Page 2 of 2 THE ROVING EYE
Kashmir: Ground zero of global jihad
By Pepe Escobar
AJ: Al-Qaeda in the shape of the Jaish-i-Mohammad, Harakatul
Jihad Islami and Harakatul Mujahideen has been operating in Pakistan despite
formal bans. They were allowed to operate because they also waged jihad in
Kashmir as well. As support for militancy dwindled in Kashmir, they went to the
FATA to wage jihad against the state of Pakistan. "Kashmiris" from the Valley
of Kashmir are mostly not interested in international jihad. Their jihad is
aimed at liberating their state from India. The only Kashmiri group from the
valley interested in global jihad is the Hizbul Mujahideen.
PE: According to your best estimates, how many Saudi jihadis are
roaming around FATA? And what about Uzbek and Chechen
gun experts? Is "historic" al-Qaeda, with Bin Laden dead or not dead, now
playing a sort of very long-range, behind-the-scenes, "wiser" advisory role?
AJ: They are probably in the hundreds. They keep coming and
going. But, that is surely not the question. They are not playing leading
parts. It is the Pakistani jihadis who are assuming leadership roles.
The historic al-Qaeda may or may not be dead, but it has definitely gone in the
background. The new Jihad International Inc appears to be aiming at Pakistan
rather than at the West. It seems to be trying to take over Islamabad and to
turn it into a springboard for global jihad. The difference between the
"historic" al-Qaeda and the new Jihad International Inc is that the latter is
dominated by Pakistani jihadis while the former was Arab-oriented with an Arab,
Bin Laden, at the top. The other difference is that new Jihad International Inc
is aiming at India as a primary target while al-Qaeda under Bin Laden wanted to
destroy America.
PE: What's the potential for the TTP to really threaten Peshawar
[capital of NWFP], considering that Peshawar is not Talibanized, and mostly
voted for a Pashtun nationalist party last year?
The TTP has a lot of potential for destruction in Pakistan, but cannot occupy
any part of it without the support from rogue elements in the state. After all,
they do not take over territory through elections. Khyber Agency was very
liberal before the ISI started supporting the Lashkar-i-Islam led by Mufti
Shakir and Mangal Bagh. Khyber Agency had returned a very liberal lawmaker,
Lateef Afridi, to parliament. When the TTP thought it right to take over
Peshawar, the ANP [Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party] would simply
evaporate in the air. The ANP leaders are already living in virtual hiding. But
this would not happen without active support from rogue elements in the state.
PE: The Taliban in Pakistan are a social movement as well. They
seem to strike a chord with the general population when they portray Islamabad
as a puppet of US imperialism and Zionism. But if Islamabad manages to portray
the Pakistani Taliban as merely a terrorist group, do you think that would be
enough to win the battle for Pakistanis' hearts and minds?
AJ: The Zardari-Gillani government [President Asif Ali Zardari
and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani] won the hearts and minds of the people
when they won elections [last year]. The propaganda against the democratically
elected government comes from sympathizers of the Taliban in the media and
politics. These Islamists feel more comfortable under military rule. The vast
majority of Pakistanis never supported terrorism in any form.
PE: What's substantially wrong with US President Obama's AfPak
strategy? Did he get his priorities right? How come he doesn't even mention
Kashmir?
AJ: The Obama administration is not striking very hard on the
source of global jihad, which is the jihad in Kashmir. My sense is the Obama
administration understands the issue of terrorism more than the [George W] Bush
administration. But, it seems to have accepted pressure from India, and is not
mentioning the Kashmir conflict. The earlier idea of appointing a special envoy
to Kashmir was a brilliant idea and abandoning it, I think, is the biggest
mistake they are making. The Pakistani military will not stop supporting jihad
in Kashmir without the resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Pakistan and India
cannot resolve the Kashmir conflict without active involvement of America.
Meanwhile, the jihad in Kashmir will keep giving birth to global jihadis.
PE: To what measure are the US Predator drone war on FATA, the
heaps of "collateral damage", the contemptuous Pentagon denials, the connivance
of Zardari's government, Pakistan's "national sovereignty" in tatters, leading
towards either Talibanization or at least a movement for the emergence of
Pashtunistan? Will Pakistan eventually break up?
AJ: I do not think that the drone attacks are leading to more
"Talibanization" or a nationalist movement for Pashtunistan. But,
unfortunately, they are not helping to curb the rise of extremism either. They
are at best a short-term solution to stop Taliban attacks inside Afghanistan
from Pakistani territory. They are not a long-term solution either. It is only
the sympathizers of the Taliban who pose as liberals who are spreading this
false theory. This theory ignores the reality that Talibanization pre-existed
the drone attacks.
Islamic extremism or what they mistakenly call Talibanization in the West is
directly opposed to Pashtun nationalism. It is eroding Pashtun nationalism in a
big way. The most favorite targets of the "Taliban" include symbols of Pashtun
nationalism, like the tomb of saint-poet Rehman Baba, which they have bombed
out, as well as schools, artists' houses, etc.
I do not even think that the drones are attacks on Pakistan's sovereignty. The
Americans are carrying out drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal belt with the
knowledge and support of the Pakistani government, especially the military.
They should be considered joint operations. It is another kind of double game
Pakistan is playing; helping the Americans to carry out drone attacks secretly
and denying it publicly.
Contrarily, it is the rise of Islamic extremism that is eroding the sovereignty
of Pakistan. Many parts of the country are directly under the control of the
extremists, where they apply sharia law. Is this not erosion of sovereignty? In
reality, the state is continuously receding in the background. When the Taliban
send a letter to an audio-video market in Lahore, the traders come out and make
a bonfire of "un-Islamic" videotapes" to avoid Taliban attacks. Is this not
erosion of Pakistani sovereignty? On the call of the Taliban, the banks in
Peshawar ask their employees to stop wearing Western dresses because it is
un-Islamic. Where is Pakistan's so-called sovereignty in this case? The Taliban
are asking non-Muslim minorities like Sikhs and Hindus to pay jyzia, an
Islamic tax, in some parts of the country. That is the real attack on
Pakistan's sovereignty.
PE: You see jihad expanding to the borders of Jammu and Kashmir
in India, in the east, and Afghanistan in the west. The outcome of all this
would mean jihadis moving freely between Kashmir and Afghanistan. Is this plan
A for the ISI and the Pakistani army, with no plan B?
AJ: The ISI is very good at adapting to emerging situations. Most
of their plans do not work as intended. It is neither plan A, nor plan B. I
think it is an unintended result of the privatization of jihad. The Pakistani
military had been privatizing jihad in Kashmir from the very beginning, and
later in Afghanistan in the 1980s. After 9/11, the ISI further privatized jihad
and outsourced it to former ISI officers.
Parts of NWFP like the Khyber Agency were outsourced to a former ISI officer,
Major Amir (retired), who came into limelight when he tried to destabilize the
first Benazir Bhutto government in 1989-90. Under ISI pressure, he was retired
but not punished. He again came into the limelight when the Nawaz Sharif
government unearthed an ISI plot, known as Midnight Jackals, to destabilize his
government.
Major Amir is the brother of Maulana Mohammad Tayyab, who heads an extremist
Takfiri group, Jamat Ishaat Al Tauheed Wal Sunnah, popularly known as
Panjpiris. This group was deeply involved in the rise of the Tehreek-i-Taliban
Pakistan and the TNSM. The group seems to be working at joining the two jihads.
The two brothers played important roles in the formation of the TTP and the
radicalization of the TNSM. TTP leader Maulana Faqir Mohammad is their follower
and studied in their madrassa [Islamic seminary] in Swabi [in NWFP]. The
conclusion is that even former ISI officers tend to deviate from the given
script and spin out of control.
PE: Is there any support left - by people living on both sides of
the Line of Control [LoC] that separates Indian-administered Kashmir and
Pakistan-administered Kashmir - for jihad? Or will this continue to be just an
ISI obsession?
AJ: Unfortunately, there is still a lot of support for jihad on
both sides of the LoC. The ISI has been exploiting this support and will
continue to do so until the Kashmir conflict is resolved for good.
PE: What's the ultimate solution for Kashmir? What does the
majority, on both sides of the LoC, really want? And who's more flexible, those
living in India or in Pakistan?
AJ: It is too premature to talk of an ultimate solution. The
Kashmir conflict is too complex to talk about in just an interview. The real
issue is that India is not ready to deviate from its position and Pakistan is
not ready to accept the status quo as the solution. Once both countries are
ready for a solution, finding a solution will not be a problem. There are a few
dozen of them. The majority of the people in the erstwhile state of Jammu and
Kashmir may want to join Pakistan, but that would not be fair to the large
majority of people in the Jammu and Ladakh regions. The two states should
resolve their territorial conflict in a diplomatic way. Religion should not be
allowed to determine the international borders once again, after 62 years.
Note
1. Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir (Hardcover) by Arif
Jamal, Melville House (May 19, 2009). ISBN-10: 193363359X. Price US$26.95, 352
pages.
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