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Delhi: Fighting militancy with
militancy?
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Even as relations between Pakistan and
India have thawed a few degrees, with signs of a
possible new round of peace talks on Kashmir between the
alienated neighbors, there are indications that under
the surface the water is not as smooth as it could be.
Well-placed sources in the Pakistani government
have divulged to Asia Times Online that the Pakistani
Ministry of Interior has received a detailed report from
intelligence saying that over the past three months the
defunct al-Zulfiqar Organization (AZO) has been
reactivated.
In 1979, after the military coup by
General Zia ul-Haq and the execution of former Pakistani
premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1981, Bhutto's two sons -
Murtaza and Shabaz - formed a resistance organization
called al-Zulfiqar (the Sword), which also carried out
acts of terror. Its exploits included assassination
attempts on Zia's life, as well as the hijack of a
Pakistani airliner en route to Kabul.
In this
regard, the recent arrest of Ali Mohammed Sonara by
Sindh police in connection with bomb blasts in Karachi
13 years ago could be significant. Sonara was once the
chief operations officer of AZO, and the government
sources told Asia Times Online that Pakistani
intelligence officials feared that Sonara could have
been in touch with members of India's intelligence
outfit, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in
connection with possible attacks against Pakistani
militants.
Despite the professed best efforts of
President General Pervez Musharraf, cross-border
militancy from Pakistan into Indian-administered Kashmir
continues, and remains a major stumbling block in the
tortuous process of bringing peace to the Valley.
Now it is feared in Pakistan that the recent
terror attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco will give
agents provocateurs an opportunity to push their own
agenda in the country. From India's point of view, it is
to its advantage to have Pakistan portrayed as a hotbed
of terror and to destabilize the country.
This
will strengthen Delhi's case for the United States to
put even more pressure on Pakistan finally to crack down
on jihadi factions fighting in Indian Kashmir, including
the Laskhar-i-Taiba, the Jaish-i-Mohammed, al-Badr and
the Hizbul Mujahideen. Islamabad, under US pressure, has
already outlawed several militant groups, but not
al-Badr and the Hizbul Mujahideen. But India and Western
countries have termed the banning of these organizations
a farce, as most of their leaders have been freed and
can be seen delivering speeches in favor of jihad
against India. Concerned at this, the sources claim that
India has adopted a more proactive position in Pakistan
in an attempt to address the militant problem, using the
AZO as a front.
After a government crackdown on
the AZO in the early 1980s, Murtaza took refuge in
Syria, while many other AZO members fled to New Delhi
and Kabul. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the
time, led by Benazir Bhutto - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's
daughter - did not endorse the activities of the AZO and
expelled its members from the PPP. Later on, after
Benazir Bhutto was elected prime minister in 1988,
Murtaza - her brother - returned to Pakistan and emerged
as Benazir's rival and established a political faction
of the PPP - Shaheed Bhutto. Many of its members were
former AZO members.
During the second tenure of
Benazir Bhutto as premier, intelligence agencies in 1996
rounded up Ali Mohammed Sonara, the right-hand man of
Murtaza, in connection with a bomb blast in Karachi in
1990. The reason for the arrest was cited as Sonara's
alleged links with India.
Murtaza was incensed
by this, and stormed to the police station in a vain
attempt to have Sonara released - he was later released
on bail and remained that way until his apprehension
again on May 14. Subsequently, intelligence agencies
raided Murtaza's premises in search of alleged RAW
operatives. Murtaza resisted, and in the ensuing gun
battle he was shot in a hail of bullets. In hospital,
witnesses said that his estranged sister Benazir gripped
his body tightly and cried that another of her brothers
had been killed by conspirators. Earlier, her other
brother Shabaz had died in mysterious circumstances,
with some unsubstantiated reports saying that he had
been poisoned in Paris by Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence.
After this, the AZO officially
disappeared from the scene in Pakistan, although many of
its old guard melted into the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto),
which is now led by Murtaza's widow, Ginwa Bhutto, who
is of Syrian origin.
Now, Pakistani intelligence
is taking stock of the apparent revival of the AZO, and
whether there would be any difference between
Indian-sponsored terror attacks in Pakistan, and
Pakistani-sponsored attacks in Kashmir.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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