Afghan refugees sing Hekmatyar's
tune By Omid Marzban
Two years after the Pakistani government
banned it from publication, Shahaadat Daily
newspaper, funded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the
leader of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Party
of Afghanistan), is again available on the streets
of Peshawar.
The daily has published
articles that denounce the Afghan government and
its major supporter, the United States. Shahaadat
is the second newspaper, after Tanweer, that
publishes articles supporting Hekmatyar's
declaration of jihad
against the Afghan government
and Western troops in Afghanistan.
Shahaadat prints new statements from
Hekmatyar and serves as a vehicle for the leader's
propaganda. Both Shahaadat and Tanweer are
supported from Hezb-e-Islami's stronghold, the
Shamshatoo refugee camp, which holds between
15,000 and 20,000 people.
According to
Waheed Mujda, an Afghan analyst and a former
member of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan, who lived in
Shamshatoo during the 1990s, "Shahaadat restarted
publication when Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ordered his
followers to reinforce Islamic law and to
strengthen Hezb-e-Islami activities inside
Shamshatoo refugee camp." [1] About 25 kilometers
southeast of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's
North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Shamshatoo
remains a bastion of support for Hekmatyar.
The camp Shamshatoo is a dusty
and dry piece of land, surrounded by almost
2-meter-high clay walls. Inside the camp reside
about 2,000 Afghan refugees. Almost all of them
consider Hekmatyar a hero. "Engineer Hekmatyar is
a hero. His declaration of jihad against Americans
shows that he is a servant of Islam," said a
resident of the camp and a financial officer for
the camp's administration, who went by the alias
Haji Abdul Qahar. [2]
Speaking to The
Jamestown Foundation inside the camp, Qahar said,
"Whoever lives or has lived in the camp is a
supporter of Engineer Hekmatyar and a member of
Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan, because this camp
belongs to Hezb-e-Islami."
Qahar, who was
planning to visit Saudi Arabia a few days after
his interview, apparently for umra ("little
pilgrimage"), said, "Whoever once became a member
of Hezb-e-Islami will never quit following
Hekmatyar, because only those who become
Hezb-e-Islami members believe in Hekmatyar's
ideology with all their hearts."
Hekmatyar
did not return to Shamshatoo refugee camp after
the pro-Pakistani Taliban rejected negotiations
with him and refused to give him a role in their
regime in 1996, but his thoughts are still alive
with the residents of Shamshatoo and his
statements continue to have a strong effect on the
Afghan refugees living in the camp. [3]
"I
remember how Hekmatyar was speaking here in the
mosque," said resident Ezatullah Menhaj, 29.
"Hekmatyar's words and his loyalty to Islam taught
me to be a good Muslim. Wherever he is, I pray for
his safety." [4] Menhaj attended a school funded
by Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan in the 1990s. His
comments demonstrate Hekmatyar's ability to
influence the residents of Shamshatoo. "In one of
Hekmatyar Sahib's statements [published] in
Tanweer, I read that he said killing one American
soldier is more rewarded by God than killing 10
Afghan soldiers," Menhaj explained.
Asked
whether he agreed with that statement, Menhaj
said, "Yes, I do, because they [Americans] have
come all the way from their country to occupy our
country and joining in jihad against these
infidels is farz [obligation] for us." In
the August 10, 2006, issue of Tanweer, for
example, Hekmatyar pledged to fight foreign troops
in Afghanistan until "the last drop of blood moves
in my body".
The Shamshatoo refugee camp
has its own leadership and its own conservative
Islamic rules. Watching television, listening to
music, dressing in Western-style clothes and
shaving facial hair are prohibited by the camp
leader, Tooran Amanullah Khogman, who is extremely
loyal to Hekmatyar. [5]
Khogman is a
former commander of Hezb-e-Islami, and he led
party militants during the early 1990s in
Charaasyab, south of Kabul. [6] Nevertheless,
there is a girls' school in the camp, and even
those who once allegedly poured acid on
schoolgirls in Afghanistan now send their
daughters to this school.
History of
the camp Shamshatoo is a Pashto word
meaning "little male tortoise".
"The place
is called by the name of the animal because before
the influence of refugees in the area, there were
a lot of tortoises living there," explained Waheed
Mujda, who was one of the first residents of the
refugee camp. [7]
The piece of land, once
also called Woch Nahr, which means "dried stream",
was given to Hekmatyar and Hezb-e-Islami
Afghanistan by the Pakistani government in 1979
when the anti-communist party was gaining strength
in Afghanistan. A dried steam still exists in the
camp.
Hekmatyar, who fled Kabul in 1974
after spending almost a year in prison because of
his membership in the Muslim Youths Movement, was
given shelter inside Pakistan and was later
recruited by Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence as an anti-Afghan-government element.
He started his political and military
activities in a small building in the Faqir Abad
district of Peshawar. Later, because of a huge
influx of Afghan refugees into NWFP, and also
because of security threats, the Pakistani
government decided to move the bases of Afghan
jihadist groups to the outskirts of the city.
As part of this plan, the Jalozai refugee
camp was given to Abdul Rasool Sayyaf, an
anti-communist leader who later formed the party
Ittehad-e-Islami, and Shamshatoo refugee camp was
given to Hekmatyar. Waheed Mujda explained that
the first building in Shamshatoo was a mosque:
"Like any other Afghan jihadi party at that time,
Hezb-e-Islami established its base in Shamshatoo
by building a mosque there."
Besides its
military and political activities and despite its
involvement in the war against the Soviets in
Afghanistan, Hezb-e-Islami granted social services
- such as health care and educational facilities -
to Afghan refugees in Shamshatoo. This
social-support network, which helped to make
Hezb-e-Islami the biggest and the most influential
party among jihadist groups in Afghanistan, aimed
to attract more and more Afghans to the
organization. Other activities, such as
Hekmatyar's speeches to refugees and his regular
publications, which were mainly based in
Shamshatoo, played a significant role in making
him a hero among the camp's residents.
Conclusion Today, Hekmatyar's
whereabouts are unknown. Nevertheless, his
statements, newspapers and audio cassettes are
still available in Shamshatoo and the surrounding
area.
Despite his having gone underground,
Waheed Mujda claims that Hekmatyar recently
ordered his men to restore humanitarian services
in the camp, including the funding of schools. [8]
According to individuals from the camp, Hekmatyar
maintains a leadership role through his
representatives in Shamshatoo.
Just as he
did during the jihad against the Soviets and their
appointed government in Kabul, Hekmatyar continues
to exploit two key assets: providing humanitarian
aid to the people and garnering positive
publicity. For more than two decades, Shamshatoo
has played a key role in this strategy.
Furthermore, the camp demonstrates
Hekmatyar's entrenched support in not only
Afghanistan but also Pakistan. It is unclear
whether Hekmatyar still recruits fighters from
Shamshatoo, but his popularity in the camp and the
region displays his capabilities.
It is
also unclear whether Hekmatyar still receives
support from state clients. The fact that
Shamshatoo's finance officer, Haji Qahar, is able
to make trips to Saudi Arabia, coupled with the
nearly free rein of Hezb-e-Islami activists in
Pakistani territory, raises further questions
about the origins of Hekmatyar's bases of support.
Omid Marzban has worked for Good
Morning Afghanistan Radio Station and Radio Free
Europe. He is based in Afghanistan.
Notes 1. Author
interview, Waheed Mujda, May 8, 2007. 2.
Author interview, Haji Abdul Qahar, Shamshatoo
refugee camp, Pakistan, April 2007. 3. For a
profile of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, see Terrorism
Monitor, September 21, 2006. 4.
Author interview, Ezatullah Menhaj, Shamshatoo
refugee camp, Pakistan, April 2007. 5. Author
interviews, Shamshatoo refugee camp, Pakistan,
April 2007. 6. Ibid. 7. Author Interview,
Waheed Mujda, May 8, 2007. 8. Ibid.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
