Author: Alyssa Ayres
Publication: The Wall Street Journal
Date: May 12, 2003
India's prime minister recently
announced the restoration of diplomatic ties and air links with Pakistan,
part of an ambitious effort to end the dangerous state of enmity between
the nuclear-armed neighbors. A month ago relations had sunk so low that
India's foreign minister called Pakistan "a fitter case" than Iraq for
pre-emptive action. So there could not be better news than a thaw between
India and Pakistan. The only hitch is that India wants a stop to what it
calls "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir, meaning militant activity by
people trained in Pakistan, before agreeing to talks.
***
Some observers question the extent
to which Pakistan can control the Islamic militias active in Kashmir. The
argument -- and we should take it seriously -- runs like this: After decades
of free-agent warmongering in Afghanistan and now Kashmir, these groups
simply don't follow orders. This might be partially true. But mujahedeen
intransigence should not relieve the government of Pakistan from policing
activities within its borders. The continued operation and open production
of jihad-recruitment media reveals a less than thorough effort to curtail
jihadis. One militia that aggressively publishes jihadi literature, the
Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for a recent attempt to kill the
finance minister of the Kashmir state government. India blames the Lashkar
for the massacre in March of 25 Kashmiri Hindus, the December 2001 suicide
attack on India's parliament, and several assassinations of politicians
in the Kashmir elections in October.
Theoretically, the Lashkar does
not exist: Pakistan's President Musharraf banned it in January last year
and jailed its founder for six months. It enjoys the distinction of a place
on the U.S. State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organizations roster,
which puts it in the company of al Qaeda, the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and
Hamas. But for a banned militia, one whose assets should have been frozen
16 months ago, their media production continues apace. Two weeks ago they
gave their family of Web sites a muscular relaunch, suggesting a new infusion
of cash or smarts.
"Are you ready for the final journey?"
Colorful calligraphy on the April 2003 online magazine, Zarb-e-Taiba, ("Strike/Blow
of the Pure") invites the curious to click on in. For those who may be
considering taking the "final journey," this helpful Web site provides
details: ticket, free; seat, reserved; nationality, Muslim. The journey?
One bestowing great benefit. What can you take with you? Five meters of
white cloth and a small amount of cotton -- the ritual materials for an
Islamic burial. In other words, a holy warrior's suicide mission.
Other provocative offerings in recent
days include downloadable, jihad-themed audio files, and downloadable computer
wallpapers. One collage depicts "evil" with a broken cross, a Star of David,
a broken chakra (an Indian emblem), Israeli and Indian flags, the White
House, and the Eiffel Tower. An enormous sword exhorts young men to offer
themselves up onto the battleground of truth and falsehood. Another vivid
image depicts two red raised fists, shackled and chained -- producing a
shape nearly identical to the map of undivided Kashmir -- and captioned
"Mix your blood with ours." (The symbolic map of undivided Kashmir, an
important image, recurs periodically throughout jihadi material, including
an appearance in perhaps the most horrifying moment of the video made by
Daniel Pearl's executioners). Another set of links launches a sister Web
site, entirely in Arabic, with explicit calls to join the Kashmir jihad.
These Web sites offer an important
lesson, one that lies not only in the fact that a complete demi-monde dedicated
to a violent vision of jihad in Kashmir exists within Pakistan, but as
well as in the not-so-fine print about the conditions of their production.
The publications online, including Zarb-e-Taiba, openly provide an official
registration number, a telephone number, and an address of publication:
4 Lake Road, Chauburji, Lahore. The address in question lies about seven
minutes' drive from the Punjab Secretariat and the Lahore police headquarters.
For a banned militia to be printing up magazines in hard copy and virtual
form, material obviously designed to recruit militants for a "final journey"
into Kashmir, right under the nose of the Pakistani authorities, can only
mean one of two things. Someone either can't, or won't, connect the dots.
The armed conflict in Kashmir has
claimed tens of thousands of lives and destroyed the spirits of those who
have survived unspeakable miseries. No one's hands are clean in Kashmir,
particularly not the Indian security forces. Kashmiris have suffered terribly,
and deserve a shot at peace. So do ordinary citizens of India and Pakistan
alike, who have spent the last four years on a nuclear-threat rollercoaster.
Resumption of diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan and the possibility
of wide-ranging talks between the two countries offer a glimmer of hope
for peace.
But that peace will remain a fantasy
as long as spoilers like the Lashkar-e-Taiba receive free rein to propagate
their vision and recruit new soldiers to the task. Marshall McLuhan was
right: The medium is the message. This one should be switched off.
Ms. Ayres, co-editor of "India Briefing:
Quickening the Pace of Change" (M.E. Sharpe, 2002), was named a 2002-03
Fulbright-Hays scholar for Pakistan, but the program was suspended for
security reasons.
