Author: Sudhi Ranjan Sen
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: May 21, 2002
A new Pakistani jehadi group, the
Jamaat-e-Milli, is believed to have supported the Kaluchak terrorist attack
in Jammu. A Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) report says it is one of a
new crop of jehadi groups being used by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf
to strengthen his influence among Islamic militants.
Musharraf's problem is he has had
to crack down on terrorism to show results to the US. Old jehadis, who
remember how he helped set up the old terrorist groups, have excused him
because they believe the US has forced him to show some action on the ground.
However, a crop of younger, more militant jehadis believe he has sold out
to the US.
To control them, Musharraf has set
up new organisations. And to show them he is till true to jehad, he has
helped them launch attacks in Kashmir, which is why terrorist activities
have intensified there. This, Musharraf reckons, will help contain violence
in Pakistan - especially the kind directed at Westerners.
Jehadi pamphlets circulating in
villages along the Line of Control and the new training camps in Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir are also part of Musharraf's campaign to re-establish his jehadi
credentials.
But there is evidence that Musharraf's
plans are going awry. The more militant jehadis have formed splinter groups
that are not ready to accept his authority.
Aftab Ahmed Ansari, the mastermind
of the attack on the American Center in Kolkata, reportedly said during
interrogation that there had been a jehadi plot to assassinate Musharraf
on Qaid-e-Azam Day last December. Funding had been sent to Pakistan via
Dubai and the UK. Acting on a tip-off from the UK, police arrested two
people and aborted the plot.
RAW's assessment is that there has
been a "churning" within Pakistan's jehadi groups after the US banned groups
like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Harkat-ul- Mujahideen, Sipah-a-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Janghvi.
The cadres of these organisations are being merged into at least three
new organisations - the Jamaat-e-Milli, Lashkar-e-Omar and Al Jehad.
RAW believes Jamaat-e-Milli is the
most important of the new jehadi groups and that Musharraf is trying to
put his men in charge of the new organisation, which is serving as a new
funding body for various jehadi groups.
It is unclear who heads Lashkar-e-Omar.
One theory is that it is headed by Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Muhammad
Omar. Another is that the ISI has set it up to attract disaffected militants
and has named it after Omar Sheikh because of his high standing among younger
jehadis.
India is even less certain about
the shadowy Al Jehad, which is suspected to be composed of Al Qaeda members
who have fled Afghanistan. Some Al Qaeda members are also believed to have
joined the Jamaat-e-Milli.
