Author: PTI
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 13, 2004
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/735438.cms
The Lashker-e-Taiba, a powerful
Pakistan-based terror group active in Jammu and Kashmir , has raised a
"full-blown unit for suicide squad operations against Western forces" in
Iraq , a media report said on Sunday.
Up to 2,000 men between the ages
of 18 and 25 have reportedly signed up for the Lashker's armed operations
in Iraq , the authoritative The Hindu reported in a lead story.
Sources close to Lashker's overall
head, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, were quoted as saying the group hoped to send
at least some suicide squad members to Iraq overland through the porous
Iran-Pakistan border.
Most of the suicide squad volunteers
were from towns in the Pakistani province of Punjab , where the Lashker's
overground political organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, wields considerable
influence, the report said.
A majority of volunteers were drawn
from the ranks of seminary students at Muridke near Lahore , Jamaat-ud-Dawa's
main centre. Some volunteers were raised from the Binori town seminary
in Karachi , run by fundamentalist cleric Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai until
he was assassinated, it said.
The report, datelined New Delhi
and Islamabad , was written by Praveen Swami, a leading Indian defence
and strategic affairs journalist who specialises on terrorism and the situation
in Kashmir .
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was quoted
as having told followers at a recent meeting that "Islam is in grave danger
and the mujahideen are fighting to keep its glory. They are fighting the
forces of evil in Iraq in extremely difficult circumstances. We should
send mujahideen from Pakistan to help them."
Saeed's comments were reportedly
made at a private meeting in the Jamia al-Qudsia mosque in Lahore late
last month.
In April, The Hindu had reported
that a key Lashker commander, Danish Ahmad, had been held by allied troops
in Iraq . Ahmad reportedly played a central role in the group's operations
in Jammu and Kashmir from 1999, operating under the alias of Abdul Rehman
al-Dakhil.
"Ahmad was first held by British
forces in the southern city of Basra , and has since been interrogated
by Central Intelligence Agency personnel. Western intelligence experts
initially dismissed Ahmad's initiative in Iraq as a one-off enterprise,
but the new information emanating from Pakistan may force a re-think,"
the report said.
It said Ahmad might have trained
many of the men now being prepared for combat in Iraq . Islam-ud-Din, a
Lashker operative arrested in 1999, told Indian intelligence that Ahmad
had trained hundreds of cadres at Lashker's Maskar Abu Bashir camp in using
arms and explosives.
While the Lashker has historically
backed sectarian violence against Pakistan 's Shia minority, Saeed
attempted to break with the past at the recent meeting. " America has failed
to divide Shia and Sunni Muslims despite masterminding sectarian violence
in Pakistan ," he was quoted as telling followers.
"America is now bending over backwards
to foment a Shia-Sunni divide in Iraq. But we should not forget that Muqtada
al-Sadr is a hero of Islam. Forget that he is a Shia. He is a great Mujahid
because he is fighting the worst devil on earth, that is, America . It
is our religious duty to support him," Saeed told the gathering.
"Saeed's tone on events in Iraq
has intrigued observers, given his historically comfortable relationship
with the military and intelligence establishments in Pakistan ," the report
said.
"The US and Britain are raping
our mothers and sisters," Saeed was quoted as saying. "In this situation
jihad becomes mandatory against them. The mujahideen are our last hope.
If they are not supported today, then tomorrow, Islam will be erased from
the map of the world."
Referring to possible Pakistani
troop commitments in Iraq , Saeed said he would support President Pervez
Musharraf "if he sends troops to Iraq to fight against the US and Britain
. If he sends them to support the US , then we will spearhead a countrywide
campaign against him."
The report said: "Despite its venomous
polemic against Musharraf, and its presence on a Pakistani government terrorism
watch-list, the Jamaat-ud- Dawa has enjoyed considerable freedom to raise
funds and recruit cadre in recent months."
Musharraf declared the Lashkar-e-Taiba
a terrorist outfit Jan 13, 2002 , following the attack on the Indian parliament
on Dec 13, 2001 . The Jamaat-ud-Dawa, however, escaped censure by changing
its name from the earlier Markaz Dawa wal'Irshad.
The Lashker, along with another
Pakistan-based group Jaish-e- Mohammed, is also banned in India .
The report said if Saeed's claims
were true, there could be "serious trouble ahead for the beleaguered Western
forces in Iraq . His organisation was among the pioneers in the use of
suicide bombings in Kashmir , which started in 1999."
The Lashker claims to have orchestrated
around 200 suicide attacks between 1999 and 2002.
