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Busting Other Ghosts

India steps up pressure to get Lashkar, Jaish, Al Badr and other possible Al Qaida associates.

Outlook News Desk

Updated on:

"A word of praise must be given to the Taliban for their deft handling of the issue. They behaved very responsibly and the world realised that they are not merely a band of gun-toting people.''
  • Lashkar-e-Toiba was formed in 1990 in the Afghan province of Kunar. It's the militant wing of Markaz-ud-Daawa-wal-Irshad (mdi). Headquartered at Chamberlane Road in Lahore, the LeT's cadre operate out of Afghanistan, fanning out into PoK and the Kashmir Valley. Their camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan and PoK run a 21-day training programme called Daura-e-Aam and a three-month specialised training programme, Daura-e-Khas. Jehad-e-Kashmir and the Bosnia Committee are responsible for conducting these programmes and the funds come primarily from the isi and Saudi Arabia. During the Kargil war, the LeT militants were reportedly escorted to the front by the Pakistan army.

  • Harkat-ul-Mujahideen came into existence after the US banned Harkat-ul-Ansar in 1997. Its main training camp is located at Jawarpakhia, Afghanistan. The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen represents a militaristic spin-off of the conservative Deobandi school. The US missile strikes on bin Laden's Afghanistan camps in 1998 and the ensuing deaths of Pakistani Harkat activists undergoing training there proved the group's links with Al Qaeda. Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the central amir of the Harkat, had warned in Peshawar in July 1999 that if the US tried to attack bin Laden or the Taliban, war would break out against the Americans.

  • Jaish-e-Mohammed or the Army of Mohammed was formed in Karachi on January 31, 2000, under the leadership of Maulana Masood Azhar, released in exchange of passengers of the IA flight hijacked to Kandahar. A graduate of the Binori town seminary and schooled in the conservative Deobandi stream, Azhar is perceived to be close to the Taliban chief Mullah Omar. He's bin Laden's ardent supporter and some of his former classmates are now important functionaries in the Taliban government. Jaish's headquarters are situated on Islamabad's Main Road (near Khalid Hospital Bus Stop), it runs its account in an anz Grindlays bank in Rawalpindi and its interests are looked after by the Al-Rashid Trust. Points out foreign policy analyst Kanti Bajpai: "Though all these groups are very shadowy, Jaish has the closest links with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.''

    Indian intelligence sources say Masood Azhar is the scion of a very rich and landed family from Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province and ever since his arrest by Indian army in the early nineties, there have been several attempts to get him released through a series of abductions. It started off with militants capturing an Indian army officer, Major Bhupinder Singh, in 1993 and asking for Azhar's release. The major was killed when the Indians refused to negotiate. The second attempt was the kidnapping of the son of Delhi-based British journalist Peter Housego, but the British intelligence prevailed in the end and Housego's son was released. The killing of the five western tourists, including American John Childs, was linked to Azhar's release and the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar was the last and most effective strain in this chain of abductions.

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  • Al Badr Mujahideen is the Afghan-trained militant wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. Comprising mainly of Pakistanis—in particular Mirpuris—they train at Khost, Afghanistan, one of the Al Qaeda's main centre of operations. It's headed by Bakht Zameen, a 50-year-old resident of Peshawar. Zameen was in Skardu during the Kargil conflict. Even though this largely Pakistani organisation is funded by the isi and donations are collected from inside Pakistan, the stamp of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden are unmistakable. Zameen is an avowed follower of the Taliban.

    According to security analyst Kulbir Krishan, even though these are distinct groups, there are indications that their roles are interchangeable, given the commonness of ideology, common patrons in the isi and the Afghans, and the shared cause of jehad. Sometimes even names are changed or altered to avoid detection and thus escape legal international bans. Harkat's is a case in point.

    Officials in Delhi say that during Mishra's trip to the US, the Indian side brought to light a new facet to the World Trade Center strikes: the induction of western-educated and modern young men willing to undertake suicide missions, quite unlike the stereotyped bearded mullah. In this, they say groups active in Kashmir are adding a new dimension by recruiting volunteers in the UK, particularly Birmingham. The Jaish-e-Mohammed, for instance, has said that Asif Sadiq alias Mohammed Bilal, the suicide bomber who had attempted to blow up 15 Corps headquarters of the Indian army in Badamibagh, Srinagar, on Christmas eve last year, was recruited from here. Bilal was as urbane as the suicide squad that flew the planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

    Clearly, India is trying its utmost to seize the opportunity provided by the US' declaration of war against terrorism to really turn the heat on the mujahideen in Kashmir. Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh, during his trip to the US, is also expected to push India's case. The question is whether the US will be impressed by the Indian line of argument. Indian officials say the ban on Harkat-ul-Mujahideen is a good beginning. But the US action may well have been guided by its own interests rather than the situation that prevails in Kashmir.
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