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If Afghanistan is a terrorist state, then so is Pakistan
 
The crunch time in the already strained relationship between the United States and the military dictatorship in Pakistan may be fast approaching.  It is also becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile the United States understandable stance that the deaths of nearly 4,000 victims on September 11th is justification enough to launch a war to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan even though they were unlikely to have been actually involved in the terrorist attack, while at the same time the Bush administration lifts sanctions and grants over $1 billion in aid to Pakistan.
 
Pakistan is a country that not only spawned and supported the Taliban, but has provided the arms, finance and bases for the Kashmiri terrorist groups, many with close connections to Osama Bin-Ladin and who are largely responsible for over 52,000 deaths in more than three decades of appalling terrorist outrages against India.
Bin-Ladin has a dual role in international terrorism, he is the head of the Al-Qaida, which is a Saudi-centric, exclusively Arab organisation, consisting largely of Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians and Algerians.  At the same time, he is also the head of the International Islamic Front, which is a conglomerate of about a dozen major Islamic terrorist organisations from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Kosovo, Albania, the Xinjiang province of China, the southern Philippines and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in the Lebanon.

Pakistans role in the terrorist onslaught on India

From Pakistan, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Sipah-e-Sahaba are known to be members of the Front.  The HUM had signed his first Fatwa against the US and Israel issued in 1998.  The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) is also believed to now be a member.

Of these, the HUM, the LET and the JEM have been behind most of the acts of terrorism by Islamic groups in Jammu & Kashmir and are probably responsible for today's outrageous assault on the Parliament building in New Delhi.  Even according to the annual report of the US State Department on the Patterns of Global Terrorism released on April 30,2001, these are almost totally Pakistani organisations operating in India from rear bases in Pakistan.  The Sipah-e-Sahaba is an extremist Sunni organisation which has been behind the massacres of Shia's in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Al-Qaida, the exclusively Arab organisation has not been confirmed as being involved in attacks on Indian territory since the Kargil conflict of 1999 when it was believed to have been used by Gen.Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military dictator. Musharraf has since the events of September 11 managed to abandon his Taliban allies and reposition his regime as a supporter of the War on Terrorism, while taking no action to limit the activities of the Pakistani components of Bin-Ladin's Front, namely, the HUM, the LET and the JEM.

Bin-Ladins regional ambitions

They look upon Jammu & Kashmir as the gateway to India and describe their objective not only as the merger of this region with Pakistan, but also as the "liberation" of the Muslims living in other parts of India and the creation of two more "homelands" for them.

These organisations have been demanding that Bin-Ladin's Front should be re-named the 'International Islamic Front For Jehad Against the US, Israel and India' identified as the three main 'enemies' of Islam. Bin-Ladin has been in favour of their demand, but the other components of the Front have not been agreeable to this as yet, but defeat in Afghanistan may encourage a change of mind as 'liberated' areas of Kashmir could provide a potential new bolt-hole.

During the current US-led allied operations against Afghanistan, several thousand Pakistanis are reported to have been killed by the US air strikes or to be missing in action.  While some of them were serving and retired members of Pakistan's military-intelligence establishment, the majority belonged to the HUM, the LET and the JEM.

These organisations have, therefore, cause for anger against not only the US, but also India which is seen by the Jehadi organisations of Pakistan as partly responsible for the disastrous set-back to Pakistan's presence in Afghanistan and for the humiliation inflicted on the Pakistanis by the people of Kabul and other towns after their liberation from the control of the Taliban.

Whoever might eventual claim responsibility for the terrorist strikes on the Indian Parliament on December 13th the involvement of one of the Pakistani components of Bin-Ladin's Front is a very strong probability. A prompt reassessment of the United States policy towards General Musharrafs regime is called for in much the same way as the Whitehouse has repositioned itself on Arafats  Palestinian regime following increased terrorist attacks on Israel.

Richard M. Bennett
 
 
 

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