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Al-Qaeda clone takes root in the
US
By B Raman
In a
conversation with the editorial staff of the Washington
Post on June 26, President General Pervez Musharraf of
Pakistan was reported to have claimed that he had
effectively put an end to the terrorist activities of
the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad
(JEM), both members of Osama bin Laden's International
Islamic Front (IIF), in Pakistan.
He was quoted
as having told the newspaper's staff as follows, "The
Lashkar-e-Toiba has been banned. The Jaish-e-Mohammad
has been banned. There are hundreds of offices out there
and I mean hundreds and hundreds of offices around the
country, including Kashmir, have been sealed and closed.
Their accounts have been frozen. Nobody before this
could have touched them. They couldn't even have touched
any one of these organizations or their leaders."
The next day, as if to prove him wrong, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) charged seven men
in the Washington area and an eighth in Philadelphia
with stockpiling weapons and conspiring to wage jihad
against India in support of a terrorist group in
Kashmir. The FBI's charge sheet against them described
them as members of the LET. It also said that three
others involved in the case were absconding and were
believed to be in Saudi Arabia.
Although the FBI
officials said that there was no evidence of a plot
against the US, the members of the group had pledged
support for pro-Muslim violence overseas, hoarded
high-powered rifles and received military training in
Pakistan. Nine of the 11 accused are American citizens,
and three had served in the US armed forces for some
time in the past. The charge sheet said that seven
members of the group had traveled to Pakistan in the
last several years, and some received military training
in small arms, machine guns, grenade launchers and other
weaponry at a camp in northeast Pakistan connected to
the LET.
The 41-count charge sheet, or
indictment as it is called in the US, charged the 11
accused with conspiracy, firearms violations and
plotting against a friendly nation - namely, India. US
officials connected with the investigation were quoted
by the media as saying that there was no evidence that
the accused were considering an attack within the US or
had ties to al-Qaeda. And officials were careful not to
describe the group as a "sleeper cell" - a term used to
characterize suspected terrorist supporters in
Lackawanna, NY, Seattle and elsewhere arrested last
year, some of whom were connected with the Tablighi
Jamaat (TJ) of Pakistan.
However, the officials
charged that the men conspired to help Muslims abroad in
violent jihad not only in India, but also in Chechnya,
the Philippines and other countries. The men, the charge
sheet said, obtained AK-47s and other high-powered
weaponry and practiced small-unit military tactics in
Virginia.
The indictment charged that the
accused pledged their willingness to die as martyrs in
support of the Muslim cause and gathered in private
homes and at an Islamic center in suburban Washington to
hear lectures "on the righteousness of jihad" in
Kashmir, Chechnya and elsewhere. They also watched video
tapes showing Muslim fighters engaged in jihad. They had
also organized a function to celebrate the crashing of
the space shuttle Columbia. One of the astronauts killed
in the crash was of Indian origin. A message read out on
the occasion had described the US "as the greatest enemy
of the Muslims".
According to the indictment,
one of the accused, Masoud Ahmed Khan, a Maryland
resident, had a document titled "The Terrorist's
Handbook", with instructions on how to manufacture and
use explosives and chemicals as weapons, as well as a
photograph of FBI headquarters in Washington. He is
since reported to have been ordered to be released on
bail by the court keeping in view his past good record
in his community. The FBI has appealed against it.
At least two of the 11 accused have been
described as of Pakistani origin. One of them, Mohammed
Aatique, 30, is a work (H-1) visa holder while Khawja
Mahmood Hasan, 27, is a naturalized US citizen born in
Pakistan. But at least one more suspect, Masoud Ahmad
Khan, 31, also has a Pakistani-sounding name, although
his nationality was not disclosed. The other accused are
Randall Todd Royer, 30; Ibrahim Ahmed al-Hamdi, a Yemeni
national and non-resident alien; Yong Ki Kwon, 27, a
naturalized US citizen born in Korea; Seifullah Chapman,
30; Hammad Abdur-Raheem, 35; Donald Thomas Surratt, 30;
Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem, 29 and Sabri Benkhala,
28. Chapman, Hasan and Benkhala are believed to be
living in Saudi Arabia.
When an embarrassed
Musharraf was asked about it in Los Angeles the next
day, he was reported to have said, " We need to see who
they are, where they were trained and how they were
organized."
Earlier, on June 20, before the
arrival of Musharraf in the US for his Camp David
meeting with President George W Bush, FBI officials
disclosed that they had arrested in April Iyman Faris,
also known as Mohammad Rauf, originally a resident of
Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), who had migrated to the
US in 1994 and was working as a truck driver in Ohio and
charged him with having links with al-Qaeda and Khalid
Shaikh Mohammad, said to be bin Laden's operations
chief, who is believed to have coordinated the terrorist
strikes of September 11, 2001, in the US. Khalid was
arrested in the house of a women's wing leader of the
Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) of Pakistan in Rawalpindi in March
by the Pakistani authorities and handed over to the FBI.
According to FBI officials, as quoted in the US
media, Faris had visited Afghanistan and Pakistan a
number of times between 2000 and 2002, met bin Laden and
worked with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, in organizing and
financing jihad causes. After returning to the US from
Pakistan in late 2002, officials said, he began
examining the Brooklyn Bridge and discussing via coded
messages with al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan ways of using
blow torches to sever the suspension cables.
"The plotting continued through March, as Faris
sent coded messages to operatives in Pakistan. One such
message said that the "weather is too hot". FBI
officials have been quoted as saying that meant that
Faris feared the plot was unlikely to succeed -
apparently because of security and the bridge's
structure - and should be postponed. He was arrested
soon thereafter. According to media reports, the
interrogation of Khalid led the FBI to Faris.
It
is reported that while there is no evidence so far to
connect Faris with the other 11 accused belonging to the
LET, the FBI is looking into this possibility. Sources
in Pakistan describe Faris, aged 34, as a Punjabi
ex-serviceman settled in POK, before he migrated to the
US. It is said that he was associated in the past with
the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra (JUF), an anti-Jewish and anti-Hindu
terrorist organization of Pakistan, which is reported to
have a large network in the US, Canada and the
Caribbean. It was involved in a number of violent
incidents against Jewish and Hindu interests in the US
in the early 1990s and its activities were cited in the
annual reports of the US State Department titled
"Patterns of Global Terrorism".
Last year,
Pakistani police alleged that Daniel Pearl, the US
journalist, had gone to Pakistan from Mumbai in India to
enquire into the possible links of the JUF with the shoe
bomber who had unsuccessfully tried to cause an
explosion in a US aircraft flying from France to the US.
Pearl was trapped by a joint group of terrorists from
different Pakistani organizations belonging to bin
Laden's IIF, kidnapped and murdered.
The belated
discovery by the FBI of secret cells of these Pakistani
organizations in the US should not be a matter for
surprise. Since 1995, reports had been coming from
Pakistan about the planned infiltration of trained
cadres of Pakistani organizations such as the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and the TJ to the US in order
to carry their jihad to US territory. The HUM not only
infiltrated its cadres into the US, but also brought
some African-American Muslims to Pakistan for training
in its camps there.
Among the organizations in
the US with which the TJ was believed to be closely
associated were the Islamic Society of North America
(ISNA) and the Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA). The
president of the ISNA used to be one Sheikh Abdullah
Idris Ali, an American immigrant of Sudanese origin, who
was also a senior official of a mosque in New York.
The annual convention of the ISNA held at
Columbus, Ohio, in September 1995, was addressed, among
others, by Hamza Yusuf, an American citizen of Greek
origin, who, after embracing Islam, had lived for six
years in Mauritania to study Islam and then work as a TJ
preacher; Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens,
the famous pop singer, who embraced Islam after coming
into contact with the TJ in Pakistan; Saghir of Algeria
and Israr Ahmed, the amir of the Tanzeem Islami of
Pakistan and a worker of the TJ.
Addressing the
convention, Israr Ahmed said, "The process of the
revival of Islam in different parts of the world is
real. A final showdown between the Muslim world and the
non-Muslim world, which has been captured by the Jews,
would soon take place. The Gulf War was just a rehearsal
for the coming conflict." He appealed to the Muslims of
the world, including those in the US, to prepare
themselves for the coming conflict.
The
convention was told that the ISNA had a US$100 million
budget for spreading Islamic education in the US through
the publication of text books, setting up of weekend
Islamic schools and a weekly cable TV programme called
"Onsight", which would be available in all the states of
the US.
The TJ operates in the US and the
Caribbean directly through its own preachers deputed
from Pakistan and also recruited from the Pakistani
immigrant community in the US, as well as through front
organizations such as the Jamaat-ul-Fuqra. In its
preachings to the Pakistani immigrants in the US, the TJ
has been stressing the importance of cultivating
Afro-American Muslims in order to counter the lobbying
power of Hindus and Jews.
Writing in Dawn
newspaper of January 12,1996, Ghani Eirabie, believed
close to the TJ, said, "The ummah [Muslim community]
must remember that winning over the black Muslims is not
only a religious obligation, but also a selfish
necessity. The votes of the black Muslims can give the
immigrant Muslims the political clout they need at every
stage to protect their vital interests. Likewise,
outside Muslim states like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and
Pakistan need to mobilize their effort, money and
missionary skills to expand and consolidate the black
Muslim community in the US, not only for religious
reasons, but also as a far-sighted investment in the
black Muslims' immense potential as a credible lobby for
Muslim causes, such as Palestine, Bosnia or Kashmir -
offsetting, at least partially, the venal influence of
the powerful India-Israel lobby."
Eirabie wanted
the US Muslim community to prepare itself for the day in
the second decade of the new millennium when, according
to him, the Muslims would emerge as the second largest
religious group in the US after the Christians.
The Friday Times, the prestigious weekly of
Lahore, reported in its issue for February 1 to 7, 2002,
as follows, "Sources say that when Dawatul Irshad
[Markaz Dawa al-Irshad, since re-named as Jamaat
ud-Dawa], parent organization of the now banned Lashkar
Tayyaba [Lashkar-e-Toiba], shifted its activities to
Azad Kashmir [POK], it took with it many non-Pakistanis
suspected of links to al-Qaeda. All these organizations
were loosely affiliated and their activists moved across
organizations and cells with a great degree of ease, an
intelligence source said."
The Friday Times
added, "Just before the Musharraf government took action
against the organization, there were quite a few
foreigners residing at Dawa's headquarters in Muridke.
Most of these people had infiltrated into Pakistan in
the initial stages of the war, says an insider. Some of
these people shifted along with other Lashkar cadres to
Azad Kashmir after Hafiz Mohammed Saeed [its amir]
resigned under pressure from the government. After his
resignation, he also constituted another jihadi group
called Jamaat ud-Dawa, while the supreme council
nominated Abdul Wahid Kashmiri, another senior member of
the Dawatul Irshad, as its new amir. Insiders say some
of these foreigners are also said to be linked to Hezbul
Tehreer and work under the supervision of Abdul Qadeem
Zaloom, a Saudi-based person with links to the
al-Qaeda."
In a paper on the LET and al-Qaeda, I
had mentioned as follows, "In the past, the LET had kept
its activities confined to its jihad in India and its
assistance to the Jemmah Islamiyah and other pro-bin
Laden elements in Indonesia. It did not utter any
threats against the US or target American nationals or
interests. As a result, American intelligence officials
based in Pakistan did not pay the same attention to
monitoring its activities as they did to the activities
of al-Qaeda and other Pakistani organizations, despite
the fact that Abu Zubaidah, then No 3 in al-Qaeda, was
arrested in March last year from the house of a LET
leader at Faislabad in Pakistani Punjab.
"It has
thus managed to retain its infrastructure and source of
funding intact. Though it has changed its name to
Jamaat-ud-Dawa to escape the consequences of the order
banning it issued by General Pervez Musharraf on January
15, 2002, it continues to be referred to by many
Afghans, Pakistanis and Arabs as the LET. Since the
beginning of this year [2003], it has been trying to
perform the role previously played by al-Qaeda as the
coordinator of pro-bin Laden networks all over the
world, as the supplier of funds to the networks in
different countries and particularly in Southeast Asia
and of suicide volunteers, arms and ammunition and
explosives to the surviving al-Qaeda operatives in
Pakistan etc.
"It has reportedly reorganized its
structure on the pattern of al-Qaeda and has vastly
expanded its activities to the business field in order
to augment its sources of income. The Friday Times
[January 17-23], the prestigious weekly of Lahore,
reported as follows: 'The Jamaat-ud-Dawa [JD], formerly
known as Lashkar-e-Toiba, is snapping up properties
across Pakistan. Sources told the weekly that recent
real estate purchases by the JD amount to about Rs 300
million [US$5/1]. It has reportedly bought four plots of
land in Hyderabad division [of Sindh] and six others in
various Sindh districts. The total price tag is about Rs
200 million. Recent purchases in Lahore have cost it Rs
100 million. During the recent Eid festival in Pakistan,
it was reported to have received charity contributions
worth Rs 710 million, mostly in the form of the hides of
the sacrificed animals. It has also been in receipt of
large funds from overseas Pakistanis', the Friday Times
said."
As stated in my above-mentioned article,
al-Qaeda has been trying to use the organizational
infrastructure of the LET in Pakistan, its network in
the Islamic world and its large funds for stepping up
acts of terrorism against the US and Israel. The LET's
close access to senior officers of the Pakistani
military and intelligence establishment could be
exploited by al-Qaeda to prevent any action against its
surviving cadres in Pakistan. Many members of Pakistan's
scientific community in the nuclear and missile fields
regularly attend the conventions of the LET. By making
use of this, al-Qaeda should be able to seek the
assistance of LET sympathizers in the scientific
community for acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Waleed bin Atash, the al-Qaeda suspect in the
case relating to the attack on the the US ship USS Cole
at Aden in October, 2000, who was arrested by the
Pakistani authorities on April 29 last and handed over
to the FBI, is reported to have told the Pakistani
authorities during the interrogation that last year
about 75 Arab operatives of al-Qaeda had fled from
Afghanistan and the bordering areas of Pakistan and
taken shelter at different places in Karachi. According
to him, of these, about 50 were still in hiding in
Karachi. However, he denied any knowledge of the
whereabouts of bin Laden. He is also reported to have
stated that he and his associates were recruiting
Pakistani volunteers for undertaking suicide missions
against American targets and that they had already
recruited 12 from the LET.
In another article of
May 15 titled "Triangle of terrorism" I had
stated as follows, "The international community is yet
to take serious notice of the emergence of the LET as a
coordinator of the activities of the various
constituents of the IIF to make up for the present
organizational disabilities of al-Qaeda. Next to
Pakistan, where the headquarters of the LET are located
[in Muridke, near Lahore], the second most important
infrastructure of the LET is in Saudi Arabia. Despite
being a Wahhabi organization, it has been critical of
the Saudi ruling regime and shares bin Laden's anathema
for the Saudi ruling family. In the past, it was not
very articulate in its criticism of the US, but has in
recent months been increasingly virulent in its attacks
on the US. It has been collecting funds in Pakistan for
its 'martyrs' who, it claims, died in the jihad against
the Americans in Iraq.
"While the LET's
headquarters in Pakistan coordinate its activities in
north India, including J&K, the Central Asian
Republics (CARs) and Russia (Chechnya and Dagestan), its
headquarters in Saudi Arabia coordinate its activities
in Mumbai and south India, the Eastern Province of Sri
Lanka and in the countries of Southeast Asia. Since
2001, there have been a number of arrests of LET cadres
in Mumbai and south India, who reportedly claimed to
have been trained, funded and directed by the LET setup
in Saudi Arabia and not directly by the LET headquarters
in Pakistan. Thus, al-Qaeda as well as the LET have a
separate organizational presence in Saudi Arabia, which
has evaded detection and neutralization by the Saudi
authorities."
In my latest article of June 18
titled "India and the desert scorpions", I had stated as follows, "A
stream of jihadi volunteers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon and other countries have
started moving into Iraq to join what is promised as the
mother of all jihads against the US. Before the
occupation, there was no evidence of any links between
the Saddam Hussein regime and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
and International Islamic Front (IIF), despite
apparently fabricated US evidence to the contrary. After
the occupation, there are increasing reports of attempts
to bring the dregs of al-Qaeda and the IIF from
Afghanistan and Pakistan and of Saddam Hussein's army
and Ba'ath Party together for what is described as a new
jihad, the like of which the world has not seen before.
Initial meetings in this regard have already been held
in al-Qaeda and IIF hideouts in Pakistan. There are
claims, as yet unsubstantiated, of Saddam being alive
and of he and bin Laden soon issuing a joint fatwa
against the US and the UK."
The LET has been
collecting funds and recruiting and training volunteers
in different parts of Pakistan for assisting the Iraqi
fedayeen (suicide squads) in their jihad against
the US troops in Iraq. Some former members of the Ba'ath
Party are already reported to have returned to Iraq
after undergoing a crash training course in the LET's
camps in Pakistan.
Unless the US itself acts to
neutralize the LET leadership, cadres, training camps
and bases in Pakistan, instead of depending on Musharraf
to do this, which he never will, its troops will
continue to die in Iraq and the war against
international terrorism will not be won. The LET has
become as great a threat to regional and international
peace and security as al-Qaeda.
B
Raman
is Additional Secretary (ret), Cabinet Secretariat,
Government of India, and presently director, Institute
For Topical Studies, Chennai; former member of the
National Security Advisory Board of the Government of
India. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com
. He was also
head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research
& Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence
agency, from 1988 to August, 1994.
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