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In a sleepy Lahore village, Lashkar trains Kashmir's Mujahideen
In a sleepy Lahore village, Lashkar trains Kashmir's Mujahideen
Kamal Siddiqi
The Indian Express
April 27, 2000
Title: In a sleepy Lahore
village, Lashkar trains Kashmir's Mujahideen
Author: Kamal Siddiqi
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: April 27 2000
MURIDKE (LAHORE), APRIL
26: ``It costs millions to make a tank but only a few rupees to defend
against it,'' says the advertisement for the Mujahideen Lashkar-e-Toiba,
which gave advertisements in Pakistan's leading newspapers earlier this
year espousing Muslims to pay for the Mujahideen fighting in Kashmir and
Chechnya. The advertisement concludes by commenting ``Remember! If you
are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.'' The Lashkar-e-Toiba
(Holy Regiment) is one of the most active groups working inside Kashmir.
But its roots lie several hundred miles away, in a sleepy town 30 kilometres
outside Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city. Here in Muridke stands
the Markaz-e-toiba (Holy Centre), which is run by the Markaz Al-Dawah Wal
Irshad (Centre For Religious Learning And Propagation), the umbrella organization
of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. While a visit to the Lashkar-e-Toiba camps in Kashmir
are out of the question, the next best thing to do is visit the complex
in Muridke which is spread over 200 acres and houses teaching and residential
facilities complete with its own farms, mosques, fish breeding ponds and
stables. Students here learn both Islamic and Western education, aside
from physical training, swimming, horse-riding and other sports. Some of
the students from here end up fighting in Kashmir, but officials of the
seminary are reluctant to give details. Over 800 students are enrolled
here. The teachers insist that all are Pakistanis. There is a great reluctance
to meet a member of the press. Photography is strictly prohibited of ``all
living things,'' and visitors are frisked to see whether they have on them
items like cigarettes or any addictive substance, which is also banned
on the complex. Gun-toting guards keep inquisitive visitors out. Professor
Zafar Iqbal, 45, the Vice-Chancellor of the centre only agrees to meet
because he wants to dispel some of the ``wrong impressions cast about the
organization.'' Iqbal, who also teaches at Lahore's University of Engineering
and Technology, is the man behind the complex, which he started building
in 1986 ``to promote Islamic learning and understanding.'' The professor
looks older than his age. ``That is because he has 22 years teaching experience,''
informs his assistant, who follows the professor wherever he goes with
a gun in his hand. The professor, obviously, has many enemies. The Muridke
complex is not just restricted to the Markaz-e-Toiba. Around this seminary,
the organization has bought land for supporters, who have built houses,
shops and even more mosques and centers of Islamic learning. ``We want
likeminded people to get together,'' says one resident. Education offered
is from primary to university-level for both men and women. Women move
around fully clad in burqas, most males sport beards. The situation reminds
one of Afghanistan, but Zafar Iqbal quickly says that he is notimpressed
by them: ``The Taliban are a group of misguided elements. We have higher
ideals.'' While Zafar Iqbal says that he personally has no direct link
with the Lashkar-e-Toiba as he runs the Muridke operations, he informs
that the Laskhar is the ``jihad department'' of the organization and that
it is the ``most dynamic of the militant groups in Kashmir.'' Many of his
students go for ``training'' to Muzaffarabad, where a camp has been set
up for this purpose. When asked, Muhammad Ibrahim, a student at the seminary
says, ``Yes. I will go to Kashmir. I believe in this cause.'' Asked to
comment on the situation in Kashmir, the bearded Zafar Iqbal says, ``We
are fighting Indian repression there.'' He says that there has been no
let-up in the activities of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and that the aim is to
attain independence for Kashmir or absorption into Pakistan. ``Only then
will the problem of Indian atrocities in Kashmir end,'' he argues. But
Iqbal is quick to point out ``We don't fight in India.'' This seems a contradiction
to his earlier statement: But then he clarifies this: ``Kashmir is not
India. It is an integral part of Pakistan.'' Iqbal says that the Lashkar
was active in Kargil. ``But we were shamed by Nawaz Sharif who made us
withdraw.'' Iqbal says that India is not ready for a political situation
in Kashmir. ``All indicators are pointing to war and we are prepared for
this sacrifice,'' he comments. Asked whether he understands the full implications
of a nuclear conflict on the sub-continent, Iqbal says that his organization
``will be on the forefront.'' The complex itself is humming with activity.
New hostels are coming up, there are even plans of a medical college and
computer faculty. Iqbal says that private donations are pouring in ``like
never before'' and this has helped them greatly. Most of the donations
come from local businessmen and overseas based Pakistanis. ``We do not
get a single rupee from the government,'' clarifies Iqbal, adding that
the centre also raises money from its fish farming operations and the sale
of animal skins donated by sympathisers on the occasion of Eid-ul Azha,
celebrated earlierthis month. Iqbal complains that his organization is
getting a bad press. ``It is India that is the terrorist. We are the liberators,''
he says. He also claims that the Indian Hindus in Kashmir are also supported
by his organization because they suffer equally under the armed forces.
``Write about the fact that this centre is becoming an international centre
of learning,'' he reminds his visitor and says that Pakistanis from all
over the world are now joining its faculty so that the students can get
the best of all the world. He is also planning a visit to Europe to ``study
Western education systems.'' The fish farms also help support the complex
as in the winter season, its harvest is sold in the bazaars of Lahore.
The Muridke complex, by most respects, is largely self-sufficient and is
connected to the world through a chain of 200 schools spread all over the
country as well as two religious universities. While the staff here make
no bones about the involvement of the Lashkar-e-Toiba in operations in
Kashmir, they are unwilling to give too many details. However, they do
say that the fighters from Afghanistan started to move to Kashmir from
1991 after the war there was over. As the Muridke complex moves from strength
to strength, a debate has begun in Pakistan over the permission by the
government to allow religious groups to run their own complex, with large
funding from abroad. Javed Jabbar, the de-facto minister of information,
says: ``Since no law has been broken, we cannot take any action.'' Jabbar
argues that most religious groups in Pakistan have their centres of activity,
and ``that does not mean that theyare the springing board for some unlawful
activity.'' At this stage, the Pakistan Government turns a blind eye. Many
Pakistaniswonder at what cost this is being done.
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