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India-Pakistan

Religious groups make inroads into education sector

2012-08-28

[Dawn] After mushroom growth of seminaries, organised religious groups and some alleged bad turban outfits are now making significant inroads into the education sector by opening and operating English medium schools in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and Fata to compete with the conventional private educational institutions. According to some educationists, religious groups changed their strategy and focused attention on English medium schools, vocational institutions and universities when seminaries came into limelight and were blamed for producing bad turbans. The Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI) and Tanzeemul Madaris (Barelvi) have set up separate bodies for overseeing their affiliated English medium educational institutions. Maulana Abdul Malik, head of JI-affiliated Rabitatul Madaris in Mansoora, Lahore, said that a body with the name of Dar-e-Arqam had been established to look after English medium schools. He said that around 150 private schools were functioning in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa under the supervision of Dar-e-Arqam. Besides it, two more JI-affiliated chains -- Hira and Iqra -- have also their networks of schools and colleges. The Barelvi school of thought is also running English medium schools and colleges across the country. According to Maulana Fazl Jamil, the sect is running network of private schools under the supervision of four different bodies -- AIMS, Mustafvi Model Schools, Mohammedan Hands and Minhajul Koran. Jamaat ud Dawa is also running about 30 English medium schools in the province, but it has a bigger network in Punjab. JI has taken lead over other religious organizations and sects in education sector. The party has one medical college and one dental college in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar with full-fledged teaching facilities. In addition, well-off persons and families affiliated with JI and other religious groups have set up universities, vocational and technical colleges. The number of English medium schools in the province is around 5,500 compared with the number of registered seminaries that is 7,400. However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... information reveals that the number of English medium schools is increasing as religious groups have started intervention in the modern education system. Some educationists say that religious sects' intervention in private sector education of the country will be very dangerous for a polarised society, which has already been divided on sectarian grounds. The acting vice-chancellor of University of Peshawar, Dr Qibla Ayaz, expressing reservations over mushroom growth of seminaries and educational institutions, run by different sects, said that it was responsibility of the state to provide education to people. "When state fails then other groups start filling the vacuum which is very dangerous," he observed. He strongly opposed intervention of religious groups in education system, saying those groups were basically indoctrinating children instead of educating them. "Opening of education institutions by religious groups or by their affiliates would further divide the society instead of cohesion," said Dr Qibla Ayaz, who also teaches Seerat Studies at the university. A bigwig, while commenting on the issue, said that English medium schools run by religious organizations were producing graduates, who were basically mullahs, but they wore three-piece suits. Inclination towards religious education has not decreased in the region. Few years ago there were only few hundreds registered seminaries in the province. The provincial industries department had registered 300 seminaries by April 2005 and the figure rose to 2,450 in May 2006. But now the number has reached 7,400. Maulana Fazl Jamil, provincial chief of Tanzeemul Madaris Board, said that abject poverty, a chance of free education and growing anti-Americanism were major factors owing to which number of seminaries in the region had considerably increased. Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia Pakistain, which regulates seminaries of Deobandi school of thought in the country, has the largest network of seminaries in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. Wafaqul Madarris (Deobandi) Board, according to a list, has enlisted 3,395 seminaries both for males and females in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata having 556,199 students. Tanzeemul Madaris (Barelvi) Board is managing some 600 seminaries in the province with roughly 50,000 students while JI-affiliated Rabitatul Madaris Board has 500 seminaries with 50,000 students. Shia and Ahle Hadit have also separate boards for managing affairs of their affiliated religious institutions. Both sects have small number of seminaries. Jamaat ud Dawa, a charity body-cum-jihadi outfit, has around 50 seminaries in the province. Seminaries attached with all sects are being run on donations, Zakat and Ushr, but fee is collected from students in their English medium schools. The provincial government provides Rs20 million grant annually through Auqaf and religious affairs department to registered seminaries. But the department has no data of the registered and unregistered seminaries and number of students and teachers there. Minister for Religious Affairs Namroz Khan said that his department had no record of the seminaries. Home Secretary Mohammad Azam Khan said that the issue came under discussion in cabinet meeting and it was proposed to maintain proper record of seminaries. Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal government through department of schools and literacy had conducted survey of seminaries in 2005 that put the number of seminaries in the province at 4,680 having 183,140 students including females. Seminaries functioning in Fata are unregistered because government is yet to extend Societies Act to the area. A cell has been set up in the directorate of education, Fata to enlist seminaries in the area. Officials said that 318 seminaries were enlisted in Fata and government had allocated Rs9.6 million in 2011-12 to provide assistance to those seminaries. About 48,318 students have been enrolled in these enlisted seminaries. Under the project some of the enlisted seminaries have been provided teaching staff, computers and other basic facilities. A hostel for girl students studying in a seminary in South Wazoo Agency has also been constructed.

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India-Pakistan

India hands Pakistan evidence against Hafiz Saeed

2012-05-25

[Dawn] India has submitted new evidence against Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... in the ongoing dialogue between the two nuclear-powered neighbours, DawnNews reported. "We have given new evidence to Pakistain regarding Hafiz Muhammad Saeed's involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks," Indian Interior Secretary R K Singh, who is leading his delegation in Islamabad, told media representatives on Thursday. Moreover, the Indian secretary said that they had also briefed the Pak delegation on the progress in the Samjhota Express investigations. The talks, scheduled to last for a period of two days, commenced today with the Pak delegation led by Interior Secretary Siddique Akbar Khwaja. Thursday's talks were expected to focus on cooperation between the two countries on issues pertaining to security and drug trafficking. The Pak interior secretary said that both delegations are of the view regarding relaxation of the visa policy between the two countries. Earlier before talks began, the Indian secretary said that his country was not satisfied with Pakistain's investigations into the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Singh said the judicial proceedings going on in Pakistain pertaining to the Mumbai attack were very slow. The Indian interior secretary moreover said that "a number of suspects were never jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... The 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... (LeT) founder, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is accused of criminal masterminding the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Bainbridge Colby ... , while on a visit to India, blamed Pakistain of "not doing enough" against Saeed. Pakistain had demanded proof of his involvement in terrorism, which is good enough to stand in court of law. "Our position on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is clear. We have independent and active courts. If anyone has proof against him, they should share it with us so that the courts can examine it," Foreign Office front man Moazzam Khan had said.

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India-Pakistan

DPC announces long march against possible Nato supply resumption

2012-05-20

[Dawn] The Difa-e-Pakistain Council (DPC) announced on Saturday that it would hold a long march from Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to Islamabad in protest of the possible reopening of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... supply routes by the government. A meeting of the council was held here today which was attended by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... Ahmed of Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD), Syed Munawwar Hasan of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI), former ISI chief General Hamid Gul The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command... , and others. Addressing media representatives after the meeting, Maulana Sami ul-Haq, the chief of the council, warned the government against opening the supply routes. He announced holding a peaceful long march from Bloody Karachi to Islamabad on May 27 besides observing a day of protest on May 25. Haq said that Prime Minister Gilani and his cabinet were unconstitutional, and therefore had no right to decide on 'reopening' the supply lines. Moreover, he also urged people to take part in the long march.

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India-Pakistan

Moment of reckoning

2012-04-08

Matters are coming to a head in Pakistain. And, conveniently, elsewhere... The deadlock in US-Pak relations over resumption of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... supplies is veering towards confrontation. And the confrontation between parliament-government and supreme court-opposition is edging towards a clash. The net losers are fated to be Pakistain's fledgling democracy and stumbling economy. Pakistain's Parliamentary Committee for National Security has failed to forge a consensus on terms and conditions for dealing with America. The PMLN-JUI opposition is in no mood to allow the Zardari government any significant space for negotiation. COAS General Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... is also reluctant to weigh in unambiguously with his stance. As such, no one wants to take responsibility for any new dishonourable "deal" with the US in an election year overflowing with angry anti-Americanism. The danger is that in any lengthy default mode, the US might get desperate and take unilateral action regardless of Pakistain' s concern. That would compel Pakistain to resist, plunging the two into certain diplomatic and possible military conflict. This would hurt Pakistain more than the US because Islamabad is friendless, dependent on the West for trade and aid, and already bleeding internally from multiple cuts inflicted by terrorism, sectarianism, separatism, inflation, devaluation, unemployment, etc. Indeed, the worst-case scenario for the US is a disorderly and swift retreat from Afghanistan while the worst-case scenario for Pakistain is an agonizing implosion as a sanctioned and failing state. A pointer to the direction in which US-Pak relations are headed is provided by the recent US decision to put $10 million "terrorist" head money on Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... , the leader of the UN-banned 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... and Jamaat ud Dawa. There are two major motives behind this step. First, it reaffirms the US belief that the Defense Council of Pakistain, in particular LeT, is increasingly gearing up to play a significant anti-US role in Afghanistan and is therefore fair game for US policy makers. The US is signaling that if restored NATO pipelines are attacked or violently blocked by the DFC or its adjuncts, the US will consider it an act of terrorism-war by these groups and react accordingly. Second, it endears the US to India which has long demanded some such step and confirms a budding long term strategic relationship between them based on strong defense and economic ties. A formal clash between the government and the judiciary is also on the cards. If there was any doubt about it, the aggressive speeches of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and PPP Co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on April 4th at Garhi Khuda Baksh signal the readiness of the government to go down fighting rather than kneel at the altar of the Supreme Court. President Zardari's decision to camp in Lahore for a few days is aimed at marshalling his forces to meet the "Punjabi establishment" challenge. A conviction of the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, for contempt will trigger a series of political actions and reactions all round and provoke a military intervention that leaves political devastation and economic ruin in its wake. A house bitterly feuding and divided is hardly equipped to put up a united front against a desperate and overbearing superpower like the US in a volatile and friendless region. There is a perverse irony in the developing situation. The generals of the Pakistain Army are solely responsible for formulating and implementing policy towards America, India and Afghanistan. Now those policies have come to grief in one way or another and also engendered anti-India and anti-American sentiment in the bargain. So the generals are asking the politicians to take "ownership" of, and responsibility for, these policies in an environment that is not conducive to rational and pragmatic review and reform. The twist in the scenario is that the Pakistain military, more than any other institution or social group, is likely to be most adversely affected by any precipitous change in the external or internal status quo. If external relations with America deteriorate, the pipeline for weapons and coalition support funds will dry up and Pak soldiers and weapons could even be pitted against NATO forces in FATA and Afghanistan. Any diminishing of the status of Pakistain as an American ally in the Afghan war would also enable India to carve out a bigger role for itself in the Afghan end-game, which would be nothing short of a nightmare for the Pakistain army. Equally, if the Mighty Pak Army were to be sucked into the internal political quagmire as a result of the clash between the judiciary-opposition and the executive-parliament, it would find itself battling on two impossible fronts whose "ownership burden" would rest exclusively on its shoulders. This is a moment of reckoning between the military and civilians, between democracy and autocracy, between civil society and thug extremism, between notions of national interest and national honour, between executive and judiciary, between government and opposition, between Pakistain and America, between Pakistain and India. This is Pakistain's moment of reckoning for paradigm change.

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India-Pakistan

Osama, Zawahri and I had same teacher: Hafiz Saeed

2012-02-08

[Dawn] Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus... , the chief of Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) a charity organization accused by West and India for exporting terror from Pakistain, has confessed for the first time about his meeting with al Qaeda founding father the late Osama bin Laden ... who knows that it's like to live in the belly of a whale only he's not living... and said that he studied from the same scholar who taught bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... "Yes once I had met Osama bin Laden but that is an old story I met him probably in 1982 in Soddy Arabia and in that meeting we just waived at each other," said Saeed in an interview with Dawn.com. Saeed's organization was banned by the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council days after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 for its alleged involvement in the attacks and Islamic fascisti activities. However local courts have allowed the organization to work in Pakistain. Saeed, the most wanted man by India, is a holder of double master's degree in Islamic Studies and also is a former teacher at Engineering University, Punjab. He said he was a proud student of Sheikh Bin Baz. Bin Baz was the grand mufti (scholar) of Soddy Arabia from 1993 to until his death in May 1999. AfPak head and a retired CIA officer, Bruce Riedel in his book titled "The Search for Al Qaeda" has described Bin Baz as one who "preached a very reactionary brand of Islam, proclaiming earth is flat, banning high heels for women as too sexually provocative, barring men from wearing Western suits and imposing other restrictions on behavior." When asked is it not a coincidence that he studied under the same holy man who taught Osama bin Laden and Aiman al al-Zawahiri? Saeed said it was the honour for both the students and the teacher. When asked about the reports regarding the financial help by Osama bin Laden for establishing 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... back in 1989-90, Saeed denied by calling it "baseless allegation." Asked how it was possible that he could not have met Bin Laden in neighboring Afghanistan while he was waging Jihad next door in Indian administered Kashmire, Saeed brushed aside the question saying, "put this matter aside." Saeed declared the killing of Osama bin Laden as extra judicial act and in the same breath he said that it was yet to be verified if the al Qaeda chief was in the Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... compound or not. He said that US was the biggest terrorist who did not prove anything against bin Laden in any court of law. When asked if his men or he himself were helping the jihad in Afghanistan, Saeed said that the Afghanis were doing well themselves and they did not need anybody's help. "We are doing what we can do for them," he added. Saeed who used to hide from cameras has started appearing on television screen these days, when asked about the reason behind this change of mind he said that he has taken this decision to counter the propaganda against himself and his organization.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan blasphemy law 'to stand'

2011-01-11

[Al Jazeera] Pakistain's prime minister has ruled out changing the country's controversial blasphemy law that has been linked to the killing of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, who was a fierce critic of the law. Yousuf Raza Gilani told news hounds in the capital, Islamabad, that he has no intention of amending the law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad. Gilani made the announcement on Sunday after speaking to the leader of one of the country's largest religious parties. "I spoke to Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on the phone. He asked whether we are making any amendments to the law," Gilani said. "I have said it categorically before, and then the minister of religious affairs also gave a clarification that the government has no such intention." His comments came just hours after tens of thousands of people turned out for a rally organised by Pakistain's religious parties in Bloody Karachi on Sunday. Speakers at the rally warned the government against making any changes to the law, while others condoned the murder of Punjab governor Taseer. Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder said the protests in Bloody Karachi were a 'sign of an increasingly polarised country' Qari Ahsaan, from the banned group Jamaat ud Dawa, addressed the rally from a stage, saying: "We can't compromise on the blasphemy law. It's a divine law and nobody can change it. "Our belief in the sanctity of our prophet is firm and uncompromising and we cannot tolerate anyone who blasphemes. Whoever blasphemes will face the same fate as Salman Taseer." Taseer was killed in the capital, Islamabad, last Tuesday over his views in favour of the blasphemy law's amendment. That liberal stance offended the country's increasingly powerful conservative religious base. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the hunt for Taseer's replacement as Punjab governor continued, with Pak media reporting that a new appointment could be announced later on Monday. Sardar Latif Khosa, Pakistain's former attorney-general and a member of parliament, is the front-runner for the job. The country's blasphemy law was recently used to sentence Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five, to death. Politicians and conservative religious leaders have been at loggerheads over whether Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... , Pakistain's president, should pardon her. Controversy over the law flared when Sherry Rehman, a former information minister and a senior PPP member, tabled a bill in November seeking to end the death penalty for blasphemy. Most of those convicted of blasphemy in Pakistain have their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal through the courts. Pakistain has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but Bibi's case has exposed the deep fault-lines in the conservative country. Sunday's protesters held banners in support of the police commando who rubbed out Taseer. "Mumtaz Qadri is not a murderer, he is a hero," said one banner in the national Urdu language. "We salute the courage of Qadri," said another. Omar Waraich, Pakistain correspondent for the UK's Independence newspaper, told Al Jizz the rally was a "display of muscle". "This is a muscle-flexing exercise by the religious right in Pakistain who, after the tragic events of this week when Salman Taseer was assassinated, they feel emboldened by the fact that there have been many cheering that tragedy and are now out to make political capital out of it."

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India-Pakistan

Mumbai bombings 'main brain' arrested

2006-10-05

Police in India said today they had captured one of the key suspects in the investigation into the train bombings that killed 207 commuters on Mumbai's rail network in July. Asif Khan, believed to be a Pakistani national, was apprehended on Monday and is the 16th person to be held in connection with the attacks. Police investigator K P Raghuvanshi described Mr Khan - who also used the alias Junaid - as "the main brain behind the bombings". “Mumbai police commissioner, A N Roy, said on Saturday that an intensive investigation that included using truth serum on suspects revealed the Inter-Services Intelligence agency had "masterminded" the bombings that injured 700.” Little is known about Mr Khan, 35, other than that he is believed to be a commander of the banned Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India continues to blame for the attacks. Lashkar-e-Taiba is banned in Pakistan but continues to function under other names, including, most recently, as a charity called Jamaat ud Dawa. It has been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir for a decade and was a behind a suicide attack on the Indian parliament in December 2003. Police said Mr Khan was sought on separate charges of making bombs and planting explosives. At the weekend authorities in India claimed that Pakistan's intelligence service sponsored the coordinated bomb attacks, which they said were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, with the cooperation of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India. Pakistan has repeatedly denied any involvement. However, the Mumbai police commissioner, A N Roy, said on Saturday that an intensive investigation that included using truth serum on suspects revealed the Inter-Services Intelligence agency had "masterminded" the bombings that injured 700. Police said three Indians were still on the run and another Pakistani was killed in one of the blasts.

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Terror Networks

The Bush Administration Makes New Enemies Daily

2006-08-17

By Ivan Eland In the frenzy surrounding the exposed plot to simultaneously blow up ten airliners flying from Britain to the United States, one line of inquiry being pursued by investigators should make the Bush administration very nervous. British and Pakistani law enforcement officials are examining whether the British plotters of Pakistani descent received money from an Islamic charity, Jamaat ud Dawa. The charity has been used as a front for a militant group fighting for the separation of the Muslim province of Kashmir from the predominantly Hindu India. The most important element in the whole investigation is that Jamaat ud Dawa was recently labeled a terrorist organization by the Bush administration. Could this labeling have motivated the plot in the first place? Jamaat ud Dawa has no direct association with al Qaeda and focuses its efforts on ousting the army of a non-Muslim state (India) from Muslim lands (Kashmir)—the key issue that enrages and motivates the most Islamic jihadist attacks. In fact, jihadist groups battled the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, the French and Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, the Russians in Chechnya, the Israelis in Gaza and the West Bank, and the Americans in Afghanistan and now Iraq. In spite of this, the United States seems to have gone out of its way to pick a fight with the Jamaat ud Dawa. And the group has apparently noticed. The organization’s website shows a photo of Mohammed Saeed, the group’s leader, protesting the Bush administration’s designation of Jamaat ud Dawa as a terrorist organization in May of this year. If the group was involved in the bomb plot, occurring three months later, it appears to be no coincidence. Jamaat ud Dawa is the perfect example of the type of local and regional insurgent group the United States government continues to add to the U.S. terrorism list in the name of the “global war on terror.” Yet, because these groups don’t start out with an anti–U.S. focus, the U.S. government is endangering its own citizens by making new enemies needlessly. The United States cannot and should not—for the security of its own people—help every government put down threats from local insurgents and terrorists. India and Pakistan do need to solve the Kashmir problem, and the United States might even be able to help mediate a settlement, since it now has a loose alliance with both nations. But labeling Kashmiri groups as “terrorists” does nothing for any future U.S. role as an honest broker in the dispute. Similarly, slavish support for Israel’s “over-the-top” response in Lebanon to Hezbollah’s attack on Israeli military targets could provoke Hezbollah to again attack U.S. targets. The group virtually ended its strikes against U.S. targets when the United States withdrew its forces from Lebanon in the early 1980s. Hezbollah, as it has proven before, is a formidable foe, but its main target is Israel. Why did the Bush administration needlessly shake the Hezbollah hornet’s nest by stalling the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon so that Israel could have more time to futilely attack Hezbollah’s and Lebanon’s infrastructure? No conflict in the world is apparently too unimportant or irrelevant to “U.S. security” for the world’s superpower to refrain from intervening. The first responsibility of any government is to try to make its people genuinely secure, not to perpetuate empire. Empire does not generate security, but rather undermines it. The bomb plot should be a wake-up call to the Bush administration to disengage from needless meddling in other countries’ wars and conflicts.

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India-Pakistan

Pak group holds funeral prayers for Zarqawi

2006-06-11

Amidst the 'soft image' campaign launched by President Pervez Musharraf to portray Pakistan as a moderate country, hardline Islamic group Jamat ud Dawa offered funeral prayers for al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi who was killed in Iraq this week. "President Musharraf's favourite jihadi outfit, Jamaat ud Dawa, offered a special namaz-e-janaza, (funeral prayers) in Lahore in absentia for the Shia-killer from Jordan and condemned the statement by the Foreign Office that the death of al Zarqawi was an important milestone in the war against terrorism," said a newspaper on Sunday. The prayer was led by the head of Dawa and founder leader of Lashkar-e-Toyaba, Hafiz Saeed, "while the congregation cried their heart out for the dead man", the paper said in an editorial. Dawa, banned by the United States, styles itself as an Islamic NGO, and Pakistan said it would go against the outfit only if the United Nations initiated such an action. The outfit, kept under "watch list" by the Pakistan Interior Ministry, was also permitted to carry out relief and reconstruction activities in the last year's earthquake-hit areas of Pakistan occupied Kashmir and NWFP. The Dawa's prayers came even as National Assembly Speaker Amir Hussain averted a move by some of the members of the Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) to offer "fateha" or prayers for Zarqawi. Hussain 'prevented the embarrassing situation' from getting out of hand by quoting the rules which stipulated fateha could only be offered on the demise of a present or former member of parliament or his relatives. Dawa's decision to hold a well publicised 'namaz-e-janaza' for Zarqawi came as President Musharraf directed the government to launch a 'soft image' campaign to rid the 'trade mark tag' of the 'warehouse jihadi militancy'. Musharraf issued the directive on last Friday after a high level meeting with Information Ministry officials to boost Pakistan's image at home and abroad. Expressing apprehension that Pakistan toyed with the idea of revival of 'jihadi' militant groups, the paper said the High Court in Karachi recently acquitted two doctors of helping Zarqawi 'because the police failed to make a good case against them'. "Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed had kept Al Zarqawi in their house in Karachi and looked after him and then sent him to South Waziristan for his journey to Afghanistan. The two Karachi doctors were revealed as Jandullah members by the Jandullah leader, Ataullah.

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India-Pakistan

Our quest for a ‘soft image’ and our love for Al Zarqawi don’t square

2006-06-11

President Pervez Musharraf on Friday directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and other relevant departments to highlight the “soft image” of Pakistan in the country and abroad. As he spoke, the National Assembly was busy doing just the opposite. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) demanded that the house offer fateha for the soul of Abu Musa’b Al Zarqawi. MMA legislators Maulana Ghafoor Haideri and Dr Farid Paracha wanted to call down blessings on Al Zarqawi. The speaker prevented the embarrassing situation from getting out of hand by quoting the rules, which say the house could offer fateha only on the demise of a present or former member of parliament or his relatives. In Lahore, however, President Musharraf’s “favourite” jihadi outfit, Jamaat ud Dawa, offered a special namaz-e-janaza in absentia for the Shia-killer from Jordan and condemned the statement by the Foreign Office that the death of Al Zarqawi was an important milestone in the war against terrorism. The prayer was led by the Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed while the congregation cried their heart out for the dead man. That Al Zarqawi killed Shiites in Iraq did not matter, which in itself is quite revealing. Those who mourned him forgot that he also killed some Pakistanis working in Iraq. This is the kind of internal extremism that hurts Pakistan and demonstrates how most of us are involved in sectarianism despite our assertions to the contrary. The Shia party inside the MMA should have protested the folly of Maulana Haideri and Dr Paracha in asking the National Assembly to bless the memory of the man. But it didn’t. And this is not all. The High Court in Karachi recently acquitted two doctors of helping Al Zarqawi “because the police failed to make a good case against them”. Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed had kept Al Zarqawi in their house in Karachi and looked after him and then sent him to South Waziristan for his journey to Afghanistan. The two Karachi doctors were revealed as Jandullah members by the Jandullah leader, Ataullah. The doctors had admitted that they were members of Jandullah and that they had provided medical aid to Al Qaeda and sent men to be trained as Al Qaeda activists to Nek Muhammad in Wana through his brother. The doctors had also admitted that they had maintained their relationship with the Jamiat Talaba Islam till late. It is our bad luck that, apart from President Musharraf, no one else in the PMLQ or opposition wants to “soften” Pakistan’s image. The opposition is advocating defiance in the face of “American imperialism” and, since the “soft image” routine is alleged to be linked somehow to the enterprise of sucking up to the United States, everyone wants a “hard image” instead. Of course, very little attention is paid to the national economy which desperately needs a “soft image” internationally to flourish. In many ways the national economy clashes with the objectives of the Pakistani national polity and its textbook nationalism. The emotion behind all nationalisms is isolationist and all nationalisms seek an external enemy to achieve internal cementation through the vision of a just war. The economy wants peace at all cost; it abhors isolationism, and will not accept the condition of war. Also, where nationalism rejects self-analysis, the economy works only through self-analysis. The truth is that our “hard image” is not projected falsely by “Western media”. Our image is what we are, as proved by the Al Zarqawi incident above. No one is clear about what Pakistan should be — not even President Musharraf, who talks of a “soft image” but doesn’t show the will or ability to roll back the hard image and its manifestations. *

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Afghanistan-Pak-India

Hafiz Saeed wants aid workers in Kashmir

2005-11-02

Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a Pakistani cleric on New Delhi’s most wanted list of alleged terrorists said on Tuesday that he wanted to send aid workers to Held Kashmir when the border opens for the quake relief efforts. What's the Urdu word for "shameless"? Hafiz Mohammad Saeed founded the banned Islamic militant group Lashkar e Taiba, which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir and was blamed by New Delhi for an attack on India’s Parliament in December 2001. Saeed conveniently left the group shortly before it was outlawed by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002 and set up the charity organisation named Jamaatud Dawa. “We want our workers to go to Held Kashmir to provide relief. It will include tents, blankets, medicines, winter clothes and a team of doctors,” Saeed said. "We'll provide the destitute with arms, ammunition, and explosives..." Officials said it was unlikely that Jamaatud Dawa workers will be allowed to cross, especially as New Delhi continues to allege the infiltration of militants from Pakistan into Held Kashmir. An Indian police chief said that a group, which claimed responsibility for three bomb blasts in the Indian capital on Saturday had links to Lashkar e Taiba. Saeed said that Jamaatud Dawa had disassociated itself from Lashkar but he still supported calls for “jihad” in Kashmir. Jamaat ud Dawa was one of first groups to start relief efforts in Azad Kashmir (AJK) and lost over 70 of its activists in the earthquake.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Jihadis running for local elections

2005-08-12

The much-publicised Election Commission’s directions to all district returning officers (DROs) to exclude members of 18 outlawed jihadi organisations from the local bodies elections have proved to be a damp squib as DROs feel that many jihadis have slipped the net and are running for seats in the local councils. In Pakland, if you don't agree with a law you just ignore it, unless it's a blasphemy law. The DROs said that they only received the directions and the list of the suspect candidates well after the scrutiny process was over. “There was little we could do (to stop members of banned organisations). They only needed to submit an affidavit to be eligible for the elections,” said a returning officer. "Nope. Sorry. Couldn't do it in time," he said, adjusting his turban... Judging by the number of complaints the DROs have received in this regard, there is great fear that dozens of candidates associated with outlaw jihadi organisation might have slipped the net and are running for local council seats. "Aaaar! Vote fer me an' I'll kill the infidels! Don't vote fer me an' I'll kill youse!" On July 19, Election Commission of Pakistan, through a confidential letter, directed all DROs that members of 18 outlawed organisations were not eligible to run for any local government seat and should be disqualified. The list was reportedly attached with the letter. The list of banned organisations provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan included Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Sipah Muhammad Pakistan, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sipah Sahaba Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi, Tehrik-e-Islami (ex TJP), Millat-e-Islamia (ex SSP), Khuddamul Islam (ex JM), Islami Tehrik Pakistan, Jamiatul Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir, Khairun Nissa International Trust, Sunni Tehrik and Jamaat ud Dawa. Apart from sending the directive to DROs, the Election Commission also launched a media campaign to inform the public that the organisations mentioned above were banned from taking part in the local council elections.

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