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| Southeast Asia |
| Bashir feared crackdown |
| 2002-12-11 |
| More details on the split in party ranks in JI. Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir called on his Jemaah Islamiah followers to suspend armed struggle for a Muslim state, including bombings, shortly before the October 12 Bali attacks, because of fears of a crackdown on activists, an international advisory group has found. After a two-month investigation into the JI terrorist network, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group says disagreements over tactics resulted in a split between the 64-year-old Bashir and younger and more hardline followers. Old guard vs young turks. The key to Bashir's reservations about continuing a campaign of violence were disclosures last September of testimony, made under CIA questioning, by al-Qaeda agent Omar al-Faruq, who was one of the organisation's main links to Islamic radicals in Indonesia. According to the CIA report, al-Faruq named Bashir as JI leader and the organiser of earlier acts of terrorism. Soon after al-Faruq's testimony became public, meetings with senior JI members were called and Bashir "argued strenuously that bombings and the armed struggle for an Islamic state should be put on hold for the time being because they would have negative repercussions for the movement". "The jigs up!" Catching al-Faruq was a more important snag than it appeared at the time. Seems to have scared Abu into wanting to keep a low profile... Bashir was concerned the US and Indonesia would crack down in concert on Muslim activists, so the "timing was wrong" for further acts of violence. If the findings of the ICG report are correct, Bashir, who was detained days after the Bali bombings, would appear not to have played any role in planning the attack. He may, however, have had forewarning that a major attack was due to take place. Guilty by association is guilty. The report provides new details of Bashir's role in planning and supporting terrorist plots and attacks in Indonesia and elsewhere in southeast Asia. It refers to a meeting that took place in the central Java city of Solo in November 2000 between Bashir and other key JI leaders, including operations chief Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, and Faiz bin Abubakar Bafana, now held in Singapore. The meeting discussed three matters - a regular monthly contribution of more than $US1000 ($1790) to an Islamic high school controlled by Bashir, attacks on US interests in Singapore, and plans for Christmas Eve church bombings in Indonesia. Just your standard business meeting, budget forecasts, bombings. The Singapore attacks were foiled. But the Christmas Eve bombings, largely planned in Malaysia, were carried out that year. Bomb attacks were made on 38 churches or priests in 11 Indonesian cities, killing 19 people and wounding 120. Among the key planners were men now under detention over the Bali bombings: Imam Samudra, born Abdul Aziz, and Mukhlas, born Ali Gufron. Although the 2000 bombing plans were put into effect with Bashir's approval, the ICG report says a split had been building between Bashir and the younger group over his tactics for achieving an Islamic state. Bashir was accused of betraying the vision of JI's founder, Abdullah Sungkar. "They saw Baasyir (Bashir) as too weak, too accommodating, and too easily influenced by others," the report finds, based on interviews and police information. Nice starting point for a interview, play one side against the other. Cops are old hands at this, maybe why they are doing so well. |
| Posted by:Steve |