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U-turn by Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi's offer to end jihad is a remarkable departure from the traditional Lashkar position, in which fighting a global jihad was cast as its central concern.Qari Abdul Wahid, who is now claimed to head the Lashkar's operations in Jammu and Kashmir, wrote in the December, 1999, issue of Voice of Islam magazine that the organisation would "uphold the flag of freedom and Islam through jihad not only in Kashmir but in the whole world." In the February 2000 issue of the magazine, the then-head of the Lashkar's publicity, Nazir Ahmad, declared that its jihad would continue until "Islam will be dominant all over the world." And, in an online pamphlet circulated around 1999, "Jihad in the Present Times," the Lashkar insisted that jihad must continue "until Islam, as a way of life, dominates the whole world and until Allah"s law is enforced everywhere in the world." Lashkar leaders have reiterated this position in several recent speeches. Its overall chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, said in an interview in early December 2008: "God has ordained every Muslim to fight until His rule is established. We have no option but to follow God's order." A tactical ruse? Given these recent speeches, it is unclear if Ghaznavi spoke with the authorisation of the organisation's top leadership. However, there have been signs that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Lashkar's parent political-religious organisation, has been seeking to distance itself from its armed wing in an effort to evade sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council last month. In a January 9 interview, Jamaat-ud-Dawa spokesperson Abdullah Muntazir said the two Lashkar commanders believed to have organised November attacks in Mumbai, Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, were unconnected with his organisation. Lakhvi's relationship with Saeed is believed to have been strained ever since 2004, after the 1950-born Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief married the wife of a Lashkar terrorist killed in Kashmir--a woman three decades his junior. Both men were also reported to have had bitter disputes over the use of funds. However, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate stepped in to heal their fissures. Now, intelligence sources said, the Lashkar appears to be seeking to avoid international pressure by creating a firewall between its military and charitable operations -- a ruse used to effect in 2002, after President Pervez Musharraf's military government proscribed the Lashkar. On that occasion, the Markaz Dawa wal'Irshad, Lashkar's parent organisation, renamed itself the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and cast itself as a charitable organisation. The Lashkar notionally shifted its headquarters to Muzaffarabad, PoK, where the ban did not apply. Posted by: Fred 2009-01-19 |
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