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| India-Pakistan |
| When terrorists fall out |
| 2003-07-19 |
| Sakhi Hassan, situated in the Central district of Karachi, is known as a breeding place for militants belonging to different ethnic groups, jihadis and sectarian diehards. On June 22, the area echoed with gunfire and police sirens. The fighting, in which several people were injured, erupted at Battha Mosque and seminary, owned by the outlawed Jaish-I-Mohammed. Dozens of armed activists belonging to two groups of Jaish-I-Mohammed surrounded the Battha seminary and exchanged fire over their rival claims to ownership of the property, which was owned by Jaish-I-Mohammed before it split into several groups. These Pak Jihadi groups seem to reproduce quicker than any virus Jaish-I-Mohammed insiders tell a long story about the division of the organization, and the vested interests, corruption and greed, and deep conflict on strategic affairs behind the split. Jaish-I-Mohammed, which was renamed Khudamul Islam after it was banned by the government of President General Pervez Musharraf, emerged from Harkatul Mujahadin when its founder, Maulana Masood Azhar, was released by India after a dramatic hijack of an Air India plane. As soon as Masood reached Karachi, he announced his parting of ways with Harkatul Mujahadeen and the establishment of his own militant group, Jaish-I-Mohammed. The organization was widely supported by the country’s top Islamic scholars. Its dramatic emergence was seen as a ploy by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to keep the network of jihadi organizations divided so that they could easily be controlled. They did the same thing in Afghanistan, with 7 major factions getting support, although our buddy Hekmatyr got the lions share of the weapons, even though he did the least amount of actual fighting. Jaish-I-Mohammed’s financial affairs have long been controversial, with several members of the organization accusing the chief of the organization and his "kitchen cabinet" of using Jaish resources to enrich themselves. This isn’t anything new either, during the Afghan Jihad, middle men like Hamid Gul raked millions off the money being sent in by the CIA and the Saudis. Jaish-I-Mohammed and al-Rasheed Trust (which is also blacklisted by the US State Department) are close. When Jaish-I-Mohammed was founded, al-Rasheed Trust donated Rs20 million ($360,000) as seed money. Later, thousands of people joined Jaish and helped raise funds, to the estimated tune of Rs1 million a day. A large chunk of this money was spent on building training camps and such things as the medical bills of wounded fighters. However, at the same time, the lifestyles of the Jaish leaders took a sharp turn for the better. Maulana Masood Azhar, who came from a lower-class family background and used to live in a destitute area of Bahawalpur, moved to a posh area called Model Colony Bahawalpur. Jaish’s mushrooming assets, including publications, seminaries, offices, and bunglows, were given to Masood Azhar’s relatives to supervise, and they too experienced a sudden upturn in the quality of life. Kind of like SCIRI aka Hakim Brothers Inc. This, and other things such as their traveling in expensive sport-utility vehicles and their large entourages of gunmen, irked many sincere Jaish members who had spent years on the grim fronts of Afghanistan and Kashmir. However, the funds kept pouring in and the and mesmerizing speeches of Masood kept pouring out, and Jaish kept rolling on. Unlike other militant organizations, Jaish adopted a strange strategy of suicidal attacks on both civilian and military Indian targets. This raised the eyebrows of many, including those associated with other militant organizations who saw it as a move to malign the Kashmiri freedom movement. September 11, 2001, precipitated a turnaround in Jaish’s affairs. Masood kept a mysterious silence on the US attack on Afghanistan, while many Jaish members advocated retaliatory attacks within Pakistan to force the government not to cooperate with the United States. Masood’s deafening silence caused the organization to spilt. So the split is between the Mullah businessmen who make millions of rupees as long as they obey the ISI, and between the true believers who actually believe all that Jihad stuff.. Many Jaish operators quietly moved to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. Many brought Arab fighters back to Pakistan and provided them safe shelter. Although these activists had not announced their separation from Jaish, it was understood very well that they intended to build their own strategy of taking on the country’s establishment. A cold war began between those who were running the affairs of Jaish and those who were parting ways. Suddenly, several incidents occurred, including the killing of Christians in a Bahawalpur church. Many of the activists allegedly involved in these incidents were arrested, and it is believed they were fingered by those who ruled the Jaish roost. Similarly, the arrest of several key al-Qaeda operators, including Abu Zubaida, was the result of the same rift within Jaish. The breaking-up of Jaish is supposed to be a bad news for the US, India and Pakistan’s ruling establishment, as Maulana Masood Azhar is now free to go anywhere in the country and once again call for jihad. However, the fact is that Jaish-I-Mohammed was an organization of more than 50,000 organized youths, of whom 10,000 were active fighters. At present, the organization has been split into at least 10 groups. Two groups, led respectively by Maulana Azhar and Umer Farooq, are known, while the rest are hiding underground and have chosen a path of no compromise with the Pakistani establishment, the West, and India. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #1 I just wish that, when having one of these little fraternal get togethers, they were better shots. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-19 3:21:33 PM |