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Paper no. 1059
19-7-.2004
SPLIT IN LET: A CHARADE
by B.Raman
The Pakistani media has reported a split in the Jamaatud Dawa (JD), the political wing of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), reminiscent of the split in the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) in 2000, which led to a large number of its members led by Maulana Masood Azhar leaving the organisation due to disputes over property and the sharing of the funds collected and forming a separate organisation called the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM). While operating separately since then, the HUM and the JEM continue to accept Osama bin Laden's ideology and to be members of his International Islamic Front (IIF), whose activities are being co-ordinated for over a year now by the LET due to the logistic and other difficulties faced by Al Qaeda in continuing to act as the co-ordinator.
2. The most detailed account of the split in the JD has been carried by the usually reliable "Daily Times" of Lahore in its issue of July 18, 2004. To quote from its report:
* The Jamaatud Dawa (JD), believed to be Pakistans largest pro-jihad party, has split, with violent clashes likely over party assets.3. Rumours of an impending split in the JD and consequently in its militant wing (LET) were rife for some weeks before the reported split. Well-informed sources in Pakistan say that this split has been orchestrated by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) because of mounting pressure from the USA to ban the LET. While re-banning the various jihadi organisations of Pakistan associated wit Al Qaeda last year under their new names, President Pervez Musharraf refrained from re-banning the JD and LET. Instead, he put them on a so-called watch list, despite the fact that the LET has been designated by the US State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation along with the HUM and the JEM and has been banned in the UK, Australia and some other countries.* "The breakaway faction, which has taken the name Khairun Naas (KN), consists largely of members of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). Some of them have taken an oath to kill Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the head of the JD.
* "Both sides are now plotting how to take control of party assets, such as the Markaz-e-Toiba in Muridke, Markaz Qadsia in Lahore and other valuable properties.
* "The leaders of the breakaway faction have accused Hafiz Saeed of nepotism, diverting the party from its original objective and the unfair distribution of funds. The Khairun Naas was also unhappy at Saeeds second marriage to a fallen comrades widow.
* "The differences within the JD arose five years ago when Hafiz Saeed appointed his brother-in-law Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki, then a teacher at Medina University in Saudi Arabia, the foreign affairs head of the party as well as his second-in-command.
* "Prof Zafar Iqbal, one of the founders of the JD and head of its education department, felt he deserved the post as the most senior member.
* "Members of the JD also complained that Hafiz Saeeds son-in-law Khalid Waleed, the media head of the party, had relations with car smugglers and was damaging the partys image.
* "Hafiz Saeed also came under fire in December 2001, when he renamed the Markaz Dawatul Arshad the Jamaatud Dawa and separated the Lashkar-e-Toiba infrastructure from the party. Many of his colleagues including LET chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi disapproved of the decision because this put the JD in control of all funds collected from abroad and locally. The dissenters felt that since donations were collected in the name of jihad and the mujahideen, the JD, which would only be a preaching organisation, had no right to the money.
* "The Khairun Naas was established with the support of most of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and a majority within the party. The KNs leadership consists mostly of LET commanders including Lakhvi, JD Lahore head Abu Shoiab, Punjab head Abu Naser Javed, Abdul Qadir and Saifullah Mansoor. Prof Iqbal, publications chief Ameer Hamza, and JD seminaries head Maulana Abdul Sallam Bhatvi are also supporting them.
* "According to sources, Prof Iqbal is currently in Saudi Arabia seeking the support of Saudi clerics and the partys structure will be announced when he returns, probably with him at the top.
* Khairun Naas and Lashkar-e-Toiba are basically the same, but the LET is banned in Pakistan so we adopted the name Khairun Naas, a member of the new party said. He claimed that the Markaz-e-Toiba in Muridke and the partys assets in Azad Kashmir were under KN control. He said the Al-Dawa Model Schools, seminaries, hospitals, health centres and all property in Sindh were also under their control because the heads of those institutions were with them.
* "The sources said that the KNs claim to the centre at Muridke was strong because of Mr Lakhvi. Mr Lakhvi had close ties with the Arab Mujahideen and his sister was married to an Arab, Abdul Rehman Sherahi. It was Mr Sherahi who purchased the land on which the centre is built and gifted it to the JD. Mr Sherahi was arrested in Renala Khurd two years ago for connections with Al Qaeda. No one can claim the Muridke Markaz except Lakhvi, because it was established by his efforts, an aide of his said.
* There is no one left in the JD with practical experience of jihad, a KN leader said.
* "Hafiz Saeed retains the support of Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki, Saifullah Qasoori, Yhaya Mujaheed and party officials from the NWFP.
* "A JD leader, requesting anonymity, claimed that the KN was established by the agencies to weaken the party. He said Hafiz Saeed was under pressure from the government not to preach jihad and minimise his activities but had not compromised even though there was the threat that the JD would be banned. The government might now ban the Jamaat because all its agents have left the party, he said.
4. Since the LET has been in the forefront of the so-called jihad in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and other parts of India and has been close to the ISI, Musharraf has been avoiding any action against it under the pretext that the LET active in Indian territory had no links with the JD in Pakistan, though nobody even in Pakistan believes it. Prof. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed himself has been making no secret of the fact that the LET is alive and kicking in Pakistan and that he is the head of it. He and the LET continue to claim responsibility for many acts of terrorism in Indian territory.
5. The US pressure on Musharraf for banning the JD and the LET has intensified in recent months after the unearthing of its sleeper cells in the USA and Australia. The counter-terrorism agencies of many countries of the world have been increasingly concerned over the activities of the LET because of the following reasons:
* Its role in the training of a number of Indonesians and Malaysians, including the brother of Hambali of the Jemaah Islamiyah, in one of its madrasas in Karachi.6. In the face of this pressure for a ban on the organisation, the virulent anti-US statements of Prof Saeed have been causing considerable embarrassment to Musharraf. There have been reports that to make a pretense of acting against it, Musharraf is planning to re-ban the JD and the LET and keep Prof.Saeed and some of his associates under detention as he did with them in 2002 after the first ban of January 15,2002.* Its suspected role in training some recruits from Singapore in one of its training camps in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
* Its assumption of the role of the co-ordinator of the IIF.
* Its active role in collecting funds and recruiting volunteers for joining the jihad against the US troops in Iraq.
* The virulent anti-US statements in relation to Iraq issued by Prof.Saeed.
* Reports circulating in Pakistan since April last year that Al Qaeda would in future be using non-Arab suicide volunteers recruited by the LET in view of the difficulties faced by the Arab members of Al Qaeda in travelling to the US and other Western countries.
7. It is alleged that to ensure that this action would not weaken the terrorist infrastructure meant for use against India and would not demoralise the members of the LET, Musharraf and his ISI have advised all the leading activists of the LET to leave the organisation and float the new organisation called KN so that no action would be required to be taken against them.
8.Would the new organisation refrain from active involvement in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, confining its activities only to India? Musharraf is hoping that it would cut off its involvement in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. His apparent calculation is that if they remain active only against India, the US pressure on him would ease. But the problem for him is that many serving and retired officers of the Army, the ISI and Pakistan's nuclear establishment, who share the ideology and anti-US feelings of the LET, have been encouraging it to keep the Americans bleeding. So long as the new organisation is assured of their continued clandestine support, it is unlikely to refrain from participating in the jihad against the USA.
9. The so-called split in the JD and the LET has come at a time when there has been an interesting debate in the jihadi circles in Pakistan over two aspects of the policies of Al Qaeda and the IIF. The first relates to the kidnapping of foreign Muslims working in Iraq and threats to behead them. Many jihadis, while strongly supporting the kidnapping and beheading of non-Muslims, particularly Americans, have been increasingly expressing their reservations over Muslims beheading Muslims. The articulation of these reservations played a role in the release of three Turkish and one Pakistani Muslims without carrying out the threat to behead them.
10. The second relates to the Al Qaeda's acts of terrorism in Saudi territory. Those opposed to this have been pointing out that the most sacred places for the Muslims of the world are located in Saudi Arabia and that any political destabilisation in Saudi Arabia, which could create difficulties for the Muslim pilgrims, could eventually turn large sections of ordinary Muslims against Al Qaeda and the IIF.They are, therefore, advocating a cease-fire in Saudi Arabia and suggesting that Al Qaeda and the IIF should for the present continue to concentrate their jihad against Western and Israeli nationals and interests.
11.Some of them are also arguing that any support extended by Al Qaeda and the IIF to the anti-Govt. jihadi elements in Malaysia and Indonesia would be counter-productive. They want that the IIF's activities in S.E.Asia should be confined to southern Philippines, Thailand and Singapore and that it should avoid involvement in Indonesia and Malaysia except in operations specifically directed against Western and Australian interests and nationals. In this connection, the fact that the pro-bin Laden jihadi organisations refrained from causing any serious disruptions during the recent elections in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia is significant and indicates possibly a more nuanced approach.
12.Meanwhile, insincerity continues to mark Musharraf's much-vaunted co-operation with the US in its so-called war against terrorism. There are three aspects of this insincerity:
* Inaction against terrorist groups operating against India and the Hamid Karzai Government in Afghanistan. The terrorist infrastructure in Pakistani territory of the Taliban and of those organisations operating against India continues to be intact, alive and active. This was even admitted by Richard Armitage, the US Deputy Secretary of State, during his visit to India and Pakistan last week.13.At a midnight press conference on June 13, 2004, Hayat also announced with great fanfare the arrest of a person whom he described as a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM),a top Al Qaeda operative presently in US custody. On April 29,2003, the Karachi Police had announced the arrests of Waleed bin Attash and five others in connection with the attack on the US naval ship USS Cole in October 2000. One of the five was described by them as a nephew of KSM. Does KSM have one or two nephews? If two, what further action was taken against the second after his arrest on June 13, 2004? If he has only one, how is it he has been shown as arrested twice? After the arrest of April 29, 2003, the Police reportedly told the media that he had been handed over to the USA's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) along with bin Attash and they had been flown out of the country by the FBI. How did the so-called nephew manage to come back to Karachi and participate in the attack on the convoy of the Karachi Corps Commander on June 10, 2004? No answers have been forthcoming to any of these questions.* Continued pretense of stepped-up action against the dregs of Al Qaeda said to be operating from the South Waziristan area of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), whenever any Pakistani leader is due to visit the US or any US leader is due to visit Pakistan. One saw another instance of that last week when Armitage visited Islamabad. Coinciding with that visit, the Pakistani Army again resumed high-profile operations in the tribal areas, without producing any worthwhile results.
* Making tall claims of success against jihadi terrorists operating from sanctuaries in the Karachi area, which subsequently prove to be false or dubious. A remarkable instance of this was seen after the announcement on June 14, 2004, by Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Pakistani Interior Minister, of the arrests of eight suspects allegedly involved in the attack on the convoy of Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat, the Karachi Corps Commander, on June 10 . He said that the arrested persons belonged to a hitherto unknown organisation called Jundullah (Army of Allah) and described their arrests as a "phenomenal break-through in the war against terrorism." Subsequently, nothing further has been heard about the follow-up action after these arrests.
14.It is strange the US authorities have still not woken up to the games which Musharraf continues to play with them. Ahmed Chalabi of Iraq in connection with the Saddam Hussein regime's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and Musharraf in regard to the so-called war against terrorism have both proved how easy it is take the US for a ride under the pretext of assisting it in its war against its hated enemies---Saddam and bin Laden.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai Chapter. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com )
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