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Silent Crackdown On Hardline Islamist Groups
Karachi, 1 Dec. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Struggling with an enormous task after the 8 October earthquake, the Pakistani government has been more than happy to allow banned Islamic groups, even those considered terrorist organisations by Washington, to take over much of the aid effort in remote areas. Without the help of groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba - now renamed as Jamaatut Dawa - the relief operation would simply collapse. However a quiet crackdown is underway, with the arrests of leading figures associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LT), a Salafite group in the al-Qaeda galaxy which is supportive of the former Taliban regime.Arif Qasmani is a veteran jihadi, having fought against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and been associated with the armed struggle in Indian-held Kashmir. He was picked up by Pakistani security forces last October but released a few days later. Now Qasmani is once again missing. According to his family, he was in Karachi and departed for Lahore two days ago but since he left home his whereabouts are unknown. The former commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Sindh province, Dawood Qasmi, resigned from the hardline group soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks and has since been associated with a medical research institute. Intelligence agents have raided his house in Karachi and threatened his wife that if Qasmi did not surrender within 24 hours the whole family would be rounded up, Dr Qasmiâs wife Hania told Adnkronos International (AKI). High level intelligence sources has confirmed that dozens of other suspected militants - mainly from Lashkar-e-Toiba- have been secretly rounded up across the country. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, along with four other Islamic groups, in January 2002 amid pressure that followed the 11 September attacks in the US. Until then LT, with its reputation for being purely Kashmir-focused, was able to operate openly inside Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting members. LT has close ties with Arab-Afghans, who came from their native countries to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviets or in the late 1990s, either for Al-Qaeda training or to boost the Taliban government. After the Taliban retreated from Kabul and Kandahar in 2001, and many Arab-Afghan families moved to Pakistan, LT members gave them refuge and arranged their safe exit from Afghanistan. High level sources said that so far the operation against LT is highly secret and selective but massive lists have been drawn up all across the country and a major arrest sweep is expected. They said that the operation, currently very low-key, would expand to the whole country including North and South Waziristan.
Posted by: Steve 2005-12-01 |
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