Law enforcement and intelligence agencies told Daily Times on Sunday that they had failed to break the militant extremist Hizbul Tahrir (HT) network, which continues to operate with impunity because of its complexity. HT was banned on November 15, 2003 but it continues to sponsor study groups and to distribute pamphlets to the public every Friday. âOnly two HT men are on the surface; Naveed Butt and Taimur Butt, and both are missing. We have tried very hard to find the printing press from where HTâs pamphlets and booklets were published but we havenât succeeded so farâ, a police official told Daily Times asking not to be named. He law enforcement agencies had even failed to locate HT offices or its headquarters.
| Law enforcement agencies are particularly incompetent this week, aren't they? |
However, sources said, they had made a list of ten HT workers and they could be arrested for continuing activities of a banned organization, but they were all underground. âNaveed Butt addressed the Lahore Bar Council last month and we could have arrested him, but we failed because he disappeared soon after his addressâ, sources said.
| "Then I looked around me and — thfffft! — he was gone!" |
The HT is an international organization of Arab origin exported to Pakistan in 1999, when the British-born Kashmiris Naveed Butt and Taimur Butt began operations in Pakistan. The HT wants to make the world a caliphate and it is searching for a state from where to establish one. Sources said the HT was outlawed in the Arab states long ago and it shifted its centre to London, from where it established branches in 40 countries. He said the HT considered militancy for the establishment of a caliphate forbidden, or haraam.
| They don't appear to consider funneling warm bodies to jihadi organizations forbidden, however... |
Once describing the methods HT uses, Mr Butt had said, âeither approach five or six powerful people of a country and convince them about the caliphate system, or prepare the public to force these top people to bring about a changeâ. He said the HT was applying both methods in Pakistan and expected a caliphate in Pakistan soon. The HT began operations in the Central Asian states soon after they gained independence, sources said, and it became popular quickly despite the statesâ sternness against the group. The purpose of establishing HT in Pakistan was to protect the network in the Central Asian states, while it also thinks that Pakistan fertile ground for a caliphate. Sources said the government had banned the HT because it was trying to make inroads into the Pakistan Army and its workers tried to distribute party literature in the Army explaining its agenda. Mr Butt predicted in an interview with Daily Times on October 15, 2003 that his organization might be banned because âwe are not a state tool and not working for the intelligence agencies. Most of the banned jihadi organizations still operate and continue to print material in which they openly target India and America, but we just criticize policies and promote the idea of a caliphate, which is the alternative system for the worldâ. |