Author: B Raman
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 21, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/151294/UK-a-sanctuary-for-jihadis.html
It is not surprising that British Foreign
Secretary David Miliband should have so crassly sought to provide legitimacy
to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Pakistani terrorists by linking the Mumbai terror
attack to the 'Kashmir issue'. Britain plays host to Islamist terrorists and
Labour uses their votes to win elections
There has been considerable anger and indignation
in India over the attempt of Mr David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary,
who visited India last week, to rationalise the terrorist attack on Mumbai
by the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba of Pakistan by linking the attack to the 'Kashmir
issue'. None of the indigenous Kashmiri organisations has linked the Mumbai
attack to Jammu & Kashmir. Yet Mr Miliband sought to provide legitimacy
to the LeT's terrorist attack by linking it to the 'Kashmir issue', disregarding
the fact that the attack, as seen from the brutal murder of nine Jewish and
12 nationals of Western countries, which have contributed forces to the Nato
contingent in Afghanistan, was part of the global jihadi agenda unrelated
to either Jammu & Kashmir or the grievances of the Indian Muslims.
The shocking attempt by Mr Miliband to play
down the murder of 138 Indians and 25 foreign nationals committed by the Pakistani
terrorists should not have come as a surprise to those aware of the historic
links of the British intelligence with the Mirpuri migrants from Pakistani-occupied
Kashmir in the UK and their important role during elections in certain constituencies
which traditionally return Labour candidates to the House of Commons with
the support of the Mirpuri vote-bank.
After Pakistan and Afghanistan, the UK has
been traditionally the largest sanctuary to foreign terrorists and extremists.
Everybody, who is somebody in the world of terrorism, has found a rear base
in the UK - the Khalistanis in the past, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,
the Mirpuris from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the Chechens, the Al Muhajiroun,
the Hizbut Tehrir etc. Having allowed such a medley of terrorists and extremists
to operate unchecked from their territory for so long, the British intelligence
just does not have a correct estimate of how many sleeper cells are operating
from their country and of which organisations.
Since persons of Pakistani origin have been
playing an increasingly active role in promoting the activities of Al Qaeda,
it is necessary to analyse the nature of migration from Pakistan to the UK
and the US. Muslims from Pakistan constitute the single largest Muslim migrant
group from the sub-continent in both the UK and the US - followed by Indian
and Bangladeshi Muslims. There are estimated to be about 7,00,000 Muslims
of Pakistani origin in the UK. No estimate is available in respect of the
US.
The largest migrant group from Pakistan in
the UK are Punjabi-speaking Muslims - from Pakistani Punjab as well as from
the POK. The migrants from the PoK are called Mirpuris. They are not ethnic
Kashmiris, but Punjabi-speaking migrants from the Pakistani Punjab, whose
families had settled down in the Mirpur area of the PoK for generations. They
were essentially small farmers and landless labourers, who lost their livelihood
as a result of the construction of the Mangla dam. They, therefore, migrated
to West Europe - the largest number to the UK and a smaller number to France,
Germany and the Scandinavian countries. Many of them preferred to go to the
UK because it already had a large Punjabi-speaking community from Pakistani
Punjab. The initial Mirpuri migrants, who hardly spoke English, felt themselves
comfortable in a Punjabi-speaking environment.
As the number of Muslims of Pakistani origin
in the UK increased, mosques came up to cater to their religious needs. Till
1977, these mosques were headed by clerics from the more tolerant Barelvi
Sunni sect. When Gen Zia-ul-Haq, a devout Deobandi, captured power in Pakistan
in 1977, he embarked on a policy of marginalising the influence of Barelvi
clerics not only in Pakistan, but also in Europe and increasing the influence
of the rabid Deobandis. He inducted Deobandis into the Education Department
as Arab teachers and into the armed forces to cater to the religious needs
of the military personnel. He encouraged and helped the Deobandis to take
over the mosques in Pakistan and in the UK by replacing the Barelvis. With
the induction of an increasing number of Deobandis started the process of
the Arabisation/Wahabisation of the Muslims in Pakistan and of the Pakistani
diaspora in the UK.
The intelligence agencies of the US and the
UK went along with Zia's policy of Arabising/Wahabising the Muslims of Pakistan
because this contributed to an increase in the flow of jihadi terrorists to
fight against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Till 1983, the members of
the Pakistani diaspora in the UK were considered a largely law-abiding people.
The first signs of the radicalisation of the diaspora appeared in 1983 when
a group of jihadi terrorists kidnapped Ravi Mhatre, an Indian diplomat posted
in the Indian Assistant High Commission in Birmingham, and demanded the release
of Maqbool Butt, the leader of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front, who
was then awaiting execution in the Tihar Jail in Delhi following his conviction
on charges of murder. When the Government of India rejected their demand,
the terrorists killed Mhatre and threw his dead body into one of the streets.
This kidnapping and murder was allegedly orchestrated by Amanullah Khan, a
Gilgiti from Pakistan. He was assisted by some Mirpuris of the Pakistani diaspora.
The British were uncooperative with India in the investigation of this case
and declined to hand over those involved in the kidnapping and murder to India
for investigation and prosecution. By closing their eyes to the terrorist
activities of the Mirpuris from their territory, they encouraged the further
radicalisation of the diaspora.
Just as the radicalisation of the Muslims
of Pakistan suited the US-UK agenda in Afghanistan, the radicalisation of
the diaspora in the UK, particularly the Mirpuris, suited their agenda for
balkanising Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Many Pakistanis from the UK went to the
training camps of the Harkat-ul-Ansar (now called the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen)
and the LeT in Pakistan and got themselves trained with the knowledge and
complicity of the British. They then went to Bosnia and Kosovo to wage a jihad
against the Serbs with arms and ammunition and explosives allegedly supplied
by the Iranian intelligence with the tacit consent of the Clinton Administration
and paid for by Saudi intelligence.
- The writer is director of the Institute
For Topical Studies, Chennai.
