Author:
Publication: Stuff.co.nz
Date: May 1, 2006
URL: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3654052a12,00.html
The movie salesman was selling jihad to the
converted.
The buyers thronging his stall on the sidelines
of a late-night rally in the Pakistani capital belonged to a crowd organised
by a sectarian Sunni Muslim group.
"This is the latest video of the beheadings,"
he told his customers, as they pored over titles including Slaughter of Americans
in Iraq, Slaughter of Traitors in Afghanistan and Taliban Celebrations.
In Pakistan, compelled to join a US-led global
war on terrorism after al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attack on the United
States, anger has risen over what many see as an attempt by the West to suppress
Muslims around the world.
But that is only part of the story. Pakistan
is also locked in a long struggle with its own demons, particularly sectarian
violence that has killed thousands.
Three weeks ago, a suicide bomber killed at
least 57 people at a prayer meeting in Karachi celebrating the birth of the
Prophet Mohammad.
At the other end of the country, in the Waziristan
tribal area bordering Afghanistan, the toll from weeks of fighting between
security forces and pro-Taliban and al Qaeda tribesmen pushed towards 300.
The video seller didn't have the latest action
from the conflict on the Afghan border, but he had something just as gruesome.
"This one is about the activities of
mujahideen in Waziristan and Afghanistan," the seller said.
Dated in December, and supposedly shot in
Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, it had footage of hangings ordered
by influential militant clerics.
The bodies of the hanged men, described as
criminals and bandits, were then dragged through the streets by pick-up trucks,
in a grisly demonstration of rough justice in an area where the civil administration
has, according to tribesmen, collapsed.
"The commentary in them makes no bones
about who is producing them - they are Pakistani Talibs," said Samina
Ahmed, the Islamabad-based director of the International Crisis Group's South
Asia project.
For less than a dollar apiece, some VCDs glorify
the exploits of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, promise 72 heavenly virgins
for prospective suicide bombers and prescribe beheadings for informers.
There are also training films on how to run
a guerrilla war, based on Islamist militants fighting the Russian army in
Chechnya.
Messages in the films put Presidents George
W Bush, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the
top of a hit list for would-be assassins in a war against what are described
as the American "crusader forces".
Musharraf has banned several militant organisations
since 2002, and just last year he launched yet another campaign against groups
stirring sectarian violence between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and
minority Shi'ites.
But some, such as Sipah-e-Sahaba (Soldiers
of Companions of the Prophet), keep bouncing back, although they seem to be
getting less space to put their message across. The group organised the recent
late-night rally in Islamabad but under another name.
Irfan Ali runs an Islamic bookshop in Karachi
and says Musharraf's policies since September 11, 2001, have definitely been
bad for business.
"The fact is our business was doing very
well when we were selling jihadi literature," Ali lamented. "Now
our sales have come down drastically."
The owner of another bookshop in Karachi said
such material could always be arranged for trusted customers.
"Jihadi literature, cassettes and VCDs
are still available but you will not find it openly. This business has gone
underground. It is only sold to known acquaintances or reliable people,"
he said.
That said, it is not too hard to find the
leader of one of the most feared militant groups in Pakistan. His message
of radical Islam can be heard outside a number of well-known mosques.
Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-i-Mohammad,
has kept a low profile for some time because of pressure from Pakistan's security
apparatus, according to some analysts.
But outside Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red
Mosque, his voice blares out from speakers from among the stalls selling perfumes,
skull caps, religious texts, cassettes and videos after Friday prayers.
"Curse on the face of the Americans.
. . Mullah Omar and Osama are the light of our eyes. Whoever tries to steal
this light, we will rob them of their peace," Azhar shouts.
"Spread the message of Jihad in every
street."
Not all Pakistani preachers of militant jihad
are such shadowy figures. Some are members of the National Assembly, representatives
of Islamist parties that form the largest opposition block.
Maulana Mairaj-ud-Din, a legislator from South
Waziristan, is captured on a video titled Ghadaran, or Traitors, inciting
tribesmen to take up arms for the cause.
