Title: Islamic Militants
Undaunted by Clinton Rebuff on Kashmir - Insurgents Say Holy War Will Escalate
Author: Pamela Constable
Publication: Washington
Post
Date: April 2, 2000
MURIDKE, Pakistan-Except
for the black saber painted on the entrance sign, this sprawling rural
complex could be the campus of a thriving agricultural college. New brick
buildings are rising among healthy wheat fields and shallow fish-breeding
ponds. Students lounge on the grass, and workers toss grain into tractor
carts.
But the compound, 30
miles from Lahore, is the intellectual and economic nerve center of a fast-growing
Islamic movement called Markaz Al-Dawa and its armed wing, Lashkar-e-Taiba,
which means "Army of the Prophet." Its centerpiece is an Islamic university
with 1,000 students, whose subjects include science, English, Arabic, Koranic
studies and jihad, or holy war.
"Our mission is to educate
scholars who can preach Islam and spread it all over the world," said Prof.
Hafiz Sayeed, 53, a soft-spoken Islamic scholar who founded the movement
in 1986. To wage jihad wherever Muslims are oppressed, he added, is "our
duty according to the Koran. If Allah is willing, we shall obey."
At the moment, hundreds
of highly trained Lashkar fighters are waging an intense jihad in Indian
Kashmir, where they regularly use suicide squads to attack military facilities
and stage deadly encounters with security forces.
Kashmir, which is largely
Muslim, is divided between Pakistan and India, which is predominantly Hindu,
and insurgent groups including Lashkar seek to "liberate" the Indian portion
by force. The two countries have fought two wars since 1947, plus a 10-week
border skirmish last year, over Kashmir. In the last decade alone, more
than 50,000 people have died in the Kashmiri conflict.
A week ago, President
Clinton dashed Pakistan's hopes for foreign mediation in the Kashmir dispute
when he visited the region and declared a new strategic alliance with India.
In contrast, his message to Pakistan and its military leader, Gen. Pervez
Musharraf, was a stern warning to curb violence in Kashmir or face isolation
by the United States.
But if anything, Washington's
rebuff seems to have reinforced the determination of Sayeed and leaders
of other Pakistan-based insurgent movements. Even if Pakistan's military
rulers bow to U.S pressure, they insisted in interviews last week, the
juggernaut of jihad in Kashmir cannot be reversed.
"America has always cheated
Muslims and worked for its own interests. We were very grieved that Clinton
came here and did not say a single word about the terrorism in uniform
by Indian forces in Kashmir," Sayeed said. "Even if the government puts
pressure on our mujaheddin [freedom fighters], they will not give up until
the Indian troops leave Kashmir. Musharraf cannot stop it. It is not in
his control."
Officials of Hizbul Mujaheddin,
another insurgent group, accused Clinton of applying a "double standard"
to Kashmir, and they said his stance would encourage India to step up repression
of the local populace.
"The United States has
given India a new license to kill unarmed Kashmiris," said Kalim Siddiqui,
a Hizbul spokesman in Islamabad. "If Clinton wanted us to stop jihad, he
should have called on India to stop its brutalities, too. Now things will
only intensify."
For many Pakistanis,
freeing Indian Kashmir has become a sacred, if somewhat distant, cause.
The Pakistani government denies giving direct support to the insurgents,
but Musharraf has made numerous speeches in support of the Kashmiri jihad
movement, and posters urging support for Lashkar and other insurgent groups
are displayed in mosques and markets.
While many educated,
westernized Pakistanis express more concern about such issues as Pakistan's
ailing economy and its inability to establish stable democratic rule, support
for the insurgency is an emotional rallying cry among poor and devout Muslims.
"I hold Kashmir dearer
than my own heart. As long as Kashmir is in chains, jihad will continue,"
said Soail Ahmed, 30, who sells vegetables in an open-air market in Rawalpindi.
At Islamic University
in Islamabad, students paused during their lunch break to talk about Kashmir.
Rana Mahmood, 25, who
is studying Islamic law, has never been to Kashmir, and he said its problems
have no direct impact on his life. But he insisted it is Pakistan's duty
to champion the plight of Kashmiri Muslims.
"Our prophet says that
Muslims are like a body. If one part is hurt, the other part feels the
pain," he said. "If the United States can intervene in Bosnia, and Australia
can send troops to defend Christians in East Timor, shouldn't we help our
own brothers fight for freedom in Kashmir?"
But economics student
Aziz Hassan vigorously disagreed, saying, "We have so many economic problems
here. Millions of Pakistanis don't even have water, while India is advancing
in education and technology."
Many Pakistanis said
they were outraged by the massacre of 36 unarmed Sikhs in a Kashmiri village
just before Clinton's visit to South Asia. Authorities in New Delhi blamed
the crime on Lashkar and Hizbul, but opinion here is that it was committed
by paramilitary groups acting at India's behest, to tar the insurgents
as terrorists while the world's eyes were on Kashmir.
In interviews last week,
officials of Lashkar and Hizbul strongly denied any involvement. They said
it would have been physically impossible for their troops to get away with
such a mass slaying, the Sikh community had been supportive of their cause,
and they had strict rules against harming innocent civilians.
"We do not kill a man
who is not involved in the war against us, whether he is Muslim, Hindu
or Sikh. Islam does not allow it," Sayeed said. "This deed did not favor
the mujaheddin, it favored India and its propaganda.
"Kashmir is full of graveyards,"
he added, "and most of the martyrs have been Kashmiris."
