong.
“This is a tried and tested mode of keeping overall control of such groups. Whenever one group is seen as getting too strong or influential, the agencies try to split it and sometimes pit one against the other,” he says. It seems that the Kashmir jihad is no exception.
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India-Pakistan
The Challenge Within
2003-07-15
Here is a somewhat old article I found that goes into depth into the major players in the Islamist movements in Pakistan, I don’t think I have posted this before. It’s important to point out that is is the Pak Army that has spent the past 2 decades nuturing these groups, and under no circumstances to they want to undo their hard work, which is why they willingly arrest Al-Qaeda Arabs and those who Pakistanis found helping them. And they will those Jihadis who go ’rogue’ and attack either Shias or start bombings in the country. But they won’t do anything to hurt these Jihadis because they serve the Army’s strategic interests, first in setting up a client state in Afghanistan in order to provide strategic depth in any war with India, and second in bleeding the Indians in Kashmir, which the Generals believe is the first step in splintering India the same way they Soviet Union collapsed. This is the same aim shared by Qazi and the like, they just want themselves to rule over the bulkanised India instead of the Generals.

Qazi the first challenger:
The biggest opponent of the government of President Musharraf is Qazi Hussain Ahmad. He is the strongest enemy because of his better organisation of the party and clever adoption of policy. He has stayed clear of sectarianism, a wisdom that is the legacy of the founder of the party, Abul Ala Maududi, who was trained in a Deobandi seminary but hid the certificate of qualification, and sought to be a bridge in the Deobandi-Barelvi divide in Pakistan. Since the participation of the Jamaat in government under General Zia, its inroads into the state apparatus are deep, and its upper echelon leaders have become men of substance and independent means. The Jamaat supporters come from rich entrepreneurs whom the Jamaat has helped create chains of lucrative English-medium schools and colleges. His party’s economic manifesto is statist, opposed to privatisation of the state sector economy and in some cases re-nationalisation of certain segments of the private sector. Although Qazi Sahib has shown suppleness in foreign policy, seeking to communicate with the United States and Iran, considered hostile by most clerics in Pakistan, he remains fundamentally an isolationist in foreign policy.
I'd call him a xenophobe, myself. And a psychoceramic...
The most intractable problem of the Jamaat is that it is not supported by the other big parties. Qazi Sahib was close to Hekmatyar and benefited from the attentions of the ISI and the government when Pakistan’s Afghan policy was tied to the foot of Hekmatyar. Since 1994, the Jamaat dominance of the Afghan policy has lessened. Militias belonging to the Deobandi school of thought have become powerful because the ISI was now running the Taliban policy. Although Qazi Hussain Ahmad is a Pakhtun, the Deobandi Pakhtun leaders of the JUI do not see eye to eye with him. For instance, Qazi Sahib’s friend, Hekmatyar, has written anti-JUI articles in the Urdu press, alleging that Maulana Fazlur Rehman took American dollars as bribery.
It was due to the money he made on smuggling oil that led to Fazlur becoming known as "Mullah Diesel".

The Grand Deobandi Alliance:
The grand Deobandi alliance is probably the biggest force in Pakistan after the state’s armed forces. Based in Karachi, the Binori Complex houses leaders that sit in the shuras of the various Deobandi jehadi militias. Its religious scholars sit in the shura of Sipah-e-Sahaba as well as he shura of the two militias Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Muhammad. Since they also have similar influence over the JUI, the Sipah-e-Sahaba of Maulana Azam Tariq and the JUI, both factions have a kind of secret liaison, so that the manifest anti-Shia orientation of the Sipah doesn’t encompass the JUI although the latter has the same unspoken view. The Deobandi leaders are less committed to the state of Pakistan because of their Indian Congress background and think nothing of issuing fatwas of death against foreigners coming to Pakistan on business. It is these fatwas in part that have caused the embassies in Islamabad to issue advisories to their nationals not to visit Pakistan.
The Binori complex is the most important madrassa in Pakistan and the spiritual base of radical Deobandism. It is led by Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai and Abdul Razzaq Sikander and is where Osama Bin Ladin and Mullah Omar first met.

Maulana Azam Tariq:
His sectarian party has produced a violent offshoot, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose killings Azam Tariq disavows by saying that the Lashkar has been removed from the umbrella of his party. Yet when Lashkar activist Haq Nawaz was about to be hanged he tried all means his disposal, including threats to the state, to get him absolved from the crime of killing an Iranian diplomat. Azam Tariq announced in 2001 that he would select 20 cities in Pakistan and enforce his Deobandi sharia there, mainly in the shape of compulsory business shut-down during namaz and the compulsory attendance at namaz of all Muslims. In addition, he promised to impose hijab on all women venturing out of the house.
Since this article was written, Azam Tariq was released from house arrest and allowed to set up a ’new’ political party with the same platform as the Sipah-e-Sahaba, except that it supports the Musharaff government in parliament. The hundreds of murders the party was responsible for have been forgiven. Cynicism at it’s most breathtaking.
Hardline injunctions against women are also issued by his Deobandi colleague Maulana Samiul Haq who vows to treat the women with the same severity as the Taliban.
Sami ul-Haq is widely known as "Sami the Sandwich", after being found in a compromising position with two women in a brothel many years ago.

Power and glory of Hafiz Saeed:
Lashkar-e-Taiba functions under the aegis of Dawatul Irshad of Muridke near Lahore. It is a rich organisation because of its hold on civil society in small districts where it can actually dictate to the administration somewhat in the style of Sipah-e-Sahaba. Its leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of the Gujjar community is a retired Islamiyat teacher of University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore. His headquarters, a city within city, in Muridke was built with Arab money. Even when he was an employee of the state-run university he was powerful enough on the basis of his contacts with the ISI, and therefore the army, to insult the government in power and denounce democracy as an un-Islamic system. The power of the Lashkar also derives from its salafi origin. Its contact with the wahhabi camps in Kunar in Afghanistan has never been disowned although Muridke carefully mutes its obvious connection with the Arab warriors in Afghanistan. Its connections with Osama bin Laden have also been craftily hidden although news appearing in the national press have linked the two. Lashkar’s office in Muridke used to receive a large of number of Arabs on a daily basis and was a transit camp for those leaving for Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Al-Badr used to be linked to Jamaat Islami but now the commander of the outfit Bakht Zameen has asserted himself against Qazi Hussain Ahmad to some extent, which probably makes it easy for him to maintain good relations with the ISI. This is probably the richest organisation in terms of the funds it can gather from the population. There was a time when a lot of funding came in from abroad, including sectarian funding in which Iran and the Arab states competed, but now over 85 percent of the collections are made in the cities of Pakistan from the common man. In some cases, even prosperous businessmen give funds to avail of the ’arbitration’ services offered by the jehadi outfits. This ’leveraged’ judicial service is available to anyone who can contribute to the coffers of the outfits.
So are they Jihadis who run an extortian racket, or an extortian racket who ocassionaly fight Jihad?
I think they spend more time and effort on extortion than on jihad. They don't show up that often in Kashmir news...


Pakistan’s jehad in Kashmir has created an alternative state apparatus in the outfits that fight there as surrogate warriors. The price that civil society pays for this deniable covert war has been climbing over the years and has now become almost intolerable. During the latest round of war in Afghanistan most of these outfits have opposed General Musharraf’s policy of joining the world coalition against terrorism. All religious leaders of these jehadi outfits know their activity can easily fall in the category of terrorism and therefore try to scare the common citizen by predicting that the next American target will be Pakistan. They see hazily the possibility of a takeover, not by themselves, as that would be impossible given their internecine nature, but by someone else from within the establishment, that will give them a new lease of life — a lease whose foreclosure became certain the day Osama bin Laden decided to attack New York and Washington.
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