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Lashkar comes out
fighting
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - A Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) plot
to strike at the heart of India's software
industry came to light on Saturday, when police
arrested two militants, then shot dead three
others in an encounter in New Delhi. Designated as
a terrorist organization in India and the US, the
LeT has carried out several violent attacks in the
Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). While
it has carried out several high-profile operations
in the rest of India as well, the plot to strike
information technology (IT) companies in Bangalore
signals a significant southward expansion in the
terrorist outfit's operations.
According to
senior police officials in Delhi and Bangalore, two
of the dead militants had visited Bangalore last
December to survey the location of several software
companies here. Bangalore, which contributes
36% of India's total software exports -
is home to more than 250 IT companies, including
Indian top guns Infosys and Wipro, which are
headquartered here, as well as global giants such
as Intel, IBM, Cisco and Oracle among others.
The LeT, or Army of the Pure, is a
Pakistan-based jihadi organization. It is the
military wing of the Dawat-ul-Irshad, an Islamic
fundamentalist organization of the Ahle-Hadith
sect in Pakistan. The Dawat-ul-Irshad is
headquartered in Mudirke, near Lahore in Pakistani
Punjab, where it functions from a sprawling
80-hectare campus.
LeT militants have
participated in fighting in Afghanistan, Chechnya
and even Iraq. But it is the Indian state of
J&K that has been the focus of the Lashkar's
operations, where its goal is to free Kashmir from
Indian rule. However, its ambitions go beyond
Kashmir. It hopes to free India from "Hindu rule"
and restore Islamic rule in the country. It sees
Kashmir as its gateway to the rest of India and
hopes to extend the jihad it has launched in
Kashmir to other parts of India.
The
Lashkar's attacks in J&K are aimed at
undermining India's control over the Valley and at
terrorizing the local population into supporting
its jihad. Outside J&K, its targets have been
high profile and with tremendous symbolic value.
In December 2000, Lashkar militants stormed the
Red Fort in Delhi. The suicide operation was aimed
at attacking the Indian army camp inside the fort.
But more important, the attack on this monument
was heavy with symbolic value. The Red Fort was
the seat of Moghul (a Muslim dynasty that ruled
India from the 13th century to the mid-19th
century) rule in India. It is at the Red Fort that
the Indian prime minister hoists the national flag
and addresses the nation every year on India's
independence day.
In December 2001, the
LeT in a joint operation with another Pakistani
militant outfit, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, attacked
the Indian parliament building. That attack was
interpreted as an assault on Indian democracy.
The plot to target Bangalore's software
firms was no doubt aimed at undermining the IT
industry here. But more important, it was aimed
at striking at the symbol of India's new
confidence; its technological prowess and growing
economic might.
The LeT has been at
the forefront of the suicide bombing strategy
in J&K. Its fighters have carried out more than 80% of
the suicide attacks in Kashmir. In fact, even in
operations that are not suicide attacks its
fighters prefer death to getting arrested. They
seem to court death. Lashkar fighters account for
a significant proportion of militants killed by
the Indian security forces.
In addition to targeting
Indian security forces deployed in J&K,
Lashkar fighters have carried out several
massacres of ordinary Hindus and Sikhs living
there. They have gunned down infants and aged
people too. They regard Muslims who do not fall in
line with their thinking as the enemies of Islam.
So the Lashkar has also killed those Muslims who
defy their diktats
or are thought to
be helping the Indian security forces. In fact the
punishment the Lashkar have meted out to "renegade
Muslims" has been far more brutal than their
treatment of non-Muslims. They have slit the
throats of Muslim "traitors", and cut off the
noses and ears of those they believe are
informers.
LeT fighters are known for
their extreme religiosity, fanatical commitment to
jihad, and medieval outlook and methods. On the
face of it, they seem puritanical in their world
view. Yet the organization's strategy is a
mix of the old with the modern.
The jihadi
culture that the Lashkar/Dawat-ul Irshad seeks to
build is by combining Islamic teaching with modern
education. The Lashkar stresses the importance of
acquiring Islamic moral principles along with the
techniques of science and technology.
In an essay "From Official
Islam to Islamism: The Rise of the Dawat-ul-Irshad
and Lashkar-e-Toiba" in Christophe Jaffrelot's
edited book Pakistan: Nationalism without a
Nation? , Saeed
Shafqat points out that for Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed,
jihad and modern education are intertwined. "Jihad
is presented as a military skill and essential for
political power." Dawat-ul-Irshad believes that
"modern education does not conflict with religious
education: the two need to be merged." It is in
favor of modern management, computer education and
communication being taught, along with religious
education.
As important as the military
skills that are imparted to a Lashkar trainee is
his motivation. And this the Lashkar has done with
considerable skill. Stirring speeches are
delivered to the new recruits about the "heroism"
of its "martyrs", their struggles and hardships
they have endured to further the jihad.
Incidentally, these motivational lectures are not
all given at clandestine locations. The
Dawat-ul-Irshad holds public congregations every
year in which about a million Pakistanis
participate. Speeches eulogizing the cause and the
violent methods are delivered in public in order
to draw more people to the organization.
The Lashkar's fundraising and training are
pretty much in the open. The organization has been
nurtured by Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence. And although the Pakistani
government, under pressure from the US, banned the
LeT and froze its funds, the organization
continues to flourish. That the LeT's activities
are tolerated if not encouraged by the government
is evident from the fact that its leader was
released within a year of his arrest.
The ban on the organization
- the LeT is outlawed in India, the US,
Britain and Australia - has not impeded its
terror activities in any way. It
remains flushed with funds. Kashmiri villagers attest to
the enormous amount of money that Lashkar
militants carry with them. While the personal lifestyles
of most of the fighters is
rather austere, they "throw money" around. According
to villagers that this correspondent met in Kashmir,
Lashkar fighters "always pay for what they eat
- and pay rather generously", indicating how flushed
with funds the organization is. They usually pay for
food and shelterin Rs500 (about US$11) notes,
something only the rich in India are able to do.
Indian intelligence sources say they suspect the
Lashkars of using counterfeit money.
Reports in the media have suggested that
the LeT's fortunes are on the decline. It is
believed that internal rivalries have weakened the
organization and that it is under pressure from
many governments. The current (relative) lull in
its activities is being attributed to a crisis in
the organization.
If the LeT is indeed in
a difficult situation, it is likely that it will
respond with spectacular attacks, if only to keep
up the morale of its cadres. Besides, it is
unhappy about the India-Pakistan peace process and
can be expected to sabotage it with violence not
just in J&K, but elsewhere in India. A spurt
in violence can be expected in the coming months.
Sudha Ramachandran is an
independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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