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| India-Pakistan |
| Militants online |
| 2016-02-22 |
| [DAWN] THOUGH many amongst Pakistain's religious right prefer interpretations of faith anchored firmly in the past and shun most aspects of modernity as 'innovations', they have few qualms about using technology to their advantage. For example, as noted in a recent report in this paper, the 'cyber team' of Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... seems to be quite an active concern. Young, tech-savvy men are at the forefront of an operation designed to transmit the message of a group with barely disguised links to religious militancy. Volunteers stream footage from rallies, send out live tweets and update websites. In fact, the team claims to be active in 45 cities and towns in Pakistain. Its members say they are countering hostile propaganda from "anti-Pakistain" elements, which, surprisingly, include the TTP as well as the turban Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group, along with 'secularists'. Of course, this is a far cry from the ideology of old, according to which photography and film-making were both deemed unacceptable. But perhaps it is the ubiquitousness of technology, as well as the challenge posed by even more ferocious turban groups, that has caused JuD to change tack. JuD is not the only turban group to embrace technology. A plethora of jihadi and sectarian outfits in Pakistain as well as internationally have used cyberspace as a recruiting ground and a propaganda outlet. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 It would be convenient to convince them that their phones need to automatically shut down 5 times a day for prayers, and NSA backups... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2016-02-22 00:59 |